Yesterday was very pleasant weather in between the rain and at last I got the opportunity to take some photos of the pups. Jo and Nige came over to get Ronnie hip scored, a difference of over an hundred pounds at their vets to mine. I took Chamonix for hers too. The x-rays look good so we just have to wait for the results--I am still waiting for some scores from late February! We had a good day catching up on doggy gossip and taking loads of photos of all the dogs. Christines' Tala was probably the most difficult as she was like a tornado passing but we got some in the end. She is by Lisa Jordans' dog Kane to Dula and should definitely be able to jump! Nice to see how the lines breed on from Taeus to Meerkat in both her and Asta, who is a Yorn daughter.

Great news from Ann that Kobra has passed his Bronze Good Citizens test.

Brizo has been really restless tonight so I will stay up with her, no doubt she will get some sleep while I don't ! She is due to her first mating tomorrow so we must be getting near now, fingers crossed.

A very busy few days with WELKS yesterday at Malvern. The weather was very variable with sunshine and showers. In Tervueren Remy had 2nd in Puppy Dog, Bruine a 3rd in PGrad Dog, and Dusty, who has been on holiday with us this week, had a 4th in PGrad Bitch. In Malinois Junior Kobra was 1st, Lexi 2nd and Dana 3rd. Cougar won Open Dog and Deepha won Open Bitch. Cougar BD,Kobra RBD. Deepha BB and BOB and Lexi RBB. The Malinois were 2nd in the Breeders Stakes.

The Belgians all looked good in the group and it was lovely to see Corsini Chanel win the Group. After a quick cuppa in the car park I set off, only to find that they had closed the A52 so I had to make a detour up to Newark to get home, which I really could have done without as, by this time, I was really tired.

Today has been busy with Sue Bright coming over to see the Groenendael pups this morning and then we set to a bit of gardening, helped by Celine. We went for a nice stroll with Brizo round the setaside and I had a play with my new to me camera. Christine had been helping us all afternoon and we took Tala with us to help dig up some saplings for the end of the field.

Well I think I can safely say that Brizo is pregnant ! After trying so hard taking her abroad to be mated without a result I asked the Kennel Club for special dispensation to mate her to my Malinois Champion Bonvivant Esprit. Cougar has Maubray du Maugre as his Grandfather, who carried a rough coat gene, so hopefully, rough coat being also a dominant gene, the resulting puppies should have sufficient furnishings and coat. Thankyou to the BSDA of GB, NBSDC and WBSDS who supported me in my request and to Jeff Sampson for all his help.

This is not an unusual combination in as much as it has been done abroad to strengthen the gene pool for the Laekenois, and also to compound a Belgian type with less furnishings; At one point the "Bouvier type" of Laekenois was prominent which had too much coat and furnishings and was altogether heavier. The puppies will be officially Laekenois with 3 asterisks on their pedigree, each successive litter must be Laekenois to Laekenois losing an asterisk until they are classed as 3 generations pure Laekenois.

With only about one week to go now Brizo is extremely big, uncomfortable and very tired. She plods along on her walks and would prefer to sleep on the settee all day.

So there is the reason she wasn't at Crufts or any other shows since, I have not dared to risk travelling her anywhere and have just cosseted her at home. So exciting in a scary sort of way !!!!!!!!!!! Fingers crossed now for a natural birth and live puppies.

Sophie and pups are doing well, all very contented.

I went to see Bruines litter yesterday, really well boned pups with lovely straight fronts, good body shapes, big coats and outgoing attitudes.

Sunshine at last today and a chance for the Groenendael puppies to see more of the great outdoors. Psyche kept them company all day in the puppy pen and we had quite a few visitors come by to say hello. I abandoned the newspaper, we must have got through quite a few trees in the last week or so, and replaced the bedding with shavings.They are much easier to manage once they get to this age, and warm to snuggle up in after a day out. Psyche was exhausted having to babysit the mob, who were cheerfully ripping up cardboard boxes and playing with their toys, despite the big dogs barking when people arrived. Let's hope we get a few days of sunshine now as they really need to see more goings on and maybe even the lawnmower!

I am so fed up of being cold today that I decided to look for a video with some sunshine in it to cheer us up. This is of Bonvivant Harmonie (Blitz, sister to Celine and Stellar) at the KC International Festival at Peterborough a couple of years ago. Clare and Blitz have now moved to Tenerife where hopefully they will have found somewhere to train and compete.

Wendy Fairlamb came over today to play with the Groenendael puppies, which had a great time bombing up and down the mobile home. I hope the weather cheers up this week as they really need to spend more time out in the puppy run watching the goings on in the garden and, hopefully, going out up the field with Psyche. They have had their "noises" tapes on today again and didn't seem unduly bothered by anything, even coming back to have a good look when one of them somehow took the metal grill off the gas fire (not connected).

News hot off the press:- Working and Pastoral Breeds of Wales Championship show Bonvivant Sauvignon avec Zodantta takes BP and BOB Malinois. Well done Ann !

Good news that Czara, Bonvivant Ombrage at Belsharose had eye test clear, elbows clear and an hip score of 3:2=5.

Tried in vain to put news and pics on yesterday-so will put some extra on today.

