Wednesday was Terry Thorns' Memorial Service in Kempsey near Worcester. Myself, Ann and Zola went down to it. Around 400 people were packed into St Marys Church and it was an almost two hour service, celebrating his life with wonderful tributes from some of his many friends from both here and abroad.

I have many memories of Terry, not least the first time he judged Malinois at WKC and awarded Cachet BOB, he really rated her and went on to award her the CC at East of England when all varieties were judged together in 1999. It was a real accolade when he gave Cougar his 3rd CC at WKC in 2006 making him the first Male UK Malinois Champion. The picture above is of him presenting Liz with her retirement present at WKC; he was so pleased to be part of it.

Terry had a smile for everyone, and was always willing to give advice. Even when he was so ill and judging his last Group appointment at Birmingham he still found time to have a chat and ask how my breeding and judging was coming on. That was the essence of Terry Thorn, he was there for everyone, he made things happen in the world of dogs, many advancements both here and abroad are down to his influence. The dog world is the poorer for his passing and I doubt that we will see the likes of him again.

Saturday was an early start, picking up Sue,Jacqui and son Josh, 3Buhunds,3Sibes and Lexi--and a cockerel. Quite a combination, one Sibe having raided anything it could lay its paws on--and throwing up, and the cockerel being quiet at first, but soon inciting the Sibes to riot with its clucking. I blame Debbie Fleming ! hehe !! as the cockerel was for her. All arrived at Birmingham Ch Show in one piece.

I had only taken Chino and Brizo for AVNSC and we had good results under Judge, Ann Arch; Bonvivant Lumiere BDog, Brizo had a 2nd in OB, and Lexi B.Symbolique at Tokyn) won her Junior class and was RBBitch. Bonvivant Tatienne had a 4th in PB and VHC in JB.

Wendy was competing in the KC Agility qualifiers and I went to the car park to see Bristle, who has really grown lately, and he was very happy to give lots of hugs and bristly kisses.

It was a very humid day and a good excuse to eat lots of lovely ice-cream.

This week Rocket Ronnie has been mated to Lisa and Chris' athletic Chamonix and we are hoping for a litter of Flyball and Agility superstars !!!The weather has cheered up a bit so at last the dogs can get out in the paddocks although we have had to dodge the crop sprayers again. This is becoming a nightmare this year, especially as you never get any warning as to when they are going to do it. We are surrounded by Brussel Sprouts so Christmas looks like being another fortnight of 24hr pickers and loads of mud and noise. Oh Joy!

It has been a really strange week. It all started with having to rush my mother off to hospital as she was really ill. I didn't get back from there until late Monday night when she still hadn't been seen by a doctor! She was in there for a couple of days but has now come out and gone to my sisters for recuperation. Gerry and Steve went home on Tuesday, we had had such a good time and it was really strange without them. They are coming back in September so something to look forward to.

Wednesday Jean Lawless arrived from Ireland to mate Cliche to Toyah, and it was nice to catch up on news and talk Belgians.

Saturday was WKC which meant a really early start. Cliche (pictured above)got his 2nd CC and Chase was RDCC.That was a nerve wracking challenge as Chase is on 2 CCs and looked good too. Heidi, a Cliche daughter, was BP at her first show (pic above), Lexi got her first RCC beating her mother Celine, who hates indoor shows,(any shows really other than agility), but won Open Bitch only to go on strike and refuse to show in the challenge. Later in the day we went in the Breeders' Stakes and her ears were on top of her head--typical! We were beaten in the challenge by the Australian Terriers. It was a late one, arriving home around 11pm, quick feed and then bed--dogs and people totally exhausted. I have missed most of today as was too tired to do much so the dogs just sunbathed and dozed until feedtime. Rain forecast for the next few days again but I must start some ring training for Udall and Vogue.

Jo and Nige are coming to stay as Chamonix is in season and is being mated to Ronnie, to produce the flyball team litter we hope. They should definitely have some speed and agility! Ronnie has been doing his flyball pairs and individual and won with incredible times, he also went up a grade in agility this weekend. Kiah has won another Jumping class too!!!I'll catch up with the official results for these and Rusty in the next few days.

