Welcome!

Welcome to the world, 3 boys and 3 girls. Mother and babies all doing well.

The day approaches

The day of the puppies birth is fast approching and we are now on full red alert, and ready for iminent arrival. Candle on the other hand has poo pooed the whelping bed, and taken up residence on Logics bed by the book case, and she is refusing to budge!! Im hoping we dont have a sitting room birth! A few minor hitches (such as the cctv dying on us) have made it a stressful weekend but hopefully we are now on track for the birth.

Tennants wild day out

We decided to fit in just one last foray befor Candle has her babies (any day now!) and took Tennant onto the marsh for a days wildfowling. Hed never seen a goose up close before, let alone had them falling out of the sky around him, but he took to it like.....well like a duck to water!! here he is bringing Andrews second bird from the river, across the ice, to the safety of the gully. The three of us had a fantastic day, and are looking forward to lots more wildfowling next season. Now I can get down to the serious business of playing Midwife to Candle, and Tennant can relax for a few months until next season starts!

MISSING BLOODHOUND. URGENT HELP NEEDED . COULD NOW BE ANYWHERE IN UK

URGENT - MISSING 2 YEAR OLD LIVER AND TAN BLOODHOUND IN CHESHIRE AREA. Please would every one help us to find  Hector. He has white on his feet and a largish white blaze on his chest. He got away whilst on a walk and was hit by a car on the A34 between the Eden Point and Handforth round-a-bouts in the Cheadle Hulme area the day before yesterday. He ran away after being hit by a car... As you can imagine the owners are devastated and still have people out looking for him. They have contacted the police, vets, rescues and farmers in the area but still no news. He is also micro-chipped. please contact me if you see or hear anything

Totally Illogical.

Illogical came into our lives in 2006, a bundle of confident but calm gorgeousness. She never lost her calmness and was always gorgeous, and without a doubt was the "hound of my heart", so her loss this week from cancer, has been extremely hard.
I have found a few of my favourite photos of her, one at 15 weeks showing off her enormous character, another at 12 weeks with her grandfather fergus (who is still with us in his 12th year) and another when she won BIS at the Czech Bloodhound Club show, when we went there for our summer holiday 3 years ago.
The only comfort at the moment is knowing she has puppies from her 2 beautiful litters, who are giving their owners a lot of pleasure and who carry her unique character around the world. Her babies are in the UK, Australia, Germany, Hungary and Mexico, as well as the three who live here with us. We hope that her grandchildren who are due to be born very shortly, will continue her lovliness, and have her wonderful gentle dignity.

Birthday Bargain

Heres Farlap Bargain (aka Miss Eden), every bit the birthday girl.......enjoying her day tracking in the lakedistrict and having a cuddle with her Dad at the top!

Happy Birthday!

Happy first birthday to the 2011 B litter. I cant believe they are a year old already, and I wish all the pups and their owners a fantastic 2012 with their pups. Farlap Bran, in Germany had a special treat for his Birthday breakfast! How they have grown since this photo at a couple of days old!

Snow much fun with Bran

Finally Ive got around to sorting out the photos from our visit to Bran in Germany......here he is hunting along the road in a snow blizzard, as well as finding Christine in the forest. it was far from easy scenting conditions so he did extremely well.

After the sad news with Tarnish earlier in the week, it almost seems indecent to be smiling, but we have had some happy news today, and it has lifted our spirits a little bit. CH. Farlap Candle and CH. Farlap Basnicky are due to be proud parents in a few weeks, following Candles positive scan today.  Hopefully the patter of little feet will raise our spirits very soon!

Whirlwind Newyear

The last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind, with fantastic highs and sad lows. Firstly we went to Germany and visited Farlap Bran, who many will remember as "Brian" !! We had some fun watching him hunt (mantrailing) in some of the worst snow blizzards ive ever been out in......he was a real star and the photos will follow shortly. meanwhile heres one that the "lost" person (in this case his mummy Christine!!) took as he came in to the forest to find her.

Our return home from Germany was tinged with much sadness as we realised that Tarnish was finally not going to be with us much longer due to her tumours. it was a sad start to the New year for us when we had to have her put to sleep on january 2nd, however she will hopefully be racing about somewhere now, with  her brothers and her Mum. Her father Fergus is still going strong despite his 11 years!

and yet more Christmassy messages!

