Stu visits the doodles & Morgan

Stu and I went to see pups after work.  Just to have a look - no obligation..... 

 

As you can see Stu was as taken with Morgan as I was.  But hey, what's not to like.  After having a play with them all we carried Morgan and Magic over to the house while we had a cuppa.  Magic had his first lesson in tea making and photography.  Gail and I then had a long chat and cuddle with the pups while the Jon and Stuart talked tiles!!! Then it was time for the pups to go to bed.

 

 

 

However, we did need to think this through logically and not let our hearts rule our heads.  Getting a dog is a huge responsibility. We needed to consider if we could mange with three dogs at home and the logistics when we go visiting relatives. We knew that if we were to have a third dog it would need to be a male as Poppy would not tolerate another female living with us, whereas Ozzy who just bumbles through life has been fine with other males we have housed.  We decided to go home a sleep on it.

Click & Treat those pups!

Email to Gail

This litter of pups is as cute as ever! Great to see you are keeping up the hard work with the socialisation, health checks, toilet training etc. You deserve a gold star for your efforts. I was amazed at how clever the pups were and within minutes Morgan was doing advanced tricks like waving, he also did a smile when I said cheese! A true genius in the making. CLICK & TREAT that dog.



Morgan is not alone, his brother Boris is also a star doing fantastic stunts like cross paws.


The girls, not wanting to stand in the boys shadows decided to go one better though, they managed to untie nearly all our shoe laces without us noticing. Is this the most advanced litter ever?


Have a good weekend, see you soon. Debs x


ps Give Morgan a big pat from me and tell him I am working hard on uncle Stu.

TrentisHoe Puppy Cuddles

The "M " TrentisHoe Labradoodle litter

Went with Tracey to visit Gail a local Labradoodle breeder for puppy cuddles & lunch. Her latest TrentisHoe Doodle litter has six puppies - Melodie, Mango, Magic, Morgan, Minstrel and Maverick born on the 12th August 2010. (Four girls & two boys). They are an F1 litter which means they are a first generation Labradoodles. Mum is a black working Labrador called Wader and dad a white standard Poodle called Louis.

"Barbara (visiting her new pup), Gail & Tracey"

We went to see her two litters last year which were very sweet, but this year for reasons I cannot explain Morgan (black boy pup) stole my heart. I see hundreds of puppies a year at dog class, but I saw something in Morgan that was special to me. I decided to chat it through with hubby...

"Morgan"

Murky Monday

Following a beautiful sunny Sunday, we now have a murky Monday. The dogs had such a good time in the woods yesterday, jumping in puddles and streams, but now they need a groom before they redecorate the entire house with mud splats. We are going to test run a V rake comb which is recommended for Beardies. My Beardie friend sent me one in the post to test run. I shall report back with findings.....

Wow how low is the resevoir?

Took the pooches to Wistland Pound today. It is one of our favourite haunts. We do a lovely 45 minute walk around a relaxing resevoir which is surrounded by woodlands. We could not believe how low the water was. We certainly need some rain. The dogs had a great run and enjoyed chasing each other around and then we popped to the pub on the way home for dinner.

Mega Shearing Day

Sunday was not only the British GP, but also shearing day at Mullacott and Colin the shearer's birthday. What a treat he got, 39 alpacas to shear and a lovely cake baked by Izzy, which we all tucked into before he even saw a slice. It was a nice dry day and I got to meet several other local alpaca owners which was interesting. Most had small herds like myself. Half time treats of sausage baguettes were provided followed by clotted cream, jam & scones later in the day.

I found it fasincating to see all the different alpacas get sheared. Colin makes it look so easy. Bagging up the fibre was the easy part which I volunteered to do. If I am lucky next year I will be promoted to mat sweeper!

New puppy class

Helpped out on the Thursay dog classes last week, as well as Tuesday. Once a month classes clash with Tracey's puppy parties at the vets so Hannah and myself step in to help. This Thursday saw a new intake of dinky pups.

Chris was back following his bout of man flu and we got back to our usual banter of teasing him.

All the dogs were coming along nicely - and owners working hard.

Baby sitting Laya

Tracey asked me to look after Laya last week while her and Mark went out for the evening. Baby sitting Laya is very relaxing, it involves sitting on the sofa drinking coffee and eating choccie biscuits and watching TV. She was so chilled out and slept most the evening on my feet.

Shearing Day

Yesterday was our first shearing since getting the girls. With all this warm weather I bet the girls couldn't wait to get their coats off. We prepared the paddock the night before and crossed our fingers the weather would hold. For shearing you do not want wet alpacas. (I did consider doing my rain dance in reverse, but didn't get time!)

The weather stayed fine and Colin the shearer came over early evening. After getting over the shock of how many steps up it was to our paddock, he soon gone on with the task ahead - shearing, nail trimming, teeth cutting, injecting vaccines and drenching for worms. The girls had a full MOT. Camilla's rear toe nails were very long and slightly curly - white nails grow faster than black. Suzy's teeth were extra long, it appears she still has one baby tooth. Alice was an angel considering she has never been shorn before. Sophie - escaped being done this year - but watched on in interest. They look so tiny and bare afterwards.

