Just waiting to go forward and flush a patch of very tall overgrown kale yesterday, out beating with Puddin' and Teagol. 

Time to thank everyone for their support and for festive greetings and gifts I have received. I'm off now until the New Year, so a "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!"

Teagol turned two years old yesterday, and she has blossomed into a lovely looking small type spaniel. Around 9.4 kilos and 12 inches at the shoulder, she is around the size of her pure Cavalier Great Grandmother, Millie and just like Great Grandmother, Millie, she loves to track and hunt. Proving herself as a keen flushing spaniel in the field. 

I had this update arrive a couple weeks ago for Saffy. I thought I had put it up on the blog already, but just realised, I had not. Saffy is from Bumble and Ernest's litter born March 2018. 

"Hi Jane 
I hope all is well with your family and dogs. Saffy is fine but had a nasty experience a few weeks ago. She was attacked by two Rottweilers and one Alsatian. The dogs, who were on the lead, pulled their owner down the lane attacked Saffy and literally tried to tear her apart. Thank goodness she had her harness on as the Alsatian, who had its jaws around her neck and was at her throat could not quite get its teeth through the webbing. 
Anyway my daughter Rachel intervened, as did the dogs owner,  and they finally separated the dogs. It was a horrible vicious attack. Saffy spent the day at the vets as they were worried re internal injuries but after loads of tests she is fine. 
Amazingly she is still friends with dogs she knows , but worried when she picks up the scent of these dogs that attacked her - as I would be. Rachel was bitten and after a course of antibiotics is fine. A lesson nonetheless of not being too friendly! 
We have told the police - but they have been v slow to respond- the councillors seem better. Still I am going to keep going with this as we can’t be scared to go out! 
Other than that Saffy is brilliant- such lovely company and gets me out walking even when wet... although if it’s pouring down she is not v keen. One funny thing is that she does not like to get her legs muddy so always waits for me to open gates so she can walk around the side and miss the muddy puddles! 
Hope to see you all in the new year.
Love Kathy

Some pics of her injury and ones just relaxing having ‘found her way’ onto my bed! The rest are just at home. 
Ps still loving your blog even if my phone does not let me respond!"

"Hello Kathy,
that sounds very scary. Thankfully Saffy survived the attack. With the size of dogs, it sounds like Saffy was very lucky to not have worse physical injuries. I have met people with big dogs on leads, which you can see they can barely hold on to, and it is an accident waiting to happen. I'm surprised the police have been so slow to respond, imagine if Saffy had been a young excitable child that suddenly run past those dogs, and the owner had been unable to control them, and next time, as there most probably will be a next time with those dogs, it might be a child who they attack. 
Good to hear that she is recovering well, and hopefully it has not left her with any serious log term issues with meeting other dogs. Thanks for the photos. She looks so much like her Mum, Bumble and if I sit on the sofa, especially if eating anything, she will get up behind you like Saffy is in the photo above, also she makes the same face of enjoyment when having a tummy chest, tummy rub when on your lap. Funnily though Bumble is a total mudlark, unlike Saffy, and any mud anywhere or water she loves it and will wade right in or through, even if there is a cleaner route to easily negotiate.
Hope all your family are well.
Jane x "

And another lovely update for another of Teagol's litter siblings, Skye, who turned 2 years old yesterday.

"Hi Jane : 
Hope all well with you and family , expect children all excited Christmas very near now . 
Happy Birthday to Teagal and all Skye’s siblings. 
Wow, 2 yrs where did that go !!!
Skye remains Hi Jane : 
Hope all well with you and family , expect children all excited Christmas very near now . 

Happy Birthday to Teagal and all Skye’s sibblings. 
Wow 2 yrs where did that go !!!
Skye remains extremely lovable and loyal she has lots of admires (commenting how pretty she is ) she gives the whole family so much happiness . 
Thank you for breeding such lovable happy dogs . We are forever greatful we where lucky enough to have her part of our family. 

she too has a panache for the feathered birds off like a shot when when she sees them which is all the time as we live country side . She is very athletic with a incredible spring leap on her her . 
Couple off photographs: attached 

Much love to all
Jean and the Robbins family 
Xx🎄🎄she has lots of admires (commenting how pretty she is ) she gives the whole family so much happiness . 
Thank you for breeding such lovable happy dogs . We are forever grateful,h we were lucky enough to have her as part of our family. 
She too has a panache for the feathered birds off like a shot when when she sees them which is all the time as we live in the countryside. She is very athletic with a incredible spring leap on her her . 
Couple off photographs: attached 
Much love to all
Jean and the Robbins family 
Xx🎄🎄"

Another update for one of Teagol's litter siblings, Skipper, who turned 2 years old yesterday.

