Bea and Archie

 

A few days ago we met up with Bea (formally Thumbelina) who was the tiny girl from our last litter.

Bea is now 6 months old and an absolute delight. She is around 20 inches to the withers and a very compact square bitch. I don't imagine she will mature at much bigger than 22 inches - her Mother's height. She is absolutely perfect.

This girl really has got it all - brains and beauty, alongside a wicked sense of humour and a cheeky stubborn streak.

Edna, Peggy and I have met up with Bea for socially distanced dog walks several times since she left us, but we usually do lane walking around a quaint little village where it is hard to photograph the dogs because of the light when we walk down a narrow lane with Cornish hedges either side.

Today was a country park which was something different, a bit busier and a LOT of fun!

Edna knows that Bea is her daughter and is very patient with her, although as you will see from the faces she pulls in the pictures there really is no mistaking it!

We also met up with Archie recently.

Archie is Edna's son from her first litter and Peggy's full brother.

Archie is now 3 and a handsome boy, he lives just 7 miles away so I see him often ❤

Like his half sister Bea, Archie is a very funny boy with a real sense of humour. He knows the word 'sausages' and will do anything after he has heard it. He also loves a ball and will jump 4 foot into the air from a standstill to catch one!

Archie has a little human sister aged 6 months and is so loving and gentle with her. He really is an intuitive boy.

There aren't as many pictures of Archie because I didn't take my camera when we went to meet him. I will take more next time.

CRUFTS IS CANCELLED

 

Well, after spending hours yesterday doing a maintenence bath on Peggy, I recieved a text informing me that Crufts has been cancelled!

To be honest, I think most of us who had qualified expected as much - we are in the midst of a global pandemic afterall.

Dog shows can wait and we'd far rather people are healthy and safe than risking it all for a ribbon. 

I had COVID 6 months ago and am still suffering from a bad chest and on steroids. I wouldn't wish it on anyone!

Plus, I don't need a judge to tell me that I have the best dogs in the world, I already know!

The question now, is what to do with Peggy's coat. 

This Crufts was always going to be our last one as I'm planning to have a litter from Peggy later in the year, so I was always going to clip her off.

BUT I love the glamour of the big coat and my grooming is improving so much by having it to practice on. I also dont' want to be that person who has a kneejerk reaction and shaves their dog naked because Crufts is cancelled, then regrets it so I think I'm going to sit on it for a while.

The reality is that having a poodle in full coat and doing the kind of walks we do does have drawbacks - they need a once a week bath, condition and blowdry. Any longer and they are matted.
Beach trips always require a bath and dry immediately after too - salt water and curly hair don't mix well! The coat matts up within the 20 minutes it takes us to drive home.
A maintenance bath takes us 3 hours, plus an hour to clean up afterwards and a full groom takes upto 5 hours!
And whilst Peggy is fantastic to groom and enjoys the process, I find the drying tedious and always feel like they are hours that we could spend on the moors.

Most show poodles don't get walked properly, so that the coat isn't damaged when they run through bushes and play with other dogs but I can't imagine having a dog and not walking them properly.  I think its cruel not to walk your dog properly and actually I get far more joy from watching her running and playing and mud wallowing than I do running around the ring.

So as you can see, I'm very torn.

Peggy has a charity photoshoot coming up soon so needs to be in a bigger coat for that so for now it will remain and I think we'll see where we are after.

Whatever decision comes next will be whats right for Peggy, as it always has been. ❤

Spring has Sprung...or Has It?

 

Well, it DID look like spring was finally approaching, but today was blustery and rainy once again.

When oh when will it end???

Regardless of any weather have had some fantastic walks recently.

The girls and Stan have been on top form pulling faces and just living life to its fullest as you can see!

Edna has a new modelling job (more details later) and I have just paid our stud fee to a very nice silver boy halfway across the world in preparation for Peggy hopefully having a litter later in the year.

Here are a few pictures of our recent wanders in the sunshine.

And one from today, yuck! 😂