Tuesday, 11th June 2007 I've just had a lovely visit from Bramble's mum, Margaret. Bramble is a little shorter than Hermione - I'd guess she's about 24" at the withers (shoulder), and she's a little heavier, but that could be down to a slightly different diet and being an "only" dog rather than "one-of-four". Bramble has been trimmed, her eyebrows and beard would be longer naturally, as would her back. I'm really pleased with the way she's turned out and am really looking forward to the 2007 litter now! Friday, 16th February 2007 Barleors Dakota - the puppy donated to Canine Partners - apparently his training is going well. As soon as we have an update we'll let you know more   Tuesday, 30th January 2007 Hermione's Titre Results came back from Glasgow University today. Puppies are usually vaccinated against Canine Parvo Virus (CPV), Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) Canine Adenovirus (CAV) and Leptospirosis. CAV is also known as Infectious Canine Hepetitis. I chose not to vaccinate Hermione at all. She's been out and about as though she were vaccinated though, I've not restricted her movements at all since birth. She was blood tested for antibodies present to fight CPV, CDV and CAV. The test for Leptospirosis is not usually done. Her results were: CPV 128 CDV <8 CAV <8 Which means that she has antibodies for Parvo virus, ie: there is Parvo in this area and she has mounted a successful defense against it. To put it bluntly, she's caught Parvo Virus and her immune system squashed it before there were any symptoms (I think I'd have noticed those!!) She has very low titres for Distemper and Hepetitis - there is obviously not much of either disease about (or she'd be very ill OR have higher titre results). Which kind of goes against what your average vet will tell you doesn't it? I'm not going to vaccinate her now, but I will test her again later in the year to see what titres she has then. Neither Distemper or Hepetitis are likely to kill her if she caught them at this age (they're really serious in the very young, the very old or the very sick, a healthy juvenile has little to worry about.). Thursday, 28th December, 2006 I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Hermione (Katie's Puppy) at 12 Weeks ... at 16 weeks ... ... and today at 22 weeks ... And all of the pictures below were taken today (28th Dec 06) at Virginia Waters.   Here are a few of the pics I've been sent recently, please keep them coming! Molly! Chester 1 Chester 2 Chester 3 Shimmering Sean ... in the New Forest Sean Little Madam Little Madam 2 Little Madam with her charges... Little Madam and Family Little Madam with Family again..     Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006 Hermione's first professional "job". Illustration photos for Carolyn Menteith's new book (Haynes Manual of Dog Training) Carolyn and Hermione on set with Steve Baxter, photographer at The Photo Farm Carolyn trying to get Hermione to play tuggy... but she'd rather be chewing fingers, or licking them! Carolyn and Steve choosing photos at the end of the shoot I'm very, very proud of my girl's behaviour today. First time on set and she behaved impeccably. Absolutely no sign of photo phobia, or flash phobia and rock solid on new surfaces (in this case a paper background) Monday, October 2nd, 2006 Barleors Shimmering Sean (9 weeks old) departed for his new home today As did the final puppy, Gold Spot boy, now known as "Dakota" photographed here with new handler, Joan, and wearing his new Canine Partners uniform! Wish him luck in his new career ... as an assistance dog. When you need your next dog crate, you should look no further than these guys... Blinding service and excellent products... . Remember Susan Owen's Goldendoodles? Well, this is Ginny, now 12 weeks old.. ...who visited us today! Aren't they just the most adorable puppies?   Wednesday, September 20th, 2006 Only have time for a mega quick update today - where HAS the day gone? 1st, Catherine, thank you so much for your call today - you don't know how much it means to me... you're an absolute angel and there are perilously few of them about! You really made my day, THANK YOU! 2nd, International Correspondent "Harley Fortune" feels that he needs a mention - so "Hi Harley" from us, slurps and licks from Flossy and crew. We're looking forward to seeing your mum and dad when they come back in October. We have started to stock up on Red Wine already... Finally, does anyone know of a mascara that is TRULY waterproof? Puppy departure dates are being discussed and planned and I'm becoming rather emotional just thinking about it... Tuesday, September 19th, 2006 Puppy Testing! Sheila Hamilton Andrews testing, Lesley Goldstein scoring, Sally Rowe assisting. Elevation Structure Retrieve Touch Sensitivity Sight Sensitivity Bed-Time!   