Bertha and Bumble are both Brittany cross Cavaliers. 

A couple photos of Henry watching me making pies a week or so ago, taken by our son Thomas.

Taken by Thomas

Taken by Thomas

Lovely update in my inbox this morning for Harvey, who is now 3 years old today. He is from Smudge and Reggie's litter of Cavapoos born today back in 2014 Its six ​
So a Happy 3rd Birthday to Harvey and his five litter siblings Kayla, Mollie, Flora, Chester and Jake. Hope you, and your families are all well.

Storm Doris might be still with us, and took off part off the roof of one of our sheds over night, but at least the sun has returned. 

Last year I experienced my first ever puppy being born with the condition  Hydrocephalus and it was decided when he was around 3 weeks old to put him to sleep Tiddler was not an angel.
Our son Alfie had become attached to his little "Garry Baldy", as he called him, but understood that he was not a well puppy. When the vet came, he went to the shed, and I could here hammering. Alfie, I thought was dealing with it in his own way. He then emerged when the vet had left. He had made a wooden sign for the graves of the dogs we have buried here, and had left a space for his "Garry Baldy." He did not realize that I was letting the vets have "Garry Baldy" for medical science. He was okay about it, when I explained why. The space though is a reminder of "Garry Baldy" more than if his name was hammered in to the sign. 

Received a lovely update for Harley a couple days ago from Sarah. Harley is from our Brittany/cavalier litter born last year in July One day under their little belts

"Good to hear that you are both enjoying the Gundog training. Gundog training is about focus, and giving purpose. If you really enjoy it, unfortunately crossbreeds cannot compete in Official Field Trials and Gundog Working Tests in the UK, but you might like to find a local shoot, and see if he enjoys working in the field. Starting with a bit of beating. Game shoots depending on what they are shooting run from anywhere between August to February. You get a few prats, as you do with a lot of things, but generally, you get a pretty nice crew of people beating, and you will be surprised by the cross section of life they come from. The smaller shoots of around 6 to 10 guns a day at the most, that are run for a day out enjoying shooting, than being concerned with turn over and bagging high numbers of birds, are the best places to start off. Your trainer might know of a good shoot to start at, if interested in getting Harley out in to the field. 

Nice that you have contacted Heather at Munchkinmay | Custom pet portraits . They are a lovely family, and Heather a budding artist. Would love to see what she comes up with for you.

Kind regards

Jane x"

A couple weeks ago I took Dolly to the vets, to take a look at a lump I had found in her neck, and I wrote about it in the blog We may be playing out the endgame. In August last year Dolly had a  Squamous Cell Carcinoma removed from her throat, which I talked about in the blogs Dolly in the wars and  Dolly and the big "C" On visiting the vet, the lump was not sore or painful, and with Dolly's history, and her age, it was decided that it most probably was a resurgence of the previous tumour type, and she was put on a course of steroids.
Dolly's nearly 10 years old and she has had a really healthy life until now, and really did not want to make this about keeping Dolly alive as long as possible, it's about quality of life. and this morning I popped her to the vets again for another check on how the lump was doing. The lump in the last couple days had suddenly got bigger again, more proud, being about the size now of half a golf ball, which had slightly been compressed,  which was a bit worrying, but Dolly was still not showing any discomfort or distress with it.
The vet on looking at it this morning, was under the same opinion as me, that it was bigger, and we discussed options. I had decided before seeing the vet this morning, that without an response to the steroids, it might be good to get a biopsy, so to be sure what we were dealing with, as there was a possibility that it was involving the lymph node. The vet then said, "The next step would be referring me to a specialist, which would then possible be chemo, but I will talk to a vet I know, and ask them if we could use a tablet form of chemo." This would an attempt to contain for as long as possible.
So the vet took Dolly off to take a biopsy from the lump, whilst I waited in the waiting room. Someone I know in passing, who breeds and shows sheep, came in with a lamb with Entropion (Inverted Eyelid) and I stopped talking to him, and found out that the little fella was a couple day old pure Texel ​with impeccable breeding, and he was hoping he would make a good stock ram. See it ain't only Show dog people who are mad. The lamb has a very painful inheritable eye condition. Madness in my mind to breed from such an animal.  
Anyway, around 10 minutes later the vet walked in to the waiting room with Dolly, with a big smile on her face. She said, "I'm going to look a total idiot now, but you are going to be happy that I am though." When she took Dolly off to take the biopsy, so not to cause to much disturbance to the lump, she had opted to use a needle and syringe to extract cells, and as she went to pull the syringe back, what surged in to the syringe was puss. The lump seems to be an abscess. I told her, "If you look like an idiot, so do I then." The lump is now about half the size, and she has a course of antibiotics to take. The main reason for the misdiagnoses, is Dolly's history of Squamous Cell Carcinoma, along with her showing no signs of pain, heat to the area, or any change in her general demeanor. She's just an old girl, who gets on with life, and hopefully she has a few more games to play on me yet.

