I have caught up with my garden and vege plot at last, the cool nights have slowed some things down, like my beans, but they will be fine. The bonus of the cooler nights is the flowering plants like my Iris have bloomed for a lot longer, hot sun certainly causes them to go over quicker. It seems though whatever the weather the lawn still grows!!
Another thing that is growing at a terrific rate is Kite, I am really pleased with her development so far. She has terrific bone and weighed in at 10 kilos when she went for her second jab 2 weeks ago so heaven knows what she is now. She is really confident and bold but without being cocky and she is really biddable, all in all a joy. She and Ruby are best mates and play all the time, Cassie joins in when it suits her and Ebby and Granny Willow continue to be the grounding influences.
All her siblings have settled well. There have been a few sleepless nights and a few more chewed ankles and hands, all normal Munster development! It is a tricky time in any puppies development, there is so much conflicting advise out there. 3 month old pups of any breed do get frustrated at this age with energy to burn. I personally have never restricted my puppies exercise, I worry more about the impact of concussion on joints, for instance enforced lead walking on pavements, stairs, jumping etc. I also believe in early socialisation. The benefits far out-way the risks of isolation until after vaccinations, all that is required is common sense. Vets do not see the consequences of poorly socialised puppies that have had little or no physical or mental socialisation until the window of opportunity in their social development has passed. A lot of my work is with scared, dog or human aggressive dogs, so often a result of poor advise.
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We went to the forest recently with all of our dogs plus my friend Jackie and her Border Terrier, Hetty. We were out for 2 hours but when Kite was tired we put her in a rucksack and carried her, well Chris did ! This will not be an option for long though, she will not fit in there for much longer and Chris will not want to hump her around. While we were walking we met a man with 10 dogs – 1 Basset Hound ,1 French Mastiff and 8 assorted Springers and Cockers. This was a grand total of 17 dogs we stood chatting for quite a while, talking dogs ,they were all his own dogs, most of them “re-homes” as he called them, due to people not understanding the requirements of owning dogs. All of the dogs had a brill time, no growling, snapping, just 2 balanced packs interacting as dogs should, it was so refreshing.
As most of you are aware now Mandy has started her own affix, Quillesta . I understand completely this decision, I would have done the same, she is truly hooked on Munsters. Something I can take some responsibility for!
Chris and I are thrilled with the way John and Julie have welcomed Jas into their lives, she is such a happy girl and so adores her new mum and dad. We will be being surrogate parents again soon when they go on holiday, it will be like old times. We have had Zennor staying with us for a few weeks recently, unfortunately her owners Liz and Mark have both been poorly. I am happy to report they are making good recoveries and Zennor will be returning home shortly. She is a credit to them, her behaviour is impeccable and she has dealt with coming into our pack amazingly well but I know she will be overjoyed to see her mum and dad again.
I know there is a lot more to report but time is of the essence so I will leave it at that for now .