The Clydesdale foal--4 months on.

Growing up with mum, Amy and "aunt" Rose.

Even living in a field of lush grass, the grass on the other side of the gate is always greener!

Hello again!

After an absence of a few months I've taken up blogging again. A few things have happened and I'll attempt to catch up.
The following photos are of the little 3/4 bred Arab foal which appeared in the pony paddock towards the end of June. The other 1/4 is Welsh Sec. B.
Mother is 17 years old and this is her first foal. How lucky is her owner.?........a perfect little filly which is expected to remain this beautiful, bright chestnut colour. The mare has always been very fit and healthy, being used for endurance riding and is a winner over 160k in 2 days.

Foal aged 3 days, still sticks close to mum.

Now aged just over 2 weeks and now venturing farther from mum.

Her beautiful Arab type head.

Doing a giraffe impersonation.

A healthy Clydesdale foal.

After last years disastrous foaling when my brother lost both the mare and foal to grass sickness, this year's foal is a healthy filly. Here she is 1 day old.

Mother and daughter doing well.

Now aged 2 weeks and living out. She has been well handled since birth and very tame.

Baby "Findatie Anna" with mum, Amy, and friend Rosie.

Crufts 2011

Crufts 2011 seems a long way away now but today a friend, Susan Lanson of Cantoverde Papillons, sent me this photo of me with my two exhibits at this year's show. Swallow (right) was unplaced but Maisie was placed first in the Junior bitch class of 15. She was totally unfazed by the whole experience and was her usual bouncy self.

The judge was Michael Qinney.

Tass--2002-2011.

Ch. Pyatshaw Silver Tassie (Tass) 31/08/02--8/03/11.

She is greatly missed.

She was the friendliest of dogs and I was keen to breed a pup from her after she became a champion but she turned out to be a hopeless mum, preferring, I think, to be a career girl. It took four days after whelping for her to look at or touch her two pups and never did clean the back ends! However, her good nature was passed on to her offspring, George and Wee Geoffie!

This photo was taken last year at the back of our house.

Problems with photos.

I've published the previous post twice now and it's still not right! The photo is there to start with then disappears .......forever, it would seem. I have one or two new posts in mind (after a lengthy silence) but I think I'll wait a bit and see if the problem with the photos is resolved.

The things I see when walking the dogs!

A couple of minutes after leaving the house with three of the dogs and as I was approaching the main road out of the village two young men, one carrying what appeared to be a tray covered by a jacket, crossed the bottom of the road I was on and ran along the pavement from the direction of the newsagent. I did wonder why they were running and turning round to look back in my direction. Were they workmen, sent by their colleagues, to buy some hot food for lunch and they didn't want it to get cold?....No, no hot food available in either of the shops. Could that tray have been the money drawer from the newsagent's till and they were thieves? I kept watching them and they me, then they turned into a street and were hidden by a high wall. A car reversed out and then went back in then almost immediately drove out and sped off out of the village. I know that the newsagent is a frail, elderly lady and looked towards her shop but there was no sign of any activity around the door, so I continued my walk.
Coming back I saw a police car and decided to pass the shop door round the corner. The place was awash with the constabulary so I offered my information. The money drawer had been taken from the shop but the old lady, although understandably shaken, was unhurt.
A policeman came to the house for my statement of events and there were the usual questions eg...name, address, date of birth and mother's maiden name before he started on my story. Any outstanding features? No....why don't thieves have huge heads with one eye on the back and three legs? Height?...not very tall, not very small, just average! What colour was the car? that was easy but what make?...more difficult for me. Did it have anything unusual about its wheel trims? Well from a distance of 200 yards and my not too sharp eyesight nowadays I couldn't say.
I hope they manage to catch them after traumatising the old lady--I don't suppose they could have made off with much money but then again she did stock cigarettes and they are extremely pricey and someone not too far from me is a regular shopper for that commodity along with many other villagers.

Scottish Open Show Dog of the Year 2010

No, we didn't win, BUT, we came second! The Scottish Kennel Club organises a competition to encourage people to enter the Open shows and points are awarded for 1st to 3rd in every class entered, for Group placings and, of course for Best in Show.
Mo had won quite a few Best of Breed awards in 2o10 so I totted up his points and sent off his form. A short time later we received a letter inviting us to the competition at the beginning of February. It took the form of a knock-out match, so, of course, there was an element of luck involved.
The winner was the massive, magnificent, black Newfoundland, Ch. Scotiabear Talk of the Town at Rathmil and Reserve Best in Match was my Mo,Pyatshaw Ravel, pictured in the header photo.

Some Utility Group Dogs from Manchester Ch. Show

We were in no hurry to leave the show last Friday as we had accommodation booked for a second night, not too far from the showground and so we watched the judging of the Utility Group after the completion of the Toy Group.

1st..............Standard Poodle

2nd.............Shar Pei

3rd .............French Bulldog

4th...............Chow Chow.



Below are a selection of dogs and faces from this group.

French Bulldog

German Spitz (Mittel)(left) and German Spitz (Klein)(right)

Shar Pei

Standard Poodle

Japanese Akita Inu.

English Bulldog.

bored Bulldog!

Dalmation

Dalmation

French Bulldog

Boston Terrier

Japanese Akita Inu

poor photo of (left) Canaan Dog and (right) Chow Chow

English Bulldog.

A few photos of the Toy Group at Manchester Ch. Show.

The lighting was very poor in the hall in which the papillons were judged. Some people, more expert than me, managed to get some decent pictures but I had none. However in the main hall the lighting was much better and here are a few of the dogs.

The Chinese Crested.

The final line-up

Group 1...the Bichon Frise.

Group 2 ...the Maltese

Group 3...the Japanese Chin

Group4... the Griffon Bruxellois

The winner of the Toy Group, the Bichon.

..and his front view.

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

The Maltese strutting his stuff.

The judge, Alan Bendelow, inspects the dogs before assessing each individually on the table and the floor.

The Maltese, finally placed 2nd in the Toy Group.

The Papillon, Burghbridge U R Solid Gold Skyvana.

The Bolognese.

An eye for the birds!

We were travelling home after a couple of days away at Manchester Championship dog show and stopped off for a coffee break at our favourite motorway services in Cumbria on the M6. Our table in the cafe overlooked the ice-covered pond and a small flock of ducks flew in to land on the ice with hilarious results. They skidded along on their backsides, crashing into each other and seemed a bit mystified by this strange surface, although they should be well aquainted with it this winter!

The cafe with its frozen pond.

The view south.