CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER 2009
Well as usual it has been an eventful year.
The year started with the remainder of the Shooting Season still in full swing.
And we had a dog eye check session here early in Jan, which was well attended.
Our plans were meant to include a new edition to the Purbarn pack from Italy, but sadly he did not come up to expectations and therefore he stayed in Italy. But we mated Hazel to Drizzle at the end of 2008 and awaited the patter of tiny paws to arrive early in February. We also decided to try for one more litter from Holly and this time to go down to Exeter to use Baz, a Rain son. So the day after our Keepers Day here, which was a fantastic day and night from which we staggered back home from the Gunroom at gone 1am. So after a few hours sleep I set off for Exeter. After the first mating I stayed down that way overnight to awake to a bright dry day, but as I travelled back for the second mating the snow started to fall and got thicker and thicker. So as soon as the second mating was over and without delay, I set off for my horrendous snowy journey home. The further I travelled the thicker it got ! Eventually arriving home rather tired at about 10pm. 3 days later on 6th February Hazel had her litter of 6 pups, with no problems and all bitches. We eventually kept Flury (‘P’ Tell’s of Snow Flury’s)
Hazel and her pups
Richards shoulder had been playing him up since he fell on it in November last year, eventually he was sent to a Clinical Assessment Team to see what damage had been done. He had torn the tendon and when eventually he was sent for a scan he was informed it was in tatters and would need an operation.
As we had numerous people wanting Chocolate Drop Spaniel (Cocsux) pups we decided to mate Teal for the first time to Wilts Flake, giving Tillie a rest after her litter of 11 last year. Flake like last year came up and stayed on Bonk Holiday !
We qualified Drizzle for Crufts 2010 during February and Hail took a 2nd with his son Hector (owned by our friend Ann Whitby) taking the RCC and another of Ann’s dogs namely Morgan, a Rain son this time also qualified for Crufts 2010.
Crufts this year saw us take Willow, Hail, Rain and Drizzle (others that were qualified were not looking good enough to go). We never expect great things at Crufts, so we were thrilled to get 5th out of an entry of 35 with Drizzle in the Yearling Class.
Ann Tomlin (as was then, now Ann Bliss) came up from Leominster in March to take Gema back with her to mate her to Bailey one of the Ragdoll Tom cats she had bought from us a few years ago. While here she fell in love with Hazel’s pups and decided she wanted one.
5th April saw Holly decide to produce her pups the morning of the Yorkshire GRC Champ Show. So Rich set off to the Show with 3 dogs and I stayed with Holly she eventually had 1 Dog & 1 Bitch naturally. From then on it became a nightmare, first with Holly going down with Eclampsia and then both pups wailing in pain and I though I was going to loose them both, it was very distressing for all concerned, but after almost 24 hours things started to settle down and as long as someone was with Holly in the room she became more relaxed. The 2 pups became known as Little & Large, but really Breez & Twister.
Little & Large or Breez & Twister
Thankfully Sally was able to do a bit of puppy sitting when I was off Judging the following weekend and Rich took Drizzle to a show on his own and took BOB and 2nd in the Gundog Group.
19th April saw Sal here puppy sitting again for Holly, so we could take 4 dogs to North West GRC Champ. What we did not know was that Teal had decided that was also going to be the day she was going to have her litter 6 days early.
Teal & her litter
At the show we had a good day with Ether 5th in Veteran, Drizzle 5th in Under Grad, Rain 3rd in Open & Willow taking 1st in Limit. Apparently she was tipped for the CC but she never got it. But we arrived home to find Sal happily whelping Teal down. She had 4 Bitches and 3 Dogs, all doing just fine.
May saw to our surprise Mea take her first Best of Breed at a local Open Show. After the heart condition diagnosis we decided not to show her much, so this was a nice surprise.
By mid May my office was free from puppies, but I had 8 Quail in the big dog crate instead. It was decided they were too small to go in the brooder house with the pheasants, so they came indoors instead to start with. By this time the Pheasant rearing season was in full swing.
.JPG)
The Quail
At the end of May I took Willow and went and stayed the night before Bath Champ Show with Chris, Maria & Gabriella Eels. She was so close yet so far to being made into a Champion as she took the Reserve CC that day.
