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.

Baffles Big Day Out

I though it was time to have a day off from puppies, so took Baffle off to Crufts for the day, along with my friend Jane (who incidentally took these great photos for me, after only a 20 second tutorial on how to work £5k worth of camera gearLOL)

It was a very "no pressure" day for me this year, as only taking a puppy meant that it was just one class and nothing to get nervous about. Im pleased to say he won his class and was declared Best Puppy in breed. it was a shame the entry was so low throughout the breed, and I hope this is not the shape of things to come, after the most farcical Crufts in history.

Four weeks down

The puppies are now 4 weeks old and seem to change on an almost daily basis. They still do an awful lot of sleeping as you can see from "pinkheart" in her usual relaxed pose, however their characters are really coming through and its easier to decide who is going to be suited to which owner once this happens.......although the quiet BT boy has surprised us all by now turning into a complete nutter who thinks nothing of chasing Tennant round the room!

Baffle has had his bath for Crufts tomorrow, and im packing a flack jacket and tin hat, as its clearly going to be a considerably interesting day after the Clumber and Bull dog debacle.
For more information see here.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ubTCBN_l1E

Three weeks and counting

The babies are now three weeks old......the time seems to fly, and their eyes and ears are now open enough for them to be taking things in, initiating  play, walking properly and becoming a bit more vocal......they even had their 1st group howl this weekend! We are piloting the new KC Assured breeders "puppy plan" puppy socialisation scheme www.thepuppyplan.com and it will be interesting to see if we notice any particular differences with this litter. Certainly they are loving the paw rubbing!

Heres a few snaps of some of the babies,

Eyes wide shut!

Today was another milestone in the little peoples life....their eyes have started to open. (Although from this photo you would never know as they spend most of their time relaxing like this!!!)

Catching up!

Im slowly catching up with the emails and calls........thankyou to everyone who has enquired to see how mum and babies are doing.....so far so good. Im wondering whether somewhere along the line this little liver boy has stood in the paint pot!?

Good to hear from Farlap Bourbon, and to get some uptodate photos. Here he is helping his mum take a self portrait!

The little pups are looking like contenders for the "syncronised suckling team" for 2012 Olympics, (see video attached) and Baffle is enjoying a spot of table dancing, such are the talents at Farlap!!

Supper time

Everyone is settling in well to their new routine.....