Nearly forgot about photo's & updates. Last week recieved some lovely photo's of Sammy one of Lucy's Cavapoo pups. It is photo's of Sammy on his first big walk. Sammy has been going to puppy classes & Racheal says after being a bit shy to start with was then chasing everyone about having lots of fun. Aparently he is a boisterious chap full of beans & is proving very good to house train. He did eat a door spring the other day which is the spring that stops the door springing back & hitting the wall but Racheal informed me that a couple days later it passed through him luckily. The only think he is a little naughty with is nipping & I have suggested to Racheal that to ask her puppy class trainer to give her tips on how to discourage this behaviour if it is a problem, as pups can go through a nippy chewy stage that they grow out of. Racheal ends her update to me by saying that "he is a lovely dog & so lovely to go downstairs in the morning to see him."
Today I got a great capture of Florrie who is Bonnie's 1 year old daughter. She meet a horse for the first time & as Amy said "Fearless".
Thanks Rachael & Amy for sharing these lovely moments with Sammy & Florrie.
Well got through the weekend & losing the hour. Why do we still change are clocks as its a bit soul destroying to go back to getting up from bed in the morning when it is dark again.
Bobby has found a new home with Angela. Angela visited us on Sunday with her husband to see Bobby. They I feel are the ideal couple to give Bobby the one on one care he will love & they have taken on adult dogs before so understand settling an adult in with themselves. Bobby seemed to like them & all going well they will pick him up on the 17th April.
Millie is now coming off heat & Rollo returned home yesterday to my sisters after his working holiday with us. Millie will be scanned any time after 28 days from yesterday to confirm pregnancy & we probably will scan her & Bonnie at the same time as Bonnie is only a couple days behind her but at the moment today is still mateable so Oscar has worked his charm on her again. Oscar is proving to be a worthy stud dog & now it will be down to finding out if he has the fertility to go with the looks.
The weather has been glourious which makes everything a bit easier. The dogs are all looking well with just Lucy out of coat after her litter of pups but carrying plenty of condition if not to much condition.
Are young girls Smudge & Primrose are growing into lovely young ladies with Primrose being the show dog of the pair but Smudge is a beautiful strong really well put together spaniel who is a little plain about the head but as a brood bitch she is a fine type with great confirmation & colour. Both of these girls are such wonderful tempered dogs being very gentle & loving. Some of temperment is nuture but as we find out more about genes that a lot of the basic temperment of a dog is also genetic, so these means that Dad being of sound temper is as important as Mum's temperment.
Are young boy Reggie is doing fine & is a very funny little chap who is very adventurous & sociable. Rocco are young Toy Poodle stud dog will soon get a chance to prove himself as a stud dog with Lucinda hopefully coming on heat any day now. Rocco is a very elegant young boy with exceptional movement which is always commented on by onlookers when he is out. When he jumps over things its like he has springs in his legs as Poodles do make excellant agility dogs with their natural athletic stride & being highly trainable.
Got a couple lovely photo' of Primrose today looking at my 3 year old horse in the paddock by the house. We have not had a horse in this paddock since last year & Primrose I think was not sure whether it was a horse or a very big dog.lol
Yet again the weekend is here & this year seems to be racing on. We have been very busy yet again this week with two girls on heat at the moment & ready to mate, this week it has also been a little stressful with Bobby not showing interest in being a stud dog so then having to draught in the back up Rollo my sister's Miniature Poodle & change my plans of breeding Cavalier's from Millie this time & breed Cavapoos instead.
Bobby we then decided to neuter & on wednesday we had this done, as I feel he is not cut out for the life of a stud dog. Bobby is very submissive & very gentle mannered dog who we feel will be better in a home away from the hurly burly of a breeding home, so we have someone coming to see him this weekend to see if they would like to give him his new hopefully forever home. He will not leave us this weekend as this is a visit first & we would not let him go until 10 days post op after being neutered. I must admit that it is a great disappointment that Bobby was not interested in being a stud dog but this can happen sometimes & now it is important to find Bobby a good home for him to relax & enjoy life.
This week also Ysabel visited the vets for a dental. At nearly 4 years old she had got a bit of plaque on her teeth & she had this removed in the vets. She came home with teeth any celebrity would be proud of. It is important to take good care of your dogs teeth as if plaque is allowed to get to much, teeth will become loose & they will suffer with gum disease also muck from the teeth going down to the stomach can cause liver & kidney function problems in worse case scenarios.