"Dear Jane,
Happy Birthday to Teagol from Skipper and family!
He is a wonderful dog and continues to bring a lot of happiness to us all.
Best wishes,
Fiona & Joe , children , cats, and Skipper x"

Lovely update arrived today from our Teagol's bro, Murphy. Two years ago today, Blottie amazingly gave birth naturally to ten pups with our, Ernest being the Dad. I hope to do this combination again in 2020. I think it works.!
​Happy 2nd Birthday to all Murphy and Teagol's litter siblings!

"Hello Jane
Just wanted to send birthday greetings and an update on our lovely Murphy.
I hope you are all well. I can’t quite believe it’s two years since Blottie had her amazing litter.
Murphy continues to bring us so much joy. He’s just beginning to feel like less of a puppy these days. Still very playful but would rather chase a bird. He found a family of pheasants in a field the other day and he has never been happier. And if you say the word ‘squirrel’ he’s off like a shot. He’s recall is pretty good apart from in the above scenarios, and he’s such a good boy in every other aspect.
Here’s a few pictures (of course)!
Lots of love from all of us
Kath, Shaun, Sam, Laurie and Murphy xxxx"

And I also received a lovely update for Henry on the 3rd December, who had just turned 8 years old. His Mum is also Lucy, and he was born exactly a year after Sammy in the previous blog, but his Dad is our Reggie. So Henry is from Lucy and Reggie's 2011 litter. 

"Hello Jane,
I thought you might like too see this photo of Henry . It's hard to believe today is his 8th Birthday. He is an absolute delight and so much part of all the family.
With Best Wishes to you and all the family.
Janet Peet."

On the 3rd December, I received a lovely update for Sammy, now 9 years old. He is from Lucy's and Rollo's litter in 2010. 

Primrose this morning, enjoying the bright, dry start to the day. She is doing really well on her heart meds at the moment. You would not really know anything was wrong with her.

Lovely update also last week came in from the Lasker family for Saffy. Saffy is from Casper and Treacle's litter born July 2019.

"Hi Jane,
I hope you are yours are keeping well! Saffy is going from strength to strength and as you can see from her picture, has found her way up the stairs at last. Emmeline is thrilled! Saffy is such a confident little lady, adores her big lab sister Storm and is just a pleasure.
Love to you all, the Laskers x"

Lovely update came in last week from Jackie and Nigel for Eddie. Eddie is from Casper and Blottie's litter born March 2019.

"Hi Jane
Eddie is proving to be a wonderful loving dog. At 8 months he weighs 12 kg. At dog training he got a rosette for coming 2nd in basic training test. He loves the training and socialising with the other dogs.
He gets through dog toys really quickly unless they are made of rubber or plastic. So I just wondered where you got the green mint scented teething ring. He loved it and we want to replace it.
Hope all is well with you all.
Ps : loved seeing Henry leaping into your arms. 
Jackie & Nigel"

"Hello Jackie,
he looks very much like his Mum, Blottie. The teething ring I got from Mole Valley farmers. 
Thanks for the update. 
Jane x"

Last Sunday, I met up with Christel and Flossie for a walk at Heywood forest with Lottie and our two youngest children. Flossie is from Casper and Blottie's litter born March, 2019. Christel kindly sent we photos she took of me with the children and dogs. 

Last week I received an update for Tucker from Lisa. Tucker is from Casper and Blottie's litter born March 2019.

