Boxing Day Shoot 2010- Newburgh Priory Estate.

Out as usual with the dogs and then on to Newburgh for the Boxing Day shoot which is run by Mark Faulkner and keepered by Rob Easton. The bag was over 130 with pheasant and partridge shot. Organised by my best friend Geoff Thornton ,Anna went along to capture the day and ended up driving the game cart.The snow came down until lunchtime but then cleared.Later in the day we joined up with the guns for a meal at the White Swan in Ampleforth. There would be 7-8 bottles of port passed round so it was not as you can gather for the faint hearted.

Christmas Eve 2010 with the Cuckavalda Gundogs

Newburgh Christmas Do

Tonight there was a party at Coxwold pub for the beaters and pickers up on the local shoot. Thanks to Mark and Rob for inviting us and paying for us to have a good time. There was mountains of food and the beef sandwiches really got the thumbs up. A good time was had by everyone. It was left to the young ones to compete to drink the year of ale Mikey managed to empty it.

A Night out with Rubi-Sue

It has been a busy week for the dogs as we have been out and about picking up most of the week. So as the saying goes "All work and no play" So it was off to the Carpenters Arms to be well feed and watered- the wine wasn't bad either. With Anna ,Nick,Claire and little Rubi-Sue it was a good night. I may be biased but that young lady could be the next Mrs Thatcher -she is so determined and so on the ball with what is going on. She had been shopping all day with Claire in Leeds ,had a quick nap on the way home- just like me a nap does you the power of good - and then out on the town at night. Are we looking at the youngest FTCH handler . I hope so .She is already like dogs so we are on the way.

Red sky at night...

Shepherds delight /I am no longer a shepherd but I couldn't help but admire the sunset last night. I was out with the dogs and took these photos . Even the water in the beck[stream to some people] reflected the colour of the sky.

Lucky Number 13 -FTCH Delfleet Neon of Fendawood

Well done to David Latham who won the IGL 2010 trials today in Norfolk with his Labrador -Delfleet Neon of Fendawood who he both owns and trains.
His sire is FTCH Mediterian Blue who strangely enough we had thought of a couple years ago to use as a stud dog for one of our girls as being one of only 3 fox red FTCH dogs we came across at that time.Fox red x fox red we were not sure if they would be much demand if they all turned out the same colour. We ventured north instead going to FTCH Leadburn Viceroy who is black to get both black and yellow pups. You can always bet someone wants a different colour than what you have or different sex . We have always been delighted with Viceroys offspring.We will have to look for different bloodlines when Viceroys daughters need a mate. The dam of Neon is Delfleet Dawn Flush, which is also interesting as another Delfleet line is Delfleet Treasure is the dam of our 3 fox red girls -Tina,May and Willow. I will have to study the Labrador 2010-champions of the New millennium in great depth.
Tonight we have Gregory Huysens,his wife and friend staying with us from France . They have had the last 3 days at the trials, so we have had the run down of the performances.

The IGL 2010 -Sandringham ,Norfolk

The IGL- International Gundog League Retrieve Society will hold its 88th championship on Sandringham Estate in Norfolk this week on Tuesday ,Wednesday and Thursday by gracious permission of H.M.the Queen. Here the cream of the Retrieve world will be battling it out to win.
Our dear friend Billy Steel snr will not be taking part this year. We waited with baited breath for Billy and FTCH Leadburn Viceroy to win in 2008. Viceroy is an excellent all rounder plus a very good stud dog. We have some lovely youngsters by Viceroy who are keen and ready to listen. We hope to have a go with in the novice trials next year. We hear already some of his offspring are making their mark on the trialling field. So we will listen with interest at how young Billy Steel jnr gets on with Hillus Clyde his qualifier for the event.We wish him all the very best and hope he will be taking the top trophy back to Leadhills for the family to fill. The photo show two of Viceroys pup who as you can see are very laid back and take everything in their stride. They have got brains and are very easy to train./ We are hoping to have a litter from May which will be born towards the end of January 2011

Stuart Ellis ---top eye specialist

We were all ready loaded and ready to go .We had been waiting for an update on how Stuart Ellis was managing to travel from Preston to his Barnard Castle clinic to test dogs eyes. Fortunately we had not got set off Stuart had to turn back when he got to Harrogate. He is only one of six specialists in the country who is qualified to do such tests- lets hope he made it home ok. All dogs have to be microchipped before they can be examined and then they get drops put in by the veterinary nurse to get the pupils to dilate so when Stuart looks in to their eye he can see if there are any deformities. There are 5 tests he performs and it takes 5- 10 minutes. Now we will have to wait until the roads are clear and he can rescheduled .Until then the dogs are quite happy to stay at home.