From flight to plate. Thursday morning I came home from milking with seven pheasants for the pot to make another slow cooked pheasant lasagna for supper last night.

Bumble's eight pups have been out of the puppy bed before, but this morning was the first time they did it on their own steam. Mr Mole decided to do an impromptu poop which Mum, Bumble kindly cleaned up for us. Yes, Mum eats their poop for at least the first 4 weeks. 

Our daughter, Molly got in with Bumble's pups and they decided her lap was a good place to rest

Jean sent me some lovely photos of Skye last week in Wells.

"Hi Jane 
tried to capture pictures of Skye standing so you could see how she is developing ,unfortunately she doesn’t stay still long enough. 
These where taken today in Wells "

Then Jean sent me a few more photos of Skye after destroying a dry pad titled, "Who me!" and "Wasn't me!"

Got a lovely update for Skipper a few days ago from Fiona. Fiona had let me know they got home okay and I just sent her an email to check all was going well.

"Dear Jane,
My daughter Tabitha, has been asking me most days if I have sent you an update.  I have been intending to, so I am glad you have prompted me!

Skipper is a delight. He is greatly admired where ever we take him. 
Understandably, he was rather unsettled the first two nights here. I slept beside him on the second night and by the third night he was happy to be left, and by the forth night he was happy to sleep in his bed in his crate. He has been sleeping well every night since then.

He has been to visit our vet and he has started puppy classes. We live in a village, and he is meeting other dogs each day. He was rather nervous of seeing new dogs at first but is fine now and doesn't bark. He is coming on regular trips to the school gates where he wallows in the attention and cuddles!

My mother lives two houses away from us, and he is spending three mornings a week there while I am at work. This is working really well, and she adores him! 

I would be interested to hear how Teagol and the other pups are doing with their eating. Skipper is looking fit and healthy and has grown a lot, but he doesn't eat very much. He only eats about the third of the suggested amount of food for his age/ size and he does't eat in one sitting but seems to prefer to graze. (I may be giving him too many treats & we will reduce this!) Is this a similar pattern to his siblings / parents? 

Thank you for breeding such a fantastic litter of puppies. I feel very proud to be able to explain to people what type of dog he is, and the thought and effort that you have put into creating this wonderful, healthy, little spaniel.

I will attach some photos.

I hope you are all well,
Best Wishes,
Fiona x"

"Hello Fiona,

thanks for getting back to me so quickly. Good to hear that Skipper is settling in well. I've not heard any problems back with eating. The suggested food amounts can be quite a way over, so as long as he is a good weight and lively, I would not be to worried. You can try a little bit of wet dog food with his complete food. Teagol eats really well in the morning and evening, not so bothered with eating midday. Around six months I go to twice a day and then around 9 to 12 months they go to once a day feeding like the rest of the pack. Our adult dogs do get a few treats along with being fed once a day and most days their diet is supplemented with fresh veg such as carrot peelings, sliced up broccoli stem or pepper cores etc when making the evening meal.  

Wishing you all a lovely Easter!

Jane x"

Bumble's eight pups reach 26 days old and so we begin the phase known by me as "Maximus Cutieness." Be prepared, be very prepared as this phase can rule your heart rather than your head. Don't get a puppy unless you really are prepared for the long haul The sad reality

WARNING for those allergic to cuteness: This video contains an extreme cute moment of two puppies licking each other's face

I feel a bit of an idiot. Back in February I blogged about doing some more DNA testing. I then on the 27th February received an email from LABOKLIN for each dog I tested with what I thought was just one result for each dog of the several DNA tests I was doing for each one, just looking at it in my email sidebar, but I did not scroll down. Today I rang LABOKLIN to find out when to expect the rest of the tests as five weeks had passed, to then feel a total plonker, because it turned out I already had all the results, if I just scrolled down. I'm going to put this act of stupidity down to tiredness and being more concerned about Bumble looking like she was going to drop anytime.
So anyway everything I tested for they all came back with a "clear" result. You can read about what they were DNA tested for on the blog Blottie's five remaining pups at ten weeks old and more DNA testing. I am going to Spring clean the website soon and will put beside each dog all results of DNA tests done and all other health tests. 

For Sunday roast my husband, David had procured a lovely joint of brisket for supper, but time got the better of us, and it got to late, when we remembered that it needed to be got in the oven. So I told David not to worry, I would cook it up for supper on Monday. Brisket is one of the cheapest joints of beef and if cooked right is though one of the tastiest. If not respected and cooked slowly and for long enough, you got yourself meat that is like eating an old leather boot.  So I popped it in the conventional oven on Monday with chopped up onions, water to cover the bottom of the pot, some herbs, salt and pepper, around 11 am at 140c to remove it 7 and a 1/2  hours later and had meat that melted in the mouth with enough meat and gravy left over to make pies for supper tonight. 

Teagol rests with her Mother, blottie

In the dark seedy world of puppy dealers, using a fake Mum to show with pups is more common than many would realize. The advice below from #wheresmum will help you know if you are actually seeing the Mum.

A sad reflection of the throw away society One in ten Brits who bought a puppy ended up giving it away - after just one month. Please do your research before getting a puppy, and also a do some soul searching. Ask yourself, "Can I really give a dog what it needs and am I prepared to?"  Having a dog is a two way street. 

This afternoon I went for a walk with one of our sons, Thomas along with two of our dogs, Smudge and her daughter, Blottie. We did the up round the village walk going down the lane to Vauterhill and back up around, about a 3 to maybe touching 4 mile walk. On the way down Pound Lane I stopped to admire some Primroses and beside them lay an empty plastic packet of Marks and Spencer's Percy Pig sweets, which rather ruined it for me, so I picked the empty packet up and on smelling the aroma coming from the bag, it could of only been recently deposited there. I then found by chance a plastic Londis  bag seemingly folded and tucked in the hedge. So I then with my son, Thomas decided to pick up rubbish as we walked the half mile back down the lane to home, to see how much rubbish we would find on half a mile of rural lane with only a few properties on it. I was shocked, as we filled the londis bag up. Predominantly plastic, with one partly cardboard sandwich box, one empty glass bottle of Lambrusco and a couple squashed drink cans. The most common items we found were bits of silage wrap, Costa coffee cup lids,  followed by Walkers crisp empty packets.