Thursday, September 14th, 2006 Hercules, the last Chocolate Male Puppy. Click on the image for a full size picture! Sold, Saturday September 16th, to the Hurst-Brown Family (who live extremely close to my expert groomer, Sue Pinn!) Hercules asleep Smelling the flowers Some socialisation with Rachel the cat In his crate with his mate!   Wednesday, September 13th 2006 Very exciting news today - Nina Bondarenko from Canine Partners came to visit us. If you don't know who Nina Bondarenko or Canine Partners are click here to visit their website or get yourself a copy of the October issue of Dogs Today Magazine (the one with Susan's Goldendoodle puppies on the front) as they've got an excellent supplemental magazine this month featuring Canine Partners. Nina assessed (puppy tested) both Hercules and Gold Spot Boy this morning and decided that although Hercules was a bit too wizzy to become an assistance dog (so he's still looking for a VERY active home), Gold Spot Boy was "spot" on (excuse the pun). So Gold Spot (yet to be named) has been donated to the Canine Partners charity with promises from Nina that there will be regular photographic updates from CP which you'll be able to view on this site! Gold Spot and Nina performing "The Elevation Test" Play Test Chasing Test Flossy's blood test results came back from Jean Dodds yesterday evening. I'm very happy to report that she's "A - OK". She has adequate titres for Parvo and Distemper (although she's never been vaccinated). To interpret the results you are best off with the white copy (2nd edition) of the Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog, Volhard and Brown. To see the results as a jpg click here. To see the bloods as a pdf click here. Tuesday, September 12th 2006 1st Car Ride, Visit to Toshiba, Camberley Most of the pups were asleep when I opened up the truck A few then woke up and yawned There were quite a few visitors, though not all at the same time Reese gets a cuddle, he's very photogenic isn't he? Not one poop or vomit as you can see from the vetbed Mum traveled alongside them, with "Uncle" David Puppy weights today are.. Shimmering Sean ... 3.6 Kg Marvellous Molly ... 3.6 Kg Little Madam ... 3.5 Kg Blackberry Bramble ... 3.8 Kg Chocolate Reese ... 3.7 Kg Luscious Lola ... 3.4 Kg Chocolate Chester ... 4.2 Kg Always Elsie ... 3.0 Kg Handsome Hercules ... 3.3 Kg Gold Spot Boy ... 3.7 Kg We have someone coming to view Hercules and Gold Spot tomorrow. Monday, September 11th, 2006 Always Elsie Blackberry Bramble (targeting) Chocolate Chester (sit) Always Elsie (sit) Gold Spot (sit) Hercules (on his way into a sit) Luscious Lola (sit) Marvellous Molly (target) Little Madam (luring) Little Madam (into a sit) Sean (lured into a sit) Sean (luring further down) Sean (even further down) Sean (CLICK! he reached the down position!) Today I was joined by Sally Rowe, recent graduate from Bishop Burton College (Applied Animal Behaviour and Training). Sally gained her BSc (Hons) in June and came over to shadow me for a day. She was joined by Susan Owen this morning and they worked on anything the puppies wanted to offer - today we were seeing lots of sits, most were happily touching the target and a few were offering downs when lured. The puppies were all wormed today with Milbemax and the first of the Landywoods meat order arrived. Its been a busy one!   Saturday, September 9th, 2006 Ginny - One of Susan's Goldendoodle pups Hermione gets a cuddle from Eileen "Madam" investigates the garden H loves running through grass Pups at play surrounded by toys Ginny holds a "Master Class" The pups are six weeks old today, the same age as Susan's pups were when they were photographed for Dogs Today magazine (and have made front cover - well done Susan!!). Ginny the Goldendoodle, cousin to our pups, now has a permanent home with Susan's friend Eileen, and she is 10 weeks old in these photos. Our puppies started clicker training this week, just gentle baby stuff - introduction of the clicker and treats and sits. We should have some photos of the pups in a training session to show you shortly!   Thursday, September 7th, 2006 The Atley Family with their puppy Chester   Susan's Goldendoodle puppy visited this week she's my puppies cousin Two "gardeners" in the well-pruned herb tub. Flossy's son, George, visited last Saturday - he's a stunning 28" tall! Margaret and Bramble Marylin (American Cocker) The pups were really keen to see her! Nina's mum and Elsie My vet doing a routine health check. Only two chocolate boys left now, Hercules and Gold Left Hip.       Wednesday, August 30th, 2006 ~ Still Available:
SOLD - Thursday, 31 August 06 Chocolate Female - Gold Right Shoulder and Hip - Wingard Family.	SOLD - Thursday, 7th September 06 Chocolate Female - Red Right Hip
SOLD - Friday, 1st September 06 Chocolate Male - Blue Left Shoulder - Atley Family	Chocolate Male - Gold Left Hip
Chocolate Male - "Hercules" - Red Left Hip	Our puppies will be available Week Commencing 25th September

