a few weeks later.....

I cant believe its been several weeks since writing the last blog entry......apologies to those who look forward to keeping up with the news. its been a really quiet few weeks.....sadly depite our epic trip, the carefully planned mating didnt take, and Candle is pupless, something we are all rather sad about. However we are now turning our attentions to the possibility of a 2014 litter instead. Fingers crossed!

There have been no shows for us to attend, and, unfortunately the Bloodhound Club trials, although not far away, clash with another commitment so are unable to go to those as well, so we feel like life is pretty quiet right now!

Forager (photo above) has recovered fully from his stone eating episode and is now back in harness and training and searching with K9 search dog team......oh he did have a great find with two missing dogs that were lost when travelling with their owner and were involved in a car accident. You can see more about that on the blog at www.k9searchdog.org

Meanwhile young Jarousek (photo above)continues to grow and is quite a character......the weekly brushing is not his favourite pastime it has to be said!

Not forgetting the others here at Farlap.....The game shooting season is upon us now which has pleased Tennant no end as he can get out in the field, hunting, pointing and retreiveing game for the freezer once again.

things come in threes.

Well its been a bit of a sad month for us. Last week we had the news of the loss of Farlap Trailblazer who lived with his lovely family in Chesham, I know how much they will miss him and he was a great trialling hound who gave Jo and Tony so much pleasure, and Im glad I got to see him one last time and have a cuddle in June. This was preceeded by the loss of our very own Farlap Damson. now Damson was truly the queen of the sofa, and ruled the household with a rod of iron. Every single Farlap bloodhound that has been born, has grown up with "Auntie" Damson, the matronly deerhound who made it her life mission to educate puppies!!! Our big grey hearthrug will be sorely missed, and she was the grand old age of 13 when sadly old age caught up with her.

One final bit of disapointing news is that the much awaited litter that we had planned and planned so carefully has not happened as sadly Candle is not pregnant. this has come as a huge blow to us as we doubt we will  be able to get to use this superb European male again. I will be writing /phoning individually to all those people who were on our long waiting list.....I know there will be a lot of sad and disapointed people, although none so much as us today.

Times like these......

We have had two really sad calls from Farlap puppy owners. First was from Wales where Scooby had lived for nine years of rural bliss on the edge of his own mountain, and where he sadly passed away after a short illness. We know Scoobys owners were so dedicated to him, and are missing him so much after such a long time in their lives. As if that wasnt bad enough we then heard from Baileys family, the dreadful news that they had lost him the day before to torsion.At 4 and a half years, this is such an awful shock , Made worse by the fact they did  ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING right in recognising the classic symptoms of torsion and getting him veterinary attention immediately, hnowever,despite two trips to the vets, the VETS did not recognise the problem. Baily, affectionately known to his family as "Baby Baily"....despite being a whopper lol, had the most devoted caring home I could have asked for for  puppy and I can only imagine how sad they are feeling right now, missing their BB.
Ill try and lift the mood by sharing this really great advert from Russia, of Ch, Int Ch, Grand Ch,Farlap Guesswork who has been very successful in the showring for his owner Maria. He is also a much adored family pet on his days off!

.and now for something completely different......

Forager and Jarousek were invited to attend the "Safety on Dartmoor" awarenss day at the weekend, on behalf of www.K9searchdog.org and they had a fantastic day, meeting and greeting hundreds of visitors as well as meeting the various search and rescue and emergency services that were attending the day with them.

As a reward for being such ambassadors for the breed, they then had a trip to Mothecombe beach in south Devon in the week, where Jarousek let me down by going off after seagulls and I had to wade across the estuary to retrieve him !!!!!

Bloodhound Club Championship Show 2013

We had a lovely day out at the 2013 Club Ch. show, and the cool weather made it a pleasure rather than the heat we have had at previous years shows.
Farlap Baracnik of Moorlander (owned by Fiona McKenzie) was resBIS so congratulations to Fiona.

Our Farlap Cinnamon was reserve CC,

 Baffle was second to Baracnik in "Open Dog" .

