The year is rolling on and we find August upon us. Getting up for milking, we have just started to notice the days shortening, as you wake it's dark again, with the light just starting to peep through as you eat breakfast. With the heat this summer milking has been more tiring than usual. Last Friday though saw me arrive home in the evening after milking, after a rapid cool down. The milk tank at one of the farms I milk has the line for milk entering the bulk tank at the outlet valve at the base of the bulk tank via an umblical pipe, when you finish milking, you flush the line with cold water and two pumps and most of the milk in the system is flushed through and you then disconnect the umbilical pipe, as the first cold water follows through. Well, Friday night for some reason the pump went twice and I then went to disconnect everything and the pump as I was doing this decided to cut in again, sooner than normally expected, with over six thousand litres of milk already in the bulk tank, you can imagine how much pressure happens when the pump pushes the milk into the tank and with the valve half open, you can pretty well guess what happened next, I got covered in milky water and because of the heat I had no water proofs on, not even an apron. As I was crouched lent forward onto it, my face and chest took the main brunt of it. Who I was milking for then came in the dairy and jokingly remarked on me having a bit of an accident and I noticed him averting his eyes, as I think he was concerned that with my t-shirt being saturated with cold milky water, that I might be resembling a contestant in a wet t-shirt contest, but when out and about especially working,I always wear harvest festival under garments, which means what ever happens you are always safely gathered in, so he did not have to worry about my virtue. I loaded up all the photos for this blog a couple days ago and its taken until now to get back here and do the words bit. Children are home on the summer holidays, so its not so easy to spare the time at the moment, so lets get started on updates. The first two updates are from Dottie and Lottie who are the last two pups of Primrose's Cavapoo litter to leave us and departed this last Saturday, both updates are about their trip to their new homes and their first night in their new homes. Thanks Sue and Colin with Dottie and Felicity with Lottie for letting me know that you got home okay and the first night was not to traumatic for all. Hi Jane Well Dottie is a complete star, after our 6 hour journey home, she coped far better than us, very chilled and took it all in her stride. Thanks for all your hard work. She easily got the idea of where to do her business. We made the mistake of the three of us falling asleep on the sofa.We went to bed and after a few whimpers she slept in her crate. A bit short lived as at 3.00 am she decided it was long enough, so took it in turns to stay with her. She was quite happy to doze in her crate. Hopefully we will get into a better routine over the next few days. Love Sue and Colin Hello Jane, The journey home yesterday took quite a while, but Lottie was absolutely fine and we had no'little accidents' (wees etc) in the crate at all, just a few whines soon after setting off from yours. Once we were home and she had a good look and sniff around house and the garden.I think she 'forgot' just once who i was yesterday evening as I quickly went upstairs and wheni came down she had a little woofing and growling session at me but soon calmed down! I slept on the sofa last night and although it too a while for her to settle and didn't want to goin her own bed, she ended up lying on or next to me. She does seem to breath a bit quicker at times when asleep, but is that maybe a bit of stress or a bit warm?? I had to be up early this morning anyway, so took Lots out around 6 o'clock and she did few poos! Is eating fine today and has had a good play, so we will see how 'things' go tonight - I aim to try andbe in my own bed tonight, so will be listening out for her! She is just a lovely little girl and thankyou so much for the start you have given her in life. Will obviously keep you updated and enclose a few photos taken this morning. Best wishes, Felicity. Next update is from another of Primrose's pups, Buddy who left us just over a couple weeks ago. Thanks Lee and Alison for letting me know the first week with Buddy has gone well. Hi Jane, We hope you, David and the family are all well. Just a quick note to let you know that Buddy is settling in fantastically well. We had a few nights last week were he was very unsettled but that has died down a little now and he’s much happier going to sleep and stays asleep until around 6am now (much better than the 1st few nights!). We have found a vets that carries Nobivac L4 and he is due for his injection this coming Friday with an additional anti Parvo (as you thought they might), 2 weeks later. Buddy went to his 1st social engagement yesterday at the vets puppy party. It was mentioned that he was a little timid, I just think he didn’t much like the look of the 1 German Shepherd and 1 Doberman and 2 Lapso puppies (complete with nappy!) He was an midget amongst giants even in the puppy world. We took him to the local park to meet our friends 1 year old CockerPoo and he had a whale of a time with lots of running around and play fighting, it’s just about wiped him out as he’s fast asleep panting now. Attached is a piccy of his 1st outing to the Barbican for a walk and some fresh air. We hope all the rest of the litter are settling in with their new families as you prepare for the last ones to depart and the house gets a little quieter. Many thanks Lee, Ali, Jakes and Emily Now for an update from Sue who has Lucy, who was a bitch we rehomed a few years ago and comes to stay with us when