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.