Well what an end to a lovely weekend Sandra Ellis ,owner of(Q )Cuckavalda Black Bean took him to Yorkshire Golden Retriever club of Northumbria kc test at Lord Stones at Chopgate and he smashed it only dropping 1 point on the 3 challenging tests in 26° It is good to read his progress .To which Jack added when the going gets tough [meaning the hot weather] the tough get going. And then we heard from Debbie with her two cockers Well a day at Otley Agility show today and what a fantastic day my boys have had. Alfie came a away with 2 firsts and 1 second place💙🎉💪 Then my little boy Murphy got 3 clear rounds and came 5th and 6th, hit all his contacts So nice to hear they are all flying high .#CuckavaldaWinners

Take 3

The idea is to introduce pups slowly and not rush in .As if you do you can have problems . You may have heard of a gun shy dog this would 99% be the fact that it was not introduced slowly and then havingnoiseld buidling up . I write this blog as to us it is just every day life as I had posted a photo of Jack sat on a chair in the middle of some running water. The comment was "what a good idea". So you sit there and the pups, then realise that you are safe and so in turn they would be safe to follow. And with that thought in mind and also of getting a pat for their effort in they go. They may hesitate a bit at first as it is b .cold in the middle of a stream with fast running water in Springtime. But they get to like it ,think it is fun ,find that special stick or stone in the water and away they go. We know everyone is not as lucky to have access to water like we have so you have to be careful. Then out of the water a quick sprint down the wood and home all in time for dinner.

February at the Kennels

The working dogs have had a rest after the season has finished as has Jack. The tweeds are ready to go to the dry cleaners and the pickup is ready for a good service. And we look to start training the young ones which are under a year old now . Next week the year olds go to have their eye tests and fingers crossed they all pass and then it is the hips and elbow to be scored. This is like waiting for your 11 plus results as a lot depends on them as we would never breed from dogs with high hip scores. We are told it takes the BVA about 3 seconds to give them a score which is crazy when you think it can be a make or break time for the future of breeding the lines in the future. Finn is 13 this month and although he is fully retired he still enjoys doing what he does -trotting round the fields three times a day with the rest of the clan and enjoying an extra breakfast to keep him in good condition. Even the vet who came to inspect us for the council grading was impressed with him . Dont know if the same could be said for Finn as he is very much Jacks dog although he can be a bit of cupboard love creeping in and will wag his tail to anyone who feeds him a sausage roll or other tit bit. It saddens us to hear of people who bought dogs in lock down who were taken in by people only interested in making a uick buck rather than being respnosible breeders and "We have got the papers' doesnt really mean a thing as soon as they get them out of their cars you can see they are not true Labradors and no matter how much training is put into these dogs they will probably be "handfuls" for the rest of their lives. Minty continues her life doing whatever she pleases .She dines with the cats early morning and her brother George often shares his supper with her . She loves a sausage at lunch time and looks like a dog smoking a caigar with it stuck in her mouth as she proudly carries it about. She has a routine that tallies with Jacks and you certainly dont need a watch when she is about .As I type this they are both having their afternoon siesta on the settee.In th eeveings she makes a fuss as she likes to curl up with the cats so goes backwards and forwards to the door till we get sick of it and darent risk it any longer in case she wants to go to go to the toilet,but it is just so we let the cats in.

Gundog training: seen and marked retrieves

The black Labrador is the one which Jack bred many moons ago . ALways nice to see how they progress. Thank you Keith for this video

What characters these Labrador pups are.

Wat a delight it was to have watch these pups grow. This is the "carry on" we had recently as they were going to the vets for their first injection and vet check before they went off to their new homes. As we started to load them, some decided it was just too boring waiting about, so off they went to explore the garden .And even though they go from short walks with Jack, they decided they didnt want to go for a ride out, but to play hid and seek amongst the flowers. Bang went the climbing sweet pea plant.It looked as if they had used it as a slide . Then they found a plant pot which Minty had been playing with and it was then who could run the fastest carrying it. Looked a bit like a rugby team in practice. Minty - the little cocker spaniel just didnt know what to make of them and as she is older bounded after then and played tag too. As she spends most of her life in the garden she took them round and round the centre bed and so by the time we managed to gather them all up there was some pink tongues hanging out. Finally they were loaded up and off they went. They all got clean bills of health so we were happy for them then to go. It was on to the telpehone to tell the new owners they could come. As we said goodbye to them and a quick ruffle and pat on their heads it was time for them to start the next big adventure in their lives. We can see one now tucking into a Devon cream tea and another meeting one of its relatives that went "down south" a few years ago. It most be all very strange for them to go from hearing Jacks grand Yorkshire accent to a fine one of Hampshire. It may take them a few days to understand what the new owner is saying. They are very laid back and we often get some of the owners contacting us to say how well they have settled in. Nine times out of ten laying stretched out on a new soft ,quite luxurious ,bed surrounded by toys of every shape,manner and form, dreaming of when they played with plant pots and sticks and dabbed their feet in the stream.

Friday Favourite

This young lady is 2 in April and looks so happy, she looks as if she is smiling . Her owners reminded us that when she was a puppy Jack had called her the happy pup and so it is nice to see she is still like that today. Such a loving dog with our 2 young girls. We had her out in deep snow last Saturday then on the beach Monday. She is a stunning athletic dog who always turns heads! Hope you are all well - we may be back for another some day. She is this weeks #FridayFavourite

Cocker Spaniel Puppies

Pegs pups will be 5 weeks old on Monday. They are certainly out and about now and exploring a bit more every day. The guests staying here love them and often go to see them.So they are well socialized and handled. We got the Kennel Club names back this morning as we are going to keep a yellow and white dog and were lucky to keep the name we choose-Cuckavalda Harry. Well we have William a Labrador who was born earlier this year and as it is quite a Royal year thought a Harry would be appropriate too. Anna does most of the name choosing and I think if we are lucky to get some pups from Hidi that we will keep one of hers and call it Diamond.I was stuck at what to call two black Labradors so I called them both Twig. One Twig has now been sold to Margaret Crawford who is a Class A judge in the trialling field . Margaret also bred a famous FTCH called Millcottage Pathfinder. So we are hoping Margaret does as well with Twig.

Lazy Sunday afternoon....

A sunny afternoon and 4 pups to keep my eye on .They really enjoy romping about in the field. It is all part of growing up for them as they play around and take on board everything around.Here they are taking a rest.Two of them had been alerted to a pheasant calling .They now walk the length of two fields.Mabel went exploring a bit too much one day. Fortunately Jack was at hand to help her as she ran head first into a water trough. Her adventure doesn't seem to have worried her. She was soon happily running about again.

Optigen PRA tests

We were happy to get notification from America this morning from Optigen that Willow -Jakoranda Feel the Moment and Hidi- Cuckavalda Metal Vicereine's blood tests have come back clear after being tested for PRA. This is good news and Willow's litter which she had last April will also be show all clear too as she was lined with FTCH Leadburn Viceroy who had already had his tests done. It is now getting more known about these Optigen tests.

Pups ready to go

This weekend we have had Labrador pups go to Northumberland,Cumbria and the little fox red girl is on her way to France. As you know we are keeping a fox red dog for ourselves / There are 2 black dog pups unsold if anyone is interested as people have given us back word . Just give us a ring for further details. If they are not sold in a week or two Jack is going to keep them. If they turn out like Tara,Hidi.Blade and Finn we will be glad that we kept them but as you know we cant keep them all. Here they are out with Jack . Even now at 7 weeks old they are already heeling up and following him and picking up and carried little twigs in their mouths.