It's twelve months ago today Ysobel gave birth to her last litter. So a Happy First Birthday to those four pups Charlie, Bailey, Dexter and the only girl of the litter Olive.
Three greeting from the litter have just come in to my email inbox. Thanks to Tracey, Paul and Jodie who have Charlie for keeping me updated on Charlie and Roxy your other Cavapoo who you also got from us and visiting us not so long ago with them both.
Thanks to Carol and Paul who have Bailey and congratulations on the arrival of Olive and thank you to Caroline and Steve for saying Hello as well today on Dexters first Birthday.
Lastly thanks for all the lovely photos of your boys.

1 year old today! Charlie boy has brought so much love to our family. Xx

Hi Jane
Bailey has settled in well, a great member of  our family 
Growing fast,  Good most of the time.( he has chewed a few things that have beenleft laying around - our fault really).
I can’t believe its a year ago I got your  E-mail to say  ysobel’s  pups are now born. We have had so much fun with Bailey - so
many people come over and talk to us when we are out on walks, to see our ‘Teddy Bear’ as most people call him.Bailey loves playing in the park with his friends - Chaid, ( in the photo)   Hero, Memphis, and Poppy.
He loves chasing  the birds and squirrel's .On January 8th this year we became grandparents to  little Olivia. Bailey has been very good around Olivia, thanks to the good start he had to family life before we had him.  
When we've been away  the odd weekend Bailey  has stayed with a lovely family - Donna and their dog Rollo.  Mind you the first night stay there Bailey got a bag of flour from the low kitchen shelf and was covered - as well as the floor, how embarrassed was I.  Luckily Donna found it very funny. 
I hope everyone is well I have enclosed some photo’s  of Bailey.
The last two photo’s are taken today ( Bailey with one of his   Birthday presents.)
Carol and Paul Blomfield.

Dear Jane & Family

We can't believe how quickly that year has gone. There's
not a day goes by where somebody doesn't comment on how gorgeous Dexter is and of course they are right. He's such a lovely dog who loves meeting other dogs and is so playful and gentle in nature. A few weeks ago he passed his bronze award at puppy training and in the last couple of weeks has mastered the art of swimming and now loves it!.
Thanks again for trusting us with one of your beautiful dogs.
Happy Birthday Dexter!!
With love from
Caroline Steve and Family and of course Dexter xxxx

Colin has just left us and now on his way to Harpenden in Hertfordshire. Colin has been a lovely chap with a seemingly thoughtful approach to life as a puppy.  Loves water as the video shows and no doubt will get a lot of love from Andrea's family and many moments to explore his love of water. All the best Andrea with your Colin.

It's been so hot at the moment, the dogs and pups unlike us take the wise precaution of sleeping most of the daylight hours in the shade. Photo's are from the last few days of Colin being with his sisters Lottie and Dottie.

The video shows what happens as the sun relents it's heat in the evening and Dottie, Lottie and Colin then come out to play.  You may notice me coughing in the video, sorry for this, but I finally succumbed to a cold thing that has been circulating through our home. I was the last to get it and infact thought I was going to sit this one out, but last Sunday evening started to get a sore throat and Monday morning I woke up feeling rough and then knew the sore throat from the day before was not from talking to much, to Buddy's family when they picked him up, but I was infected. On the positve side though it means I talk less in the videos, so every cloud has a silver lining. Lol.

Henry left us this morning with Jenny and her son. Jenny is a head teacher of a state secondary school and Henry is going to go to school with her, and the governers have agreed that he will work with the children in the school, so Henry will start this summer as, "Head of dog therapy," attending summer camps the children do, to be introduced to them and vice versa. Happy Henry has shown us a gentle nature and is seemingly the most laid back of the litter. Henry will come into the school she works at, to help children through often very traumatic events in their lives, sad to know what some children go through in their formative years and lets hope Henry can help ease the pain for them.
Thanks Jenny for your time and for what you are trying to do, lovely to meet a teacher who obviously cares way beyond the school gate and teaching is not just a job but a vocation. 

