growing up ... day 25

I started to notice the two little girls learn to eliminate themselves. This means I need more newspaper (!!) and a proper whelping box for them to crawl/walk in and out. I don't want to buy a whelping box just for this litter and I cannot see I am going into breeding in the future, so I have to borrow one! Thank you very much to Jim for kindly letting me borrow Tilly's whelping box (now Starry's sleeping box!) for a few weeks. Does this means, hard work is going to start very soon?

Isn't she lovely? I think Blacky is very cute.

Snowy is just like a polar bear!!

This is Tilly's whelping box

The girls exploring the new layout!!

I will make sure there will be some toys in there tomorrow!!

The Bouncy Bunny

Merlin is such a fun loving bunny, not only just adorable and cute but very bouncy (well, he is only 8-9 weeks old). I set up the hutch in the patio for him to live in during the day but he hates it. He has been sicked for the last two days so he is now back into the house as house rabbit! He gets on very well with the boys and the boys love him but he is still nervous with people, hand shy!

She ain't heavy, she's my sister!

The pups are THREE weeks old today. They are looking very good. Eyes are open and ears are open too (I think?). Whenever I went to visit them, they always lift their little heads up to find me! They are now migrated to the centre of the house and very soon I am going to introduce them to the surrounding sounds/noises ... and now I really appreciate that my next door is 0-5 child nursery. The children noises are always good to introduce to puppies!!

She ain't heavy, she's my sister!

Snowy, she is very gentle & sweet. I think she looks more like a Goldie!!

I don't know why but Blacky always look so grumpy in the photo, does colour matters?

A big contrast pair of the same litter sisters, colours wise, personality wise!

She is getting active and they started to play now ...

St Edwards

We have a wonderful day at St Edwards today. I have four runs each with Sing & Saturn. We have a Grade 1-3 Agiltiy first thing in the morning and then have to wait for few hours before we can run the others. We knew the other three classes will crash but never realised that they are ready for walking at the same time as well as running at the same time. Can you imagine you have 3 different courses in mind and have to run 6 times non-stop? Not surprised I collapsed at the end, the heat didn't help!!

Saturn is definitely coming on nicely, he has 4 clear rounds with placed. I am very happy with his agility, he really is running with confident now. Here are his achievements:

2nd in Grade 1-3 Agility
2nd in Grade 1-4 Jumping
3rd in Grade 1-3 Jumping
4th in Grade 3-5 Agiltiy

Sing didn't do too badly, actually his agiltiy rounds are both 1.5 seconds faster than Saturn, unfortunately he missed his Dog Walk again and again. We really need to work on this very hard!! He has 6th in 1-3 Jumping but got an E'd in 1-4 Jumping.

Sorry, no videos or pitctures today ... their daddy is off colour, poor man. He is the best daddy and husband in the world, eventhough he is not well, he still come with me to help me with the boys.

introducing MERLIN

This is MERLIN, a dwarf lop; our new addition to the family.

Guess you lots must have think I must have gone really mad, 5 shelties + 2 puppies + other dogs to look after and now a RABBIT?? Yes, a rabbit! Well, I never thought I would have a pet rabbit. For me, rabbits are for my shelties to chase when we go out walking!!

I went to Pets at Home yesterday to stock up some dog foods. As usual, I room around to see the animals in the pet shop. When I looked into the rabbit hatch, this little thing caught my eyes! Don't ask me why but I straightaway fall in love with him. I came home thinking of him all night and I told Colin about him, he thought I was crazy and I thought the same but this morning, Colin asked me: "Do you really fancy that Blue Merle rabbit?" I told him yes but I don't think I can have him as we have dogs and we always have other dogs come to stay ... he said I DESERVED a treat and he is going to buy me that rabbit!! I told him we can go and have a look but not sure buying it. We got to the pet shop before 9am and the store was not open yet and I told him we better go back but he insisted we should see and buy the rabbit! Well, we thought we can buy the rabbit and try it, if we do not like it, we can always give it to my friend's children. You never guess we ended up with the rabbit, giant bag of food, a giant bag of woodshavings and a giant rabbit hatch!! Look like we are seriously having him for life!!

The girl in the pet shop told me to keep him somewhere quiet for 24 hours, no human handling, no introducing him to the dogs and do things slowly ... because he is nervous! Well, sorry, I never listen to her. If you want to be my pet, you ought to be outgoing! So, once I got him home, I took him out from the box, cuddle him, make him comfy, used to me, then I let Sing in to sniff and they both sniff each other. I let Saturn in, he is far more interested than Sing. I told them this is Merlin not Bit Bit (I always tell them to chase the rabbit in the Common by saying: Get the bit bit!). I let Merlin hop around in the lounge and both Sing & Saturn watching him. They are every so gentle with each other and Merlin seems to accept the dogs. I then let Skye in to mix with Merlin and he seems fine too. The only dogs that I do not trust are Titan and Seagull. Seagull thought he is now at the bottom of the pack and he hates Merlin where Titan wanted to chase him for fun!! The cat just stared at him!

