Charlie and Peg

Charlie was the first gundog Jack owned and our last springer spaniel.Peg was always a favourite of Jack's - the little black cocker and a character bigger than herself. She started going to work when she was 10 months old. Jack said she was no bigger or weighed any more than a good sized cat. But what a little worker she was. By the end of her first season she had built up muscles like Tyson and battled to carry a cock pheasant but battle she did. Peg was a great climber or should we say scaler of wire .She had to have a top of her kennel as she could scale 6 foot in high and more with no problem at all. She would have been 6 in November. As , much as it was a wrench for Jack to part with them but more so her. Over the years everyone loved Peg and all want to take her home. She would have probably worked until she dropped as Charlie would have too but he was even older than Peg. She when we heard the Kings had lost their two cocker within 3 months of each other . They were the original Pennys - black cockers which we had given then 6 years before ..and had reached the ripe odd age of 12 it was decided their would be no better home for them.

Christmas Chocolate cocker puppies

We are looking forward to Christmas as Coco our chocolate cocker spaniel will be having her 2nd litter of pups. Hopefully the pups will arrive safely between Christmas and the New Year. IF they are not all chocolate ones there should be some bonny pups as George who is lemon roan is the sire. Coco went picking up at the beginning of the season but is now on maternity leave. She is very laid back and takes everything in her stride. George is still having a busy time as the shooting season is in full swing. Every day you can hear volleys of gunshot all around the surrounding estates

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All in the planning

Jack was up early to travel up into Scotland to Billy Steel's FTCH Copperbirch Paddy of Leadburn to line Cuckavalda Jilly June. Paddy has just qualified for the second year running in the IGLs which this year are held high up in Scotland. The IGLs is a competition which involved the top 50 retrievers. Rollo is Jill's father . His dam is FTCH Ernvale Maud of Tudorcourt -top Retriever in Ireland in 2008 and his sire a FTCH. Paddy's mother is also FTCH Ernvale Maud but lined with a different sire a FTW. We have been told that this mating on paper is very good so fingers crossed we will have some first class pups. As far as we know this is the first time that FTCH Maud will appear in both sides of the pedigree .

Four in a row

Not bad 4 4 4 month old pups. These are fox red Labrador pups. Their sire is Rollo-Copperbirch Winnebego and dam is Tara -Cuckavalda Touch of Gold. This is Tara's first litter and we are really looking forward to seeing these young dogs develope. We are keeping Gin and her sister Tonic. Tie went earlier in the week and Turk is for sale to a good home. They are very intelligent as you can see Jack got them all to sit up in a row.not bad as they were only born in the middle of May. Tara had 11 pups and 3 of her pups have gone to working homes within half an hour of here so I guess we will see them out on the

shooting field next season.

Spitfire,fireworks and good company...

Perfect weather and a perfect setting, we have to thank Rachael and Tom for inviting us to share their picnic. Castle Howard on Saturday evening for Last Night of the Proms. Even the sky looked to have been painted bright blue and pink for the occasion. Some even dressed up -the ladies had really gone to town. We felt sorry for the man dressed in shooting attire who thought he looked very dapper.Obviously he

had never worn breeks before. They were skin tight and would have been more at home as Travolta in Grease.Lots of food and drink were consumed and a good night was had by all. William and his little friend both 3 were still full of energy when the finale fireworks lit up the sky.

Labrador pups in the game crop

Our Labrador pups are out and about and here they are taking a run in a game crop. They had their first injection yesterday at Skeldale vets and all travelled well in the back of the pickup.

Mrs Peabody

No dog will ever take Quozzi's place but here we have Mrs Pea

body .This is Quozzi's niece ,George is her father as you will see she has inherited his colouring and Pip is her mother. She lives near the house and kitchen door so she gets extras, a sausage or egg that maybe left from breakfast time. She has started going out with the big dogs in the field and is very much a character.She takes the limelight from her brother who was registered Cuckavalda Snipe and has taken on the name of Mr Peabody .So confusing this name lark. Fam de Peabody are not for sale.

Walkies...

When we have a litter of pups we like them to get out and about as much as they can. Jack takes the up the field and they love it. An added bonus when the sun is shining. They hunt head down and are now starting to venture up the hillside into the wood.One eggs another on. A bit of rough and tumble here as they come galloping down the field and back for a feed. This is repeated at least 4 times a day.

Fox Red Labrador pups.....

These happy ,healthy pups are now fully weaned. They have started carrying light things about.They go for walks all together up the field and love to roll about. Already they have an exploring nature and turn up their noses to sniff the air.The sunshine has come at just the right time as they like nothing better to stretch out warming in the sun. Each having

its own character.They are KC registered having the Cuckavalda Prefix. We are keeping Red Gin and Red Tonic and Turk. Two girls and a boy.

Optigen test for Mabel and Cas

Before we have their hips/elbows scored and after they have had their eyes tested we have to make sure the young dogs are PRA clear which means a blood test that goes to America to Optigen to be tested. Some of our youngsters are herd clear but we bought Leadburn Mabel adn although her mother who belongs to Billy Steel snr was the sire who is FTCH Hillus Clyde isnt.Fortunately she passed as did a young yellow dog called Cas. Next is the hips scores it is like waiting for your 11 plus exam results to come through.

