We went to see Rhydian (from X factor) last night,his voice is amazing, can't believe anyone can sing like that live, he was brilliant.

Went off to the chicken sales again today and came back with a load of growers again, managed to get some hens this time, white ones, very pretty but they are very aggressive, every time you pick one up it attacks you!

The mali pups are coming on well know and getting bigger by the day, we keep trying to get them in the garden but it has not stopped raining here for about 3 weeks. They did venture out for a few minutes the other day but quickly decided it was far better inside.

WOW What a day we had at Birmingham National champ show, In Tervs, Coral ( Belsharose Chardonnay who belongs to pat Cashmore) had a very good 2nd in a strong class, especially as we have been having a few problems with her she is now coming on great, then Giorgia won limit bitch and to our utmost surprise then went on to win the bitch CC, we were over the moon. We have put a lot of hard work into Giorgia the last 2 years, she is what you may call temperamental, but it all paid off on Saturday, we always new if we could overcome her shyness she would do well as she is such a quality girl. We then went on to have a somewhat rushed but successful day with the Laekenois, with Best dog, best bitch, reserve best bitch and best of breed.

Thursday we had a new addition to the herd with a colt foal being born in the early hours, not planned but gratefully received although i had hoped he may have been a coloured but still.

















I went to the chicken sales again this week after an unsuccessful trip there last week to acquire a new cockerel after the fox managed to kill my last one. Last week i bid up to £20 for a Welsummer cock but failed to get him, this week i had more luck and got a beautiful welsummer, he soon settled in but boy does he like to crow.


















We managed to hatch out 8 chicks from 15 eggs last week, not a great percentage but you have to start somewhere, they are doing well as are the chicks we brought from the sales, they have now gone outside in the ark until they get bigger.



Strange but chickens are very addictive once you get into them, you get some beautiful marked colours on them and can become quite attached!

The geese have settled in well as well and they seem friendly, not like the ones we used to have , they would chase us out the field.

The fox managed to have a couple of chickens again the other night, practically in front of our eyes, luckily one of the dogs spotted it and chased it off, unfortunately not before he managed to do 3 of them. So off to the chicken sales today ( i don't need much of an excuse). Came back with everything i don't need including 2 geese!







I also brought some young chicks although heavens knows why when i have some due to hatch out tomorrow in the incubator.Still it made the kids happy.













The sun was glorious today with the crops in the fields at their full bloom




























The Malinois pups have opened their eyes and are now starting to explore. They are beginning to lose their fat look as well so we can start to see how they are shaping up. Won't be long now before the fun begins!

How fat are these pups!

We have recently changed all the dogs over to a fresh meat and bones diet, don't know if that has anything to do with it but these pups are the fattest i have ever had especially considering there are nine of them.

Their eyes are still not open but they are very active, the pictures seem a bit boring so i thought i would put a few videos on here instead.

The Malinois pups are doing extremely well, very fat and very active,

can't wait till their eyes open !

Here they are at 4 days old.

The weather was glorious today so our daily bike ride with Gaby & Ghia was even more enjoyable, The 2 Laekenois absolutely love going out like this. The original idea was to get us all fit but they end up pulling me most of the time so i do not get to peddle much. They normally go side by side but paul fancied a bit of fresh air today!

After checking my dates last night i realized i had made a mistake and Zara was due today and not on monday,(wondered why she was panting all day) any way after pacing up and down all night,(Zara not me) she gave birth at 7 am today, by the time the third one arrived she was an old hand at it. By 10 am she had 7 pups and seemed to have finished but then decided to have another 2.
3 males and 6 bitches.
She seems to have taken to motherhood very well. We shall see in the coming days.

What a life!

We went to the club open show today and had a nice day out up till one point.

We won all the classes with Giorgia, Cerise & Scarlet and had a 2nd with velvet, only the Laekenois to go. As we were in the line up for tervs and the laek's were in the next ring we asked several times if they would wait for us, we were told yeh, no problem. Next thing i know they are calling them in, Thanks a bunch i thought but rushed to get the 3 Laeks out of the car and into the class. Huge mistake and one lesson learned. Having only one class, we were all bunched together and 3 Laekenois rushed is no joke, no one would stand at all they all thought it was very funny and exciting, then to top it all every other variety got to move their dogs as usual, up and down and triangles, what do we get up and down, hardly enough to see a Laeky move, wonder why that was? Hungry maybe! It makes my blood boil when you pay your money but are not taken seriously. Needless to say although we had best of breed with Ghia,(who i moved terribly even if i do say so myself) I could not stand it any longer with Gaby so left the ring, much to every ones shock. But if the judges and stewards can not be bothered to show courtesy then why should they get it back?