Henry loves a good cuddle and rub when I come in. One thing he does love as much as his "buttocks" being scratched, is his front legs being stroked. Hence why he keeps pawing me. The one nice thing about Henry (and all my male dogs), is that for all the cuddling and scratching I give him, he is not a male dog that gets sexually aroused by this kind of contact with a human. Often male dogs, can get over excited by this kind of intimate contact with humans, and again this comes down to imprinting and conditioning of a dog from an early age. I don't  have issues with my male adult dogs interacting sexually with humans, this is probably down to having enough contact with their own species, so they are more species sexually orientated than most domestic dogs, and that from a pup, any time they show sexual arousal when interacting with a human, it is discouraged. Any behaviour as a pup may seem funny, but as an adult dog can become a nightmare.
​​So when your pup does something funny, before encouraging that behaviour, by laughing, and trying to make them do it again. Think would you want them behaving like that when an adult dog? Doing that behaviour every time they get the cue for it. Like they dry hump the legs of every visitor to your home, they bark and circle frantically every time the door bell rings, hang off your trouser leg when you try to walk across the room, or go ballistic every time you want to go out the door. Those are all things that people have thought cute as a puppy, but then they have turned in to a nightmare as the puppy becomes an adult. So think before you laugh, before you encourage and reward something funny that your pup does. Will you be laughing at them doing that 12 months down the line?

Received an email a couple days from Hayley for Bella. Bella is from Primrose and Toby's Cavalier litter born June 2015 Primrose's Cavalier pups nearly two days old

She's having few issues with behaviour before taking her out on a walk, she goes mental and a bit silly and noisy which can be embarrassing !!! Obviously she's over excited! But it is taking the joy out of it!! 
She is so loving and a joy at home,  caring gentle and obedient. 

Hope you're ok love reading your blogs!! Like reading a book!!! 

Hayley, Bella and boys x ​"

A lot is spoken about alpha, but it is not about being overly aggressive or top dog with everything, it can be very subtle in a pack. An overly aggressive dog will find it very hard to maintain alpha status in a group, they will eventually be caste out by the group. Alpha status is best maintained by cohesion within the group, and an alpha that understands this and builds strong bonds with it's pack members, stands a better chance of holding on to that status. Reggie I feel  demonstrates in the video that bond making process, that keeps his position in the group. 

This is our home last night. The dogs don't seem to understand that they don't like being hugged Apparently, dogs don't like hugging, but as dog-cognition scientist Dr. Alexandra Horowitz says, "They deal with it, you know?" Looks like they are dealing with it pretty well.

Laura sent me this photo of her daughter huggled up with Daisy and Harry, after I wrote the blog Apparently, dogs don't like hugging. Someone forgot to tell Sasha ​yesterday. Daisy and Harry are litter siblings from our first ever litter of Brittany/Cavaliers born Spring 2015. The blog Super Mum tells of their arrival along with their seven other litter siblings.

Received an update for Albey who is from our F1b litter born Spring last year, being 3/4 Cavalier, 1/4 Poodle. His mum is Treacle and Dad is Toby. The blog Thankfully all is safe tells of his arrival.

"Good to hear from you. I'm afraid things can go a little off road, when they hit their juvenile stage. Looks and sounds like he is enjoying life to the full. 

Dolly is doing well. We've yet to see any reduction in the lump, but it has stopped getting bigger for now. Thankfully it is on the outside of her larynx, so does not effect her breathing like the lump we had removed from her throat six months ago.

Thanks for yet more lovely photos of Albey. 

Love from us all at Poundlane

Jane x"