Tuesday 16 February 2010

The Cost of Feeding a Raw Diet

At Klancraig we 'raw feed' our dogs - that is to say we feed them a species appropriate diet of raw meaty bones, minces, offal, fish, eggs, fruit and veggies. (A more detailed description of how we feed our dogs can be found on our website, on the Dog Care page).
We are members of several forums dedicated to this subject and recently, on one of those forums the subject came up relating to the cost of feeding a raw diet. Obviously, cost will be dependant upon the size of the dog, how much he or she eats and how varied the raw diet is that is being fed. It has been sometime since I actually sat down and calculated this but given that we do feed a very varied diet to our dogs, I was pleasantly suprised to find that it costs approximately 70-80p per day, per dog according to what we actually feed.

Sunday 14 February 2010

Spring is in the Air...

Well, I am under no illusion that spring really isn't in the air yet and that there is plenty more bad weather to come but this morning was so lovely - clear skies and bright sunshire. It was my turn to visit Nigel Dear and because of Christmas and the snowy conditions, it was the first time that we had met since November time last year.
Bronte and I had a one-to-one training session with Nigel and I was delighted with how she hunted and retrieved. I am really looking forward to entering some working tests with her this summer.

Sunday 7 February 2010

Back to School

Today Gary went on his first one-to-one gundog training session with Nigel Dear of Llanforda HPR's. Gary already takes a big interest in our dogs but hitherto his involvement has been very much behind the scenes. However, having spent the last two seasons beating on our local shoot with Fergus, he has been bitten by the bug and now wishes to take a more pro-active involvement in training and working our dogs - who knows, we may even get him in the showring with one of them!
At nearly ten and a half years of age and with a wealth of experience behind him Fergus does not really need to go back to school since he has now retired from the competitive working arena but it does make him the perfect companion with whom Gary can learn the finer points of working an HPR for when he gets a GWP puppy of his own.
Gary enjoyed his afternoon (once he found where Nigel was) and Fergus is going to be kept very busy over the next couple of weeks doing 'homework' with Gary, ready for their next lesson.

Otto's Visit


Yesterday Gary and I spent a lovely afternoon with James and Claire and their youngster Otto, who is Winnie's litter brother. To look at them Otto and Winnie are like two peas in a pod and proved to be just as cheeky as each other too! We had a tasty pub lunch in the George & Dragon - James and I eating one handed whilst Otto and Winnie took it in turns to bat each other on the head with their paws and entertain the other diners with their antics and then we went for a walk along Wenlock Edge. The weather was very kind to us and we had warm, mellow sunshire and the dogs had a great time running down the bridle path and through the woods.
We are really pleased with Otto - he is maturing into quite a striking young man with a beautiful nature which we are delighted to say, seems to be apparent with all our Tilly and Timo offspring. Otto's basic obedience is excellent and James hopes to start gundog training classes with him later in the year.
Pictured here at Wenlock Edge - picture courtesy of James and Claire.

Monday 1 February 2010

Last Weekend of the Shooting Season 2009/2010


Gary made the most of the last of the shooting season this weekend. Saturday saw 'Beaters Day' and Gary was invited to join Eric (the Gamekeeper) and the usual team of beaters to shoot, whilst 'the Guns' enjoyed a days beating. Don't be fooled - Gary didn't shoot all of these birds himself - pictured here, Gary and Eric with a number of birds shot on the day.
Today was the last shoot of the season and Gary took the day off work to resume his role as beater with his trusty side-kick Fergus. They had a fab day out and we were really proud of Fergus, who at nearly ten and a half years of age managed six and a half hours 'on the job'. Needless to say, tonight he has earned his place in front of the wood burner in the lounge resting his weary limbs.

No doubt both Gary and Fergus will now be wondering how they are going to fill their Saturdays. However, since working on our local shoot over the last two seasons, Gary has been really 'bitten by the bug' and will be attending one-to-one training sessions with Nigel Dear with a view to taking a more pro-active role in training and working the dogs in the future.