At the watering hole and 'The Dog Factory'

Smudge and one of her boys

Smudge's pups are now 26 days old and today I got a bit of video footage of some of them at the watering hole, also known as a water bowl. 
In the video I comment on being a bit sad at being excited about watching puppies drinking, but when you think about what you are watching, it is actually pretty amazing.
26 days ago these pups were born, blind and death and unable to walk. Their only two senses fully working were their sense of smell and touch. 26 days later their eyes and ears are open and they are up on all fours and able to negotiate with reasonable accuracy the around three meters from their bed, to the water bowl and stand beside the bowl, judge the distance to the water and lap the water. That's pretty amazing in my books.
You will notice in the video and may of already noticed in some of the photos, the missing piece of skirting board either side of the patio doors, which somehow got removed by our last litter of pups and we have yet to repair it. I still have the two bits of skirting board, but it is just one of those jobs, that it never seems to hurt to do it tomorrow.

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The slideshow of the pups tonight is from the last three days. If the weather is nice, might look at letting them step out on the patio at the weekend for a few minutes.

Henry

Henry the Dad to Smudge's litter is getting ever more curious of his offspring and will be interesting to see him with them when they are out and about the place more.
The two photos of Henry below are Henry curious about what I'm doing sat on the floor and he looks for the bond of a kiss from me and yes, he did get to plant one on me. 

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Now for a couple photos of the three boys Henry, Reggie and Toby. Our son Bert took the photo and I called Reggie and luckily the other two stayed in place, to give an almost optical illusion of Reggie disappearing in to thin air.

Last night after the BBC1 news they showed a programme called 'The Dog Factory' as the title might suggest, it was about one of our biggest animal cruelty issues here in the UK, the puppy farming trade. You can see the program at this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qqf00
If you don't already know about how at least a third of our pet dogs start off in the UK, then watch this. It will not only open your eyes, but also fill them with tears. If thinking of getting a pup, please watch this program as it will show you the tricks of the puppy farm trade and make you understand why patience is so important when looking to get a puppy.
Utterly disgraceful that as a nation of so called dogs lovers, that this can still happen here and on the scale they report. Better legislation and policing is needed, but also the consumer needs to wake up and understand that buying a puppy is not like buying a new pair of shoes, a puppy is another sentient being. Do your research and always see the mother with the pups, because every puppy bought from a puppy farm, gives a life sentences to another mother to never have a life.