Colin will be the next to leave us now. He will depart this Saturday for his life with the Eaves family. Our children are at school still until Thursday, so Colin will join them on the morning school run until then.

We are now down to three pups from Primrose's six. Colin as I said above, is here until Saturday and Dottie and Lottie will be with us until twelve weeks old, so the following weekend after Colin leaves they will leave and that's us then pupless until 2015. I think I know what we are doing for 2015, but don'y want to set anything in stone yet, so it will mean watching this space for a little longer.

The second pup from Primrose's Cavapoo litter left today for his new home in Plymouth. Buddy aka Buddy Luscious is a handsome boy, gentle and happy going about his own business, but also happy to have a cuddle and play when offered. All the best to Lee and Alison who's family he joins.

Slideshow tomight features Buddy alot and also Henry, as he leaves us tomorrow. Jenny and her son travelled down from Uttoxeter today and after Buddy leaving us this afternoon, the rest of the afternoon into the evening, Jenny and her son enjoyed some time with Henry, before they pick him up tomorrow and travel home with him.

This bit is also contains a warning, and that is don't watch the Scottish comedian Kevin Bridges whilst trying to drink coffee and eat a ring doughnut.
It seems we have a Bermuda Triangle in our front room.  Put a piece of food down leave the room and on return the food is gone.
Two weeks ago I bought eight iced ring doughnuts whilst out doing the grocery shopping and some how I did not get round to eating my doughnut and I had forgotten about said doughnut.
Settling down that evening with my husband, after getting the last of the children to bed, I turned on the telly and we decided after flicking through the channels to watch Kevin Bridges doing his stand up comedy. We were not disappointed within seconds we were smiling and then laughing. Kevin Bridges is a Scottish comedian, who I find very funny, love his mannerisms, especially the way he sometimes struggles to hold back his chuckles when telling a joke from his life experiences, because he is obviously reliving the moment in technicolour in his mind.
Husband got up during a break and asked if I would like a coffee and I duly replied , "Yes, please darling", and in a couple minutes he returned with not only a cup of steaming black coffee, but also the forgotten doughnut. I don't like eating stodgy food to late, but leaving a ring doughnut until the next day, you are just going to be eating stale, sweet bread. So I accepted the challenge and took the coffee and doughnut from my husband. The dogs esembled themselves about me and the commercial breaks ended and Kevin Bridges was back with vengeance.
He started talking about halloween and how it is celebrated in Scotland compared with America, slight chuckle and I then took my first bite of doughnut and then a swig of coffee as Colin Bridges then put an image so funny in my head (Spongebob Squarepants lying on the floor receiving a kicking from a Ninja Turtle ) that I could not help but laugh and with doughnut and coffe in my mouth, combustion occurred with the piece of doughnut flying back my throat and the coffee flying out of my mouth across the frontroom. In the foray I put the doughnut on the arm of the armchair I was sitting in, gave a hard cough and expelled the piece of doughnut, whilst my husband looked on sympathetically wetting his pants laughing.
I then went to the kitchen to get a drink of water and a cloth to clean up the mess, fresh pair of underpants for husband and on my return the doughnut with one bite out of it, had vanished. The window was open and our eleven dogs where all sat licking their lips. I asked my husband had he noticed my doughnut disappearing and he exclaimned he had been to busy laughing to notice.
A window open and eleven dogs licking their lips, I think we can safely assume we are looking at an alien abduction, we are looking at aliens who like ring doughnuts, fat aliens. Lol

The video is from yesterday evening and was the last evening altogether for the pups, as Maddie left us this morning with Lynda for Kent. Buddy now will be the next to leave us at the weekend and he had his first trip in the car on the school run this afternoon, falling asleep happily in the back of the car between Florrie and Thomas. Henry leaves around the beginning of next week, so tomorrow he will come on the school run as well.