For those who have not seen an alpaca shorn before it is quite a site. The legs have to be hooked up either end and a weighted pillow is used to keep the alpacas down. If they cannot lift their necks, they cannot swing to get up. Each one is sheared in less than 10 minutes. Camilla is suffering badly from mites which we are treating her for and also needs to put on more weight.

Sunday we are going over to our breeder friend's near Mullacott to see Colin shear one of our males Oscar.

Welcome to the herd Sophie

At last she has a name - Sophie. As a child my mum always wanted to name one of our pets Sophie and she was always over ruled. However, I did promise her jokingly that if Camilla had a white girl, we would call it Sophie for her. Seeing as mum was here on the morning of the birth we decided that we would honour her wish. When we thought she was a boy we had considered calling her Jenson after the racing driving which seemed adpted with our motor racing backgrounds. However, Jenson is now Sophie, but I am not sure anyone had told her as she is currently racing around the paddock - and I am sure she keeps trying to improve her lap time.

The vet did have to come out to Camilla the day after the birth. He did an internal inspection and found the placenta had come away, so we can only imagine that the buzzards, jackdaws or crows took the afer birth. That is not usual, but it would not surprise me as we are surrounded by wildlife. The vet also said that Camilla was not overly full of milk and that the baby felt light so we should supplement her feed with some bottle milk. So after a quick dash to Mole Valley Farmers to get some ewe replacement milk, we gave Sophie a top up drink. She was not overly thisrtsy and we did not give too much as we wanted her to stay hungry enough to keep sucking on mum and encourage milk.

Four days on Sophie is putting on weight nicely and is far more interested in her mum's milk that any bottle I have and seems to be be feeding fine now. The purple spray marks are fading to pink and her umbical cord has dried up and fallen off. She is so cute.

Stu, mum and myself have created a second paddock for the girls and now they are enjoying their new grazing patch. Last night we had loads of rain, but still want more for the grass please.

Next thing to sort is a mini pen for the shearer who is coming on Monday evening.

NO it is definately a white (and purple) GIRL cria!!!!

Yesterday morning about 8am saw the birth of our first cria. A white girl - yet to be named. Nobody had guessed white, in my fun sweepstake.

Early that morning my mum asked have you checked on the girls yet? Having checked on Camilla every 45 mins the day before I didn't expect much to have happened over night. I stepped out on to the new balcony to have a quick check before going downstairs and had to have a double take. There sat in the sunshine were 4 alpacas - Suzy, Alice, Camilla and a white baby!!!! The baby and mum were both just sat there next to each other - they looked like a pair of swans with their long white necks. I screamed to mum who was now downstairs - I THINK SHE HAS HAD THE BABY! - We both quickly dashed up to the alpaca paddock to see the new arrival. This would have gone smoothly - but mum forgot in her excitement that the patio door was not open and bumped her head. Having clean windows is dangerous in our house. I did the same thing last week - what a silly girl. We stopped to check mum was okay and then proceeded up the top to meet the new arrival.

The cria was covered in membrane still, but up on her feet bumberling around. She kept trying hard to feed, but Camilla (mum) was having none of it. We decided to give the girls their daily supplement feed in the hope she would be distracted and baby would latch on - but no. Instead we took the opportunity to check the baby over - carefully avoiding touching the tail and head area. We lifted the baby up, sprayed the umbilcial cord with a special purple spray, had a quick look and thought - it is a girl. We let baby go and realised that we were now both cover in purple and the cria looked like someone had been doing a bit of graffiti spraying on her.

We checked around for any after birth / placenta and could not find any so decided to leave them to settle in together and watch from a distance with some binoculars. As we watched it soon became apparent that Camilla despite being an experienced mum was not letting baby feed. Every time she tried to latch on mum would stamp her foot and move off. All the books, vets and breeders I spoke to said that until the mum has passed the afterbirth she is reluctant to feed and the milk doesn't really kick in. In desperation the baby was going up to the other two and trying to feed. They naturally head for dark areas and have a go. We had been wondering if perhaps a buzzard had gone off with the after birth without us seeing, but this now seemed unlikely.

While observing the baby she rolled around on the floor playfully, and I thought I think it's a boy - I must have got it wrong - how silly am I. Not wanting to keep touching the baby - I waiting for Stu to come home and had a closer inspection and no it is definitely a girl. Good old Bingo (Dad) produced another girl cria. We also weighed her and she was 12.5lbs.