Sue and Jim go on holiday. Hope Lucy is fully recovered now and the house move is going okay. They say that after losing a spouse, family member or close friend, the second most stressful thing to do is move house. Hello Jane what a hot day, trust all good at Poundland we are still here , people at bottom of chain pulled out with a week to go, but there is a new buyer at the end now so it's fingers crossed again. Just a picture of Lucy today she is feeling bit sorry for herself yesterday how she did it heaven knows, she managed to cut her foot and break a nail, vet said too painful to pull it out without sedation so had it done this morning,her bandage will hopefully be off Saturday, by the way it's got little red tractors on it!!!!! Next is an update for Kayla and a question, which I have already emailed and answered best I can for Lynne, as I reply all emails privately before posting them on the website. Spaying is something you need to do your research, talk to your vet, who can see the dog physically and then the decision is yours. Spaying before the first heat is something I have never done, but know people who have dogs which have been done before their first heat and I know some who were advised against spaying before the first heat by the vet due to the sexual immaturity of the bitch, as their vulva's were very small for their body size and it was felt best to let them have a heat, as the vulva after a heat will become bigger. Thanks Lynne for the photos of your lovely Kayla and hope you have been able to decide when you will get Kayla spayed. Hi Jane I hope everyone and every dog is well! Kayla is doing well and is getting quite tall. I was hoping you'd be able to advise whether you feel the best time to spay is before or after her first season. When we first had her my thought was to spay her before, which the vet agreed with. After looking on the internet some people say it should definitely be done after, so I was going to do that. I've looked again and people are saying there a far more health benefits to having them done before. Now I'm just confused! As you know, she will be 5 months old on Thursday and I need to make a decision soon especially as we're planning to take her on holiday with us. I look forward to hearing from you soon and have attached a couple of photos of Kayla. Best wishes Lynne A bit of a special update now for Oliver, as Oliver is Smudge's brother , so the son of Millie and Charlie. Oliver was a special pup, as his siblings except Smudge who we kept, all left us around eight weeks old and Oliver stayed on with us until around thirteen weeks old, as Madeleine had something she had to honour and could not take him until then and although she lives in Leicestershire, she visited him three times before he left us. The other special thing about this update is Madeleine is expecting her second child, so a big congratulations to you both. Thanks Madeleine for the link about the skull research and thanks for keeping in touch over the last four years. Hi Jane Long time no type. Oliver is fine and getting on well. I did have him neutered finally almost a year ago. He started guarding the pushchair and growling at male dogs! Things that would have eaten him alive too! Since the op he has stopped this so very pleased with the results. He does now have a love of food like never before and I have to monitor his weight but I am keeping him trim and he doing great. Henry our eldest (I say eldest as I am 32 weeks pregnant with our 2nd son) loves Oliver to bits (19months now) picks up his lead to walk him and desperately trying to throw a ball for him. (Usually it is just dropped in front of him! Lol) Saw this article and thought you might be interested. http://cavalierhealth.org/sm2.htm#UK_researchers_find_two _aspects_of_cavalier_skull_conformation_are_associated_with _the_development_of_SM Can't say I understood it all. But thought it might be useful to you as a breeder. I see you have a Henry of your own. I am interested to see what he produces. But we will always be a one dog family so hopefully I won't be back for another dog from you for a good decade yet. Added a photo of Oliver post wash on Monday as we met up with another mucky Cav who claimed to be the muckiest in the midlands... She lost! Oliver won! There is a photo of the mucky pair too. Hope you are well. I haven't been on your site in months so I'm behind on your news sorry. Madeleine xx That now makes me up to date at this moment with updates and a cleared inbox. I hope I have replied every email up to this evening, if I've not replied you yet and you contacted me over the last few weeks, I may not of got your email, as Yahoo have been messing about with upgrading and when they hit a hitch and put me back on my old account and format, they warned that some emails could be lost in that process. I try to answer everyone enquiring about Poundlane pups, even if it sometimes takes me a little while, so if I have not replied you in the last couple weeks, it might be best to resend the email to me. We are now puppyless until 2015 or in other words, we will not be breeding another litter of pups now until 2015, so what to do until then. With six children and eleven dogs to care for alongside relief milking for two cow herds, I have plenty to keep me out of trouble and although I sent the last pup off with a bit of heaviness to the heart, its good to have a break and get freshened up before the next litter. 