Chiraze is keeping us waiting to have her puppies but is getting nearer.

Meanwhile, Ann came for a visit and played with the Laekenois puppies and then we went for a very frosty walk with Cruz and Psyche.

The temperature has plummeted again and the water to the house was frozen for two mornings yet again. But the sun is shining and it is much dryer outside so very pleasant. The sprout pickers have had a couple of days off thank goodness so we have had a better chance of sleep and the tractor has been ploughing, but at a much more reasonable time :)

Apologies for not updating but it has been really busy here with Chiraze arriving home. Gaston travelled over from Belgium on Sunday morning and will stay until the puppies are born. Chiraze has her whelping box ready in the study and is due any day now. The radiograph taken last week showed only 4 puppies which are all spoken for already. I am praying that there is at least one bitch for Linda in Norway.

The Laekenois puppies are 4 weeks old and are well into their puppy food. Their characters are beginning to emerge and are all very cheeky. Most have big coats and look very different from Malinois puppies. Their masks are still quite well defined, as was Brizos' when she was a puppy.
There are still puppies available from this litter.

Caper is growing really fast now and I tried Yazoos' collar on him and could hardly do it up!!!

Cruz went back to training this week and he has really come on mentally and physically over the winter. Hard to think that he is almost 2 years old now.

I hope that the "Y" litter ( Yukon, Lili and Darcy ) had a good 1st birthday. Chic and Yaz had some treats.

The sprout pickers arrive before 5 o'clock every morning, talking and shouting, then the machines start--poor Gaston has not had much sleep either. The road is now a ploughed up track so we have not had many visitors :(.

More news and photos very soon.

A bit of catching up to do! The weather was too bad for me to get to Boston Ch Show and my van isn't very good on ice so it just wasn't worth the risk-a drawback of living out in the sticks. Very disappointing, but Bridgit travelled down from Scotland and called in for a visit on her way home which was lovely. She brought Tiva and Rio (and her brother Shaun) to see us and we had a very cold walk up the lane to get a bit of steam off the dogs before their long drive home.
Caper is 14 weeks old now and growing really fast. The Laekenois pups are thriving and peep out of their slitty eyes but are really more interested in sleeping off their milk. Termite is a good mother but gets bored babysitting so has decided to designerdog my whelping kennel. :(( inside and out!

News from Belgium that Chiraze is definitely in whelp and will be travelling home very soon :))

It is snowing again!! We had a couple of days where it began to thaw, which brought the new problem of ice skating-even the sure footed Belgians had trouble staying upright. So back to the crunchy white stuff--will it ever end? So far so good though, at least the water hasn't frozen again this week but it is an endless round of lugging water round dogs and chickens.

Freezing fog and sleet tonight--let's see what happens tomorrow.

There is something about snow which makes even the laziest of dogs-like Celine--have a funny five minutes. Caper was so relieved that the snow was back so he didn't have to rush in to use his paper-very strange puppy. He is growing so fast and has legs like tree trunks but is so agile. His new trick is to jump up onto the dining table, steal something, then run off again (via the chair) before anyone spots him. Shades of Celine who, as a puppy, was often found standing on the table!

The chickens appreciated cold but dry and sunny today and at the first snow flurry head under the caravan. This is one of the beautiful Faverolle hens in her winter muff and leg warmers.

Well below freezing again tonight and I have to keep the washing machine going all night to stop the pipes freezing again. More rounds of water buckets as the hose pipe will not thaw out. Yorn is very grateful he got a new puffa rug for Christmas in Emperor purple! as befits his Royal Highness!

Happy New Year !!!!

Here at last are a few pictures of the Laekenois puppies. They are actually quite dark but the heat lamp makes them look more orange. Their coats are quite broken already and they all seem quite strong now. Termite is settling down to her maternal duties .

Another really hard frost and the water thought about freezing again! Another round of thawing out water for the livestock but at least it is dry and sunny so the chickens are not too miserable.