Charlie our eldest labby, he is 10 years old today. Bless him, such a sweet old boy. Our lovely gentleman.
Happy Birthday Charlie boy.
and here is a new group photo:
logically…. I need another black lab OR another yellow so I can even up this photo – with either 3 blacks each side of Melvin OR a yellow at each end of the photo!!!
Maggie is nearly 6 months old and is a little smasher!
Im pleased to say my gorgeous gang have taken part in a photoshoot for a calendar. Hopefully their photos will get selected for the final cut.
Take a look at the gallery – professional photos 2013 so you can see the latest pictures!
Yesterday we had a fantastic time at a dog show. We came home with 11 rosettes. Our triumph was in taking home RESERVE BEST IN SHOW with our little Maggie. This was only her second dog show!
It is always nice to win the odd rosette and I do confess to feeling very pleased when I get a red…but never do I hope to achieve anything as high as a Reserve Best in Show! This is now the second time in all my dog owning/dog showing days that I have had a such an esteemed rosette! (though the first time was BEST in SHOW!).
Here are the team with some rosettes!!! <GRIN>
and here is the wonderful Maggin the Moo with her special “RESERVE” Best in Show Rosette.
She isn’t phased by her success!!! Here is a photo of Katherine with Maggie who is clearly thrilled to bits at their win!!!
So proud of my dogs doing so well. I need to get a bigger noticeboard for my rosettes now!
We are attending Agility on Friday. We did join a club two weeks ago, they were not very child friendly so…. we will travel further afield so we can enjoy the agility club. I do feel the point in learning how to do agility is the instructors actually TEACHING us what to do, rather than simply telling us we have got it wrong all the time !! oh dear…..its meant to be fun not something to make us feel small! Such is the doggy world sometimes! onwards and upwards!
The pups are of course now five months old – with Maggie winning her reserve on her five month birthday!
I have been so lucky to receive such regular contact with all the puppies! Who all seem to be doing very well!
Just a small reminder that the pups are due worming at 5mths, then 6mths. After this you can choose to worm every 3 – 6mths.
PLEASE also be aware Kennel Cough is around the local area of Plymouth. So if you are in this area, don’t forget to ask your vet about vaccines.
Katherine and I went to a dog show yesterday – taking Stanley and Melvin with us!
We came home with a triumphant 8 rosettes. 3 Fourth places, 4 Thirds and a FIRST
We were really happy at doing so well however the best wins of the day was in Agility! Katherine ran the course with Stanley and got the “Agility bug!” Initially doing the course in 28 seconds. Then after some practice she had trimmed it down to a very respectable 18.7 seconds – to gain first place in her group! (the quickest speed in all the groups was 12 seconds!).
Katherine also ran Melvin and came third with a time of 23 seconds.
The dogs loved it, got very keyed up and raced through the course with a lot of enthusiasm. It was fabulous for me to see Katherine beaming at her success!
I took the plunge and ran the course with Melvin. I was obviously a lot slower – I blame my shoes of course, I wasn’t at all prepared. I mean…. running is bad for you isn’t it?!! My time was 37 seconds but apparently I wasn’t the slowest (phew!) someone had done it in 1 minute 32 seconds (!!).
Yesterday was the first time that the dogs had done an actual agility course, they have used our own jump but not as part of a course! So to say I am proud of Katherine, Stanley and Melvin for their achievement is an understatement – VERY WELL DONE!!!!! Im pleased as punch with them.
and now….. Katherine wants to join an agility club! So roll on Thursday to see how we get on!
Cute video of Maggie and Archie playing.
This video needs to be played with volume as Archie is making lots of little growly noises but is playing so gently with Maggie it is really sweet!
Maggie and the rest of the puppies are now 16 weeks old. Maggie is very leggy…going up, up and away!! bless, very slender and sleek!
Harry, Stanley, Holly, Ruby, Tango, Sunni-Jim, Megan and Murphy are FOUR years old today!!!! Hope you have all had a lovely day. It is so hard to believe that it all started in the late hours of the evening of the 30th June 2009! I had spent an entire week convinced that Molly was about to have her precious puppies so was very relieved when the puppies arrived safe and sound.
Stanley enjoyed two new toys and antler chews for all of his family.
Here’s the gang (L-R) Molly, Bunty, Archie, Melvin, Stanley and Charlie with the pups at the front – Maverick and Maggie.
We had a lovely time walking at Wembury Point. All the dogs had a lovely swim!
Here are a few video clips
Yesterday we went to a dog show and had a lovely time!
Maggie came second for best behaved puppy.
Katherine came second for child handling with Stanley.
Thomas came third for child handling with Maverick
Katherine and Stanley were placed third for best trick. I felt very proud of them as the trick went very well. (round you go spin, and also a sit stay, throwing the ball at a small distance to leave the ball until commanded to retrieve).
Maggie and Maverick came fourth for Most appealing eyes!
It is always nice to come home with lots of rosettes!
Katherine with Maggie
Katherine with Stanley
Thomas with Maverick
Just a little reminder to worm your puppy, they can be wormed monthly from today. (monthly until 6months of age).
Maggie is doing brilliantly and so so confident! She races about on a walk, doesn’t need to be in the thick of the pack, but quite happy to be up close to all dogs if she wants. It is nice she doesn’t feel the need to have the security of her Mum and brothers!
Maggies recall is perfect and she sits very nicely and patiently. We will be starting to teach her some distance on her stay very soon!
This is Maggie with her family. Black Labs (L_R) Maggie, Charlie, Molly, Stanley and Archie. Yellow Labs (L_R) Bunty and Melvin.
I have bought a “petcam” so watch this space!!!! I am hoping to see the dogs walks through their eyes (and see what they get up to when they are in the thick of a bush!).
Just a quick diary entry to remind everyone to change the feeding routine from four meals to THREE meals a day.
Take the overall total quantity of food they are used to having currently and now divide that into three! So if they were on 120g a day then give them 40g per meal.
Please continue to assess your puppy as he or she develops so as to avoid a slide in weight be it under or over. Contrary to advice I was given very recently by a vet who will remain nameless you CAN overfeed a puppy. This will at the very least cause diarrhoea, but not only that a pup will become fat, have bad skin and discharges. The purpose of the meals being divided into four is based on the size of the puppies stomach – now they are a little older they can manage three slightly larger meals.
It is worth mentioning that vets struggle with Labradors weight ranges as they seem to be unaware of the difference in body shape between the SHOW dog Labrador and the WORKING type Labrador.
Happy 12th Week Birthday Pups!
We took the gang to Bovisand beach! They had a great time and Maggie LOVED it! She went into the sea and also did a little bit of digging.
We had a lovely time watching the dogs playing together. Im really pleased with how confident Maggie is!
Here is a clip of Maggie going into the sea!
We also spent some time at the top of the beach giving the dogs time to dry.
Maggie played with Stanley! Stanley has made out he is a big boy who doesn’t like little girl pups. Stinky Stan had been a little jealous of his sibling, however today he fell for her little charms – hook line and sinker! They had a hoolie about and I think Stanley now sees the benefit in having a little sister to play with!
Today is worming day for all of the puppies (although Maverick is a few days later due to rehoming day!) Hope it goes smoothly for all of the puppies – Im sure it will as they are growing into bigger puppies now!
After this worming – they are due again in two weeks then they go MONTHLY! yippee!
