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2015 was not a year to remember with family illness taking over.
However, there were a few highlights one of which being a judging appointment in Belgium where the hospitality was fantastic as always, the food was wonderful.
I had the opportunity to do lots of sightseeing in Antwerp with my host Saskia Vermeylen who is an absolute mine of information on local history and folklore, and was very patient as we explored every possible place in the time available.
.Thank you Nora Figoureux for the invitation and to all the exhibitors for bringing your beautiful dogs under me.It was great to see Claire and Gaston too with my beloved Bali.

Judging alongside Firmin and Eric, meeting up with old friends and making new ones, and being able to put faces to facebook friends too!

Pups 3weeks old

Willow with her four puppies born 17/06/14 - 2 dogs 2 bitches two red two fawn

Leeds Championship Show

Chic

Bonvivant Ysatis co-owned with Terry Donovan Bitch CC at NBSDC Championship show

Cello

At last I have managed to get a photo of Cello -he is usually smiling at the camera or just about to flatten me as he races towards the camera!
Cello will be 12 in October but is still enjoying his trips out to the dog shows, still taking top honours and making both myself and his co-owner Terry Donovan (Mr Polo) very proud. He loves his evening walks up the setaside and is still full of mischief.
It was also lovely for his Grandaughter, Bonvivant Ysatis, also co-owned with Terry, to get her first CC at the Northern Champ show where Cello got the RDCC and BVeteran in Show!

Cacia at the chiropractor- she has been going to Christine East for almost two years now and makes me laugh- she can't wait to get in there and throws herself on the blanket ready for her treatment . She knows she will feel so much better afterwards! Still so much damage on her neck and shoulders and I cannot see that she will not have to continue with treatment for the rest of her life. Some of it is quite painful but we said today she obviously thinks it is a normal thing to do every couple of weeks.

Ch Bonvivant Dewet

                                                       Ch Bonvivant Tete a Tete

                                                         Bonvivant Ysatis


NBSDC Championship show last weekend and Barbara and I drove to Valiants Equestrian centre near Preston.
It was nice to be going to a show again and I had entered the obedience with Ch Bonvivant Tete a Tete (Cruz) in Beginners and Novice. Despite an anticipation in retrieve-his favourite- he won both classes. Val Neff with 12 month old Bonvivant Gigi (Pandora) was 2nd in Novice and won A.
Bonvivant Gigolo(Cypher) was 2nd in JD-he is such a baby but is slowly getting the hang of showing. Pliquette Zadok *** (Cointreau)1st Limit Dog.
Ch Bonvivant Dewet (Cello) now 11.5yrs old won Veteran and took the RCC BVet and went on to Best Veteran in Show!
In bitches Bonvivant Ysatis (Chic) co-owned with Terry Donovan (Mr Polo) was 1st in OB and took the Bitch CC.
Bonvivant Habibi (Chamonix) was 3rd in OB and Best Veteran Bitch.
In Tervueren Barbaras Bonvivant Ma Cerise at Brackenmeer was 4th in VBitch.

It was lovely to meet up with a lot of old friends and thankyou to judge Pauline Koning-Stern Hanf and BIS judge Ann Brown.

Photos of Cacia before her accident

Part of the traumas from last year was when my new puppy, Cacia, Belsharose Cichiti, had a terrible accident which left her paralysed. Chasing chickens around the yard she went under a mobile home and knocked herself unconscious on the main frame underneath. For 5 days she could only move her eyes and wag her tail--she had to be turned every hour and held up to eat, drink and relieve herself. I could not see her making any sort of recovery and the vets prognosis was very gloomy. I called in the chiropractor, Christine East, who had worked miracles on little Min the Groenendael puppy (see earlier posts) and she worked on her for me.After 5 days of lying on duvets in the front room and seeing the other dogs leaving to go outside somehow she managed to launch herself off the floor, only to collapse as she had no co-ordination. Her legs couldn't take her weight but she really wanted to give it a try.

With regular visits to Christine which became a weekly ritual drive to Waddington, she had to learn to walk again. I would hold her up and then place her legs one after the other, which gave her the incentive to try harder. Even Christine had doubts that she would ever be able to support her own weight again.

Cacia had always been an athletic puppy and I had photos to look back on which showed her leaping in the air with a beach ball, she had started her obedience training and had become a star pupil as she was so willing and clever.

Cacia is a Chiraze Grandaughter and when I told Clare and Gaston about her they were devastated and within days had sent pills and potions from their homeopathic vet (and chocolate for me to keep my strength up) and gave me lots of advice.

Every day we made a little more progress, and gradually she became able to lurch to her feet unsteadily and try to walk. She was so good at being treated by Christine too and realised that she was trying to help her. So much trauma to her spine as she had hit just above her left eye at speed,which then affected her neck, shoulders and right down her body. Cacia continues to improve daily and can now trot and gallop although her slow walk can be a little wobbly but she has built her strength up gradually and has returned to training and, although finding it quite hard work she enjoys it.

I found that one of Christines suggestions has been especially useful to gain spatial awareness, the addition of scrunchies (elasticated hair ties) on her legs made her aware that she had legs and where they were, and how she could use them. I use them now only on her hind legs when training her and she works both sides to make sure that we do not compromise any muscle tone.

