Life's a Beach!

The pups had a great time at the beach this week although not as brave as their brother in Switzerland who swims happily in the mountain lake, my two are still at the paddling stage! here they are having great fun and enjoying puppyhood to the full.

Baffles trip to Windsor

Farlap Baffled won the res Dog CC at Windsor today. Thankyou to Kitti Kilian from Agria Dragon Kennels for this nice photo of him winning.

Good news and bad news

First the bad news......our beloved Fergus passed away quietly in his sleep two days ago.
Fergus (CH. marksbury Thankful at Farlap ShCM) was a one in a million dog. Firstly he was 100% a gentleman. he never had a quarrel in his life and always behaved perfectly....well apart from when he peed in the judges handbag at Crufts, but we are prepared to overlook that!
He came to us originally because his frst home didnt work out, and it was love at first sight. I had never liked red hounds until he arrived, and he changed everything. Aprt from being a real gent at home and a pleasure to live with, he was also successful in the show ring and as an influential sire. We only allowed him to sire two litters, and his first litter produced the top winning bloodhound bitch Ch Marksburt Wistful who famously won the hound group at Crufts. however for me his finest moment was winning BOB himself at Crufts in 2006, specially as some American hound had come over to compete and had had a huge amount of hype from the television and press as to how it was "unbeatable". Fergus proved them wrong!!!   After that win, the American kennel Club gave me a lifesized cardboard cut out of the American dog to keep as a souvenir, (I guess they didnt want to take it back to the USA with them after Crufts was over) and everytime Fergus came into my office where the cut-out lives, he would cock his leg against it in complete defiance!! he certainly had a great sense of humour!

Fergus also enjoyed trialling and we had many happy hours hunting the clean boot. His GGG Grandchildren are now following in his foot steps and we hope they will make him proud. He was also the first, and I believe the only bloodhound to ever achieve a Show Certificate of merit (ShCM).

On the plus side of the week, we had this lovely photo from Winnies owners showing how she has started her tracking career up in Scotland already, plus,

Kitty Killian from the well known Hungarian Bloodhound and Australian shepherd  kennel  AGRIA DRAGON has arrived here for her second year with us, and will be helping with the handling for the summer shows.

They NOSE what to do!

The last few weeks has seen all sorts of training going on here. Forager is a few weeks into his training as a K9search dog, and really loving it.....more on that shortly. Today we decided to get Festive started on her tracking career (mantrailing) and she was in harness for the first time which didnt bother her atall, and then went on to hunt three short lines in the field, following Andrews scent, so we were very pleased with that.She showed a lot of enthusiasm and drive, so we hope that she will really love her work. (despite her rather grumpy expression in the photo!!)

We are delighted to be part of the newly formed organisation "K9search Dogs", and that Forager has started his quite intensive training. Its hoped that Baffle will also start his training in the summer. The K9Search Dogs website will be live very soon, so more on that in a future blogpost. Heres Forager posing for his official team portrait!

Another pupdate

The warm weather this week has meant the hounds have been basking in the garden for much of the day, and the puppies have been allowed out with all the big chaps at the same time (under supervision!) Bas had a few things to tell his son "Forager" and a clout round the ear made him listen to his Dad! meanwhile Candle is slowly getting back into condition after the puppies. She lost all her coat at one point and looked terrible, but her hormones appear to be settling again and her coat is just gorgeous now. Like the others, shes making the most of the sunbathing weather! Forager who has proven quite apt at carpentry and tree surgery, has now taken up plumbing!

Another proud moment

It was another proud moment for the "C" litter when we received this photo today of Farlap Curate winning the group. I think he is the the nicest hound Ive bred so far, and Im immensley proud of Karla and her family for giving him such a wonderful life as part of her family, as well as the opportunity to go to shows across the Americas.

Bloodhound Training Day in Devon

We are putting on a Bloodhound Training Day (working) on May 26th for The Bloodhound Club.
If you would like to attend with your hound please either print off the form below, and email back to me, or alternatively send me an email with all the relevant info on it before May 22nd please.

New owners and their hounds will be very welcome, and the day will cater for all ages of hound, from  baby puppies up to veteran, but the training will only be to Novice level so no lines will be longer than one mile. There will be permit testing and stock testing and stock training (sheep) if required. All need prebooking though please. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Puppy dog tails........

Well the pups have just had their 12 week old birthday, and weve been inundated with fantastic photos from their new families. Heres some of my favourites, and it just goes to show how well they get on with children. Starting at the top is Florence in Sussex (with her older half sister Blissful), then theres two of Frederik in Switzerland, with his young handler, and finally Winnie (Faithful) relaxing with Millie.

We also had updates from two "Old timers" this week. Sad to report that Amber from the "G" litter died peacefully from old age, at her home in the Isle of Wight. Her brother who is at the same home, is however getting along OK. Then there was news from Italy, of Gambit,  who is also from the "G" litter and apart from the odd old-age creaks, hes doing really well, having taken his owners by complete surprise, and learning to jump the fence into the strawberry patch and steal all the fruit!! Who says you cant teach old dogs, new tricks!?

