Well Crufts is over for another year and we did very well.

Cruz (Bonvivant Tete a Tete) a Cliche son, took his 2nd CC, Cougar(Ch. Bonvivant Esprit) was RDCC and Chatter (Ch. Bonvivant Nochotte) RBCC.Chic (Bonvivant Ysatis), owned by myself and Terry Donovan was BP, thankyou Jacqui for handling Cruz and Chic for me.
Congratulations to Marianne and John Brett for their 3rd and crowning CC and BOB with Sabrefield Zimply Zuper
bred by Liz Richardson.

In Groenendael Psyche (Delark Secret Love of Bonvivant) was 4th in a very strong Open Bitch class, ably handled by Brittany Winfrow.

In Laekenois Jo with Pudsey(Bonvivant Vif***) was BD and Martin with Antar(Bonvivant Vos for Brighu***) RBD, and Yvonnes' lovely Bree(Bonvivant Vivace***), RBB. Well done to Debbie and Paul with Ghiana for BB and BOB.
The week has flown by with training for Cello, Cruz and Caper. Jacki Snooks came and collected her Laekenois puppy Charli, and Gill and Simon came to see their new Malinois puppy, Ruger.

A lovely weekend with Martin and Ann staying,lots of catching up to do and spent a great Sunday with friends, Barbara, Wendy and another Wendy, photographing dogs and having lunch together.

Pictures feature Cruz,the Malinois puppies with their new toys and Antar (father to the Laekenois litter) and his brother, Brissie.

The Laekenois pups have had an exhausting day out in the paddock, they had lots of visitors too. Barbara and John came over to kindly do some repair work on the kennel and some grooming. Tired and hungry the Laekenois were glad to come in to bed and I think they will be sleeping extremely well tonight.

The Malinois pups are still indoors and have been playing and sleeping. So nice to have a sunny day again even if it was a bit cold.

Fantastic news from Jo with Keisha and David with Rusty that they are going to the Belgian Shepherd World Championships! Four Malinois (2 are Andy and Helen Browns' ) have got on the team!!!

Crufts in only 4 days!!! so a lot of work to do to get everyone looking their best.

Good Luck to everyone--see you there!

A nice bit of sunshine and the Laekenois puppies enjoyed their first taste of freedom out in the field.

Another week gone and the pups are really feeling their feet now. The Malinois are up on their feet and will soon need the run of the whole puppy pen. They are beginning to get their little characters.

The Laekenois are a cheeky bunch and today the sun was shining and they could come out to play. They are really livewires and try to beat you out of the run door when you make your escape from their sharp teeth. Very outgoing and inquisitive.

News from Guernsey that Venus flew to Jersey for the Dog of the Year competition and Limited Members show. She was 1st in AVNSC Ltd members class,1st Yearling class and 1st Ltd Members under Peter Bailey and then was pulled out 7th in the Best Yearling in Show class under Carol Woods. Brilliant news and her photo will hopefully be in Our Dogs 12th March edition.

Some good training last week with Cello, Cruz and Caper and we had an obedience show yesterday at Newark. We did training rounds and Cello was on a real high--he, or should I say I, was much better in his Beginners round once he had settled. Cruz worked really well too and this was his first Open Obedience show with all the distractions so I was really pleased.

Crufts is looming and this bad weather has really put paid to the dogs being as fit as I would like, and some are threatening to come in season or blow their coats. Breeders Stakes Finals is on the Friday so we will be there 2 days. David and Rusty are running in the Agility Champ class on the Sunday so fingers and toes crossed for that 3rd Ticket.

Deepha and Ann have been invited to the Contest of Champions in March.

Riley, with Diane and Martin, has been winning again in agility and hopefully I will get some photos of him with his trophies to post on here soon.

The weather has been horrific with torrential rain so that everywhere is thick mud again,roll on a nice summer!!!!!

Here we go again with more snow--of course the dogs love it. Caper thinks it is strange when there is no snow. Yaz and Chic had a great time in it.

Malinois puppies are really getting there little characters now and are responding when I talk to them. Soon be tearing around.

Most of the snow has melted tonight and we have a really hard frost yet again--is Spring ever going to appear?

Good weekend for the Bonvivants with Bonvivant Nonpareil avec Stonedragon BOB at Maidenhead Open whilst Bonvivant Symbolique at Tokyn BOB at NW&PB Open show. Bonvivant Visage(Laekenois) 1st AVNSC open and Res AVNSC
The Laekenois pups go for their first innoculations on Tuesday--I can't believe they are already 8 weeks old--just hope they get some homes soon--4 bitches and 1 dog available.

The Laekenois puppies are now 7 weeks old and into everything. Very bold and greet everyone that comes to play with them.

The Malinois puppies are 2 weeks old and have their eyes open. Chiraze is a good mother and keeps them scrupulously clean.

News from Guernsey that Venus (from the previous Laekenois litter) is off to Jersey for the Dog of the Year competition! Good Luck Sue and Venus.

Brissie has won a Nursery stakes in agility.

Caper attended his first proper obedience class today and was a very good boy. Lots of work to do but he took everything in his stride. He was a very tired puppy when he got home.

Cello and Cruz have an obedience competition at the end of the month so more training needed !

More mud here so the dogs still can't stay out in their paddocks for long without getting plastered--roll on summer!

We have puppies at last !!!!! Chiraze has 2 bitches and 2 dogs. It has been an exceedingly long day from 5am this morning when she started to shred her paper. After a couple of hours she was very quiet and we decided to have her checked over at the vets as a precaution, after which we took a bumpy ride home and she had her first puppy, a male. The second puppy was stuck so she needed a bit of assistance, a bitch, and then another bitch followed by a dog. All are very strong puppies and are feeding well. Chiraze is a very good mother.(apologies for the top picture but you have to start them young :))

There always seems to be something good and then something bad-- Bonvivant Accapella,Pye, almost 13 years old, passed away this afternoon. Pye came back to me 12 years ago and, after sorting out a few issues, he became a lovely dog who was still patrolling as a security dog this time last year. He is the mad fool starring in "The attack of the fensnake" and was a good friend to Chiraze. Pye was, like all my dogs, very special, and loved shredded paper and cuddles. Only two nights ago he was trying to help pull the paper out of the sack and then doing headstands in his bed of paper. He had been having some problems losing the strength in his back legs but was on medication for the last 6months. Always bouncing at feedtime and then waiting for his rug to be put on and his goodnight biscuit. Run free and strong with Cachet and Ciel --Pye pye.