Jara was 2nd puppy dog

 and Farlap festive won Limit bitch

 and congrats also to Lynda with Farlap Florence winning Junior bitch

 and to old timer veteran Farlap Trailblazer with owner Jo Franks for having a good run the ring and 3rd in Veteran. Thankyou to Ev burnside for her lovely photos of the day.

Jaras' new talent

Jarousek never fais to amaze and amuse us with his talents.......he went tracking at the weekend and did a cracking three quarters of a mile long line, 40 minutes cold. So far his longest and coldest line, and he really enjoyed it. As a reward he went to the river to play with his sister "Rogue" and friends, and he had his first ever swim. he seemed to enjoy it!

Go George Go!!

This weekend is the World Dog Show  in Budapest and the Budapest Grand Prix. (the latter being held the day before.) We are DELIGHTED to announce that at the GP, George (Ch. Farlap Guesswork) and his owner Maria, won Best of Breed and Group1. George was of course the only brother that Gerty had, and it really was such uplifting news to see him do so well. Congratulations to Maria.

National Day Out

After last weeks misery we decided that a day out was called for, and as we'd entered  hounds at "The National" (Birmingham National Championship Dog Show), I spent the day at Stafford yesterday.
It was Jaras first ever show, so it was going to be a day to remember what ever happened, and Im pleased to say he won the Puppy Dog class and went on to be Best Puppy in breed. I decided not to wait five hours for the Best Puppy in Group competition as it was just too long a day for him and me. Baffle then won Open Dog and was awarded his 2nd CC, so another  reason for it to be a day to remember. Thanks to Evelyn Burnside/Lynda Hayden for the photo of Farlap Baffled in the CC line up.

RIP Gerty

A very sad time at Farlap, as this week we have said goodby to Farlap Gertrude, AKA "Gerty.
Those that knew her, would probably agree with me that she was one of the most charismatic, and undoubtedly stubborn hounds weve had. Her tracking ability was a real pleasure to watch, and she loved nothing more than going in harness and working. She had a short show career which included Top Puppy  of the year, and two res CC's, however she really didnt care for the showring, as she was very keen to show me by planting herself mid ring and refusing to budge on more than one occasion, so she was allowed to retire, and concentrate on her tracking, and, if fate had allowed it, we had hoped she would have been a mum this year. Sadly none of it was meant to be, and we lost her to the terrible gastric torsion, despite a very brave effort and hard work from our wonderful veterinary team, they couldnt get her through. Above all that, Gerty was a member of our family,  a huge character and has left a gap that will be impossible to fill. This is one of my favourite shots of her,as a puppy.

The Farlap Diet

Well after the trauma of Foragers dietry habits, we had another scare this week when late Sunday night gerty decided to go for the full gastric torsion!! After two hours late night surgery, and a couple of days in hospital she appears to be none the worse despite the seriousness of the situation!!
On a more positive note, young Jarousek is really coming on nicely and has fitted nto the household so well, hes a pleasure to have around. Hes started his training with K9 search dogs and is coming on really wellas can be seen in this lovely shot from Sharon Newman.

 Knowing how Gyp was missing "running dog" company after the loss of his friend Flint, we took the plunge and picked up Lottie last week.......shes a rather nice lurcher girly, with impeccable breeding, and already showing great working aptitude, although having two rather active pups in the house together can be somewhat hard work!

The Ins and outs at farlap!