Knowing we needed to get some colostrum into the baby within the first 24 hours and that the weather was stinking hot we decided to put Camilla and her cria in a pen in one part of the paddock so she could see the others, but not keep escaping. Several hours on and still no sign of the afterbirth. We to spoke several of my breeder friends who were extremely helpful and then to the vet who gave us some Reprocine to inject to help bring on her placenta and some Betamox an antibiotic. Straightaway we could see the milk kick in on her teats, and Stu helpped me encourage the baby to feed which she would from the front teats but left the back full so we had to strip the milk out of these using a homemade plunger device.

By now it was about 9pm - still no placenta so another trip to the vets to get some more Reprocine and another injection given. The idea is this would help Camilla to contract slowly in waves to help try and prevent a prolapsed uterus. It was now pitch black and by torch light we encouraged baby to feed again - keeping mum still using a bit of Tellington Touch massage techniques we learnt from a Camelidynamics course. By midnight still no placenta.

We decided to call it a night and I set the alarm for 4am. At 1.30am it started to pour with rain - yes the long awaited rain had come, but it was still stinking hot. A few hours later the alarm went off and I staggered up the garden with a lantern in my dressing gown to check on the girls. Still no placenta and mum seemed a bit uncomfy - hopefully the after birth is on it's way.

When upset they can make such a screamy noise, and then start to try and spit - but touch wood so far the spits have just been friendly air spits to let us know she is not happy. I managed to encourage baby to feed using a one handed massage on mum to calm her down and guide baby with the other hand. It is amazing how quickly the massage seemed to work this time. Camilla was really leaning into me and relaxing -( as much as an alpaca with contractions can relax.) It was still pouring with rain and now I am soaked and covered in wet alpaca smell and I didn't think Stu would appreciate me hopping back into bed in this state and so I decided to update my BLOG then go and get changed. If there is no afterbirth in a few hours - I think another trip to the vets will be necessary. It was a long, hot day yesterday, but it is one I won't forget. The Cria is so gorgeous all we need to do now is think of a name.

It's a Girl... No it's a boy!

Will post photos and info later - but early this morning Camilla had her first Cria at Radley HQ, a little white baby boy! Thought it was a girl to start with - then I noticed a teenie winkie.

Official Balcony Opening

Friday 25th June 2010 saw the grand opening of the Bali-Hai Balcony. The builders worked through the blazing sun and finally got it finished. Now all we need is a hot tub!

All quiet on the alpaca front. Hurry up Camilla!

The Gurus chill out at pizza hut

Went and did an extra session of training for Puppy Gurus at the vets yesterday as Chris was still ill with man flu. Weather had improved and we were able to do the mini agility outside. The dogs all did really well and got their rosettes and certificates - it is good to see a class that has worked hard with their dogs.

After class Tracey and I went for a staff "meeting" at pizza hut where they forced pizza and hot choclate down our throats again. It was a tough order, but someone had to do it.

Rain 1 Alpaca Baby 0

Just woke up to find we have had a bit of rain and it is still drizzling. Not lots - but any will do. Does that mean rain dancing works? Perhaps if I tweak my routine a little we will get a proper down pour.

Sorry Tracey! - I know you wanted to do dog classes outside today.

Alpaca Shower

Just popped up the garden to move the sprinklers and check on alpaca HQ's maternity ward. Still no news there. However, the girls had decided to queue up and use the shower facilities instead. It was hysterical, they took it in turns to cool themselves off and because the sun had gone down I let them continue.

Teaching dogs to do a rain dance.

Why, oh why, does it never rain when you want it to? Over a week ago we fenced off half the alpaca paddock and scattered fertilizer to help the grass because they forecast rain. Since then not a drop. We cannot let the alpacas back on to the land until we have had a decent bit of rain. We have tried manually watering it, which is not as good and also extremely exhausting due to the steepness of our land. Even been considering doing a rain dance. If I could teach the dogs to join in, perhaps it would be more effective. I did considering asking the cats to help, but Casper seems to be on a permanent hunt and Mini-me just won't budge off the sofa. As for the fish they would be great at learning a rain dance, but would forget it as quickly as they learn it!

Still no baby alpaca to report on... keep your eyes posted here on Cria Watch

Shearing Chez Nous

Have been given a time and date for the shearing of our girl alpacas. The shearer is planning to come Monday 5th and will shear Suzy, Alice and Camilla as long as she is not in the middle of giving birth.Watch this space for the patter of tiny alpaca feet....not long now...I hope!

Alice is having a bad hair day so has gone all camera shy.

Back in Sunny Devon

After a flying visit to Oxford to see family and a long business meeting with our web designer, I am back in sunny Devon. Dogs and cats were pleased to see me. Rushed up to see Camilla our pregnant alpaca who is looking very big, but no news on the baby cria yet! My mum is planning a visit later in the week, so we have told Camilla to cross her legs until then as she does not want to miss it.

Still a scorcher of a day here, dogs are totally flaked out, won't walk them until it cools down. If only they could take their coats on and off.

It is Puppy Gurus dog class for me tonight, Tracey has suggested that we do the advanced class outside if it stays nice. I love the long summer evenings, better than training inside.