Harvey does the Lake District, a Dottie and Lottie update, two of the men in my life, a little veer and the calm before the storm

Monday I started this blog and I'm back here Thursday to finish the job. What was going to be a quick blog with just the last photo on here on Monday, has now grown into an almost epic blog. So I should get on with the job at hand before more updates arrive or I am distracted by life beyond the computer key board. The other day I was reading a blog and a person commenting on it was saying or it rather seemed more like bragging that they write eleven blogs about dogs, I struggle with one, how the hell do you write eleven blogs and actually fit life inbetween writing on eleven blogs. I'd rather take quality over quantity any day and some may consider I deliver neither on my blog, but there you go, beauty is in the eye of the beholder or for many sadly the pressure of the collective, choose your path to contentment carefully, firstly making sure it's your path to start with. Contentment is a gift, that only you can give to yourself.  "What's going on Jane, you turning into an old sage."  "Yep, just got to get the sex change and I'm good to go." "Jane, planet earth please !"
"Planet Earth you want, planet Earth it'll be." Let us start with updates and the first up is from Liza and Harvey. Harvey is from Smudge's litter born 24th February this year. Harvey is getting on well as a London commuter with Liza and recently Liza and Harvey visited the Lake District. Looking at the photos Liza sent of Harvey doing the Lakes, you really can see why we don't really need to travel of shore when we have such beauty on our doorsteps, get out there and enjoy this green and pleasant land, it ain't called that for nothing.
One thing I'm going to pick up on in Liza's email is her vet thinking that at 7 months old that Harvey at 10 Kilos is going to grow a 50% again his size he is now and they add "minimum" to their estimate of his adult size.  Small to medium dogs do most of their growth uphill (height) in the firs six to eight months and then as we say in Devon, "They fall abroad," which is they grow outwards, hormones kick in and they lay down more body soft tissue. Harvey would of had an extremly good start in life because he had unhindered access to breast milk until he left, so plenty of growth hormones from Mum's milk to help him make good fast growth in his early months, most pups don't get this with domestic rearing, in the wild making growth fast is a big plus to your survival.  My vet when my pups are first vaccinated always comments on how well grown my pups are at eight weeks old, for their breeding, hybrid vigor and Mum's milk help in this noticeable factor. I would expect Harvey if not allowed to get overweight at adulthood weigh around 13 Kilos. His Mum is our biggest Cavalier and she is around 13 Kilos, as is the dad, Reggie. If Liza's vets are up for a bet, I'd happily put money on this. Most species, the smaller of the species will reach full body size earlier and much earlier when a huge size differential, as we see in dog breeds. If Harvey was a St Bernard, they might be right in thinking that at 7 months old the dog will grow another 50 % of his size at 7 months, but this is not the case for small dogs.
Thanks Liza for the update, the stunning photo's of Harvey up in the Lake District and if your vet wants a friendly wager, they know where to find me.

Hi Jane & Family 

I hope you are all well and that you have had a lovely summer. I am so sorry it has taken me so long to get in touch - it was not intentional, work has been busy and I have spent a lot of time with the gorgeous Harvey…playing and more playing. He is doing so well and I love him to bits. He has the sweetest manner, is very clever, has a lovely nature and is also very naughty. I guess you were
right..not much between him and Brian. His house training was great from the start and he got it straight away. He loves socialising with other dogs and despite being in London he has a pack of at least 6-8 doggie friends to play with at 7am everyday before getting on the train at 8am to come to work. He is the baby of the pack and is always getting told off as he annoys all of them but if a dog out of the pack comes near him then they all look out for him. We spend
most weekends in Epping Forest or across Walthamstow/Hackney marshes and he loves to swim in the River Lea. We have just returned from a week in the Lake District and he he had the most amazing time as you can see from the photos. He is so lovely and great company and is very well loved by my neighbours and at
work - some of his bad habits include ….eating any type of food left in the park, destroying shoes, running around the house with the toilet brush, stepping/pouncing on snails and dehoming them, bin diving at work and eating the TV controls all the time.  

He is getting quite big now and is already 10KG,, probably more now an my vets reckon he'll be 15KG minimum. He loves his food and I was wondering when I should stop his lunchtime meal as he
is still on 3 meals a day?  

Anyway I should sign off as it is getting late - I'll be in touch soon and send his post haircut photos 
  
Liza & Harvey x

The next two updates are from our last two pups that left us from Primrose's litter born on the 9th May this year, Lottie and Dottie. We start with Lottie, with Daphne who has sent me the email and photo below. Felicity is who Lottie lives with and Daphne is Felicity's mother. Thanks Daphne for the update, when you go to training classes ask the trainer about ways to stop or lessen Lottie vocalising, when she gets excited. There are ways to reduce a dog over vocalising and these are best shown to you than described. Glad to hear that Felicity and Lottie are settling in together.  

Hello Jane
Afraid Felicity's computer playing up so I am emailing you instead.  We heard from Sue that Dottie is doing very well - how times flies by but I don't think we will be able to meet up yet.  