Eye tests for Young Labradors

A trip up to Barnard Castle for these 4 young Labradors to be examined by Stuart Ellis. Fortunately they all passed with flying colours. We had some very good fish and chips for our lunch and here you see them watching me as I walked back to the pickup.They had to wait until they got home before they got feed.

Fox red Labrador puppies doing well.

4 weeks old and tucking into solid food. Tara has done a brilliant job feeding 11 pups .All even in size with no help from us for the first 2-3 weeks. Now they are happily starting to explore and we are making the difficult choice of who we are keeping. Cuckavalda Red Gin is one and now looking for Tonic. We try to use a different sounding name to shout. When they are older they will go out and about with the others. This year we have also kept two young cockers Peabody and Snipe and 2 Labradors -Betty and Flag.

Tara breaks a record

Cuckavalda Touch of Gold -better known as Tara has just had 11 puppies -6 girls and 5 boys so as even as you can get a litter. The sire was Copperbirch Winnebego better known as Rollo. Both have outstanding pedigrees. We bred Tara over 3 years ago and this is her first litter of pups. Many on the shooting field will have seen her as she very rarely missed a day when she didn't go picking up and Rollo notched up 100 days picking up which is some feat in itself. She is an amazing bitch and looks like an amazing mother too.She has 0/0 hips even though she used to jump 5 bar gates when she was only 5 months old. You can see her in action when she was about a year old on YouTube.

Lemon and white cocker spaniel pups

Pip had her pups by Caesarian and now they have their eyes open. They are ever so funny and play pile up on each other .Although some are getting inquisitive and come outside now into the run. They are now starting to eat solids. This week and over Easter we have children in so they will be getting well socialized.

It would have been Quozzi's 4th birthday today

We have not written about Quozzi dying .She died a few weeks ago. She was out picking up on the Thursday. Jack noticed she hadn't eaten her tea so next day she was at the vets .She walked in wagging her tail -that was Quozzi.The vet said most dog would have been dead by then She had a temperature of 106 and was put on to a drip .She stayed in for 3 days but Jack wanted her home. We have never had one ill before other than through accidents. Of all our dogs Quozzi was the favourite -not jack best working dog by far as she had a mind of her own. But she was the favourite. She died 10 days after she first start it was a very acute leukemia.In her short life she was talked about by many even written about in American newspapers. Too long a story to tell. Handreared she was nearly a human. She lived outside as she got older. When we got a log burner in although she wasn't in the house she used to collected sticks every time she went out in the field and if she got chance would bring them up to the door. It's a cruel old life

Laid back Labradors

We had the safe arrival of some fox red puppies on Saturday. They are doing well and as there are only 2 girls in this small litter we have decided to keep them Already named as Betty and Flag. I expect you can guess why. Well they will be a lot of flag waving this year and felt Elizabeth was too long a name.

Fox red bitch Labrador pup

We had sold this fox red pup but unfortunately the lady who was getting it from her husband as a surprise has not been well and cant cope with it. They have brought it back to us to find a new home. Her sire is FTCH Leadburn Viceroy and her dam is by FTCH Talisbrook Rhum of Bolton Abbey. Both her parents have have low hip scores,eyes are clear and are PRA clear. She is KC reg and is micro chipped.She was vet checked when she had her first inoculations 10 days ago. We are looking to find her a permanent loving home. Here you see her enjoying the sunshine today. She is already showing the hunting instinct -nose down ready to go comes naturally as bother her parents are great gamefinders. She has now gone to her new home.

Minty - on her arm chair

Minty, the little chocolate cocker spaniel has a different idea on what we class as an armchair. She sits on Jacks arm. She is one of Flake's pups who has been brought up by us since 2 weeks old. Her brothers went last week and soon she will be going to the vets to be checked over and then be looking for a new home. She was reared on goat milk but now prefers to have what we have. So Jack leave a bit on his plate and she woofs it down.She really likes cheese,chicken and apple pie and custard. Her main playmates are our kittens. They all play togeterh very well and are very patient with her as she is getting to be a little minx. Chasing their tails and hanging on for dear life. She had a rough start but is certainly making up for it now

Vet checked and ready for home

Snowflake is Molly's daughter and she is sister to Snowball and George. She will be 3 in April and these are her 6 puppies that were born on Thursday. Troy is the father. So when you cross a black dad with a lemon and white mum -this time you get 2 chocolate ones and 4 black ones. Off they went on Saturday morning to Skeldale Vets to see Tim who checked them over,docked and dewclawed them. Flake is an excellent first time mother and she travelled with them though they were wrapped up in warm towels as it is the middle of winter. They were soon home again and tucking into their dinners.

Labrador pups a month on

Here you see our pups. A month has gone by and they are now up and about. They are on solids but still like to go to their mum for a drink. They are happy little characters. Although they are still tempted back to their heat lamp which is on day and night they have started coming out of the kennel and this morning Jack had them on to the grass for the first time.Some were even as good as to go to the toilet when they were out which saves on the cleaning up. They have paper bedding inside and then in the run sawdust.