No-one can believe the progress she has made as most thought that she would never walk again and I would have to make an awful decision. Of course she is thoroughly spoilt and can be a brat, and gets very destructive if not entertained. 3 mobile phones, 2 duvets,2 feather pillows (not a good idea and there was not a chicken in the middle!) a 3 piece suite re-designed by Cacia and the Sky remote on a saturday afternoon just before kick off did not go down well!

Still a long way to go but you never know - one day she may be able to enter an obedience or show ring.Thankyou Debs and Paul for being so understanding.

Sorry it has been so long since I posted last--don't seem to get any free time lately! I will try to get up to date asap but the sun is shining and so much to do. We had a new edition to the gang last July and she has taken up quite a bit of time too. Cocoa is a 14yrs old 15hh mare , brown with silver mane, tail and eyelashes- and she knows she is a bit special. She was destined to be in a few cans of dog food and, with the help of my dear friend Carol, now is just thoroughly spoilt. Here are a few photos of her.

Brilliant day out at Richmond Championship show where Bonvivant Zippydeedoodah aka Caper got his first CC Best Puppy, and Best of Breed! Cruz Reserve CC and Ann with Deepha 1st Open Bitch and Bitch CC. Ruger qualified for Crufts, Sam 1st Limit dog and Chante 3rd OB.
In Laekenois, Bonvivant Ave a Go at Okami with owner Tracey, was BP Best Dog and Best of Breed!
Caper loved the big ring in the Group and strode proudly round.
Sunday Ann and I went down to a local Funday show, taking the puppies for a looksee, they watched from the van and were very well behaved.
News from Chris Paris Brown that Ceren (gron pup) is coming on wonderfully and has a lovely character.
In Ireland, Olive with Ralph, won the Grade 4-6 Jumping class.
Good weekend and now looking forward to Gerry and Steve coming to stay next weekend to see Raffa, their Groenendael puppy.

It was the Malinois puppies first day out today in the sunshine, totally unphased they watched the other dogs and played with Tiger. They were all weighed using my new toy--hanging scales and didn't bat an eyelid being suspended in the shopping bag but were not too impressed with the wormer!

Their characters are beginning to come out now and they are a very cheeky bunch.

I can now tell you of the good outcome of one of the Groenendael puppies. Maximouse Minimoose was exactly the same size as the other pups when she was born but, at just over 2 weeks old, she stopped growing. Psyche didn't really want much to do with her and I suspected that something was seriously wrong. Dwarfism is not a problem that we have in Belgians and she was eating, drinking and behaving just like the others. I made Psyche feed her on her own but still she didn't grow. By 6weeks the other pups wanted to treat her as a toy and so she was separated to a pen by the others, so she wouldn't lose contact with her siblings but could not be bullied. I bottle fed her and put her on Psyche on her own too. I had just about given up that she would probably die as there must be something seriously wrong. Despite her lack of stature she was a real little fighter and ate everything she was offered. What a little character she was becoming too. She had what appeared to be entropian in both eyes and could not see out of her left eye at all--things did not look good. Her coat was very odd and she had bald patches appearing. She was by now a quarter of the size of the other pups and weighed just over a kilo. We had 2 healers giving her daily healing which I am sure kept her going.

When we had out Belgian funday I had booked Christine East, the McTimony chiropractor,to come and treat a few dogs. I had told her about Min and she offered to massage her and see if it would help. Min was a livewire but enjoyed her massage--Christine told me that Mins neck was very tight and that she had adjusted one side of her face which was out of alignment.

Min slept most of the next 2 days and I resigned myself to the fact that she probably was fading away---on the 3rd day I woke up to find her looking straight at me and she was as bright as a button! Since then she has been growing daily and now is about 3/4 of the size of her brothers, her dead coat fell out and a new glossy coat grew and bald patches disappeared.. At last she can play with her mother, and demands attention by bouncing up and down barking. I have put some photos of her on here to show you the difference in the last 4 weeks. Of course she is thoroughly spoilt and eats anything from bananas, fish and chips to beef and pineapple!!!! as well as her usual puppy food.

It just goes to show the wonders of healing and massage--we have had some brilliant results before when Brizo trapped a nerve in her back and had displaced some vertebrae-now back to normal---thanks to Christine, Garth and Lesley who have such wonderful gifts.

Another week gone by starting with our trip to see Noel Fitzpatrick. Sad news that Cudos has an extra spur of bone in his jaw which,aggravated by his collision with Coppa, has caused major problems. There is an operation but it may or may not be successful and would cost many thousands. The advise is to wait and see if he will cope as he grows. He is still on painkillers so is leading a normal life but, sadly, won't be in the show ring, however he can continue his obedience training which he loves. Off to the chiro on Wednesday to see if she can alleviate some of the pain. I would recommend Fitzpatricks to anyone wanting a referral--we were there for 2 hours and he took loads of x-rays to find the problem. Fantastic state of the art set up and such caring people .

Sunshine at last so have spent all Bank Holiday outside with the dogs. Leslie brought her Grandchildren to see the puppies and they had a great time. Still got 3 Groenendael pups and the Tervueren puppy available--they love retrieving the balls and are such lovely outgoing pups.

Chamonixs Malinois puppies are growing so fast and becoming regular Houdinis.

I had a nice time between the showers photographing Bronte and Harry the Beardie pups and then found some heavily laden bushes of wild plums and Bullaces--just got to find the time to make some jam now.