Willow moving at Bath Champ Show
Willow took another 1st, 2 weeks later but still she did not get that illusive 3rd CC. We had also taken Hail to the show, but when we got home he went down with a Bloat and was rushed to the Vets. He was there for 5 days and had 2 operations, but eventually he came home and has been going from strength to strength ever since, but he wont be back in the ring probably till next year as the shaved area is on his show side is taking it’s time to grow back.
.JPG)
Hail after his operation
At the end of June I got a trapped Sciatic Nerve, which the Doctor originally diagnosed as a pulled muscle. I eventually went to a Physiotherapist, who eventually did Acupuncture and cold compresses. Luckily this had the desired affect as Rich went into hospital at the end of the following week for the op on his right shoulder, they managed to mend the tendon using keyhole surgery but had to shave a bit of bone off for the tendon to run in. Sally came and stayed to help me and Darren & Gary were a fantastic help feeding and looking after the pheasants and they tried to stop Rich from doing too much with his shoulder when he came out of hospital. Rich was told to keep it in the sling for 6 weeks, did he . . . . . ? He did however go to all his Physiotherapy appointments, but did he do the exercises at home . . . . ? He said his work was his exercise !
At the start of July we were worried about Minx who at just 13 was loosing weight and having problems with her balance. Meanwhile her mother Magic had another of her Mass Cell tumours break open although they never seemed to bother her, we just covered them with a fetching tee-shirt. But on 12th July Magic decided she had to gallop down the field to tell off Toni (the groom) for thinking of bringing one of the horses through what Magic considered to be her field. She was still acting Alfa Bitch at just over 14 ½ ! But this must have been her downfall as within less than ½ hour she was in distress and rushed to the Vets, sadly this was the end for Magic, as I was not going to put her through major surgery to find out what had gone wrong inside her, which they may not have been able to put right anyway. So she was buried next to her half brother Storm. But just 5 days later it had become obvious that Minx was getting worse and her quality of life was not there any more, so we had to say good bye to her also. This left a big hole in our lives.
On July 19th we travelled to near Macclesfield to Ollie Garrner’s (our young jockey friend) Grandparents house for Ollie’s 21st lunch time birthday bash. A great do and both of us were very moved when he mentioned in his speech that we had helped fashion his life since he was 10.
Ollie going over a practice fence
Then the following weekend we travelled back to Tenbury Wells for a 21st celebration for Ed Leftwich and a farewell do for Jack Leftwich who was off for a years work in Africa. We stayed overnight at their house. Before travelling home. We did however drop in to see Sister-in-law Liz on our way back.
We had Dylan and Marcus to stay for a week in August when Sally took Jack down to Devizes to his other Gran’s and then she stayed for a weeks holiday. During the week we took Flury to her first show (infact a Champ Show) where she met up with her sister Lilly, (Anne’s puppy). The both did very well with Flury taking 3rd and qualifying for Crufts 2010 and Lilly taking 5th. Then after Sal had picked up Dylan and Marcus I went down for a few days again to Chris and Maria’s to try and help them with a mating between the 2 Goldens that they had from us.
It was also during August that we borrowed a friends Caravan and set off down to Leominster to go to Anne & Tony’s (Lilly’s owners) wedding. Another super do and I was able to see the litter of kittens that our Gema had to Bailey. Then the following weekend we had Niece Rachael and her husband Paul + the 2 children and their dog Autumn to stay for the weekend. On the Sunday we met up with Sal and we all went in convoy to the Game Fair for a day out.
During the summer there were a few projects that we decided to do. 1/ To put a high level bath in outside the bathroom window for dog bathing which saves my back. 2/ To make the bridge across the pond and finish off this end of the pond with rocks and plants.
.JPG)
The bridge over the pond
3/ Was to refurbish the old, old bared kennel, the biggest project of the lot, and turn it into a Cattery big enough for all the cats. I finished that at the end of August. I then made dog sleeping boxes for where the cats had been, turning them into Spaniel kennels. It was finished just in time for our BBQ here.
When we first came here
.JPG)
Refurbished and cat proofed all round
Early September saw Gaina go down with a Pyo so she had to be spayed. But she is fine now.
In October we had a great day at the YGRC Open Show where Flury went BPIS and Drizzle best Dog in show and Hazel won her class. Talk about keeping it in the family, as Flury is Drizzle and Hazels daughter.