I find in Cavaliers the shorter the jaw the higher the chance of plaque build up & my vet confirms to me that they see more problems with teeth in dogs with short jaws, so that is one of the reasons that I prefer the Cavalier type with the longer jaw which also gives a more elegant look to the face. Pupster who is 7 years old now has very clean teeth, has never had a dental & sports the longer jaw which some show breeders frown on, but please refer to breed standard & history of these little spaniels to see what I mean. I feel that this little dog is probably being taken in the wrong direction in the show ring especially seeing the show ring dominated by dogs with a deep stop when the breed standard says quite clearly "Shallow stop" & also the slow decreasing in size of this breed in the show ring.
The vets has almost become my second home recently with eye tests, heart checks, vaccinations , neutering & dentals. Its always like this in the spring getting all the routine vet work done. My next planned visit will be to have Millie scanned in around 28 days to hopefully confirm pregnancy, so fingers crossed.
This weeks also was the birthday for two of are children with Matilda who is the youngest 2 years old on Tuesday & Bert my oldest turning 11 years old on Wednesday. Luckily Matilda is young enough to enjoy celebrating her birthday with her big brother & the last two years have made a joint cake for them & have put a photo below of them with this years cake. Bert also likes sharing his day with his youngest sister. Although Bert's birthday treat is tomorrow going ten pin bowling with 3 of his friends from school.
Oscar is showing that he has the potential of being a good stud dog & has been mated with Bonnie with no problems. Millie & Bonnie if both in pup will give birth a few days apart if all goes to plan. Lucinda should be due on heat now any day so we could have 3 litters potentially only a couple weeks apart which will be lots of work but hopefully the weather will be with us so making a bit easier as it is lovely to have pups in the summer months as you can get them outside more & also makes house training easier. So we should be a hive of actvity in the coming months.
Well thats me now signing of for the weekend as I know its going to be a very busy one so will not probably blog until monday now. Have a great weekend as the weather is lovely here at the moment so going to make the most of it learning how to play ten pin bowling, painting fences & gates, mowing grass, walking dogs & watching children playing rugby, these will be just a few things we will try to do this weekend.
Just a quick blog tonight with photo of Rollo with new hairdo. Although I do like the shaggy look its good to keep a Poodle regularily trimmed. I gave Rollo his short back & sides today & he is such a good boy to do any thing like this too. My sister said can you give him a trim whilst he is with you, so I have.
Rollo after his haircut
Rollo has come to visit for a couple days. Rollo is my sisters exceptional tempered & very cute apricot, Miniature Poodle stud dog. He is with us due to Bobby not wanting to be a stud dog. Bobby is are young Cavalier tricoloured boy who we wanted to mate with Millie to produce a litter of Cavaliers but Bobby likes to be friends with the girls but shows no interest otherwise. Some times this can be the case with a male dog just because they are a male does not gaurantee that they will make a stud dog. A good stud dog has to have that extra zest for life that seperates him from the others & because we believe in natural mating we have not gone down the line of extracting semen from him at the vets & thus artificially insemenating the bitch. The mating process is the start of the health & temperment selection process & for me as I have said in a previous blog that if the union can not happen naturally then it should not happen.
So we have Rollo as the back up man & we brought him over yesterday for Millie as my sister allows him to come & stay with me when I need to use him. He loves it here & when I go to my sister's even if I am not picking him up he will sit by me & gets very excited when I leave racing to my car in hope that I need his services. Rollo is the Dad of all the Cavapoos we have bred so far & has more than shown that he passes on his amiable & very trainable temperment & also his cute looks.
Millie & Rollo have meet before & this produced a litter of all apricot pups, so I would be as sure as you can be that this litter will be apricot coloured. Millie is a very gentle & very well behaved girl with the most soulful looks. The pups she has had from two litters one being Cavapoos & one being Cavaliers are reported as being very trainable & very loving dogs that are also very gentle. So fingers crossed that Rollo has caught her in time as yesterday was 14 days on heat but in the past Millie stays mateable until the 19th day of heat & noramally gives birth 9 weeks from around the 14th day of her heat.
Got a photo of Rollo last night relaxing on are sofa. Home from home.lol
Rollo last night at home on are sofa
Two of Lucy's Cavapoo pups say "Hello!" tonight. Tracey sent me some beautiful photo's of Roxy & has found out that she loves playing football as whilst at the park she joined in with some people playing football & Tracey says " she was the one booed for removing her from the pitch.lol". Tracey a few days ago has also been brave enough to allow Roxy off the lead at the park & she has been good to recall but on this one occasion the football was just to tempting.