The first of Primrose's pups left today. Lynda came down from Kent yesterday with four of her Grand daughters and visited us yesterday afternoon and this morning returned just after 10 am to make the journey back to Kent with Maddie. The photos are of Maddie's last couple days with us. Maddie has been a joy, a very quirky little girl with lots of energy and a seemingly bravado attitude which belies her pint size, to life. Often called Monster Maddie, Maze Maddie, Mad Maddie and my favourite Maddie Moo Moo. Will miss Maddie madness, but I know that Lynda is going to give her a very loving home.

Yesterday afternoon I also caught this lovely bit of footage of Maddie with her Mum, Primrose just as Lynda arrived with her Grand daughters to visit us before picking her up today.

Hello Jane
As you can see no problems at all with their first meeting they played and were very comfortable with each other, there's a houseful of humans ready for an early night !
Bye for now,
Alison x

Managed to actually get this loaded up and it still is Sunday morning. Milking this weekend is for a herd that block calve, so the majority of the herd are nearing the end of their lactations and drying off started a month ago, so arrived this morning at 5.45am and was leaving, cows out at 8.o5 am and on my return home, children were still sleepy heads, but as the video shows, the pups are far from sleepy at that time on a Sunday morning. They are now sparko fast asleep though and the children are now wide awake.
The video started with my husband saying, "Have you seen Colin in the dishwasher, you ought to film that." So camera out and we caught you Colin, being trained in the ways of licking things put in the dishwasher. We like to think we go that extra mile with Poundlane pups. Lol.

Starting with an update I forgot to put on the last blog from Rhian and Russ who have Mollie from Smudge's litter born this February 2014. Thanks for the photos sent today and as I explained in the reply that it reminded me of the other update you sent me a couple weeks ago. BT decided a few days ago that my email account would be revamped and although happy using the account as it was they thought it would be helpful for me to have an email account that now takes twice as long to load up and at a quick glance I cannot see so easily what emails I have yet to reply or whether they have attachments such as photos, don't you just love progress, change for no other purpose than change. Rant over.
Thanks Rhian and Russ for the lovely photos of Mollie and your old boy Bobbie, good to hear all is going well with the two of them.

Hi there Jane
 
Sorry I haven't been in touch, we have been on holidays in Dorset, the weather was stunning but a little too hot for Russ and the two dogs, although Mollie had the sense to find the shade unlike Bobbie and myself.  She met lots of dogs, large, small, boisterous and quiet, and she coped extremely well with all of them, and had great fun one day running around a field with an 8 month old
spaniel.We can't believe how well she has settled in, it seems as if she has always been here. Bobbie is amazing with her and although she has her own bowl, she prefers to use his and often there are two heads in one bowl .She completed her puppy socialisation classes last evening and had great fun. She is a real character and very wicked and you can almost see what she is thinking before she
does it, especially when she pounces on poor Bobbie when he is fast asleep. It takes us ages when we go for a walk with the two of them, as everyone wants to stop and ask what breed she is and where we got her from, and of course we always sing your praises Jane. I'm sure all of the other 'mums and dads' have the same thing happening to them too.
 
Have sent some photos from the holiday for you to see, and would like to wish the new 'parents' all the best with their new pups. Will keep in touch.
 
Regards Rhian and Russ
Bobbie and Mollie

This is the email and a couple cute photos I received from Rhian and Russ today that jogged my memory to find their other email and photos above. Thanks for these cute photos of Mollie.

Hi there Jane

Just had to send these two photos to you of Mollie. Russ took them 
the other day when she decided to sit on the landing. She is Ab Fab 
as they say, everyone loves her wherever we go, and they can't get 
over how soft her hair is. She is combed every day and doesn't mind 
it at all, especially as she has a treat when I have finished. It is so 
nice to see how her siblings are doing and we are still checking 
on the news at Poundlane every few days. Bobbie is still being 
extremely well behaved and patient with her even when she takes
his chewiness out of his mouth!!!!  

How lovely to read the story of Margaret and her new cavalier, what
a super lady.