Rain, this time was so close yet so far from being made a champion as he took RCC at Midland Counties Champ Show. We also had Twister was at his first Champ show and like Flury had at her first show he also qualified for Crufts 2010. Shortly after this we decided to let Breez, Twisters sister go to live with Ollie’s Grandparents near Macclesfield, where she has settled in very well. She was lovely, but never going to be good enough to show. We miss her, but know she has a wonderful home there and filling the gap that Toby left when they lost him soon after Ollie’s 21st party.
1st November I had the great honour of Judging the Bitches at the Berkshire Downs & Chilterns GRC Champ Show. I had a lovely entry and found out after the show that the Bitch that I gave the CC to was her 3rd which made her a Show Champion on the day.
We were also both honoured this time when David Tomlinson, a reporter from the Shooting Times Magazine came here to do both a report on our Show Bred Goldens working and also another report on the P-Y-L Shoot (The Goldens report will be out on 23rd December and the Shoot report sometime in January).
These were just 2 of the many photos he took on the day he was here
Also in November Rich did his first Judging appointment at The Wrexham & District Kennel Associations Open Show and I judged all the other Gundogs. A week later Flury at 9 ½ months took her first Best of Breed as well as Best Puppy at Gundog Club of North Wales Open Show.
In December Rich set off down to Devon for his night away with the lads to go Shooting on the 7th and Sally and the boys came with me to the Midland GRC Champ Show where Willow again was not quite close enough by yet again being awarded the RCC. But Flury made up for it by taking not only Best Puppy Bitch but also Best Puppy in Show !
Then a bit of sadness when we had to make another one of those horrid decisions, to say Good Bye to Bridie (our unregistered Springer and mother to Truffle) at 15 ½. She had done well as she had, had 5 strokes over the past 2 years and each time bounced back, but eventually she was not able to get up without our help, which in our opinion is not quality of life.
The last show we went to before Christmas was a local all breed Open Show where Flury took Reserve Best Puppy in Show, so she ended the year on a high !
So that was our year, eventful you might say. We hope yours was a good year and that 2010 will be even better. So have a Great Christmas and we hope to catch up with you sometime in the New Year.
Love and Best Wishes from Jen & Rich
Grandson Jack with his Snowman on Christmas Eve 2009
CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER 2009
Well as usual it has been an eventful year.
The year started with the remainder of the Shooting Season still in full swing.
And we had a dog eye check session here early in Jan, which was well attended.
Our plans were meant to include a new edition to the Purbarn pack from Italy, but sadly he did not come up to expectations and therefore he stayed in Italy. But we mated Hazel to Drizzle at the end of 2008 and awaited the patter of tiny paws to arrive early in February. We also decided to try for one more litter from Holly and this time to go down to Exeter to use Baz, a Rain son. So the day after our Keepers Day here, which was a fantastic day and night from which we staggered back home from the Gunroom at gone 1am. So after a few hours sleep I set off for Exeter. After the first mating I stayed down that way overnight to awake to a bright dry day, but as I travelled back for the second mating the snow started to fall and got thicker and thicker. So as soon as the second mating was over and without delay, I set off for my horrendous snowy journey home. The further I travelled the thicker it got ! Eventually arriving home rather tired at about 10pm. 3 days later on 6th February Hazel had her litter of 6 pups, with no problems and all bitches. We eventually kept Flury (‘P’ Tell’s of Snow Flury’s)
Hazel and her pups
Richards shoulder had been playing him up since he fell on it in November last year, eventually he was sent to a Clinical Assessment Team to see what damage had been done. He had torn the tendon and when eventually he was sent for a scan he was informed it was in tatters and would need an operation.
As we had numerous people wanting Chocolate Drop Spaniel (Cocsux) pups we decided to mate Teal for the first time to Wilts Flake, giving Tillie a rest after her litter of 11 last year. Flake like last year came up and stayed on Bonk Holiday !
We qualified Drizzle for Crufts 2010 during February and Hail took a 2nd with his son Hector (owned by our friend Ann Whitby) taking the RCC and another of Ann’s dogs namely Morgan, a Rain son this time also qualified for Crufts 2010.
Crufts this year saw us take Willow, Hail, Rain and Drizzle (others that were qualified were not looking good enough to go). We never expect great things at Crufts, so we were thrilled to get 5th out of an entry of 35 with Drizzle in the Yearling Class.