I had an interesting call last night, fairly unsociably late (this is a not so subtle hint - calls after 9.00pm are NOT appreciated - I'm still feeding a baby during the night and I'm shattered by 8pm...) and this person wanted to know, amongst many other things, how I could justify charging so much for my puppies? (Chocolate Females are £1200 and the Chocolate Males are £1000). It took admirable restraint not to reply, "because I work my bollocks off producing the best socialised, best fed, best trained puppies ever..." Steve, probably quite rightly, said to just let it go, if this lady didn't appreciate the difference between regular "commercial rubbish" and our 3rd Generation Natural pups, then she didn't deserve one. But I can't - its been niggling me all day so here's why.

In short, our puppy price includes:

The Puppy! which has had:
- The best start possible: an unvaccinated mother who was fed raw natural ingredients during its gestation period.
- 5 weeks or thereabouts of Biologically Appropriate Raw Food (from weaning to departure)
- 3 weeks of Clicker Training (Sit, Down, Recall, Baby Heelwork, Targeting) with one of the UK's top Clicker Trainers
- a 3 week intensive socialisation programme
- a veterinary examination by our own vet (Tim Hosken, Alma Road Vets) at six weeks
- 1st course of wormer
- Homeopathic Nosodes for Distemper, Hepatitis, Adeno Virus, Parvo Virus and Leptospirosis - with the remainder of the bottle to use as boosters at 1 year if required
- A temperament test to ensure we know its the right puppy for you.
- Six weeks of free insurance

New owners will also receive:
• A copy of "Give your dog a bone" (Ian Billinghurst) or "Grow your pup with bones" (also Billinghurst) so you can continue to feed naturally for life.
• The Barleors Labradoodle Information Pack (18 page essential guide to the first few weeks)
• Local water - 10 liters of Ascot water to minimise upset tummies
• Several days supply of BARF diet
• Info of where to purchase more supplies as required
• Lifetime support, help and advice for your puppy,

And now, photos of the puppies growing up! (Keep Scrolling!)

Tuesday, August 29th, 2006

Bank Holiday Monday, August 28th, 2006

Sunday, August 27th, 2006

Remember to keep an eye on the Socialisation page!

August 26th 2006

Another puppy was reserved yesterday, Jane brought her lovely family over to meet the puppies and they've chosen a super black girl to join their family.

Jane also brought over the website address of a site I was told about a couple of months ago by my good friend Karen when she last attended the Blood Clinic, though at the time I spent ages looking, but couldn't find it. Anyway, anyone interested in investigating the BARF diet should definitely check this site out. They supply frozen meat, chicken wings, Greenark Cereal Products etc, etc. And they deliver to your door! Many thanks to Jane for finding this information for us. Also, Ainsworths delivered this morning (blinding service eh?) so the pups will start their course of Homeopathic Nosodes today.

Click on the logo below to view the Landywood site. If you do order from them, would you tell them where you found them please?

August 25th 2006

Many thanks to Alison Wink for her research on Nosodes for the puppies. I can confirm that I've ordered a Combination remedy: Hepatitis (Canine) 30C, Leptospirosis (Canine) 30C, Parvo Virus 30C, Distemperinum 30C and Adeno Virus 30C, Tablets, 7g x 11 from Ainsworths this morning, so every puppy will have been homeopathically "vaccinated" prior to departure, with enough left over for future "boosters" if required.

If you have already bought "Give Your Dog A Bone" by Ian Billinghurst, I'll buy you the companion book "Grow Your Pup With Bones" instead as this is part of the "Puppy Pack" that I supply with every puppy that leaves my home and included in the purchase price of the puppy.

August 22, 23, 24 2006

Clean puppies	What goes in ... must come out! (Dirty Puppies)
Filthy puppies - why do they have to climb over it, through it then all over each other?
1st experience of eating out of bowls.	1st to wake and investigate is 1st born black female.
Who is soon followed by the rest of the pack.	The "gruel" is a liquidised chicken wing, 2 whole raw eggs with shell, slippery elm powder and evaporated milk.
The Weenafeeda is definitely a WeanaFeeda!	As you can see - no need to bath for a 2nd time today!

