C Litter

Approaching their 1st birthday, its been great to hear from some of the "C" litter pups this week.
Baily appears to have had a day at the beach, terrorising the natives (see photo) and Shelly, has been winning "best puppy in show" in Australia....thats our girl! (see moving photo)

Good week, bad week

Last week was fantastic, as I took a trip over to CZR to see "Generous and Astrids" lovely LOVELY puppies. There will be quite a lot more about that soon. heres a little taster of my two favourites.
When I arrived home I took Vivid for her second scan, but sadly the puppies are not there now, so all our hopes for the litter are dashed.
The only thing that looks like a silver lining, is that we hope to mate Barvicka soon, so more about that as and when we know it.
The "C" litter are approaching their 1st birthdays, I cant believe how fast its all going, and how grown up they are. There are already 2 birthday party invites for Candle and Cinnamon so looks like they will have a better social life than us this month!!

Trials and Tribulations

Yesterday saw us off to the BHC working trials, where Cythar was entered in Novice. In the words of the judge at the summing up "Cythar had the bumest of bum lines"!!! I think he was right as scent was almost non existant on our fields.......he hunted the 1st couple f fields but lost the scent and not helped by running into a stone wall at full tilt and nearly knocking himself out! After 15 minutes casting, I decided Cythar was only going to get disillusioned with it all so asked for assistance (ie the map) so i could put him back onto the line and hunt him into his runner, unfortunately the judges assistant wasnt apt at map reading and we ended up way too far left handed to pick up the line at any point or to give Cythar the opportunity to find his runner. i was very disapointed for Cythar, as when all else fails its vital a hound can do the last few yards of a line, and find his quarry, its so important for their confidence.
That aside it was a pleasant day out, and congratulations to David Gore, who was travelling with Cythar and me for the day, on his 2nd place with Emilia.

The good news or the bad news?

Well the good news was that Tennant finally got to his first championship show yesterday (Gundog of Wales) where he was Reserve Best Dog. One proud Mum and granny driving back down the M5!
Here he is looking all proud and handsome for the camera.
The not so good news, was that Vivids scan wasnt so successful. There was possibly 3 or 4 foetus, but really not easy to see and very disapointing.Admitedly I was a little early having it done, so She is having another scan in 12 days when it will be a definite yay or nay!

Tail of Woe

Poor Candle has a broken tail and is not a happy girl. At first we thought it was "limber" tail, as we have had that in the past after "rough and tumble" however a painful swelling, and a trip to the vet for an xray, told us otherwise. Hopefully it will mend itself.
I have had a number of emails via the ABB website this week, and would like to remind those who do not already know it, that I am no longer on the ABB committee, as I resigned a few months ago.
Please do not contact me regarding ABB matters, as I do not have , nor do I wish to have, any contact with the committee members, so your messages will remain unanswered.

greetings from Denmark

had some great photos from Henrik in Denmark today.......hes such a sweet boy. Here he is with his toys! Another Farlap who carries everything around with him!

sun, sea and sand

Mr T. really is our "little crock of gold"....hes such a good boy. i had to work away over the weekend, and as hes getting so stressed by the in season hound girls, decided to take him with me.
He endured a boring saturday but an early finish meant we had a free afternoon....so we went to Weston Super mare beach......no donkeys but lots of sand!!! he discovered kite surfing....he thought it was great fun to watch, and despite the wind turning his ears inside out, loved every minute of it!
my favourite pic is him sat under the rainbow!
He spent saturday night snoring his head off on the sofabed in the travelodge!

Queen Vivid

Vivid has decided that she is definitely superior to everyone else, and uses our outside table like a throne, to view her fellow hounds!
Catching up on some past reading matter, I was amazed to read comments about puppy lists and how someone was annoyed that another breeder had sold a pup to a person on "their" puppy list......hmmm....stones and glass houses come to mind!!!

Mr T's day out

Mr T accompanied me to work at Cornwall Gundog Show today........He had a great time in the scurry and posing by the lake!

Puppy News

Another great photo from Bailey,taking his daily excercise on the garden trampoline!!
plus news from Australia where Farlap Cautious, who is jointly owned with Steve Thomas has had some more great wins.
At lake Macquarie championship show she went best Minor Puppy in show, she managed the same at the Northern region NSW championship show....twice (there were two shows on the same venue) and best MP in show at the Combined northern CC Championship show. Well done little girl.