Ann Tomlin (as was then, now Ann Bliss) came up from Leominster in March to take Gema back with her to mate her to Bailey one of the Ragdoll Tom cats she had bought from us a few years ago. While here she fell in love with Hazel’s pups and decided she wanted one.
5th April saw Holly decide to produce her pups the morning of the Yorkshire GRC Champ Show. So Rich set off to the Show with 3 dogs and I stayed with Holly she eventually had 1 Dog & 1 Bitch naturally. From then on it became a nightmare, first with Holly going down with Eclampsia and then both pups wailing in pain and I though I was going to loose them both, it was very distressing for all concerned, but after almost 24 hours things started to settle down and as long as someone was with Holly in the room she became more relaxed. The 2 pups became known as Little & Large, but really Breez & Twister.
Little & Large or Breez & Twister
Thankfully Sally was able to do a bit of puppy sitting when I was off Judging the following weekend and Rich took Drizzle to a show on his own and took BOB and 2nd in the Gundog Group.
19th April saw Sal here puppy sitting again for Holly, so we could take 4 dogs to North West GRC Champ. What we did not know was that Teal had decided that was also going to be the day she was going to have her litter 6 days early.
Teal & her litter
At the show we had a good day with Ether 5th in Veteran, Drizzle 5th in Under Grad, Rain 3rd in Open & Willow taking 1st in Limit. Apparently she was tipped for the CC but she never got it. But we arrived home to find Sal happily whelping Teal down. She had 4 Bitches and 3 Dogs, all doing just fine.
May saw to our surprise Mea take her first Best of Breed at a local Open Show. After the heart condition diagnosis we decided not to show her much, so this was a nice surprise.
By mid May my office was free from puppies, but I had 8 Quail in the big dog crate instead. It was decided they were too small to go in the brooder house with the pheasants, so they came indoors instead to start with. By this time the Pheasant rearing season was in full swing.
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The Quail |
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At the end of May I took Willow and went and stayed the night before Bath Champ Show with Chris, Maria & Gabriella Eels. She was so close yet so far to being made into a Champion as she took the Reserve CC that day.
Willow moving at Bath Champ Show
Willow took another 1st, 2 weeks later but still she did not get that illusive 3rd CC. We had also taken Hail to the show, but when we got home he went down with a Bloat and was rushed to the Vets. He was there for 5 days and had 2 operations, but eventually he came home and has been going from strength to strength ever since, but he wont be back in the ring probably till next year as the shaved area is on his show side is taking it’s time to grow back.
Hail after his operation
At the end of June I got a trapped Sciatic Nerve, which the Doctor originally diagnosed as a pulled muscle. I eventually went to a Physiotherapist, who eventually did Acupuncture and cold compresses. Luckily this had the desired affect as Rich went into hospital at the end of the following week for the op on his right shoulder, they managed to mend the tendon using keyhole surgery but had to shave a bit of bone off for the tendon to run in. Sally came and stayed to help me and Darren & Gary were a fantastic help feeding and looking after the pheasants and they tried to stop Rich from doing too much with his shoulder when he came out of hospital. Rich was told to keep it in the sling for 6 weeks, did he . . . . . ? He did however go to all his Physiotherapy appointments, but did he do the exercises at home . . . . ? He said his work was his exercise !
At the start of July we were worried about Minx who at just 13 was loosing weight and having problems with her balance. Meanwhile her mother Magic had another of her Mass Cell tumours break open although they never seemed to bother her, we just covered them with a fetching tee-shirt. But on 12th July Magic decided she had to gallop down the field to tell off Toni (the groom) for thinking of bringing one of the horses through what Magic considered to be her field. She was still acting Alfa Bitch at just over 14 ½ ! But this must have been her downfall as within less than ½ hour she was in distress and rushed to the Vets, sadly this was the end for Magic, as I was not going to put her through major surgery to find out what had gone wrong inside her, which they may not have been able to put right anyway. So she was buried next to her half brother Storm. But just 5 days later it had become obvious that Minx was getting worse and her quality of life was not there any more, so we had to say good bye to her also. This left a big hole in our lives.
On July 19th we travelled to near Macclesfield to Ollie Garrner’s (our young jockey friend) Grandparents house for Ollie’s 21st lunch time birthday bash. A great do and both of us were very moved when he mentioned in his speech that we had helped fashion his life since he was 10.