Puppy Day 22

Pictures (and bath/blow dry) by Sue Pinn!

Saturday 12th August - Puppy Day 15

Daisy = Term + 12 ( 12 days over the estimated due date of 30th July )

Wednesday 9th August - Puppy Day 11

Daisy = Term + 9 ( 9 days over the estimated due date of 30th July )

But now to the important stuff!

Wednesday 3rd August - Day 4

STILL no sign of Daisy. (She was due on Sunday...) but because I've been having fairly painful pre-birthing-twinges I've turned the phones off and would appreciate it if everyone would possibly mind holding fire with phone calls about the pups until after Daisy's been born! I'm keeping the mobile on - but it really is for emergency calls to the midwife only... I promise that if you e-mail me I will get back to you!

Here are the pups and mum at 9.30pm this evening - they really are delightful aren't they?

Tuesday 2nd August - Day 3

Still no sign of Daisy. :-(

However, Sue and Suzanne came over yesterday and Suzanne took these delightful photos of the pups... So these are DAY 3 photos, not today's (Day 4). I was a bit tied up today since it was Jenson's 2nd birthday!

Monday 31st August - Day 2

No sign of Daisy yet (my own baby - due yesterday) so I'm still able to update Flossy's page!

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Saturday 29th July

Boy am I glad I'm only having one! Been up all night so this is a real short update - and I'm not actually sure she's finished yet but we've lots of lovely black and chocolate puppies (un-vet-checked-yet, so no numbers, sorry), but there are still contractions going on (10.30am and she had her first pup at 11.20pm last night.)

Pics so far:

Big Contraction	Tail Up
Tail RIGHT up	A puppy is born! (12:38pm Female, Chocolate, 420g)
Just before Kick-Off (10.00pm 28th July)	1st Puppy 11.20pm Black Female 380g
Most of the brood	Close up of most of the brood
All pups currently doing well and an even mixture of boys and girls! (11.00am 29th July).

 

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Friday 28th July

I thought it was all kicking off at lunchtime today. Lots of panting, scratching up of bedding, pacing around, etc. etc. Unfortunately nothing more has happened. You can bet your bottom dollar though, if I HAD gone shopping or something, I'd have come back and found that she'd started and we would never have known the correct litter order etc. If the pictures below are startlingly huge - you should see her now. Its plain indecent!

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Tuesday 25th July

I didn't think she could get any bigger...

Surely, if there is a god, it can't be long now! Flossy and I are not enjoying this "glorious" weather, its just too blooming hot! I've retreated to the office, closed windows and curtains and turned up the AC to give us both some respite.

Hopefully they're'll be more news imminently, even though neither of us are due until the weekend...

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Monday 17th July

Flossy's Second Scan at Baby Debut - Maidenhead

Very disappointingly, there are no pictures to show you. We've missed the moment when there was enough fluid around each puppy - yet at 49 days (today) they're still not sufficiently developed to see much on a 3D scan. Maddie of course, expert that she is, kept saying "oh loooook at that paw!" or "Can you see all four chambers of its heart beating?" whilst Sue Pinn and I looked on nodding in what we hoped would be mistaken for an informed and knowledgeable way. Personally, all I could see was a positive jungle of spines - God Knows how you count them as they whiz past so quickly... But we now think there are NINE (9) puppies, not 7!

Gotta go now - Sue Pinn and I are about to construct Flossy's whelping box so she has plenty of time to get used to it before the 9 babies arrive!

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Friday 14th July

I seem to have been "up to my eyes in it" for the last couple of weeks, so apologies for the lack of updates on Flossy and her impending litter of puppies. We're back off to Baby Debut on Monday to see if we can get some lovely 3D scans of these puppies - I still think they'll be the first on the Internet anywhere - and of course, if you can prove differently, you must let me know! Anyway, here are some pics taken this morning of Flossy enjoying her currently favourite pose - snoozing in front of the window! Which reminds me, I really must clean it!

Wednesday 28th June 2006

I went to see those lovely people at Baby Debut again yesterday. This time it was with Flossy, not for Baby Daisy!