Great to get some more cards and photos in the post today. These two boys (Joshua and Silas) sent their photos as they do every year, plus an interesting parcel for their brother and sister (Bas and Barvicka) to open on Christmas day!!! Thanks boys!

More Christmassy stuff

Had this great photo today from Eden (Farlap Bargain) and her luuuurvely lurchery friend getting in the Christmas spirit! We love getting cards and photos from all of our Farlaps at Christmas and next to arrive was Bran, doing a trail in the snow in Germany, through the village. Cant wait to see him next week.

Nearly Christmas

I cant believe how this month has flown by and now its nearly Christmas I get lots of updates with the Christmas cards from the Farlap pups all over the world....I Love catching up and hearing how they have been all year. Heres Bailey (litter brother to Candle and Cinnamon) having a cuddle on moms lap! They never grow out of it do they!
Logic has made a fine recovery after her bout of peritonitis a few weeks ago, but now its Tarnishs turn to be poorly, with her tumours returning with a vengeance.

bringing home the bacon.......

..........well.....the pheasant and snipe anyhow! Today was shoot day for Tennant.....its our favourite pastime in the winter on Saturdays and certainly beats shows hands down! Our bag today was 2 woodcock, 3 snipe and a pheasant......so heres Mr T bringing home some of the spoils for his daddy.

Weve had a bit of a traumatic week this week, with Logic being taken ill very suddenly with peritonitis, as an after effect her of her torsion (we think). However shes responding well to drugs and is certainly appearing back to her normal self.

Family day out

Farlap Constant

Farlap Constant (Harry)

Farlap Benedict (Bertie)

I have had a couple of lovely days out this week, visiting Farlap hounds in their homes. Monday I went to visit Watson who lives in Brixham, hes such a sweet boy from the "C" litter. Today was a trip over to East Devon to visit Bertie (Farlap Benedict) and Harry (Farlap Constant) and I took Cinnamon and Baffle who are from the same two litters, to play with their brothers. We had two lovely walks around their fields and all went well until Cinnamon (always the trouble maker) discovered their bird table, and in her usual thuggish way, managed to knock it over and demolish it, and started eating all the bird food as fast as she could. Harry had never seen such atrocious behaviour and thought he'd investigate, but Cinnamon decided it was "her food" and bit her brother on the nose. Exit a very upset Harry. Meanwhile Baffle had managed to find a huge pile of fox poo to roll in and so the two disgraced hounds were bundled in the van and taken home. The smell on the return journey, of Cinnamon farting after her bird food, and the fox poo covering Baffle, was less than pleasant!

The weather was perfect

Sunday saw us hosting the Kelperland Trophy special stake (4 hours cold, 2 miles long) and without a doubt, the weather was perfect. Thanks must go to the line walkers Louie and Andrew, and the land owners who were The Loud family and the Moyse family. Also special thanks to Sharon Newman for taking some lovely photos of the day......this one was a favourite for me, showing Duncan taking his hound to the start of the line....just look at that concentration! Sadly the judge didnt feel either hound hunted well enough to be awarded the Kelperland, although both were given COM's. Having walked the 1st line many times myself, and being in a grandstand position to see the hound hunting it 80% of the way round, I was a little disapointed as the hound was spot on for the 80% that I watched.
It was good to meet some newer club members who are interested in getting their hound hunting, and we look forward to hosting future stakes for the bloodhound club.

A summing up and tea at the Clovelly Inn, and it was the end of a tiring day.

Photos are here!

The photos from last weekend are here, and thankyou to Rob "Bailey" Manley for taking them.

Weekend Fun!

last weekend was the Bloodhound Club Open Show, and under judge Gillian lamb, we had a great day.
Farlap Cinnamon, at her very first show was Best In Show. Farlap Baračnik  (owned by Fiona McKenzie) was best dog and res. best In Show. Farlap Baffled was best Puppy in Show. Congratualtions also to Farlap Graceful, (ably handled by Lynda Haydon,) who  won Novice bitch. What a fab day it was.
 As soon as the photos are sent to me Ill include them on the blog. I was also thrilled to find a lost treasure on the day. I was given a painting about 20 years ago, by a dear friend of her favourite hound, one of a pair of bloodhound brothers. He was a Brunwar hound, known as jason (yes that is what he was called despite what people try and tell you!!). There was a matching painting of his litter brother (Rufus) that had been lost so imagine my astoundment at discovering the missing painting for sale on the regalia stand at the show on Sunday. Needless to say I snapped it up and the two brothers are now reunited in my home!