I am going to have fun with him, start with clicker training, then into obedience, then ... yes, Rabbit Agility!! Yeah!!

She is just tooooooooo cute

I can't deny Snowy is very cute! I tried very hard not to like her as much due to her noisy father, but she really is so sweet and easy to handle, and you guess it, YES, I love her to bits!

I went to see the babies this evening, I was surprised to see Snowy busy cleaning her sister's ear and face. She was licking Blacky all over, at one point, she even open her big mouth and tried to "bite" Blacky. I have to rush for my camera ...

Hello World!

Hello World!

Yeah! The pups finally open their eyes and I feel good! Last night, just before going to bed, I have noticed Snowy has some sparkle in her both eyes and I was hoping to see her eyes in the morning but to my surprised, Blacky open her right eye in the morning where her left eye was still shut. After I come back from training, Blacky's both eyes are open but still very hazy looking. I wonder can she sees me? Snowy is a lazy slug (her new name!), I can see two tiny holes in her both eyes but not quite able to see the eyes yet! Come on, Snowy, open up!

Pups 2 weeks today

Snowy and Blacky are two weeks today and their eyes are still SHUT!

Black and White sisters

These Black and White sisters are 10 days old today! Their eyes are still shut tight!! I really can't wait to see their puppies eyes!!

Sleeping beauties

I was told the puppies are going to open their eyes anytime now ... but when?

Snowy is sooooo cute! She is now 1lb 20z, fat and lazy looking still!

Blacky is gaining weight nicely, she is now 10.5oz. She is the most active pup!

I bought a new bed for Coffee and her babies yesterday and she loves it, give her more room!

photos

I'm still on cloud 9 after the great weekend at Landsdown. I've tried to take some pictures of my boys with their trophies, unfortunately non of them like to have their photo taken, they look so miserable in the photos! I have a lovely jumping photo of Saturn taken on Sunday. He looks like he is enjoying himself in the photo! One of my favourite agiltiy photo!

These two planets hate photo time!

Jarna & Sing

We were very happy to see Helen & Jarna at Landsdown and I was very happy that we finally have a chance to have a photo of Jarna & Sing together. We have been doing pair in the Sheltie Agility and in the same Team Dash in Wallingford. I think these two dogs are partnering each other very well.

Here is the photo of Helen's beautiful merlie girlie Jarna and my handsome Sing.

The pups are 1 week old yesterday!

I have been struggling with the Internet connection since last Thursday. I can only access to the Internet for less than 5 minutes and have to wait for few hours to get connected again. I called the service provider and they won't be able to send a technician out until Friday! Ridicolous!!

Well, this is a quick update about the pups, for those who concerns how they are getting on:

They are 1 week old yesterday (25-06-2007). Snowy is 1lb and Blacky is 8oz. My friend Jim must have been looking after them very well. Coffee is also gaining a lot of weight since I last left her with Jim. Coffee is still a good mother but she spends less time in the box with the babies now, she always come up for a cuddle when I walk in to the room, bless her, she is a baby herself.

What a brilliant, fantastic and successful weekend!

We had a brilliant, fantastic and successful weekend at Landsdown!

… about Landsdown …
This was my first time at Landsdown. We got down there nice and early on Friday eventhough we got stuck on M25 and M4 for ages. It was a very nice racecourse and a lot of nice people around. Our neighbour even have a couple of Parrots!! The racecourse has some lovely views, it is located on a hill and you can see the towns of Bristol at one end and Bath at the other end. The racecourse is a gigantic place, we walked the dogs for miles on Friday & Saturday evenings and luckily there is a pub at the end so we can pop in for a drink and a meal.

The weather was not good on Friday and Sunday but Saturday was alright, light shower here and there and Sunday was terrible, the rain started at 4am and you can imagine the ground is wet, the sun didn’t come out until 4pm!