The next photo's I have & update are of Albert who is sleeping through the night. Kim who's family he is a member off was having a few sleepless nights with him to start with but has now got past this with Albert now sleeping right through the night. Kim says that Albert is proving very quick to learn especially when treats are involved & he is doing really well at puppy training classes. All the reports of the Cavapoos we have bred so far are that they are very trainable & learn very quickly. Thanks for the updates & photo's Tracey & Kim as always much appreciated.
What a dismal start to the day with it cold & raining but the weather forecast was right & this afternoon was bright but still a little chilly. So after a quick run out this morning it was nice to let the dogs have a good run out this afternoon. Millie is nearly ready to mate with Bobby & Bonnie is a little way behind & is going to Oscar so we do have a few frustrated boys around at the moment so having to be careful whos out with who. Bobby who is a bit of an aerial acrobatic you have to be very careful. Bobby can jump upto & over a five bar wooden gate from a stand still & is something to behold when you see him do it. I thought he climbed the gate the first time he got out with us but put him back in the run then watched from around the corner to see him sitting looking at it then like a spring just jump straight up to the top of the gate & over. For a Cavalier or any dog of his size a fairly big feat as at least 4 foot straight up from a stand still.
Its comic relief day today & are childrens school with around 45 pupils put on a comedy show which was a very funny & obscure at times.
Got a few photos tonight & realise at the moment how big are home seems as no pups in the living room or kitchen & Reggie now is big enough to sleep with the older dogs at night in the utility so we have no crates up in the house so loads of extra room. Reggie is proving easy to house train & has been clean overnight since we got him. He has really teamed up with Primrose & Smudge with Lucy seeming to mother him. He is a proper little chap as we say in Devon.
Well I'm off to watch comic relief now for a good laugh & a cry. Night !
Must not be going fast enough as a cold has caught up with me but have had a good run so a couple days of snuffles & a sore throat is not to much to moan about with the weather fine & life as spring kicks in just seeming a little easier.
Went to Tavistock yesterday with some of the dogs to be eye tested. All were okay, so the all clear for another year for Oscar, Bobby, Rocco, Millie & Bonnie. Mr Warren who is the very nice man who tests their eyes & is very gentle & quiet with them making them very relaxed in his presence so they happily allow him to shine his instruments into their eyes. Always a pleasure to take are dogs to him for examination as never seems in a hurry & very often a funny story to tell me.
You may of noticed I have been shuffling stud dogs around & have decided to breed another litter of Cavaliers with Bonnie now going to Oscar. Two factors are here for this change. The first factor is that Rocco are Toy Poodle who I was going to use on her has not had his test results back for his prcd gene test & looks like they will not be here until after Bonnie has gone off heat so would not be able to use him until I know that he is prcd clear. The other factor is yesterday watching Bonnie & Oscar frolicking around together I know that as Cavaliers they are going to make such a lovely pairing so my heart was saying Oscar is 2 years old & has not had a litter yet & we did get him last year specifically for Bonnie so I have had yet another change of heart but again this mating like Millie's is firstly for us to retain a pup. If I was hard headed I should go all out with breeding Cavapoos as these are beautiful dogs & because of this factor very popular but the Cavapoo would not exist if not for the Cavalier or the Poodle so my heart is still very much still with the Cavalier. Now I have three breeds if I can call the Cavapoo that without being condemned that I love Cavaliers, Poodles & the lovely cross of the two the Cavapoo.
Only a couple photos tonight. Must remember to put the camera in my pocket when I go out doors as missed a couple great photo opportunities the last couple days. All the photos tonight though were taken by David my husband or one of are children. Think its time for a couple paracetomals & off to bed. Night !
Had a very hectic week that has carried on into the weekend. The weather is good so you start trying to do all those outside jobs & with me forget the time & then the children start asking whens tea & the dogs are looking at you expectently.
Millie is just approaching being a week on heat & now Bonnie started on heat on Friday so starts the journey for are next litters of pups. I always count the first day of heat as the first day you see a bloody discharge as a bitches vulva will start to swell slightly at first & then after 24 to 48 hours of the swelling starting they will start to have a bloody discharge from the vulva. Most bitches are at their most fertile that is ovulating around 11 to 14 days but this can vary so care must be taken with a bitch throughout her heat to catch her at the right time. A heat lasts around 21 days but this to can vary by a few days each way. There are a few tests that can help in knowing when your bitch is at the best time to mate & these are a good idea if you are travelling far to a stud dog & need to know it is the right time so your journey is not wasted but we use the old method of letting the dog see if she is interested in a little romance. When you have your own stud dog it does make it easier & I feel more likely to be a successful mating as very little stress is envolved due to no travelling, not being in a strange place & not meeting a dog for the first time. All are dogs know each other & every day all happily run out together, so have a sense of pack which I feel does help with the breeding process.