Now a date for the diary: Sunday November 20th is the Kelperland Trophy, an invitational stake organised by the Bloodhound Club. We are pleased to be hosting this stake, and if anyone would like to come along and see the hounds hunting 2 mile lines, 4 hours cold, then we would be pleased to see you. The meet is 10.am at Axworthy farm buildings, please email me for sat nav or directions. There will be a presentation and light tea afterwards at the Clovelly Inn.
If anyone would like accomodation then theres a holiday cottage literally 20 yards from the meet. Its 3 bedrooms and available for a short let. Please call Mrs Loud on 01566 783516 for more details.

Life of brian part 3

Farlap Bran, who we always knew as "Brian" is just progressing in leaps and bounds, and we are immensley proud of him. His search work training is now taking part in urban/town settings and this week he had a day tracking a "new" person on  6 different trails (but just one scent article) along A roads, through  a railway station, over pedestrian crossings, 3 foot bridges, a car park........ and all with the hustle and bustle of the town going on around him. I love receiving photos of him at work and relaxing in the home, but these are my favourites from his owners Robert and Christine, this week.

Worrying week

Its been a really worrying week here, with Logic becoming ill on Monday, and having a full blown torsion and twist, resulting in emergency , life saving surgery. thankfully she survived the surgery and now we have the slow and delicate recovery, involving 24 hour round the clock care for the next few days. Ultimately this has meant having to let down those people kind enough to enter their hounds under me on monday at the Bloodhound Club working trials, for which I apologise profusely, and no one is more disapointed than me, as I love judging working trials. However im sure that all those who have known the heart break that our hounds can bring us, will FULLY understand why I feel unable to leave Logic for the next few critical days, and I hope my replacement judge enjoys their day.
On a much brighter note, we heard from george (Russian Ch. Farlap Guesswork) who had been to the "Russia 11 Speciality" 
George won Best male and Club Winner and specialty and CAC, CACIB, BOB  ThenhHe won his group as well! Well done George.  Not just a pretty face either as he went to his Russian Hunting Fieldtrials the week before and won a Diploma I and Diploma II. Great news to brighten our week. Here he is posing on the winners rostrom! Then we heard from germany, from Robert, Christina and "Bran", that he had succseesfully completed a two and a half hour cold line, through a village and built up residential areas. brilliant news, and only 8 months old......Im so proud of all my "Farlap pups", no matter what their achievements (although maybe not Bliss eating her mums new iphone!!!) and love to hear what they have been up to.
I was saddend to hear about the passing of Michael Clarke. Its sad that there are so many people in the breed these days who have probably never met or even heard of Mick and Christine, but they have been in the breed for over 40 years, and have had dozens of hounds, and a number of champions amongst them over the years. Mick had the most amazing life working all over the globe, but his heart was always back at Elsenham with his animals, his beloved bloodhounds, his racehorses and his amazing game birds. He put a lot into the breed just by being "there" although never a breeder or seen in the ring, we all knew him as a calm kind gentle character, and I can only hope that the two farlap boys that shared his life until the very end, are now bringing some comfort to Christine at this hard time.

Bloodhound trials........just too hot to handle!

Gerty and I tootled off to the trials on Sunday ( i cant understand why they want to break from tradition and do Sunday trials....bad form.) but the weather was just so hot, that by 3.30 when our turn came, the ground was like parched cinders, and poor Gerty found little scent. She did manage the 1st hundred yards and I was quietly optimisitc but as we got to the middle of the field, it was just  like the sahara, and although she bravely tried her best, I decided she'd had enough and asked the judge to guide us to the end for her to find her runner before she became to disheartened on her 1st ever attempt at trials. Never mind, she has all winter to practise for the spring trials! Thankyou to Sharon newman for this photo of gerty in action.