It was Maddie's first dog, she's only ever scanned people before so we can't be absolutely sure but Maddie counted 7 pups, even though they're really really tiny right now. They've kindly invited us back when Flossy is slightly more advanced (about 45 -55 days) so we can do some of that brilliant 3D imaging with her. Click on the logo below to visit their website.

Thursday 1st June 2006

Good god, can't believe its June already. I'm giving birth next month!!!!!!!!!!!!! ?? Maybe its time to give Steve a gentle nudge in the general direction of getting the nursery ready?

I'm currently vehicle-less and stranded at home right now, (thanks Walton Motors), so I've been playing with various colour schemes for Flossy's pups pedigree - and Violets for that matter. What do you think?

Flossy's Pedigree in Green

Flossy's Pedigree in Terracotta Shades

Violet's Pedigree in Violet/Lavender Shades

Bank Holiday Monday... 29th May 2006

Phew... Well, they say that the best laid plans often go astray, and that's exactly what has happened this weekend...

George (Dazzling Jack) arrived on Friday 26th May, on day 9 of Flossy's season. So we weren't that worried when he didn't seem terribly interested in her. However, on Saturday, (day 10) Flossy was beginning to "stand" for just about anyone, (or anything) and George was still showing no inclination to do much about it. By Sunday (day 11) we still hadn't even had a mounting, never mind a mating (with a tie) and I was beginning to get somewhat stressed by the situation. Flossy was still standing for everything that moved and George couldn't give a damn!

So we had to make a very rapid change of plans. I went back to the list of Stud Dogs that I'd been looking at prior to seeing George at Christmas. A picture of one of the dogs, "Charlie" (Lets Duck And Run), a Chocolate Labrador, had been e-mailed to me by Susan Owen several months ago. We'd rejected him because his photograph wasn't terribly appealing; he was wearing a choke chain (and of course clicker trainers find them very off-putting and offensive) and (can you believe it) because there was a hole in the fence behind him (!) which made the picture really "tatty" and it really put us off the dog. But, it was a Bank Holiday Weekend, and I DID only have another 24 hours in which to find Flossy a boyfriend... So I picked up the phone and spoke to Charlie's owner, Ben Dunning, who was absolutely delightful and not at all fazed by being asked to use his prize labrador stud dog on a Standard Poodle!

Flossy was driven down to Hampshire on Monday morning, 29th May, day 12 of her season. I wish I'd had my camera out when Charlie (who clearly knew exactly what was about to happen) first clapped eyes on Flossy. He'll probably write it up in his diary tonight as the most unusual day of his stud career - "The day that daddy asked me to shag a sheep" or something similar!

However, once he'd got over the initial shock, he soon got into gear and with very little assistance (Ben is a superb stud-handler and his experience was only required because Flossy is quite tall for a labrador male) Charlie had soon "done the do", with a good tie to boot. So now all we have to do is wait 28 days, then get her scanned...

To contact Ben about using Charlie at Stud, click here.

To view the new pedigree (Charlie x Flossy) click here.

To see a picture of Lets Duck And Run (Charlie) click here. Its a big picture so be prepared for a longish download time.

To be removed from the waiting list, because the stud isn't as advertised, click here. (And I'm really very, very sorry if you feel like that, Charlie is a LOVELY boy.)

To speak to me directly, telephone 01344 291 465 or 07767 34 14 24.

25th May 2006

Violet was scanned on Wednesday. There'll be a lot of disappointed people, as she's only carrying six puppies, one of which is promised already to Canine Partners...

23rd May 2006

Susan is taking Violet to be scanned tomorrow to see a) if she is pregnant and b) how many Goldendoodle puppies Susan needs to be planning for. Its a nail-bitingly exciting time for all of us!

Have just been doing some minor updates on the websites and found that www.CrossKeysBooks.com have got special offers on the Ian Billinghurst books I recommend for Natural Feeding (BARF, Give Your Dog a Bone and Grow Your Pup With Bones). As of 8th May this promotion was still valid - so grab yourself a copy NOW!

The 2005 Litter (Standard Poodles)
A selection of my favourite pics from last year's litter

Flossy in May 2003, (7 Weeks), Photo by Susan Owen

Face, Feet and Tail clipped out already!

August 2003, (18 Weeks) Picture: The Photo Farm

Sporting first Puppy Cut!

December 2003, (10 Months) Picture: The Photo Farm

"Puppy Lion" growing out