Cinamons day out

Yesterday was a day of two halves. The first tinged with a little sadness as we waved Winnie (Farlap Faithful) off to her new home in Scotland, with her lovely new family. The second half of the day was a little better, as we went off to WELKS championship show, where Cinnamon won Open Bitch and the bitch CC. This was her first big championship show, and there was lots for her to take in and she dealt with it extremely well, so I was immensley proud of her. At this same show, both the Basset and the Bulldog CC winners, decided they would not challenge for BOB, as a stand of solidarity against the KC's discriminatory new regulations, an action I wholeheartedly agree with, as do almost every other person Ive spoken to about it. Therefore I did not wish to challenge for BOB. However, sadly the dog CC winner was not prepared to show unison on the matter and wanted to challenge, and as there was not time to find out the exact rules, and whether a BOB could still be awarded if only one winner was present, I felt that I had to compete, VERY reluctantly. To say I was disapointed at this lack of unison in the breed, over something as trivial as a BOB, is an understatement, and Id like to thank the many people who have since been in touch to say they felt the same. Extra congratulations to the Basset CC winner who is also a bloodhound exhibitor......Im glad there is another bloodhound person with backbone.

I couldnt get a photo yesterday, so heres Cinnamon pictured in February. photo courtesy of and copyright of Ev Burnside.

Here, there, and everywhere

Well its been a very action packed week. Tuesday saw us packing the campervan up, and heading off to Europe, via Hertfordshire, where our first port of call was to Elsenham, to deliver young Fender (now known as Moses!) to a very delighted Christine. He tucked into his dinner on arrival, greeted his two Uncles Joshua and Silas (litter brothers to Basnicky) and settled down to sleep without a murmur.

We crossed on the Eurotunnel and drove to our favourite Belgian woods where we have camped oh so many times, and the next day we drove on to Guidos in Germany. Claudia and a contingency from "Swiss Missing" arrived in the morning and Freddy met his future work mates, Basco and Meyer who had also come along for the ride. Farlap Bran (known to many as "Brian"!) and his owners Robert and Christine also arrived, and we did a couple of lines in the roads and fields and forest around the farm, before we had to say a sad farewell to Frederik, as he drove off to start his exciting new life in Switzerland. It was great to see Bran looking so good, and working so well, and we look forward to catching up with them all a bit later in the year. Photos show Frederik enjoying his road trip, Frederik and Claudia having a cuddle in our camper, and Bran keeping watch from the back of his truck.

Time to reflect

 Helping with the gardening

 Do I look cute?

I used to be able to get through this gap!

The devil puppy.

                                                            Spot of gardening

 Always useful if you can gather firewood for the winter

                                           



                                             Catch me if you can!


AS you can see from the 7 week photos, the puppies are growing in size and getting more and more agile. They bring nothing but laughter to our home on a daily basis, but we know that all too soon they will start to leave us, starting with Fender and Frederik next week. Sad times ahead, but we know they are going to great homes and we will have lots of contact with them and their new families. On an even sadder note this week has seen two losses in the bloodhound world. Firstly Sally Denton who used to own "Robinswood" bloodhounds, and from whom my first bloodhound Robinswood Undercover came from, and secondly yesterday the devastating loss of my dear friend Helen Powell, who lived just a few miles away and who leaves her husband Dave and beautiful Trailfinder hounds behind. What a loss for us all.

New things!

The puppies have had lots of new things in their lives this week. Firsly we had a wonderful surprise arrive in the post...... a huge box of puppy toys, from new owners Jillian and Ben in Scotland, so they have literally had new and different toys every day this week. Lucky pups! Then we decided the day was right for their big puppy bed to be taken out, and for them to start using their nice new "dog beds" , and that all went smoothly as you can see from the photos! Next in their busy schedule was the introduction to the top lawn, and we persuaded them to follow their mum up there. With the weather being dry and sunny for the week, its been perfect for them to explore the garden and bask in the sunshine.

BARGAIN HUNTER!

Once again Im a delighted granny and" proud-as-punch" with one of my babies.

Farlap Bargain, (aka Eden) went to her first Championship Working Trial yesterday and kept everything together to be awarded a Certificate of merit. Am I a proud proud granny or what!? Heres a great photo of her at the start, with daddy/handler Pete. Well done "Team Bargain"!

Welcome to the big outdoors

Every day the puppies see and learn new things, as a part of their puppy socialising and learning process. All week they have been able to trundle in and out of the kitchen and into a small run outdoors, however this morning we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous sunshine and let them have their first taste of the wide world...well....the  terrace anyhow! They all loved it and ran and explored for nearly an hour, before deciding they were exhaused and went back to bed for a snooze! So here they are on their 1st big excursion, plus one of them in their bed taken a week earlier.

Puppies again

Ive finally managed to catch up with the puppy photos and heres a few favourites from the 3-4 week old batch.