Lottie is going to doggie training classes but gets so enthusiastic when seeing other dogs and people.  However, is sitting (most times) at the roadside now and definitely knows what 'good girl', 'no', 'leave it', 'down'and 'come here' mean and what treats are!! . 
 
When she gets excited, barking can go right through you, and yes, also weaves from side to side looking for anything to pick up when out for a walk. They are certainly strong puppies. She loves cuddles and licking, as you know, and her toys. She has stopped complaining when in her car cage and improving a lot when
Felicity goes upstairs.  I heard this morning that it was a 4o'clock at toilet demand today though,but I think it is usually around 5.30+  now and she goes back to sleep in the bed-time cage next to F's bed.
I have attached a photo of Lottie I took yesterday. Hope all is well
with you all and the doggies.

All for now
Best wishes
Daphne.

Lottie

Last puppy update now is from Lottie's sister, Dottie. What can I say, Dottie seems to be a little Dot and as I suspected would take most of life in her very bouncy stride. Thanks for the update and great to hear from you, Sue and Colin, keep those aerobics classes up. Lol

Hi Jane,
      Just a update on Dottie, I have attached a photo it was taken at Hever Castle,its such a lovely place to visit,and with it being on our doorstep we have invested in a season ticket so we can go more often.I think it is one of Dotties favourite places, she is quite intrigued with the ducks! While we were there Gloria Huniford was
there doing some filming,she spotted Dottie and wanted to know all about her, apparently she has two cavaliers of her own.Dottie took all the fuss in her stride.My son was upset with me as he thought I should of got a selfie with Dottie and Gloria!
Dottie is such a delight, she makes us laugh she watches telly and will have quite a conversation with any dogs that appear.I gave up watching Paul O' Grady's show, for the love of dogs! Dottie also seems to think her reflection is another dog! We are on our
fourth week of puppy classes.classes. Dottie can do all the sit, wait, leave commands at home, but in class she is just so excited to see the other dogs, I end up coming out feeling like I've done an aerobics class!
I do hope all of Dotties siblings are doing well,we have been in contact with Daphne and felicity who had Lottie, we were hoping to meet up,but it turns out that we are further away from each other than we first thought. Dottie loves other dogs and can't understand if they are not interested in playing with her. I am sure she remembers your children, she always makes a beeline for them, then looks quizzically as if to say oh its not who I thought
it was after all.
Thank you Jane for giving Dottie such a good start,she is a real treasure.
 
Kind regards 
 
Sue and Colin

Dottie

I have a lot of men in my life, husband, three sons and my three canine boys. Reggie is top canine boy and in the slide show below he is playing with his ball and this involved chewing it for a bit, dropping it off the sofa, looking at it, looking at me, to see if I was going to get it for him and when realising I was not joining in the game, jumping down and getting it and repeating the process again. He loves playing with toys and if he can break into a dog bed. loves pulling the stuffing out of them, they say that this trait is from the hunting instinct and if you think about it, killing an animal, they then would rip and pull to get into the animal, so ripping and pulling stuffing out of a dog bed, sort of recreats this, with a lot less mess though. I know many don't like it, but the fact is dogs are predators, and to except this and to understand this about them, will help you live with them a lot better. It's one of the reasons they have clicked so well with us as another species, we have a lot more commonality with them, than we like to think.

Next is Henry who really needs little introduction, as he gets his mug on most blogs. He and Toby sit roughly on a par, with Reggie as a positive male alpha figure,  the care we take to keep bitches out the way when on heat and matings are done out of sight of the other dogs, this helps to keep the pack sociable and the males from feeling the need to challenge each other. Even down to taking care with feeding and when they have treats, that can be highly prized, thought and care in administration of your dogs when you have more than one, will help to keep aggression low and take away the need or feeling to challenge each other within the pack. You also need to be positive member of the pack,  showing that you are of worth to them and they will then hopefully follow you. What goes round, comes round.
The photos of Henry, show him having a play moment with my husband David, number one man.