Regards Rhian and Russ
Bobbie and Mollie 

Last night was very hot in the milking parlour and when it's so hot I can't but help remember a lady I knew as a child. Greta was a lady of undetermined age who as a family we knew through horses, she had pony mares which she ran with a thoroughbred stallion and we on occasion purchased offspring from her, she was said to be of romany origin, she was a real character, always up for a laugh, she cared, but cared not much for what people made of her. She had a wisp of silver hair that seemed to have a life force of it's own, she smoked her own roll ups, often with one stuck to her lip as she spoke to you, she always wore a t-shirt with a tweed skirt and her very tiny ankles were covered with white frilly ankle socks finished off with her feet attired in neatly laced brogues. She had a leathered weathered complexion, but a most definite glint of youth still was most evident from her eyes, she always wore a bit of slap (makeup) and part of that was drawn on eyebrows and it's the thought of her eyebrows and what she said one very hot day about them that makes me chuckle and think of old Gret when I'm sweating away in the milking parlour. 
We went to meet up with Gret one day back in the late seventies whilst having a bit of a heat wave, as my Mum approached the gateway to one of her fields, Gret appeared at the open window of the car, looking a bit warm and exclaimed, "My, t'is hot, it was so hot yesterday you know, I sweated my eyebrows off ." With that she then bent over laughing so hard, as she straightened back up tears could be seen from each of her eyes. So every time it is really hot, I consider would it be hot enough for old Gret to sweat her eyebrows off ? Lol
Sadly Gret passed away a few years back now but her spirit lives on in one of her Grand children Helen, who has kept on the tradition of keeping horses and when I meet her now and then, we will always part company laughing, although Helen does have her own eyebrows.

Not many puppy photos tonight I'm afraid, as I was taking a few outside earlier and the battery went flat, so put on charge and then decided to get on with this blog tonight, so quickly jumped in the puppy bed with the pups in an attempt to try and restrain them, so as to get a photo of them altogether and then our daughter Florrie asked me to take a couple of her with Maddie because Maddie leaves us on wednesday.
The pups are now 9 weeks old and a very lively bunch they are. Maddie leaves us on Wednesday, so she will get a few trips out in the car over the next few days in preparation for her leaving. They all seem pretty independant of each other and happy when out and about the property to go off and find their own trouble.

Now to a trip down memory lane. In 2010 I tragically ran over our lovely old boy Smidge at the age of 14, this bit is going to be hard, as I type what happened that day comes back in vivid technicolour. I feel his weight in my arms as I picked him up, I see his fixed pupils and although I have seen death close up many times and know it only to well, still I rush to my husband coming out the back door and ask him to stop this, ask, I beg him and he then holds Smidge and we both hold each other with Smidge between us and we cry.
My it hurts still to go through those moments and I can only be thankful that how it happened it was quick. He had not a mark on him, other than a dust across his neck and shoulder area and I believe I ran over that area of his body and detached the brain stem, he was gone before I picked him up.
Smidge was a very special dog, he provided ballast to all our children as they learned to walk and most of all he was my dog, or should I say from an early age he decided I was his allotted human. The children tried to lead him and he would lead lovely for them, as long as I was walking alongside him, but I stopped, he stopped and no amount of tugging would he move until I did.

 I wrote an obituary for Smidge on the "In Loving Memory" page at the time of his passing and although I had some photos of Smidge I had none of him as a young boy. Recently one of our children was doing a show and tell at school, which is when they bring stuff into school about them and tell the class about it. Thomas asked me if he could take in some photos of himself as a baby. Thomas was born before we had a digital camera, so it was a trip to the loft and a sift through photos and there I found them, Smidge as a pup and Smidge with his siblings, his mum, his Granny and his Great Granny.
The first group photo below is of four generations of his Cavalier family. Smidge is at the front on the left and this photo was taken when we had just arrived home in the early hours of the new year of 1997 having been out to local pub. Front right is Smidge's Granny, Lucy. Behind Smidge on the left is Great Granny, Jemima and behind Lucy on the right is Smidge's Mum, Penny 2.  

