A Big Happy First birthday to the nine of you !

Its hard to believe a year has passed since Smudge produced her brood of nine pups on the 27th April 2012, which is a very big litter for a Cavalier, in fact the biggest litter we have had with all pups being born alive from a Cavalier. Average for a Cavalier would be about  four with six being very good and any thing above that exceptional but nine with all alive is almost super exceptional for a Cavalier.  The first was born naturally and the other eight came into the world via a cesarean. All where well grown and healthy pups, not a misel draught (Devonshire dialect for small runt like) amongst them.
So a Big Happy First Birthday to Crumble, Archie, Lola, Ollie, Tiggy, Darcy, Hunny, Millie and Dougal. I hope all is well with your families and yourself and that you all had a lovely day.
This was such an amazing feat by Smudge who reared them all with ease,  even though it was her first litter, I thought it might be nice to refresh the memory of what 9 newly born Cavapoos looks like all in a row, so below is a very cute photo of them taken by one of the nurses who helped bring them in the world just minutes after their arrival.
 

Smudges 9 Cavapoo pups just after 8 of them had been brought into the world by cesarean a year ago

We have an update as well from one of the Nine First Birthday pups, now a handsome grown up dog. Thanks so much Trudi for sharing his special day and always a pleasure to hear how well they are getting on. Email update and photo's of Dougal's Birthday below.

Hi Jane and family,

Today is Dougal's 1st birthday so a good reason to send an update and to wish all his siblings a happy 1st birthday too. Some of the latest blogs really show how alike they all look.

Dougal has settled in so well to family life and is no trouble at all. He is very well behaved and all the puppy training is now paying off as we can trust him to do as we ask (most of the time!) 
He must take after his mum because he loves to get muddy when out and has cannot resist the alluring smell of fox poo! Hmmmm. 

He has ended up quite a big cavapoo, weighing in at around 12 kg. I wonder if he's larger than his siblings?

We all just love him to bits. He has changed our lives for the better (and muddier/smellier!) and he is a credit to you and your family for his great attitude to other dogs and children. Cats he is still not so sure about. I can't work out if he is desperate to play with them or chase them, but am not brave enough to find out. 

When we were thinking of getting a puppy and I told my husband I had found a breeder in Devon (nearly 6 hours away from us) who outshone all the other breeders and I couldn't think about getting a puppy from anyone else, he looked at me as if I must be mad. Now he knows why and if anyone is in a similar position I would urge them to make the journey - it is worth every second! Of course the hard work continues at home but its much easier if they have had a positive start in life.

Thanks Jane and all the puppy play team for looking after Dougal for us for his 11 weeks of life and making him the best dog ever! 

Trudi 

Now a few cute photo's of Belle making a cosy head rest for my husband whilst he eats his supper.

And lastly Belle with her Dad Reggie out on the lawn which I just this minute managed to catch of them before they moved away. I'm sure Reggie knows this is his daughter, as you can see when they play together there is a strong bond with them.