… about Titan …
The boys did very well this weekend. Titan was the first one in on Saturday. Eventhough I have trained him in agility but he is a mischievous little thing, he hardly listen to me so I did not run him at all. I thought we only have a couple of runs with Sing and Saturn each day so I can give him a chance on the Any Size Jumping. I must have well underestimated this little wild evil sheltie, he won the class! I can’t believe it! He was 6 seconds ahead of the 2nd place. There was a little disaster when I ran him though. I want to be the first one in as the other ring for Sing & Saturn was ready for walking in 5 minutes and I don’t want to spend time queuing and miss the course so off we go and run like hell. Guess what? The clock didn’t start!!! Arrrrhhhh ….What a disaster!! The judge said I can have a rest and come back to run for the time as we went clear. I was not happy about it as I have to run uphill in that ring around the outside loop and I get a bit older each and I can feel my knee crackly but the second run was definitely worth it as we came home with a nice big trophy! This is Titan’s first show and he got a 1st place! We nearly missed the presentation, we were in the caravan, miles away from the secretary tent but we can hear the speaker very clearly. When my name was called Lian Knight and Domino Dream Believer, Colin asked me: Who is Domino Dream Believer? Can you believe it? He is a dopey daddy!

Note: You can watch the video in Titan’s Birthday montage, that was the 2nd run.

… about Super Saturn …
Beside Titan, Saturn is a star (or rather a PLANET) this weekend. After two weeks’ rest, he is full of life (but he looked so tired on Friday, he does not want to go for his walk!!). He was very consistent and didn’t slow down at all this weekend; all the four runs were at the same nice speed. He got a 2nd place in Jumping on Saturday and won the Jumping class on Sunday! There were 3 Collies (especially a Crazy Measy Collie) on Sunday and I never thought we could beat them but I am glad my Super Saturn (his new name!) did me very proud! Well, there was another disaster before we won the trophy! I need to rerun the course with Saturn because Sing slipped his collar (Colin was holding him while filming us) and rush into the ring to show his jealousy! As we went clear before Sing came to disturb so we got to run again and the 2nd run Saturn was even faster and smoother and I think our hard work finally paid off!

I think he did pretty well in Agility. On Saturday, he still “freeze” on top of the A Frame but I managed to get him down to the target and he went on to do well but I push him too far and he missed a jump and he went round it and we got 5 for that. On Sunday, he was brilliant on A Frame and Dog Walk, nice speed, no slowing down, got his target but he leap off the See-Saw! What a shamed! I need to improve that, it looks like a serious problem at the moment!

… about the jealous one, Sing …
Sing didn’t do too badly either. He got a 3rd in Jumping on Saturday and 2nd in Jumping on Sunday, just a place behind Saturn. Well, you cannot compare a 14” and a 17”! I think they both did very well!

Re Agility, no luck at all! Sing, my most steady and reliable boy missed the A Frame on Saturday, then he went on to miss the last 2 weaves pole and then he went into the wrong end of the tunnel! Ha, I can’t believe I am such a bad handler! On Sunday, it was very wet and there was a tube tunnel (very short U Shape) and Sing went too fast (Dog Walk, Jump, Tunnel) and got himself tumble between the bend and he has to crawl out, poor little soul! He then missed the jump in front and we got another E’d!

Note: sorry, no video clip of Sing because I cannot risk him for running after his daddy!

… weave entry …
One thing I am very proud of Saturn is his weave entry, on both days at the Jumping & Agility courses, especially Saturday’s Jumping course, we have a terrible long and far weave entry (for me, about 13-15 paces) and I never think any of my boys could get it but I remembered what Bernadette always reminded me “Trust them, let them find it”. Saturn was the first one in, so I slow myself down the jump before the weave and tell him to weave and he was a bit off angle but he found the first pole no problem and weave in his own way. I was really proud of that. With Sing, I ran all the way with him and straighten him (lost some times there) before the weave and he got it too! There were too many dogs caught on that weave entry!

… celebrations …
When my name was called with Titan on Saturday and with Saturn on Sunday, I have tears in my eyes, I cannot believe we did it! It was a happy tear! We have two nice big trophies which Colin and I are going to drink champagne in to celebrate the Planets’ achievements!

Happy Birthday to TITAN

Happy 2nd Birthday to

TITAN

I've created another montage to mark his 2nd birthday.

puppies!

Coffee is looking very good today after she had a very bad day yesterday. She is back to normal, eating & drinking. I am glad to see that. She is being very sweet today, she keeps coming up to me for a cuddles and lick me all over, I wonder if she knows that I am going away? I am going to miss her terribly!

I've been looking up how to make the Bichon QUIET and found some puppy photos and SNOWY is definitely going to be a BICHON! I found a newborn Bichon puppy photo looks exactly like her! She is gaining weight, she is now 10oz, FAT and LAZY! I weighed Blacky this morning, she is just slightly pass 4oz but she is suckling everytime I pop in to see her, Kevin said it is a good sign!

Blacky 4.5oz Snowy 10oz

Found this newborn Bichon picture on the Internet, didn't Snowy looks just like her?