Jemima was Smidge's Great Granny and when I meet my husband, David, she was seven years old and the old tart after me caring for her every whim, fell head over heels in love with David. She obviously had been making do with me until she found what she cosidered her allotted human, which was David. Lol. Good omen though if your dog falls over head in love with your boyfriend.
Jemima was put to sleep at twelve with heart failure.

The slide show has photos of Smidge with his three brothers, as Smidge was from a litter of four boys. His brothers where called Dougal, who my Mum had, Snuffles and Smudge.  
Granny Lucy was put to sleep at nearly thirteen with a suspected brain tumour. She had no heart problems.
Mum, Penny 2 at the age of 9 was put to sleep due to cancer in the stomach area. She had no heart problems. So that makes for the four generations an average age of just under 12 years old.

Last photo is one I found of a young Pupster who we lost in 2011 to stomach cancer at a tragically young 7 years old. He and Smidge were best mates. I do really miss the two boys, but you know when you take a dog into your life, the chances are you will attend their funeral, than they yours. Even though we know this, memories of the warmth and love they brought in to your world, you will drop your guard again and you will let another on to your lap and in to your heart. The heart has a lot of capacity, you just got to open it, again and again and again.

Last night I nearly gave up trying to load this video up and finally at 12.55 pm I got the job done. When up loading a video if it goes, "Oops !" and can't load it within a couple minutes of trying to load it, I'm not pulling my hair out but often it likes to play with your head and spends forever loading it up and then goes to encoding and you can almost taste that it is loaded and just as a couple seconds off encoding are left, it decides it don't like that video and spits it out at you. Fiddle around again and what ever I do, which I have yet to work out, it then goes, okay then I'm going to let you upload this video now.
Before we get to the videos there are a few photos taken whilst I waited for the video to upload last night taken by my husband, David. We were watching the world cup semi final between Argentina and Netherlands, well my husband was, I was going in and out of semi consciousness, until he started taking photos because Dolly and Smudge lying on the end of the sofa I was slumped on, were lying very cutely together and he then thought he might catch me nodding off with the dogs on the other end of the sofa, I adopt a sort of Mona Lisa smile.
Jessica and Toby who are on my lap are very cuddly dogs. Jessica is going on so well after having one of her back legs amputated after injuring it a few months ago. This evening she was with her brother Toby bombing around the lawn, you would not know at full speed she was missing a leg and it only becomes apparent as she slows down, as at walk her movement due to less momentum becomes more of a hopping movement. I will try to get some footage of her when playing and bombing about.

Finally to this video that nearly done my head in getting it to load up on the blog. The title becomes apparent as the video starts and our daughter speaks, as she follows me as she is filming, keep the volume down due to loud children and the wind was blowing here a bit yesterday afternoon which can be heard on the video.
 The first bit is our seven year old daughter filming and I had to cut a lot of it due to her moving the camera eratically or seeming to fix the camera on filming my elbow. I asked her when viewing her footage, why she kept filming my elbow and she said, "You have strong elbows Mum and I want people to see your strong elbows." Lol.
Children do say some funny things, our oldest child said to me the other day, that a friend of his wished he had a Mum like his, because his Mum is more strict than me about school work, when his friend made this remark, my son told me his reply was, "Yes, my Mum cares, but not that much." I liked that so much, if I was going to have a grave stone, which I'm not, but sorely tempted now after my son saying that, it would read, "Here lies Jane, she cared, but not that much."  Enjoy the video !