It was the 3rd day of the KC Agility Festival today and we decided to take the puppies for a day out to watch . It is quite local, at Peterborough Showground so we got there around lunchtime and met up with Jo and Nige and Karin. Gerry and Steve, Lisa and myself then had a walk round and saw lots of Belgians and people we know. I wanted to take a few photos and got some of Indi and Keisha competing. Poor Keisha was just about to enter the weaves when a gust of wind took someones bag which went straight across the ring and hit her in the face, fortunately they were allowed to run again. Indi is heading for the tunnel having just landed over a jump. I think Gerry enjoyed herself chatting to everyone despite some horrid squally rain showers, then the sun came out and it was quite hot. It was great to meet up with Di and Riley too(Remys' brother). The pups weren't fazed by anything -tannoys, barking dogs etc and then Nige and Jo told me that they wanted to take Pudsey home with them!!! They had fallen for his whiskery charms earlier in the week and he went off happily in the van with his seaside Chums, Ronnie,Keisha and Kody. This litter seem to take everything in their stride!I had a text tonight from Pudsey saying he was just fine and had had his dinner and was ready for bed in his new home. It was sad to see him go but he will have a wonderful time with Jo, Nige and the Mali-Mania mob (they might have to think of renaming the mob now).

So it's just me and Vogue now, and she seemed quite happy about it-but then she always knew she was the only one who was going to stay :))-she has such a lovely expression and watches my face all the time. Tonight she has Teazle for company but she will have to come indoors after Tuesday when Gerry and Steve take Teazle and Kyp home. We went for a Roast dinner tonight which Chris cooked for us and tomorrow we are hopefully heading off to the beach with the puppies again--weather permitting.

I can't believe I haven't had a chance to update my blog for almost 2 weeks!! It has been very busy here with friends arriving before the Club Show to set up camp. Gerry and Steve, Ann, Bridgit and Martin arrived on the Friday and I was still grooming dogs ready for the next day. I was so looking forward to the Club show and had entered the usual crazy amount. We had a day of mixed fortunes, a fabulous 1st CC for Cliche (Bonvivant des Iles Fidji), my Import dog, who showed really well. A 4th CC for Cher (s.r. Ch.B.C'est Chic)who also took BOB and BVIS. A RDCC for Barbaras' Sam (B.Sauvignon) and a BP for Sonjas' Saffi (B.Saphir). It was lovely to see Isla and Conan from the "Q" litter, and Crusoe from the "T" litter.

Unfortunately Capi was taken ill at the show and Zinka managed to cut herself on a crate somehow and I had to leave at lunchtime and head off to my vet, by which time Capi had recovered but Zinka had to have stitches. It was under her chest and had become a nasty wound as she stood up and lay down on the journey.

Thankyou so much to Neil Harris who kindly agreed to show Cher for me, and Gerry and Steve who stayed on to bring Cher and Bridgit and Tiva home for me.

We have no idea what was the matter with Capi, whether it was an effect from the electrical storms we had had all that week combined with the humidity or some allergic reaction. The farmers had been spraying the fields surrounding us constantly that week, and I had had some dogs who were off their food(not a Belgian trait) and we had been feeling queasy for no apparent reason, as had a couple of our friends after they had been over to see us. Whatever it was it was strange that an otherwise healthy dog would be so ill. Thank you to all those who rang or emailed to see how he was. He has had no recurrence since but is enjoying the extra attention!

We held our Summer BBQ on the Sunday and it was great for everyone to have a chance to get together and chat away from the shows. Thanks Chris for manning the BBQ most of the day, and Jordan for taking over as head chef later on. Bridgit is a chiropractor and ended up fixing us all at the end of the day!! We had lots of fun with Udall, Tervueren and Laekenois puppies leaping around. Jo and Nige arrived from the agility show and set up camp. The next two days they were busy building a fantastic dogwalk and A-Frame for me. Gerry and I just chilled out and supplied endless tea and cake (Wow! does Bridgit make a mean carrot cake).

Wednesday we had promised ourselves a day at the beach so we packed up the puppies and set off for Anderby Creek, picking up my Mum on the way too. We took seventeen dogs between us and they ranged from puppies to veteran, and we were soon joined by three children who were very sensible around the dogs. Chamonix was doing her usual aerial acrobatics, and the Malimaniacs were soon joined by the Luny Laekenois fetching the tennis balls from the sea. I got some lovely photos for the blog, we had a picnic and then back down to the beach with Celine and Kyp. Zim had managed to get the day off too so he brought Roo, the working Malinois he rescued 3 years ago, and it was good to see them having a good time. Steve and Zim ended up doing some training on the beach too which was great to watch. Eventually we loaded up a lot of very sandy, steaming but very happy dogs, and headed for home. After settling the dogs back in and feeding them we all headed off to Lisa and Chris' for a very welcome curry, ending a lovely day perfectly.

Thursday Jo and Nige set off for the KC Festival at Peterborough, lucky for them they missed the torrential rainstorm which emptied itself overhead here with thunder and lightning. Friday Karin arrived with Indi and Amy. Today she came back with loads of rosettes and a trophy for winning the Jumping with Indi.

Tomorrow we hope that the weather will have improved and we are going to watch the agility and socialise.