After destroying every flower possible in the garden, Mirabelle now moves onto the pot plants on the table!
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It has been a glorious weekend weather wise. Hotter than the Med. So... a perfect weekend for swimming. Now...I grew up around boats and water...something I was keen to pass on to my children. It seems I was successful, as they all lifeguard, even qualified to do river rescues from either the banks with a throw line, or from a racing kayak, quite a feat!!! They spent their young teenage years traipsing around Europe attending kayak races, Belgium, France, Germany and being selected for the world famous Descent of the Ribadesella in northern Spain, amazing race. Just last weekend, my eldest was swimming and working at the lovely new Olympic swimming pool here in East London, and had to perform CPR on one of the swimming coaches, I hope he is now recovered. So, I think it is established that we are able around water! But Oh No....someone less qualified doesn't like that a water dog should be in the pool with a life jacket (because of the deep water). Firstly.. it is a buoyancy aid, and secondly, health and safety requires it. Thirdly, all puppies are thoroughly vet checked prior to swimming, heart, lungs and movement are all looked at. All the owners were asked beforehand, and each and every one loved it...sour grapes me thinks!!! Anyway, we took our three for a swim yesterday, Mirabelle came along too, though just to watch. It will only be a very short time now before all the puppies can splash and paddle and play in the water, the main concern of going before the second vaccinations is the risk of Weil's Disease or what we all know as Leptospirosis, you are at risk in the water as it is picked up from rat's urine, and where isn't there a rat? Two of the puppies have their own stream running through the garden, and one lives by the sea, with two very able and talented water rescue dogs and their owners. I found these photo's, we were at the National Elevage in Le Blanc, France, 2009, while others were in the hall showing their dogs and melting in the heat, we were on the banks of the river, eating ice creams to cool down, and doing what water dogs do best....swimming! It was delightful to watch a fake drowning, my daughter who swam into the middle of the river in her underwear( we were at a dog show afterall, so didn't pack the bikini's), and this qualified water rescue Newfoundland who actually does work on the beaches in Italy. It took direction from the owner and performed a wonderful rescue. Though we all spoke different languages, our love of the dogs brought us together. And even Odo who is a verrrry competent swimmer, wears a buoyancy aid at times! ! !
Marcel left us to go to his wonderful new family this past weekend. We know he will have lots of fun in his amazing new home and will have plenty of little human friends to play with daily. He is such a lucky boy as he has his very own little stream to play in at the bottom of the garden, just get ready for the muddy paws. Here he is on his last morning with us
I know a few have been confused as to what type of fish I feed the dogs and pups. Apart from buying human grade frozen white fish or tinned oily fish, I also get these from my fishmonger.....they cost pennies. I lightly poach them then remove the flesh from the bone for the puppies, they all love it.
Quite a few events have happened since the puppies arrived, but we have been focusing on the blog, mainly on updates of the pups, and not of the older dogs. Well, now we are back to usual since Marcel left us yesterday for his new home,, and we can catch up with some older news. A couple of weeks ago it was Odo's fourth birthday, he celebrated by going out with us on one of his favourite walks, and coming home to his birthday cake, which he happily shared with his little pups. I don't tend to buy any treats for the dogs, I make most of them myself, it works out alot cheaper, and you know exactly what they are eating. The cake here was two home made liver cakes, sandwiched together with chicken broth, iced with probiotic yoghourt, and decorated with sliced cooked beef cut into bone shapes, and some shop bought Bonio's around the edge (Lulu loves these). The pups had some of the yoghourt, and beef, and some of the liver cake....recipe for it at the end, it is a great training treat, and you find that they will do almost anything to get some. Liver Cake Recipe If in doubt about using wheat flour, replace with potato flour. 8 oz liver, any type 4 oz flour 1 tbsp oil 2 eggs and shells 2 cloves garlic Blitz everything together in a food blender until it is a smooth batter, pour into either a swiss roll tin, or 2 sandwich tins, bake at Gas 4 for about 30 mins, should be firm to the touch when ready. cut into small pieces, and freeze what you dont need. You now have one of the best food treats your dogs will ever want. And Yes.... that is Odo allowing the puppies to have their cake, you should have seen the mess on my rug afterwards! And Odo's face!!!
It has been such a busy week, but finally the swimming video is ready to load, I hope all the new puppy owners enjoy this as much as we enjoyed taking them. This will be a wonderful memory for all of us here, as we had so much fun with this, our first ever litter of puppies. Sit back and enjoy your beautiful new companions.
http://youtu.be/5b5R0_hjY1Y Hugo went to his new home this past weekend, but before he went he had his first swimming lesson with his brothers and sisters. He also had his first shower and his first use of a blaster. No problems at all with anything, a very very confident and well rounded puppy. Hugo was a star.
Our little Maddie, is going to her new home tomorrow. She has played and played today, chasing around wih her brothers and sisters, wore herself out, then fallen asleep in the straw while I was sorting out the chickens. She is certainly a very sweet natured little puppy, and she managed to steal the heart of our vet Felix when she went to meet him at teatime for her shots. Maddie has been bathed today and is now snuggled up with her Mum and siblings for the last time, with her snuggle blanket whilst I sit and think this time next week how quiet it will be.
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