Tilly... five weeks and counting

Well Tilly is five weeks to her first mating today and blossoming. She is such a happy little girl and thoroughly enjoying all the attention (and extra food) that she is getting. She is very quiet and contented but happy to come and roll onto her back and show you her 'babies' when asked - a trick that she obviously remembers from her first pregnancy.
The general consensus is that you should not increase a bitches food when they are first in whelp but someone recently said to me that 'they haven't read the text books' and act on instinct and I totally agree. So we have reached a compromise and only slightly increased what we are feeding Tilly but have increased the highly nutritious foods like fish and eggs. Whilst she is still ravenous we have noticed over the last few days that instead of tucking in as she usually would, she is hesitating and sniffing her food before eating. Needless to say very soon she will be telling us what she does and does not want.
Anyway, Gary and I are so excited about having a new edition to the family. Gary has already picked a name should he keep a little boy... Fraggle, after the childrens program Fraggle Rock. So since we like to give each new litter a new theme in respect of their names - this litter is going to be named after favourite childrens programs or characters.
We have updated our website with pictures and details of this litter and in particular images of Bruno which we hope you will enjoy.

Tilly is Expecting Puppies!

Tonight we took Tilly along to the vets to confirm whether or not she was pregnant. To be honest, for me it was a mere formality prior to making the public announcement since I have thought from about a week after mating that she was 'with child' since she seemed very pleased with herself - like the cat that got the cream - but was also ravenous all of the time.
We have mated Tilly to Mandy and Robert Geary's handsome young male Bruno, Germanus Guardian JW (AI) - both Tilly and Bruno are fully health tested and puppies are due on or around 13 August.
Having puppies in the Craig household is a really big event and we are all very excited, not least of all Gary who is keen for a puppy of his own to train and work.
We will update both our blog and website with pictures, pedigree and further details over the next few days.

GWPC Championship Dog Show 2011

Today I attended the German Wirehaired Pointer Club Champ show at the Tomlinsons Canine Centre In Leicestershire. It's a cracking venue for such an event and the weather was glorious too, just to add to the enjoyment of the day. Unfortunately, I missed the 'closing date' so I was unable to enter any dogs myself but went along anyway, since I have recently rejoined the German Wirehaired Pointer Club as Membership Secretary and needed to collect the necessary paperwork from the resigning secretary.
I travelled with friend and fellow enthusiast Tracy Cartwright (Mikicin) and after Tracy hurt her leg, handled her two dogs - Candy (NL Ch Tum Tum Tracy V D Josephine Hoeve (IMP NL) and Oscar (Mikicin Mischief Maker)to win not only their classes in the 'Specials' but their 'Breed' classes too.
Despite all the turbulence of recent weeks, it was lovely to be at a show again and meeting up with old friends.

Wales June 2011

This week, Gary and I trotted off to the Welsh Coast for a few days with a couple of the dogs but strangely, no children. They are all getting to the age now where going away to Wales with mom and dad really doesn't hold any appeal. Funny though how going away with two dogs feels very much like going away with two kids... we took Tilly, who just can't wait to play with any child who wanders her way and if they have a ball, all the better and Winnie who thoroughly enjoyed her romps through the dunes, not to mention chasing the little birds on the sand and paddling in the sea - then she is only two and Tilly is far too 'grown up' to chase birds and paddle!
We took a short hike into the Welsh hills - it was extremely hot and but for the breeze would have been way too hot for such a jaunt but the views from the top were breath taking - Barmouth and Porthmadog to the right and Tywyn to the left and behind uplands that felt like you were at the top of the world. We even came across the ruins of an old farm house that should Gary and I ever come up on the 'big one' on the Lottery, would be our next venture as we would both love to live in such a remote location with such phenomenal views.

Nutrition, Health & Behaviour: The Connection

Today I had the pleasure of attending the UK Registry of Canine Behaviourists' (UKRCB's) seminar 'Nutrition, Health & Behaviour: The Connection', the guest speaker at which was Wendy Volhard who is the author of the book The Holistic Guide For a Healthy Dog. I was the guest of Brigitte Barton who is herself a Canine Behaviourist and recently discovered the benefits of feeding a raw diet.
As the title suggests, the talk was about the relationship between nutrition, health and behaviour in the dog and highlighted how important a good (raw) diet combined with plenty of socialisation, exercise, breed specific pursuits and a stress-free environment are on the health and mental stability of our dogs. Common sense you may think? Not to some lazy dog owners who are content to feed a poor diet and allow their dogs to be couch-potatoes with little or no exercise or mental stimulation and then wonder why they have sickly dogs with behavioural problems.
I am a committed 'raw feeder' but still consider that I have a lot to learn on the subject and therefore welcome the opportunity to attend seminars like the one today, especially when the speaker is someone as knowledgible and dedicated as Wendy.

National Dog Show 2011

Today was the National Dog Show which is held at the Staffordshire County Showground. Our judge was Pam Blay and she had a very respectable entry of 42 dogs and bitches. It was a bright but very cool and windy day which threatened rain.
Gary and I popped along with Winnie and Lottie. We were absolutely thrilled with Winnie's third place in Post Graduate Bitch since she has not attended either a dog show or ringcraft class since this time last year but behaved like an 'old hand' and didn't put a foot out of place.
Lottie on the other hand - who got VHC in Open Bitch - was a little madam! From the word go this morning and long before we left for the show, she decided that today she couldn't possibly concentrate on the job in hand and would rather bounce around and play.
Still, it was lovely to catch up with our show friends and well done to everyone who was 'in the cards'.

Tilly's 6th Birthday

Today is our beautiful Tilly's 6th birthday. She is shown here enjoying a cuddle earlier this morning in the sunshine with me.
Tilly is a very big part of family life in the Craig household - with her playful cheeky nature. Without a shadow of a doubt the favourite of our dogs as far as our youngest daughter Megan is concerned.
In 2009 Tilly delighted us with her first litter of eight puppies of whom Winnie was one.
Happy birthday Tilly-tots.