HOT Weather!

Well, it has been a glorious week here in Devon - 28 degrees most days!

Unfortunately it is far too hot to walk the dogs during the day time and I am no early bird so they are getting evening walks only.

We usually head out after 8pm and try to go somewhere with water so that they can cool off.
Peggy is quite confident in the water and always happy to have a little paddle. I do hope that she will be a swimmer like her mum.

Here are a few photos from some of our recent walks at South Milton Beach, near Salcombe.

During the daytime the dogs have free run of the garden where they have a paddling pool and plenty of shade.
I am also making them ice blocks to keep them cool in the heat, which consist of frozen water with some treats and toys in it.
Here is a short video of Peggy enjoying her ice block treat.

First Trip To the Beach

Edna has unfortunately damaged the pads of her feet during a recent walk so she is having to rest at the moment and stay at home doing some brain games instead.
This does however mean that Peggy is really benefitting from some 1:1 attention.

This evening we joined my friend and two of her dogs at the beach for a short walk.
Peggy absolutely loves Twiggy the French Bulldog, who is very gentle and kind natured.

After the walk we went to a BBQ at my friend's house and Peggy slept soundly on my lap for the duration, only waking to have a cheeky nibble of a burger that one of the children had dropped.

And Then There Was One!

 Sawa and Lenny have both left for their new homes now, leaving just my keeper puppy -Peggy.

Sawa (pronounced Sava) has gone to live in London with a family of four children, one of whom has autism. It is my hope that she will be a great support to him. 

Sawas family have never owned a dog before, let alone a Standard Poodle but they have opted to groom her themselves and are doing a wonderful job. Sawa's new owner must be very creative indeed, to be grooming to this level already.

I just love this picture of Sawa that was sent by her new family. She looks like she's smiling!

Lenny has gone to live in Milton Keynes with his new owner, where he will be joined by an older toy poodle girl.

Lenny stayed for nearly an extra two weeks and as I like my puppies to be out walking at 8 weeks old, I took Lenny along too.

Lenny's new owner visits Devon regularly so we are hoping to see him from time to time and meet up for walks.

Here are a few photographs of him on Dartmoor, the day before he left.

With all of the puppies now in their new homes I am able to focus my efforts on training Peggy. 

Keeping Peggy has been a strange experience - she didn't feel like she was really mine until all of the other puppies left. 

We are going for lots of walks and focussing on basic toilet and crate training at the moment.

This is largely going very well - we are getting a good 80% of toileting completed outside and she sleeps in her crate without too much fuss. If she does cause any noise, Edna will sit beside the crate to comfort her.

Peggy will sit, lie down, give a paw and spin left or right for treats.

Her favourite game is ragga with her dragon toy that Debbie - Ozzie's owner kindly gave us. 

Here are a few photos of Peggy on her walks and in the garden. 

Peggy pulls the funniest faces when she is running, just like her mother!

Race For Life Plymouth

Today my Mum, Stanley, Edna and I took part in the Plymouth 5 Km Race For Life.

Cancer has sadly touched our family more that most and as such it is a cause very close to our hearts.

Aside from being a great cause to raise money for, this was also a great opportunity to put the dogs out of their comfort zones and let them experience crowds and noise, whilst providing some positive reinforcement training. I do this with them only once or twice a year and I am proud to say that they behaved impeccably.

The dogs were more fixated on their dehydrated chicken treats than the steel drums, excited children and crowds!

Lots of people were very happy to see them and came over for a cuddle which made the experience even more fun for them.

I didn't take many photographs because it was raining but here are the few I took.

Over £171,000 was raised today towards this charity.

It's certainly an event I'll be participating in again.

My Mum and Stanley

Stanley and Edna

Winston and Archie Leave for Pastures New

Beautiful little Winston left for his new home in Wales this morning, with his owner Jen.
Jen also owns a pretty black standard girl and a Labrador and lives with her husband Gareth and dog mad daughter Sophia; who is so very excited about the newest addition.
Jen is a groomer so I am looking forward to seeing Winston in lots of funky hairstyles.

Here is a photograph of Winston at the park with Jen. Jen, like myself is a great believer in all things holistic so is opting not to vaccinate and is already taking Winston for little walks.
This is great as the puppies hugely benefit from early socialisation.

There are also a number of photographs of Winston just before he left here, all groomed up and looking handsome!

Darling Archie has also gone to his new home with Emma and Dan, who live in Plymouth which is such a blessing as I will be able to watch him grow up.
I am told that he has slept through since they got him and that he is very relaxed in his new home. I attribute this to the fact that Emma was very dedicated and visited him at least twice a week and was very hands on; grooming and playing with him.
Emma has type 1 diabetes and is hoping to train Archie as a diabetic alert dog.
Emma has already begun basic obedience training with Archie which is going well.

Here is a photograph of Archie cuddling with his mum and a couple of photographs that I took of him looking all fancy and groomed, just before he left.

Otto and Ozzie Start their New Lives

Well the lovely Otto (black collar) was the first puppy to leave this morning for his new life in London as a gun and hopefully PAT dog.
His owners are a very active family who have previously owned poodles, but lost their old girl over a year ago. They had been looking for a standard poodle for some time and thankfully found us.
I am so grateful to them for the life he is going to have, Otto is certainly a lucky boy.

Below are a few photographs of him with his new family.

Next to leave was my little hooligan Ozzie. Ozzie was green collar boy and was the boldest of the litter.

Ozzie has gone to live in Dorset with my friend Debbie, her husband Steve and daughter Chloe as well as their two existing poodles Whizzy and Fred.

Ozzie was just meant to be for this family, and although it was never planned as soon as Debbie came to visit I think it was clear that Ozzie was going to live with her! I think he chose very well indeed.

Ozzie will be visiting Cornwall in August so we will hopefully be able to meet up with him for a walk.

Below are a few photographs of Debbie and Chloe with Ozzie on the fateful first meeting, as well as some taken today by Debbie, once he arrived.

Both sets of owners so bought me some incredibly thoughtful gifts - flowers - lillies and roses - my favourite! Pure meat dog treats for Stan and Edna, a toy for Peggy my keeper pup and a lovely fluffy silver poodle keyring.

I didn't expect to receive anything at all so I was very surprised and touched.

Thank you! 

Goodbye little boys. Have great adventures!