Night Nurse

I took some Night Nurse before going to bed last night, hopefully it helps me sleep better. I must have been so tired and exhasuted and I slept through the night. I woke up about 4am and rush to see the pups and their mum, they look happy. I didn't remember hearing the Bichon barking, so I don't know he did bark or he is now shut up! He looks very tired this morning though!

I weighed the puppies this morning. Snowy remained the same weight, 8.5oz but Blacky lost her weight! She is 4oz when I weighed her around 9am. I was panic for a while as Coffee is not eating and drinking. I checked with my vet, Kevin said as long as the babies are suckling away, it is fine but he is concerned about Coffee not eating. I gave her some high energy food and she ate them all, so I think she is settle now.

I am so glad that all my friends still calling everyday to check how am I coping,

thank you!

Coffee likes to carry Blacky in her mouth, I don't know why?

What do you think about her? I think she is very lazy, not a lot of movement.

It is very hard to take her photos, she moves a lot and fast!

What are they?

Oh, I think I started to like these two cute little girls eventhough they are NOT Shelties!

I wonder what they are??

Snowy is very curly coated as you can see from the picture, I think she is very much like the father, Bichon and her face is quite round than pointy.

Blacky is a shinny jet black girl with 3 white paws! Well, both the parents are curly coated, I don't know what does she going to look like, I am very interested!!
They are gaining weight, today, Blacky is 5oz and Snowy is 8.5oz.
Mother, Coffee is doing her duty very well.

Sugar Level

I sailed through another bad night! I am up 3am this morning! The Bichon is really a big pain! I cannot let him running loose in the house as he always charge towards the poor bitch and wanted to attack the babies, so he is definitely keep out of reach at this stage. He is a very difficult dog to look after, he sleeps all day and bark all night and this has been going on since the day he comes to stay. I have tried everything to stop the bark, non is working!

Coffee and her babies were very good, she is a very good mother. I have slowly learned how to NURSE and HANDLE the puppies, thank you Bernadette!

I am desperately need a good sleep! This morning I need a cup of extra strong coffee with lots of sugar in it to keep my sugar level up. I have been avoiding any sugar in my coffee and tea for 3 years now and this is the first time I need a lot of sugar!

BichyPoo

sleepless night, rescue remedies, thank you ...

I would like to express my HUGE thank you to Bernadette, Alison, Katia & Jim for their endless help through out the difficult time I was facing. I can't thank you all enough, without you, what am I?

First of all, like I expected, SLEEPLESS NIGHT, not because I am worry about the bitch and her puppies (well, a little bit) but the father of the puppies made so much noise, barking all night and I just couldn't fall asleep. Poor Colin has an important meeting at Frankfurt this afternoon and I am going to miss him terrible. He is staying the night at Frankfurt, he has a dinner after the meeting. This is the first time we are apart! I am going to sing Only The Lonely all day today!

RESCUE REMEDIES, didn't I made some good friends since I have Sing? When I was all panic and could not get hold of my vet, I rang nearly everyone I know, all of them were out working beside Bernadette, she was such an angel, beside calming me down, she gently taught me through how to "clean" the pups and make sure they were all alright, she even called me later to check everything was fine and offer to come up to help and follow by emails. How can I thank her enough? In the evening while all the friends were back from work, they called to check on me (not the puppies!). I was still shaking and trembling. Katia & Alison were so helpful, Alison has whelped 41 puppies in the pass and she sacrifice her HTM training and dinner and rushed to me at around 9:30pm. She checked the mother and the babies and confirmed they are doing very well, Coffee is a good mum and the puppies are healthy. I thought Blacky looks so tiny, only half of the size of Snowy but Alison assured me that she looks absolutely fine. She was with me for at least good 2 hours and left here nearly midnight. It will take her half an hour to get back to Epsom and have her very late dinner, oh! how wonderful is she! Not to forget, my very close friend Jim who is caravanning in Angmering. He gave me his huge support through the phone and he is very kind to sacrifice his holiday to come back on Friday to take over the responsibility to look after the mother and the babies while I go to Landsdown.

BichyPoo. The father to the puppies is a Bichon Friese. The mother is a kind of a toy Poodle (we are not sure if she is pure Poodle). Alison has come up with this new name for the puppies, The BishyPoo! Ha! I called the white girl SNOWY, she was 7 oz last night when Alison weighed her; the black girl BLACKY weighed 4oz. Snowy is definitely like her father, very wriggly and noisy; Blacky is very quiet, not a lot of movement. I don't know why she is black because Coffee is Brown! Hope that is nothing to do with my Titan!!

This is a very boisterious and noisy father, TOTO, he is under a year old!

This cute little girl is only 7 months old! I feel sorry for her, she is a puppy herself!

Coffee and her puppies

Now, I need some sleep!