Labrador pups have got their eyes open.

Tina's' brood of fox red Labrador pups have got their eyes and are starting to explore. We read from books that although they are open for the first few days they are not properly focused. They seems to be bombing about great guns now and are getting interesting to watch. As time goes on you can see their characters start to develop. It will not be long before they are bringing back their first pheasants.
By coincidence we have some people staying for bed and breakfast and they have a Labrador out of the same litter as our Hamish-Leadburn Gavin that we got from Billy Steel. We thought when we travel up to Scotland it is a fair trek but these people had a lot further to travel as they are based in Kent. Their dog has already trialled and been placed

George is now a Dad....

of 6 very good sized cocker spaniel pups. 4 dogs and 2 bitches. Photo taken at 5 days old

Lemon and white/lemon roan cocker spaniel pups....

are due any day. This will be our Georges first litter. His sire is the only FTCH lemon roan cocker spaniel in Great Britain or was when he was born. His Sire is FTCH Maesydderden Sorcerer bred and owned by Peter Jones who is famous for his Maesydderwen cocker spaniels and very successful on the trialling field and a well respected judge. His Dam is our beautiful Molly-Buckshaw Bobsleigh,whos sister went on to be a FTCH, who has certificates in novice and open trials in her own right. Anyone who knows her will know what a good hunter she is and what a lovely temperament she has. She is Anna's favourite cocker spaniel and is mother of our Quozzi, of Flake and her sister Ball.

Eating out ....

...It is horse work for Anna to try to get me away from the dogs but as I was 6 weeks late in going out for my birthday meal which my girls had given me a voucher to go to the Magpie at Whitby. A dog sitter was sorted,so we made a trip over the North York Moors to Whitby. The heather is not out yet and you can see where the gamekeepers have been busy burning off the old heather so the grouse can feed on the new shoots - a reminder it will soon be the grouse season again which is less than 2 months away.
We had a great meal at the Magpie as usual- I had a kipper to begin with brown bread and strawberry jam and then a trio of fish -lemon sole,salmon and poached king scallops. I should have known given the big portions that are served there that I should have kept the kipper for another visit. The tide was in so it was a good excuse on my part to get back to check on the pups and give the dogs their last run out before bed.

Cuckavalda Gundogs-Fox Red Labrador pups

Tina as done us proud....6 fox red Labrador pups...

She had a pups at a civilized hour and has produced 6 fox red pups 3 dogs and 3 bitches. Mother and babies doing well. She as just had scrambled egg and brown bread and has been for a walk out, then down to the stream for a drink and laid in the water to freshen herself up. Marvellous thing -nature.

Steven Wilson -Court House Farm

I presume you have found me and I havent forgotten what I said to you in the White Horse this afternoon.We will expect to see you for a days shooting this coming season and there will be plenty of high birds .Whether you can hit them is another thing.

Cuckavalda Gundogs

George- our lemon roan cocker spaniel

To give him his full title he is Cuckavalda Snow man George. His mother is our Molly- Buckshaw Bobsleigh who has won certificates of merit in Novice and Open Field Trails and his aunt went on to be a FTCH. His Sire is FTCH Maesydderwen Sorcerer -the only lemon roan in the UK who is a FTCH. He went up to Durham with 2 of our young Labradors,Tex and Blade on Wednesday to Stuart Ellis' eye clinic and we were pleased to hear they all passed. Although Labradors have been know to be tested for a long time .Stuart said it has not yet become common practice to test working cockers and that George is one of the the first few working cocker spaniel who have been tested.He was a year old in May and has already successfully mated with Sally who will be having pups in the next couple of weeks. He is a kind ,good looking dog and a pedigree to be truly proud of.George will soon be added to the stud dog page

Make hay ....

....while the sun shines as the saying goes and in the heat that we are having this week -Only mad dogs and men go out in the mid day sun. It is too hot to do much training work with the dogs so I have been making hay for Wass Grange.The pups are happy to have the shade of the weeping willow tree to keep the heat off them and I am thinking of putting a fan on Tina who is due to have some pups next week as she is finding the weather a bit too hot in her condition.