Ollie going over a practice fence
Then the following weekend we travelled back to Tenbury Wells for a 21st celebration for Ed Leftwich and a farewell do for Jack Leftwich who was off for a years work in Africa. We stayed overnight at their house. Before travelling home. We did however drop in to see Sister-in-law Liz on our way back.
We had Dylan and Marcus to stay for a week in August when Sally took Jack down to Devizes to his other Gran’s and then she stayed for a weeks holiday. During the week we took Flury to her first show (infact a Champ Show) where she met up with her sister Lilly, (Anne’s puppy). The both did very well with Flury taking 3rd and qualifying for Crufts 2010 and Lilly taking 5th. Then after Sal had picked up Dylan and Marcus I went down for a few days again to Chris and Maria’s to try and help them with a mating between the 2 Goldens that they had from us.
It was also during August that we borrowed a friends Caravan and set off down to Leominster to go to Anne & Tony’s (Lilly’s owners) wedding. Another super do and I was able to see the litter of kittens that our Gema had to Bailey. Then the following weekend we had Niece Rachael and her husband Paul + the 2 children and their dog Autumn to stay for the weekend. On the Sunday we met up with Sal and we all went in convoy to the Game Fair for a day out.
During the summer there were a few projects that we decided to do. 1/ To put a high level bath in outside the bathroom window for dog bathing which saves my back. 2/ To make the bridge across the pond and finish off this end of the pond with rocks and plants.
The bridge over the pond
3/ Was to refurbish the old, old bared kennel, the biggest project of the lot, and turn it into a Cattery big enough for all the cats. I finished that at the end of August. I then made dog sleeping boxes for where the cats had been, turning them into Spaniel kennels. It was finished just in time for our BBQ here.
When we first came here |
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Refurbished and cat proofed all round |
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Early September saw Gaina go down with a Pyo so she had to be spayed. But she is fine now.
In October we had a great day at the YGRC Open Show where Flury went BPIS and Drizzle best Dog in show and Hazel won her class. Talk about keeping it in the family, as Flury is Drizzle and Hazels daughter.
Rain, this time was so close yet so far from being made a champion as he took RCC at Midland Counties Champ Show. We also had Twister was at his first Champ show and like Flury had at her first show he also qualified for Crufts 2010. Shortly after this we decided to let Breez, Twisters sister go to live with Ollie’s Grandparents near Macclesfield, where she has settled in very well. She was lovely, but never going to be good enough to show. We miss her, but know she has a wonderful home there and filling the gap that Toby left when they lost him soon after Ollie’s 21st party.
1st November I had the great honour of Judging the Bitches at the Berkshire Downs & Chilterns GRC Champ Show. I had a lovely entry and found out after the show that the Bitch that I gave the CC to was her 3rd which made her a Show Champion on the day.
We were also both honoured this time when David Tomlinson, a reporter from the Shooting Times Magazine came here to do both a report on our Show Bred Goldens working and also another report on the P-Y-L Shoot (The Goldens report will be out on 23rd December and the Shoot report sometime in January).
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These were just 2 of the many photos he took on the day he was here |
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Also in November Rich did his first Judging appointment at The Wrexham & District Kennel Associations Open Show and I judged all the other Gundogs. A week later Flury at 9 ½ months took her first Best of Breed as well as Best Puppy at Gundog Club of North Wales Open Show.
In December Rich set off down to Devon for his night away with the lads to go Shooting on the 7th and Sally and the boys came with me to the Midland GRC Champ Show where Willow again was not quite close enough by yet again being awarded the RCC. But Flury made up for it by taking not only Best Puppy Bitch but also Best Puppy in Show !
Then a bit of sadness when we had to make another one of those horrid decisions, to say Good Bye to Bridie (our unregistered Springer and mother to Truffle) at 15 ½. She had done well as she had, had 5 strokes over the past 2 years and each time bounced back, but eventually she was not able to get up without our help, which in our opinion is not quality of life.
The last show we went to before Christmas was a local all breed Open Show where Flury took Reserve Best Puppy in Show, so she ended the year on a high !
So that was our year, eventful you might say. We hope yours was a good year and that 2010 will be even better. So have a Great Christmas and we hope to catch up with you sometime in the New Year.
Love and Best Wishes from Jen & Rich
Grandson Jack with his Snowman on Christmas Eve 2009