An eventful day with Sophie showing no sign at all of whelping, a scan revealed a rather large puppy; so in she went for a caesarian. She had one live puppy, the others seemingly reabsorbed, which was a shame, especially for Lisa and Chris' first litter at home. Fortunately Carol had just had a bitch whelp the night before and kindly drove down with three pups for Sophie to foster. Immediately the single puppy snuggled in and went to sleep, relieved to have found his siblings. Sophie looked a bit shocked that her pups had multiplied when she had nipped out for a wee, but soon settled down and nursed all four. (she has been reluctant to go out of sight just in case more turn up). Lisa reported a peaceful night and a very content mum and pups.

This is a longer video, (sorry we have new mobiles and have to try them out :))) poor Psyche is getting cheesed off with them in between feeds now and you can see why.

There's that grey one again looking rather fat. Click on the videos. The pups have found their voices today and made it quite plain that they wanted to go outside and explore. The weather turned very wet and cold so they had to stay in, much to their annoyance.

The pups had 5minutes outside today just before the heavens opened and we had hailstones. Click on each pic for the videos. The grey one stayed indoors but joined in feedtime indoors, when the puppies decided to go really loopy trying to get dry.

Sophie is still a lady in waiting and seems to be thoroughly enjoying all the undivided attention. She has her own suite with TV, biscuits and heating. Lisa has moved out into the mobile home with her and they are very cosy.

A very busy few days, full of dogs as usual; been on some nice walks, and the dogs have been enjoying lots of time out in the paddocks. A few heavy downpours but on the whole a very sunny weekend. Got some fencing repairs done and a new vent on my dog trailer -thanks Martin. I got the strimmer going and made a start on the nettles which have suddenly sprung up everywhere.

News from Crystal Palace Open show that Grace with Bonvivant Noisette had BOB today.

Here are some pics of Psyches' pups at 4weeks old. They are into playing big time now and latch on to any passing trouser leg. No longer can you creep in without them waking up--being as quiet as you can, they are wide awake in a flash and helping change the newspaper. They have been listening to their puppy socialisation tapes, Classic FM and been big game hunting their resident elephant-who is looking decidedly worse for wear already.

I went down to Epsom again today to see the puppies--took me 4hrs there and 4 hrs back--now I remember why I was glad to leave there---traffic! The pups had been playing hard since seven this morning, so after a dose of gardening, mainly pruning, they were ready for a sleep. One pup went at the weekend and one went today so just the six to go now(still a couple of homes to find, hopefully for the show ring). The weather was glorious and they really enjoyed themselves, then they had some dinner and back to sleep. They are lovely pups and so even, with lovely characters.

At home Psyches' pups are 4 weeks old now and very playful. I shall try and get some more pics tomorrow.

Kim and Gary had had a cake decorated with a head of Ch. Corsini Millenium in celebration of her becoming the first UK Belgian to gain her French Champion title. Not an easy achievement.

Congratulations Kim and Gary and of course Mandy for breeding such a lovely bitch.

It was a busy weekend with agility at Scunthorpe, where David and Rusty were 3rd in Grade 7 Agility and won the 6-7Crufts Qualifier. Grace and Lisa, Helen and Sammy all came up to stay for the BSDA Open show the next day. Held at Markfields, Leicestershire there was a good few inches of snowfall overnight. It was a bit of a family outing with Cougar and four of his kids entered, and Grace took some pics afterwards with Celine.Pictured are (l to r) Bonvivant Saphir(Saffi), B.Symbolique(Lexi), B.Sauvignon avec Zodantta(Kobra). The group pic has dad Ch B.Esprit, B.Symbolique, mum B.Halsane, B.Saphir and B.Sauvignon.(l to r). Unfortunately Barbara and Sam (B.Saumur) had gone home before we got chance to get some photos done, and it started to snow again. Hopefully we can get the whole litter together one day for a photo.

In Tervueren Remy was BPDog, Bruine won his class, Asta was 2nd and Dula had a 3rd in OB. In Malinois Cougar was BD, Kobra was RBD, Lexi was BP,BB and BOB, beating her dad again! RBB was B.Non Pareil with Stonedragon (Vienna) and B.Arc en Ciel was BVeteran. Ciel then went on to be Best Veteran in Show! being her usual boisterous 11yrs young!

In the obedience Linda Strange with Bonvivant Pavane (Hava) won the Pre-Beginners class, a brilliant result--well done!

The show had a good atmosphere and there were lots of people I hadn't seen for ages.

Would you let these into your home? I went to see Stellars' litter yesterday, they are very even in size and type. Lovely outgoing characters and a credit to Christiane, they have been well handled and socialised and are very bold puppies. They have lovely strong bone, and some good shapes, heads and construction. They are seven weeks old today and I think the family are going to miss them, albeit with a little relief that life can return to normal ! Stellar has been a superb mother and is still letting them suckle in betwen meals.

A busy day yesterday with a trip to the vets to get Lexis' bloodtest done for her passport.

Chris came round to take some photos and this one is of Bonvivant Sauvignon avec Zodantta (Kobra) owned in partnership with Ann Brown.

Ann went home today and rang to say that her car had caught fire when she stopped at the services! She got Deepha and Kobra out and a couple of men helped her to dowse the fire. It must have been an electrical fault, just a good job that it didn't happen when she was driving on the motorway.

Ringcraft night at Newark so I went with Barbara and Sam (B.Sauvignon) and took Remy and Lexi. It is a really busy ringcraft with a Matchnight and Lexi won her round.

I moved the pups down to the puppy room today and they were busy exploring. I put a small water bowl down and they all spotted it; one by one they came over to investigate and were very bold and dipped their noses in to see what was in it. They are getting more co-ordinated today and will soon be running round.