A Walk with 7 Poodles.

 

A couple of days ago we met up with some of our friends for a walk in a 4 acre private field. There were 7 poodles in total and we all had a blast, it was poodle heaven!

Here are a few photos from the walk - the dogs are my 3 - Stanley,  Edna and Peggy as well as Rusty and Casper who belong to our friend Louise, Inca who belongs to Jade and Otis who is a pup from Edna's last litter. 

Rusty- the red standard stole the show; at 11.5 and despite having a few health conditions she was well up for chasing balls and running with the youngsters. Seeing an older girl living life to its fullest was just brilliant.

I may well use the enclosed field for future puppy meets. It was a fantastic facility with plenty of free on street parking and meant that all pups were safe and that a big pack of dogs wasn't bothering any non dog people, out for a nice stroll. The only problem was that we only booked an hour and it went so so fast!

 

Goodbye Bowser

Today we said goodbye to Bowser.

Bowser was my next door neighbour's dog and lived to the grand old age of 15.

He was a quirky boy; a big dog in a small dog's body and over the last 5 years or so we have shared many fantastic walks together.

I will remember him best for his love of nose biting and how he became my own personal stalker - he knew the sound of my car when I came home from work and then would be straight outside and following my every move in the garden, just incase I happened to drop a nice snack over the fence for him, and I did, often 🥲

Bowser was a grouchy old sod with the world's most annoying bark. He had a stubborn streak and pleased only himself on walks. It was like he was so happy sniffing around, the world didn't matter and you ceased to exist. He was certainly a dog who knew what he wanted.

Over the last few weeks Bowser's health has declined and sadly today he was PTS to prevent him from suffering as things would not have improved. I am desperately sad for his owners Adam and Jade and I will miss our little friend dearly.

Thank you for the love little guy.

I'll do my best to look after your family.

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! 😂