The last week or so has been a bit traumatic, with Forager managing to eat some more stones, only this time one got very wedged in his stomach and he ended up having some emergencty surgery to remove it. he then had a few days in "hospital" recovering but Im glad to say came home last weekend, to some intensive nursing in front of the wood burner!!
Meanwhile a few hundred miles away in Germany, his half brother Bran (Brian to those who knew him as a puppy), managed to eat the house keys.....as you can see from the photo! Im glad to report hes now fully recovered and keys safely recovered, courtesy of a large tin of sauerkraut!!! When not eating keys, Im glad to report that Bran was BOB/CACIB at the Offenberg show last week,as well as being a first class tracking hound.
On the subject of tracking, great news from Eden (Farlap Bargain)and her owners, who won 3rd in the Novice Bloodhound Working Trials this week. Great team work, well done from a very proud "Granny"

Crufts 2013

Well the Farlap hounds had a good day out at Crufts.
Baby Farlap Florence (belonging to Lynda Hayden) was best Puppy in Breed, Farlap Festive won Junior Bitch, and Farlap Baffled won Limit Dog and the CC, making him Best Male hound and reserve best of Breed. The day was only marred by  a bitch in the challenge line up, having a go at Florence and scaring both her and her owner half to death. because of this Florence had to be taken out of the line up as she was really frightened. A terrible disapointment for her owner.
Farlap Baffled, pictured with our judge Colin Avery, after winning the CC. photos courtesy/copyright R. Manley

New arrival

Another months seems to have gone by without a blog update.......sorry to those who like to keep upto date....its just been such a frantic few weeks. My work with the charity K9 Search Dogs has been very busy, with lots of training plus a couple of searches in difficult conditions - you can see more here www.k9searchdog.org

Also we have been in Europe for a week or so, catching up with some lovely old friends in CZ, such as Lenka, Adela, Martina and Petr, so nice to see everyone after a years absence.......oh and we did bring a small package back........please welcome Cayman Od Hadiho Potoka our new baby boy from the Od Hadiho Potoka kennel in The Czech Republic.

Where have you been?

having had three emails this week asking where have I been and why is the blog not updated, I thought I should try and catch up! Firstly weve had a holiday....yes its true......first in, er.....9 years??? but it was worth the wait!! We visited Winnie, a pup from our last litter, in her home in the Scottish highlands. What can I say except WOW! Here she is loving the snow, plus Andrew and Tennant at the top of a mountain

We have had a somewhat frantic week with our K9 Search dogs Charity, being called out on two searches, and then at the weekend it was a mad dash up to the Bloodhound Club AGM and spring show. The show was great and under breed specialist Pete Smith, Farlap had a great run, with Farlap Baffled winning best In Show, Farlap Festive winning Best Junior and best bitch, and her litter sister Florence winning Puppy Bitch.
Thanks to Rob Manley for the photos from the show, its much appreciated.

Normal? Whats that?

Just as things started going back to "normal" we have had three girls in season. This has meant hormones flying, and the two older boys hardly eating in 2 weeks from the excitement of it all. Happy Days!
On the plus side, training has resumed and is a little more back to normal now. Festive who is in mantrailing training is going great guns and loving her work as you can see in this great shot, courtesy of Sharon Newman.

Not to be left out, and despite the distraction of those girlies, Baffle is pushing ahead with his work with www.k9searchdogs.org and here he isbelow, tracking a "lost dog" (aka Tennant!) and being very pleased to find him. Another great shot courtesy of Sharon.

Heres to 2013

We are looking forward to 2013 with anticipation of better things to come. Its been a sad year for us with the loss of 3 bloodhounds, and Flint the lurcher, especially as those lost were particular favourites (not that I should have favourites I know....but some are just extra special hounds). To top 2012 off nicely, Andrew managed to have a heart attack a few days before Christmas, so all in all its been a stressful time, and its unbelievably good, just to find ourselves slowly returning to normal (whatever that is!) over these few days.
Due to all thats happened which included weeks of flooding and 2 weeks of flu prior to Christmas, we didnt get any cards sent out as we usually do, so must apologise....please dont think weve forgotten you, its just that circumstances were not on our side.