Finally got back to get a blog done. Last night uploaded everything and after finally uploading the video which in the end I uploaded on to another draft, as would not load on this one it was nearly midnight, so decided to finish the blogs today, to come home from the school run to find the electric off and then remembered the letter on the board in the kitchen telling us the electric would me off from 9 am to 3.30 pm, it finally came back on at 4.45 pm. The only thing I missed today not having electric, was not being able to have a cup of coffee with my lunch, so did not have my slice of Victorian sandwich (which I had made yesterday) at lunchtime, as you can't eat cake without a steaming hot cup of black coffe or a strong cup of tea, it don't go down right.
So most of the children in bed now, so I'm back to get the job finished. Primrose's Cavapoo pups are nearly 9 weeks old now and last Friday the vet came to our home and all of them were micro chipped and everyone having one of these pups should of received a confirmation of this by now from the micro chip data base. They also had their first vaccination for Distemper, Hepatitis, Parvo and Lepto 4 which covers them for four strains of leptospirosis, and they also had drops up the nose for Kennel Cough. All were checked over by the vet and they all seem in good health.
We also as you may notice in the photos have changed their collars, we removed the kitten collars and replaced them with the puppy collars they will leave us with. Colin has a blue collar with white dots, Henry has a blue collar with a white patern of paws and bones on it, Buddy has a brown collar with white dots, Lottie has a red collar with white dots, Maddie has a red collar with a pattern of white paws and bones on it and Dottie has a pink collar with brown circle patterning on it.
There are a few photos below of them from the last week and I have a video which will be on the next blog, my blog tonight will be like waiting for a bus and then three arrive.

Next on this blog is catching up with updates sent in of past Poundlane pups and the first is from the Prisk family who have Maisy who is from Primrose's first litter born in 2012 with Reggie the Dad. In the photo is another Cavapoo we bred, Poppy who is from Dolly's litter, Reggie the Dad, born the end of 2011, which their friend Julie has and is how they found me to get their Maisy. Thanks Graham for the photo, lovely to see the two of them together.

Jane

A photo of Sue with Maisy on the left and Poppy who has come for a "sleep over" after a romp around Clapham Common and huge excitement when they realised they were to be at home together.

Thought you would like to see the half sisters are great buddies.

Hope all is well with you and all at Poundlane.

Kind regards

Graham Prisk 

The next update is from Liza (was sent to me a few weeks ago, sorry for taking a while to load it up on the blog)  who has Harvey from Smudge's litter born this year in February. Looks like Harvey is settling into his life as a London commuter and I am already getting enquiries about our dogs from him being seen at Liverpool Station. Thanks Liza for the update and lovely to see he is settling into his new lifestyle so well.

Hi Jane,
I hope all is good with you and the family. 
Harvey and I are having a great time, he has really settled in to work and is very loved and is gaining fans on the the train and tube by the day. He has a height chart at work and is growing so quickly and he likes to hang out with the boys a lot but I think that is down to the sneaky bits of chicken they feed him. He has a morning and evening walk everyday with his local dog friends and he has been swimming most weekends and loves running through Epping forest so he is having a great time and is very happy.
He has also become a little celebrity in the advertising world. On Tuesday he came Best in Show at Cannt Crufts. It was quite Ironic as I am responsible for supplying the Cannes Lions Festival with all their temporary staff. Cannes Lions is the biggest  worldwide award in advertising and is very glitzy so all the best creative people in the world fly to Cannes for awards and to party and those thant can't go stay in London and there is a week of evening events …for those that "Cannt"  go to Cannes and Tuesday was Cannt Crufts. It was very funny I turned up thinking it would be fun and he might see other puppies in the City - Harvey did not complete the agility, did not have a costume and can't do many tricks so his win of best in show was because he stole everyones heart by looking gorgeous (thanks to Reggie and Smudge …and you!)  I'd had a couple of ciders and was very proud despite laughing throughout the process. I've attached some photos.
 Its all fun and he loves hanging out in the bars getting lots of attention
Hugs to you all 
Liza and Harvey x

Last update if a photo of Kayla from Lynne and Kayla is Harvey's sister. Lynne was a little worried about Kayla a couple weekends ago when it was very hot and she had been playing she brought up her food a couple times, this can sometimes happen due to heat or if they play vigourously after eating. Monday morning came and she seemed okay, so it probably was a combination of heat and playing on a full tummy. Thanks Lynne for keeping me updated on Kayla and it seems Kayla likes and gets alot of attention when she is out and about.