When are bitches are mated we put the bitch & male dog in an enclosed area were I can keep a check on them & then check every few minutes, as I believe if two dogs can not get it together naturally then they should not be mated. Mating is the start of health & temperment selection for me. If the dog is not capable of mating a bitch on his own merit then he should not be a stud dog & the same goes for the bitch if she is to timid or scared of being mated & is right on in heat she should not then have a lined up mating were she is held against her will & forced to be mated with the dog. Temperment & health are what we are trying to reproduce in are pups if Mum & Dad need help at the conception then I feel that this is not a good platform to then build on.
Most bitches even if they have had pups before may yelp a bit as the dog mates them as once the dog ejuculates the bitch for reasons that we are not to sure of constricts her vagina & holds the male dog who whilst this is going on still attached to her positions himself bum to bum with her & this is called the tie which we all like to see in a mating although the dog will of ejuculated all his sperm in the first minutes of mating the longer they stay tied the better we think the mating has success but matings can occur from what is called a slipped mating when the dog just mounts & ejuculates & does not tie. The bitch may get slightly frantic as the tie occurs & if very stressed I will hold her then smooth & talk to her which normally calms the situation. They can stay tied upto an hour but the norm would be around 20 minutes. We mate every 48 hours whilst a bitch is on heat so they may have two or three matings as a bitch may be susceptible to a male dogs charms for a couple days or sometimes a week. Bitches can concieve from seperate matings so can concieve from two or three different dogs if allowed to be mated with or accidently mated with.
Have got some nice photo's today of a couple of are boys below & Pupster are old neutered boy who still is a charmer even though he is neutered.
Hit the ground running today as up at the crack of dawn to do the dogs whilst husband tended the children & then I was off to Rugby with the 3 boys in Barnstaple getting there at 9.45am. Husband David stayed home due to the fact that he needed to cut & split wood for are woodburner that we get all are heating from & hot water. Luckily it was a bit fresh but sunny. The Rugby did not finish until 1.15pm. I enjoy Rugby but was starting to loss the will to live by the end, lol, so quick bite to eat in Barnstaple Rugby Club house & then zoomed up to Clarks shoe shop in Barnstaple High Street a place I rarely venture for 3 pairs of school shoes for the boys, then across town to Argos to buy a new shower & order a new dishwasher as the shower burnt out a couple nights ago. The dishwasher blew up last night, I think my electrical appliances are trying to kill me at the moment as opened up the dishwasher last night for sparks to jump out at me then all the plugs tripped out thankfully. The only good thing that came out of the dishwasher blowing up is that it made me be in Argos the same time Toni came in who has got Big Poppy from are last litter of Cavapoos. Toni said "Hello" & she was with her Mum & Dad on the way to taking Poppy out to Westward Ho! for a walk on the beach. So I got to see Big Poppy who is now just over 3 months old & what a gorgeous little girl she is. I am sure she remembered me as she licked my face & then was equally happy to see my 3 boys. That made my day ! Thanks Toni for waiting for us & the email you have sent me too, what a wonderful job you are doing with Poppy she is a credit to all your work.
Well after seeing Poppy it then was a whirlwind trip around the dreaded Tesco's for food supplies & home. From leaving Rugby to getting home 2 hours I am proud of that time, buying shoes, going to Argos, the assault course that is Tesco's & home in the door in just under 2 hours that has to be some sort of record.
Managed to get a lovely leg of lamb on the meat counter half price to, so bunged that in the oven or husband David did that as luckily for me my husband will cook & clean the same as me & does not see jobs as a woman or a mans but he does think its best that he does not teach me to use the chainsaw as I am not the most safety concious which I tend to agree with him on that one.lol.
So meat in the oven , groceries unpacked, children out running about then its doggy time. A good brisk walk with dogs & children then back home potatoes roasting, veg steaming, Roast dinner, children to bed & crash out with David & dogs lovely end to a very long but enjoyable day. Monday tomorrow must book some dogs in for eye tests at Tavistock. Looks like the weeks going to start like it ended !
Lastly tonight as need to get to bed. I got an update on Florrie who has just been spayed & is doing fine. She is nearly 1 years old & is Bonnie's daughter. Amy sent me a photo of her just after the operation wearing her collar to stop her biting & licking the wound but they took it of the next day as she is not taking to much notice of her wound. Also a couple photo's of Charlie whi is Smudge's brother whos Mum is Millie. Tess & Lorraine say he is going on fine & he does look a handsome young man. Thanks everyone for your updates I must go now before I fall asleep at the computer.
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