David, my husband has yet to replace his broken mobile phone, which I mentioned had broken on the last blog, I think, I did mention it. So this has opened up an opportunity to veer off the beaten doggy path some way with the blog.
David has expressed to me that he is not missing having a mobile phone  and actually feels happier not having the responsibility of one. I suggested it might be because he does not have to worry about me ringing him up, annoyed about something, but apparently that's not the reason, or should I say, "not the primary reason." The reason is the responsiblitiy of looking after the thing. During the summer months, other than when in the milking parlour, he struggles to have a suitable pocket to carry it about his person, so he can be out doing field work, puts the phone down and has to remember to keep remembering to pick it back up. He has left his phone twice on top of the car at work and drove off. The first time, he retraced his steps and found the phone, the second time he was not so lucky. He has also wrecked two phones bending over in the parlour and his phone shooting out of his overalls breast pocket to land in a bucket of detergent. He's only ever used pay-as-you-go and at the moment he seems in little hurry to go and get a new phone. We do have one working mobile phone in the home which the older children use for school trips, so we are covered for an emergency. Lol
As some know I do not have a mobile phone and I must admit this has caused the odd uncomfortable silence, when asked for my mobile number and my reply is, "No, because I don't have one", because I think some assume everyone has a mobile, a bit like some assume every woman has read '50 shades of gray', I blow both those theories out the water, I don't and have never had a mobile and I have never read '50 shades of gray', why would I want to read a book about how many colours gray, comes in. Two jokes in one there, think about it for a minute.
I think some people think I'm lying about not having a mobile and I just don't want them to have my mobile number, I'm not lying, although when one or two have followed asking for my mobile number by saying, "So I can text you," maybe if I had a mobile phone, at that moment I might of lied, you really think I want you texting me every five minutes.Lol
The mobile phone or my husband not missing it prompted us to discuss the amount of upkeep needed these days when courting someone and my husband declared that we would be useless in the modern courting world and he cheekily told me I was pretty bad at up keep before modern forms of constantly annoying each other, sorry, I mean, lovingly contacting each other thoughout the day, minute after minute, hour after hour, every day, constantly wanting to know what you are doing.  "Jane , we get the point, calm down."
See my idea of courting is together attentive, when not together you're doing other stuff, that when you are together again, you can attentively tell each other about, simple and remarkably effective in the day. Imagine dating like that today, yes, fantasy world, most people seem to be high upkeep these days or they think they need to be, t'is one or t'other or maybe both. Lol
Now my reasoning for not having a mobile phone you may of already guessed, I simple lack the responsiblity to be set free with one, one things for sure I won't have it for that long anyway. When I had our first child a few months before my 32nd birthday, I realised I was entering into the "I'm an adult now world", and not only an adult, but an adult woman, I was going to seriously need to get tooled up. Tooling up for a woman is purse, check, handbag that you can fit everything in for every eventuality that could happen when leaving the home, check. The only time I had come into contact until then with a handbag, was the odd clutchbag bought for a wedding etc and then gathering dust in the back of the wardrobe. Purses have always intrigued me from a child , as with parents as a child owning a doorstep milk delivery business, my siblings and me would be collected from school on a Friday, to then go door to door on milk money collection, knocking on doors collecting payment for the weekly milk delivered to them and while doing this, I got to see lots of purses and would watch intrigued as loose change was pushed with a single finger around the open purse often in pursaunce of an errant penny or half pence, so purses bring back fond memories of my childhhood.
Well, I tooled myself up with purse and handbag, my plan was going to plan, to nail adulthood but for one failing, me !
No one told me about constantly needing to be vigilant, constantly keeping an eye to them. I was not safe out with them, unless my husband (sometimes known as my carer) was with me. I was great with them until I  put them down, there my failings shone, as I would then forget to pick them back up. Lost the count of how many times I left them behind. My husband thought my predicament funny and would often walk back to the car with me and as we got in the car he would ask, "forgot something" and would produce what was by then becoming my nemisis, my purse and handbag. He would laugh and I would exclaim, "that it's not kind to laugh at the inflicted." 
Thankfully our last child born came out of nappies over three years ago, so I burnt my handbag and purse, liberating myself from their encumbrance. I understand that the mobile phone has been a good thing for businesses, as my sister had a horse transport business, until a couple years ago she sold it and she had one of the first ever mobile phones which revolutionised her trading, but I think with my history with the purse and handbag, only a fool would consider that a mobile phone would be safe with me. Being an adult ain't for all of us, tried it but I had to go back to using pockets. Lol

Now to finish on what would of been the beginning and end of the blog, if I had blogged on Monday, when I loaded up this photo on Monday evening after the children were all to bed. The title 'calm before the storm' is because the run up to this moment was, I had just picked the two youngest up from after school, Art Club and as I came in through the gates in the car, my oldest son signed to me from the house, if I wanted a drink and I thumbed up, to confirm "yes." I then came in sorted out school uniforms, pack lunch boxes and then saw the coffee on the side and it was at the right temperature to consume and dropped myself onto the dog's sofa, joined quickly by Toby and Dolly, before I made the West wing assault on our home, also known as going into the kitchen to cook tea, so this is my minutes calm before the push towards tea and bedtime for the children. Our daughter Molly took the photo, it has been lovely weather here in the UK for September which can be seen by the sun rays coming in through and casting an atmospheric sepia light to the photo, framing the moment well. I did take my dealer boots off before cooking the tea, but I think they do add a touch of glamour, not all can pull dealer boots on, let alone pull them off. Lol

Look at that, how good was I, I did not mention the Scottish referendum once, until now. You will of have to of lived in the UK for the last month to get that and this. Good luck Scotland what ever you choose, lets hope the wounds that have been opened can be healed quickly and the storm brewing is soon dispersed.

Look out I can hear Cornwall beating its drum. Westminister needs to get its act together, or they will have no one to be together with in a minute. Sorry about that political outburst, brought to you by a concerned citizen of the UK.

Calm before the storm