Heres to a Happy and Healthy 2013

A little good cheer at last

The last couple of weeks have brough much sadness to us, starting with the terrible road accident in Denmark that killed our friends Jens and Lise. They first came into our lives  6 years ago when they were looking for a  red puppy, and they came twice from Denmark to our home to meet the hounds, and eventually they were the proudest owners of Henrik, a sweet red boy from our first "B" litter.
We kept in touch regularly and met up again for the World Show in Denmark a couple of years later, where we enjoyed a few wonderful days. Jens was such a tall guy, and our  cottage has low ceilings so he never could stand up straight here, and this amused him. He was fiercely proud of his Danish heritage so we renamed him our "Viking".....he rather liked that! Lise was the sweetest kindest lady you could meet, always so knowlegable about hounds, and their pedigrees, always a kind, warm, gentle character, who adored her bloodhounds so much. With the advent of facebook it made keeping up to date with each other and our hounds, very easy, so we were often chatting and swapping photos of the hounds, and only a few days before the accident Id been speaking to Lise about her having her next red boy from our planned litter. Sadly that will never be. I know its been the most terrible shock and loss to the Danish bloodhound community.

The next sadness was hearing the death of Billy idol Roborovski, in Czech. He was the son of Ch. Farlap Generous, and brother to our Isabelle and I know his owners are devastated at losing him in the peak of his life, to the dreaded torsion. Sad times.

HOWEVER, just to send some cheer on these gloomy cold days, we had more news from george (Ch Farlap Guesswork) who was exhibiting at Moscows prestigious "Golden Collar" event, and went on to win best of Breed and Champion of Breed. Поздравляю!!!

Winning East to West

Last weekend saw two Farlaps on their travels again. Firstly Farlap Guesswork (aka George) who lives in Moscow, went to Russias Internation Dog Show and won CACIB. Here he is with his handler Nikolay, looking fantastic.

George is officially Farlap Guesswork Russian Jun Ch, Russian Ch, Russian Grand Ch, Jun World Winner, European Winner, Jun Club Ch, Club Ch, RKF CH!!

On a slightly smaller scale we went to the Bloodhound Club show on Sunday and baby Festive won best Puppy in Show as well as Best Bitch, so very pleased with her, especially as it was cramped and crowded in the hall, and she was unphased by it all. Thanks to Ev Burnside for sending me this photo.

Away Days

Ive had a couple of lovely "away days" over the last fortnight. I went up to the Bloodhound Club Working trials last weekend, spending the night at Elsenham Court with Josh, Silas and Ezra, three Farlap boys who live there with their mum. It was a real joy to spend time with them, and they probably have the best life of any hounds I know!  Silas is a larger than life character who likes nothing more than waving to his fans. (see video!) Unfortunately Gerty didnt have a particularly successful line at the trials, and on returning to our vehicle, someone had tried to break my windscreen so we limped home and missed the rest of the day. Nice that so many people offered to help .

This week I had a visit to Harry and Bertie, two more Farlap boys, and spent a lovely afternoon walking around their fields with Forager and Festive as well. Harry (Farlap Constant) is litter brother to Candle and Cinnamon and hes like a black and tan clone of Candle!

will it ever stop raining?

The endless rain is driving me nuts.....the lawn is like a paddy field and the trickling stream overflows and roars across the yard every other day. The hounds never get time to dry out between downpours and im sure they are developing webbed feet!! We should have been at the trials last week with gerty, but unfortunately at the last moment something happened that meant I need to stay home and prepare for a short trip away, and I was unable to get to trials. Disapointing as this was, IM glad to say that other "farlaps" kept the side up with Farlap Baracnik at Moorlander and his owner/handler Fiona, coming third in Novice and Farlap bargain with Pete, getting a COM. So proud of both of them and thanks for this photo of Bargain.

On one of the rare days the rain eased a little, we did some training with Festive whose a real natural at tracking and a pleasure to work......shes almost up to novice lines now so hope she will go for her permit in the New year. Here she is working through some maize. She didnt believe me when we first entered the crop, as you can see from her expression!






Weve had a few visitors over the last few weeks: all people who are interested in owning a bloodhound and wanting to find out a bit more about the breed first hand.......its really the only way to be sure if they are going to fit in with your lifestyle. This liver trio were the welcoming committee!! (front is Farlap Cinnamon, middle is Pol. Ch Isabelle Guerin Roborovski and rear is Ch Farlap Candle.