Bad Boy Bailey

Oh dear, Baileys done it again!Bailys owners sent us these pix of Baily in trouble again (I believe hes been renamed Captain Chaos).....but how can you resist that sweet face??!! Previously known here on the blog, for his alcoholic tendencies,when hes not on the trampoline, or sniffing the lavender......hes helping to rearrange the soft furnishings.
Today has been spent meeting a lovely family who had spent some time trying to find a bloodhound breeder who cares about health testing, and breeding bloodhound puppies for the right reasons. I hope they enjoyed their visit, meeting the hounds, taking them in the field and generally getting jumped on and dragged about........judging by theeir faces I think they did! it will be great to see them again in a few weeks time....they may have been able to get the slobber off by then!

Confirmed!

Delighted to receive a certificate from the KC today to confirm Logic is officially a Champion! Also great to have an advert courtesy of Royal Canin (thankyou) in Dog World.
Had news today from Watson, one of her puppies. His tally for items either eaten or destroyed , is mounting weekly...including numerous pairs of glasses, tv remotes, and three pairs of shoes. OOps!

Trouble with a capital T (or D)

We have ( had) a lovely pond.....2 levels, cascading water, fountain, marginal plants......you get the scene. occasionally the hounds would wade in it and upset a few frogs and reeds but nothing too serious. That all changed at the weekend when I heard WW3 breaking out in the garden. I went up there to discover a rat had burrowed through the wall, behind the pond liner, and it was closely followed by Drizzle the terrier! next thing I know, the whole pondliner has been trashed, all the water escaped, and Drizzle is in hot pursuit, trashing the liner as she goes. Looking at this photo of her after the digging had finished, butter wouldnt melt!
On a more positive note, we had a good mating today between Vivid and Cythar so are hoping for a good result.

nothing better to do in work time jill?

Tis the season to be jolly.......

Actually, its not" jolly" right now....3 girls in season, all hormonal and stroppy....and 5 boys all going crazy!!
For poor Candle its her 1st season and shes decided that its given her a superior position over her sister Cinnamon. She is a right madam! Here she is looking superior lying on the lawn and again stood in front of cottage.
Likewise Vivid takes "seasons" very seriously, and this is probably just as well as we are hoping to mate her next week. Here she is (bottom photo)posing in the garden!

Calendar Boys!

we are delighted that the famous browntrout calendars, are including three of our boys on their 2010 bloodhound calendar. F. Basnicky and Fergus (CH. Thankful) are the "February Boys" and Cythar Ivaliruz Farlap, is the handsome Mr April!

Sunshine

Today has been the first really nice sunny day in weeks, and the hounds have been sunbathing all day, soaking up the rays. heres a few shots from around the garden.From the top: Cythar, our gorgeous Czech boy, and the father of Candle and Cinnamon, Gravity (who is hiding in her favourite place....bum in the bush and watching everyone else!) and Bas, taking care of his Mother Tarnish, and also in his usual sitting position, like Lord of the Manor!

Disapointed

It was a disapointing day today. I was due to take F. Basnicky, F. Candle, and Logic to Richmond Championship show. However 2 days ago it was clear that Logics season was getting closer, and then yesterday Candle decided to start hers, then finally last night in the field, bas and his sister had a "mid-air-collision" resulting in him getting knocked into a ditch and hurting his leg.
hes pretty much back to normal tonight but certainly wasnt up to going to a show today. I dont think ive ever had all the hounds entered, unable to go before!
I was also meant to be collecting 6 sacks of dog food from David Gore, having been the successful bidder in the ABB aution at the weekend, and had to cancel that as well!
Talking of David, if anyone wants to see how a good judges critique should look, I suggest they read his write up from paignton Show. I wasnt entered so cannot be considered bias....it was just a superbly written critique, one of the best I have ever read, and there are many many experienced judges out there who could learn a lot from it.
Farlap Curate is off to the Expocan in Mexico tonight, for Mexicos biggest Dog Show circuit, so good luck to him! Hopefully his show weekend will be better than ours!

have you seen these bernese mountain dogs in devon ?

TWO BERNESE MISSING FROM WHIMPLE, DEVON EX5 2PP

I have just been informed that two Bernese bitches went missing from their home sometime before midday today, Tuesday 8th September 2009.
The two bitches were left in a garden considered to be secure. The garden gate was shut when the owner discovered the bitches were gone, there was no sign of forced entry and no sign of an escape route.

Jazz is 3 years old.
Ellie is 6 months old and described as small and very lame.
Neither are wearing collars but are thought to be microchipped (that is not confirmed)
Both are friendly and will likely approach strangers and dogs.
All the usual local agencies are being alerted.
Please report any sightings to Louise Oakaby on 07807 977138 or her landline 01404 822655
If unable to contact the owner contact Jude at Bernese Welfare UK on 01787 371940

A shining light

Heres farlap Candle...finally managed to get an up to date piccy (Thanks to Pearce Photographic)
taken at 9 months old.