"Hi Jane,
How are you? Loved the video of Henry jumping into your arms. Tucker also does some very impressive jumps these days. When he's a bit older we'll have to see if he's into some Agility work. I've attached a video from Tucker's daycare of him leaping over obstacles, taken by the brilliant woman who runs it. He still loves daycare. I think it makes such a big difference for him as he's a sociable fellow and he's a lone doggo at home. He seems to have a particular knack for getting along with dogs who don't tend to get along with other dogs. At daycare, he's managed to play with dogs who are normally aloof and this happens to us in the park too, much to the other owners' amazement.
We've also started 'jogging' a bit with him, because he's sometimes starting to pull on the lead while also not having his head in the game for training. By 'jogging' I mean we jog/sprint to keep up with him (he can be very fast) then stop very suddenly when he decides he needs to sniff and then mark things. So it's more like interval training, which is a great workout and a lot of fun. By the time Tucker is done with a 4km the other dogs will definitely know he's around, such is his thoroughness with marking.
Tucker has gotten even more cuddly with us, which we love and is so relaxing. He can still find it difficult to settle in one place for long sometimes. He'll often move from spot to spot to sleep every 10-15min. Is this something you've run into with your dogs? Do they grow out of it? 
After a bit of an exhausting blip when he hit adolescence, he's sleeping well again in his crate overnight. We'd love to let him sleep on our bed a bit when we sleep in on the weekend, but he can't stay asleep in a spot for long, which makes it tricky. We think it's because he overheats under the duvet when he burrows under it, or even when he sleeps on top of it. (He also has several dog beds, as I keep thinking we'll find one he really likes, but he often prefers the floor!)
Unfortunately for us, the stage of teething he's at, with his adult teeth settling in, our floorboards and skirting boards are particularly attractive for him to chew. We have tried loads of different chews with him, but he continues to be very fussy about what he'll chew on. Are there any chews you'd recommend we try?
We paused alone time training when his overnight routine went awry but we hope to pick it back up in a couple of weeks. We hope to make more progress with it now that he's a bit older.
Otherwise training is going well, especially considering he's in the midst of adolescence. He can have days though where he's a bit deaf to us. He's also barked a few times if someone new visits the downstairs neighbours. It's quite impressive the scent record he has of who is usual versus not!
The photo of Tucker in the crate is in our car. He's amazing in the car these days. Goes straight to sleep. Took a lot of training to get to this point, but so worth it!
Thank you so much for everything.
Best wishes,
Lisa and Tom"

"Hello Lisa and Tom,
good to hear how Tucker is getting on. I was out with his sister, Flossie on Sunday. Christel who has, Flossie, has been worried to let her off lead when out walking. So I arranged to meet her at a very good place for off lead walks, Heywood forest with one of our dogs. Lottie, who is very good at staying with you and recall. She was really good, much to the relief of Christel, who I think had been quiet worried about doing an off lead walk. So it is really lovely to see your Tucker out and about off lead. I think of this freedom (of a sort) for them, as a reward for putting up with us. 
The lying with you only for a short while, will often be that they just get warm and move to a cooler spot, and part his age. I have some dogs that prefer to lie at my feet, at my shoulder or on my lap. Ernest is by my feet as I type this. Blottie his Mum loves it if you lie out and she can lie alongside you. As he gets older, he should settle for longer periods.
As for chews. I take the advice of long in the tooth Dental and oral veterinary surgeon, Fraser Hale  and use the Knee-Cap Rule. “If you would not want me to hit you in the knee cap with it, do not let your dog chew on it!” For very small dogs, I say “if your dog would not want me to hit them in the knee cap with it, do not let them chew on it.”
This article  https://www.preventivevet.com/dogs/popular-dog-chews-that-are-actually-dangerous-to-dogs written by a vet tells about what to not let a dog chew and what might be a good choice for a dog to chew, and I've attached Fraser Hale's advice about the Knee-Cap Rule.
I have always got on well with rawhide chews with our dogs. 
Hope this helps.
Kind regards
Jane "

Henry will be 7 years old this coming Spring

Had a wonderful update come in a few days ago for Pi, the boy we re-homed

"​Hi Jane,
Hope you are all keeping well! Thought I'd give you a quick update a month on!
He is, I am certain, the most wonderful dog in the whole entire world! He's so clever, when I want to teach him something I show him maybe three times and
That's it - its locked in his brain. He is so calm and placid, he's the ultimate companion. My problem now is that I never want to go anywhere that I can't take him!
I went for dinner  last weekend to a pub that allows dogs, he napped under the table on his blanket, no begging for food, perfect behaviour, and that's the first time we had done anything like that.
He's not wild about the beach, I think it's the open spaces and other dogs, so for now we walk along the cliff paths and woodlands, he's more comfortable with that.
We started out with him sleeping on the bed with me - I just couldn't resist the face and he's a brilliant snuggler. Over the last week or so I've slowly been moving him off the bed, and
the last two nights he's now happily in his own bed next to mine on the floor, all night, with no issue, except his snoring - he is a champion snorer!
I have also started leaving him alone in the house, we built up very slowly and are now up to 5 hours (with me going in to check on him and go out for a potty break after 3 hours) He's been absolutely great! Early on I almost lost a slipper, found it in his bed, suspiciously damp on one side, so I now make sure that if I'm leaving him the slippers are away. Other than that he plays with his duck and his chew toys. He's just, perfect, for lack of a better word!
He has picked up another kilo and is now 14Kgs, a very heavy boy, but healthy and loves a good run and a bit of game! As I type this he is asleep on my feet in the office... Bliss!
Hope you're all keeping warm!
Lots and Lots of Love from us both!"

Poundlane spaniels come from a long line of Zombies, Super Heros, Little Devils and Mummies

Poundlane Halloween fun photos have been produced by our daughter, Molly