2015 will be a year unlike 2014 that we will be definately retaining pups from one if not two litters. We will hope to bring together Smudge and Henry, really excited by the prospect of this litter, Brittany cross Cavalier. Smudge will be five this coming May, so fingers crossed for her health tests. The other litter we are looking at is breeding a pure Cavalier litter with Primrose and Toby, again this will depend on health tests. If these two litters go ahead we will be retaining pick of litter on both. The other maybe in 2015 is breeding from our Cavapoo Belle, I skinned (clipped) Belle right out the other day for the first time, it has been hot but the main purpose was to get a good look at her muscular skeletal structure and I was pleased with what we saw under her fleece, laying hands on a dog is okay, but watching them move around freely with the coat taken back enough to see not only the dog move better but be able to see the muscular movement is even better, a dog can look perfect stood well and feel like everything is in the right place, but its when the dog moves that the fullest picture of its muscular skeletal structure can be ascertained and when I say move, I include running, jumping and playing rough and tumble with you and other dogs. Belle is three years old in October and has so far displayed very good health, with Belle the questions are, should we go back to a Cavalier ? Have we attained enough skull change to risk that cross back ? This crossback would be to breed offspring to potentially be mated with offspring from the Smudge with Henry litter. The other option is to mate her to Henry our Brittany, she has enough size to consider this mating and then offspring from this potentially could be mated with offspring from the pure litter from Primrose and Toby. Just a few thoughts there, that we are running over at this time with liitters for 2015. The rest of the time before we reach our next litter I will probably spend boring you all with photos of the pack and us with the pack ,with the occasional anecdote thrown in with a very little or no connection with dogs. So lets finish on two anecdotes tonight, the first a little sad and the second a little self indulgent.
A couple nights ago my husband and I settled down to watch "Family Guy", yep, I'm a fan of this cartoon series and also the other Seth MacFarlene offering "American Dad." Its a new series of Family Guy, so we were settled down enjoying seeing Stewie and Brian back in action on our screen. Brian is a cartoon dog in the series, but he is not just any old cartoon dog, he is special and to find out why, you will have to watch a few episodes of Family Guy to understand what I mean. You will either get Family Guy or not, so this is for the ones who get it. Stewie had just crushed his time machine at the dump and Brian saw an old hockey net with sticks and pucks at the dump and suggests taking it home to get themselves in better shape, so they arrive home and start setting up the net and the next bit is a bit hazy because I just turned my head as our son oldest son came in the room and turned around to see Brian being run over, surely Seth MacFarlene was not going to kill off the best double act at this time in comedy, but he did and he made my husband and I both gather tears in our eyes. As my husband looked around at me and said, "You got tears in your eyes", I replied, "The same as you darling, how sad does that make us, crying because a cartoon dog dies ?" Bert our oldest son also saw Brian's demise and the next day with the computer turned back on, we googled, "is brian from family guy dead", I think a lot of people had googled this before me, as I only put "is brian" in the search bar and google guessed the rest right for me. So a lot of people out there were concerned for Brian. Apparently in November American audiences suffered the loss of Brian and people got a bit angry and even an online petition was started to get Brian back. Brian is coming back, as I thought, Stewie will rebuild his time machine and go back in time and save him. Phew ! crisis over. Seth MacFarlene did it to shock apparently and was surprised (Yes, I believe you Seth, not) that people cared that much about a cartoon character to be angry at him killing him. For most I suspect was what it did was took us to that moment when we lost our own dog and the desperation we felt and grieve, for a lot of us seeing Brian lying still, that moment was our own moment when our dogs lay still and lifeless, so the anger maybe came from, for some, the fact that we watch "Family Guy", because it is escapism and makes us laugh (maybe in a some what dark fashion from time to time), but Brian dying was to near real life, real life we would rather not relive. Seem to have gone on a bit tonight and will finish on cricket and hopefully a laugh, trying to keep this bit short. Our oldest son, Bert is cricket mad and can actually throw a ball, I should say," bowl a ball."I was tortured with cricket as a child, if test cricket was on the telly, that was all that was going to be watched on the telly, when Mum was around. Did I grow to love it ? Well, I don't hate it, don't love it, but know a bit about it. He plays for Chulmleigh youth team and seems to regularily get picked for the senior team. When they play home games, we are asked to help towards the players tea with providing food, so I have been providing cakes in various forms and my son says, "Your cakes always go down well Mum and I'm not sure I'm making the senior team for my playing skill or my Mum's baking skills ?" Nothing like a bit of pressure, so now if I don't send a tin of cakes and my son don't make the team next game, am I going to feel like a bad parent ? Lol. Not bloody likely. As my son tells his friends, "My Mum cares, but not that much." Comments are closed.
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“The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you,but he will make a fool of himself, too.”
― Samuel Butler Me (Jane) with Puddin' and Teagol, waiting patiently to flush a patch of kale, December 2019
AuthorHello, I am Jane! Archives
March 2022
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