All well & Hello Barni !

Time has flown pass & realised I have not blogged for over a week. Lucy has been mated with Reggie & a little bit different than the first time we bred from her as we have mated her around the 12th day & by the 14th day we tried her again & she was not really interested this time unlike last time. If you had wanted to push the point you could of mated  her & some would but having been around animals many years forced matings tend to produce nothing or small litters if your lucky. The one mating she allowed was a good mating being tied for around 30 minutes & as they say once at the right time hopefully that will be enough, we will just have to wait & see.
I will never forget my first experience of a lined up mating. This is were the female is restrained in place by you holding her so she cannot move & then the dog mounts & the dogs owner basically lines him up & the bitch is mated ready or not. We had a lovely tricoloured girl called Penny & took her down to deepest Cornwall to a Show producer breeder to use a very nice blenheim dog. When we got there it was apparent to me that she was not right on but the lady insisted that as we travelled so far that she felt the bitch could take a mating & if she was right on in a couple days then his sperm would probably last long enough, so a mating now would get her in pups. What then took place can only be described as rape & I still regret the fact that I allowed this lady to let me do this to Penny. This mating produced no pups & I feel that it traumitised her so that she then would become upset if a male dog came near her on heat, so we never bred from her. I know that as a bitch mates even a bitch that has had pups can be distressed as they tie & with the fact that they are stuck together for a while but if they need to be restrained to get to this moment then they should of not been mated. I always watch over matings & as they tie I will approach to then calm by talking & only then hold the bitch to stop her from dragging the boy around. A lot of the interferring done when dogs are trying to mate is I am afraid to say human's lack of patience & as I have said before if they cannot get it together without help should they be getting it together at all.
Dolly is now just over six weeks in pup & is looking big. She is looking really well in her coat & yesterday started giving her a calcium tablet each day & she will have a calcium tablet each day until her pups are 4 weeks old.
Ysabel is also looking well being around 6 days behind Dolly. You can now see a distinct filling around her tummy. Both girls have decided to become very fussy about eating unless it is out of my hand. So mornings & evenings I can be found on the sofa with a bowl of food on my lap Dolly & Ysabel either side of me being fed from my hands. This is the only time I allow my dogs this luxury as I am then sure they are getting enough food each day.

Tonight I also have some cute photo's of Barni at around 18 months old & still looking very much like a pup. Rebecca sent me this lovely photo' of him on holiday & in their new home as they have just moved. Barni's Mum is Lucinda who we rehomed earlier this year with Sue & Jim. Lucinda will be coming to stay soon whilst Sue & Jim go to Australia for a couple months to visit family, so she will be sure to feature on my blog in the next few months.