Had a fabulous time with my labbies on the beach.  Look at my journal for photos!

I have had a new feature added to my website – which will enable you to be informed of any updates within the pup’s diary so you dont need to miss anything!  Although it says “subscribe” it doesnt cost you anything!   The feature is on the right hand side of this page!

Molly has been mated with Bertie, we now have to wait to see if we will be lucky enough to have pups!   I hope to confirm this with a scan between 28 and 35 days.  Molly is at the very early stages.  We have prepared for Molly to be at her optimum fitness, she was wormed in advance of the mating and vaccinations are up to date (again in advance of mating)  I am not keen on adding chemicals of any kind at a critical stage.   Though Molly is on supplements to encourage the healthy development of the puppy’s.  (zinc and folic acid).  The decision to mate a bitch should never be taken lightly as the “mum” has to be at her peak of physical fitness in order to cope with the demands of feeding her pups.

If you wanted to check out the health certificates please look at the parents information and the health testing page which helps give an explanation of the tests that are used.

I dont wish to tempt fate as I am getting nervous already at sorting out “timing” for our dear Molly to be mated.

Please keep coming back to the pups diary for news as soon as I have any.

We had an enjoyable walk at Radford park, the dogs love going through the woods.  Scenting the ball and generally having fun.  We got to the other side of the park near the duck pond when Stanley took his opportunity in scarpering, to pinch the duck bread.  At the same time Melvin went “scrumping”.  As I had a customers dog with me I decided the best thing to do was to get my remaining three dogs to sit stay at the top of the hill, keep the customers dog with me and fetch Stanley.  Utterly no point in recalling him when he is eating (stealing more like).   Thank goodness for all my hardwork as the dogs “stay” is solid.  I returned with a very norty Stanley to see the three (Molly, Archie and Charlie) where I had left them.  Now all I needed to do was get Melvin – he had now finished eating his apples and was coming back to the pack.  Some sense of order must resume so I got them to sit at the top of the hill.  I tend to point at their bottoms while whispering “sit” at them.  They know to sit in a line too!!  I walked down the hill and along the track.  I turned around to look at them.  I waited a few minutes, before recalling them.  I wish I had my camera as I could have filmed them charging towards me!  Yay good doggies!

When I got home I put Molly, Charlie and Archie indoors and decided I needed to do a little work with the two youngsters.  I put Melvin and Stanley to the test as their eating habits are getting them into trouble.  I put them on our back path (which has lots of bird tables for them to steal food from) and got them into a sit stay.  (I am now learning this is called a long duration sit!) I walked back to the front of the house, I am out of sight and called them.  *nothing*, so I called again.  Still expecting them to come charging around the corner, I called a littler louder, again nothing happened.  So I went back to the norty pups.  I have to confess it was running through my mind that they were likely to be eating from the bird tables BUT to my delight I discovered they were exactley as I had left them!  Whast good dogs.  I felt very proud they hadnt moved a muscle, given I had been out of sight for at least 3 or 4 minutes and the very high motivation for the bird tables…they had done really well not to have legged it up the path!  They had cute looks on their faces as they were wondering where I had got to!  I think it is fair to say the sit/stay is very steady in my dogs.

Charlie, Stanley, Molly, Melvin and Archie with Katherine

I hope Santa Paws brings all my four legged friends a special treat for christmas. 

To all my friends, family and customers have a great christmas and all the very best for the New Year.

I will not be held responsible for any of my puppy’s antics!!

I foresee a pattern forming, regarding Melvin’s leaping capabilities.

Today on our walk Melvin disappeared, when whistled he appeared in someones garden, at that precise moment he was actually between gardens as he was leaping the wall. (not a big wall prob about 5ft). So seeing Melvin’s entry into this garden I run over to see if I can get him out before we get caught with him trespassing. (you know how it is when your dogs do things you wish they hadnt!) He was “scrumping” the little toad!

The gate to the garden was padlocked so I decided the best option was to encourage Melvin to jump back into the first garden however as I walked in the direction of the first garden (my back turned on Melvin) I heard some scrabbling, so I turned round to an astonishing sight of Melvin at the top of a gate! he had managed to leap on to the gate and was making his way through it. (a very comical moment albeit a temporary comical moment).

It is a 6ft gate, slatted (vertically) with a bar running at the top (a gap between the slats and the bar of about 10-12 inches??) Melvin was trying to get through the gap.

Lucky for him he hadnt managed to reach the actual top of the gate as this was covered in nails poking upwards (It is illegal to do this, so I have now reported it to the council). BUT poor boy – his leg got stuck in the slats so I had to push him out of the gate knowing he was going to fall to the floor. He was panicking as he was in pain and wriggling so much I was worried he would break his leg. Pushing him in now results in us being back to square one <sigh> trapped.

So next option was to get him over the garden fence which luckily was lower than the gate but was obstructed by a massive pile of rotting fermenting (stinky) sludgey grass, we were standing in the grass sliding about trying to get a grip to stay upright whilst grabbing a dog on another side of the fence who by now was thinking he didnt want to come anywhere near us! aghh…luckily all’s well that ends well. I caught hold of Melvins collar whilst my husband managed to lean over and grab his body to pull him over to our side.

I checked him over and he has a graze on his leg – so nothing too bad thankgod. no swelling and no lameness.

I swear this dog’s invisible springs will be render me grey!

(he has been spotted on the top of a big shed before now and we havent sussed out he got to the top yet)

I have had a lovely walk with my five. I have set them a new challenge and hopefully soon I will be able to post a video of them achieving this soon….so whats the new challenge?

The challenge is called “Round I Go” in memory of Max who loved to play round you go.

I have all five dogs sitting.  I then walk clockwise around them.  They have to remain in a “stay” as the circle gets bigger.  Easy I hear you mutter!  Well I have obviously set the bar a notch higher to see if we can do it so I am calling one dog at a time, the dog has to follow me as I continue to walk clockwise.  the remaining dogs stay sitting until they are called.  The goal is to have all five of them waiting their turn to be called, to then walk clockwise behind me (playing follow the leader!) until all five woofs are following me!

Today they did achieve it, but it was a bit untidy so I need to tune them up a bit!  I was very pleased with how quick they catch on so hopefully I will have a video to show you all very soon!

Melvin and his fellow siblings are now 9 months old (yesterday) I am so happy with how Melvin has turned out that I hope everyone else is enjoying their puppies as much as I am.

Melvin is so handsome!

Melvin is a very good boy.  I have discovered this dog is more talented than first thought!  He has succeeded in getting to the cat food – the first dog at Marchstone to accomplish this – I would love to know just ‘HOW’ did this boy get up onto the windowsill!

He also plays tag with his mum, ‘Molly’ when they play ball usually Molly will get the ball first.  Melvin has alot of drive and determination but not quite the same speed as his mum, so after she has caught the ball he will tag her as if to say “well caught mum” just like they do in doubles tennis!!!  It is really cute!

Melvin my labrador tiggeretriever!  He does go some!  If you look really closely you can see his invisible springs on his paws!!!!!

http://youtu.be/01-rbDpqO-4 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8TzIaCrGFo&feature=player_profilepage