The pups are coming on nicely and growing fast now, another one left today for his new home, one more goes in the morning.

I had some new lawn laid again this week

(the 3rd time in 2 years)

It lasted 2 days before someone snuck on it and ate half of it.

Five new rolls later we shall see how long i can keep this one.

By the looks of this picture not long.

There is still 2 males available at the moment if any one is interested!

Zara is looking rather big considering she is not due to whelp for over 2 weeks, she is loving all this extra attention, even sleeping on my bed now. She has become very normal since being pregnant, can't quite get used to it.

Friday we were at Crufts to man the Laekenois booth for discover dogs. The dogs were absolutely fantastic and loved all the attention and fuss, i was especially impressed with Haramis as he has only been in the country 3 weeks, he was not bothered by anything.
I managed to sneak off a few times while Callum maned the booth and spend some money on things i don't really need !

Sunday we were back at Crufts again, this time to show. We had a very good day with results as follows, Tervueren we had 3 pups in the first five of the puppy bitch class, Scarlet 2nd, Coral 3rd, Cerise 5th. Adonis was 3rd in puppy dog, Giorgia, 4 th in limit bitch. In Groenendaels Barney had a 2nd in post graduate dog and finally in Laekenois Gaby had a 1st in yearling bitch and then had Reserve Best Bitch.

Pat was very pleased with Barney and Coral as this was her first time at Crufts, so congratulations to her.

Don't know where the time goes to when you are showing there, by the time we had finished showing and caught our breath we just about managed to do a little more shopping.

We were given tickets for best in show and as Callum had nagged us for years to stay for it i decided to let him go and watch it. That was a mistake, i watched it on the big screen but could hardly keep awake, we never left till 9.3o so by the time we got home it was close on 11 0'clock.

Paul then went down to the horses and took the dogs out (they do have their uses after all)every one thought we had gone mad.

It took 2 days to recover, we must be mad? Till the next time!

Where does the time go. Crufts seems to have come round very quickly and as usual i am not ready. we are at discover dogs with the Laekenois on Friday and then back again on Sunday to show. Hopefully i can get a few pictures.

The pups are getting bigger by the day, i missed getting their pictures this weekend as it was Jordan's birthday, we went ice skating for the first time and i surprised myself at being quite good at it.

The next day i was back at the ice rink again for Kai's Friends birthday, he was useless at it and it was all i could do to keep his bum off the floor.

Come Tuesday i was paying for whizzing round the rink, i could hardly move from aching muscles.

I won't be trying that again in a hurry.

We have a ten year old Belgian in rescue at the moment, groenendael or possibly a very dark tervueren, check out the web site http://www.bsdrescue.co.uk/ for more details, he desperately needs a home, or foster home, he is very friendly and lively for his age, if anyone is interested then contact me direct

Another 2 weeks have passed and guess what, the tonsillitis came back so after another week in bed i am not even gonna mention i may well be better now, lets just say i am fine today!


The pups are now 5 weeks old and starting to come together,
their personalities are shining through, as usual my favorites at the moment are the nutters, Jordan, my daughter likes the one with the pink collar but i think that's because of the colour.

This one made me laugh, we were watching 'BABE' and the pup was transfixed



There are more pictures on the website.


I seem to be getting a lot of dogs coming into rescue at the moment, the way things are at the moment with money and jobs, is this a sign of things to come ?
check them out at the bsda rescue site or go to my own page http://www.bsdrescue.co.uk/

Spoke to soon about feeling better, have now had a good bout of tonsillitis. Beginning to feel like i will never get better.

The pups are starting to come on now, they had their first taste of food yesterday, the red male took to it like a duck to water, the others quickly followed suit.








Had to do away with the whelping box tonight, they have had enough and kept falling out.

Well the snowman is back only this time he has a blue nose.

you have a bit of snow and the country comes to a halt, here i am enjoying my normal Monday calm after a mad weekend with kids, and what happens the phone wont stop ringing with teachers telling me the kids are on their way home, very much to their delight.

The dogs thought it was great as well, although it has snowed heavy all day so any pictures i took all came out looking like the snow flakes were big bolders. ( I am obviously doing something wrong with the lens)

Can't even tell who this is but they enjoyed any way.

Have had the flu yet again for 2 weeks this time, one week of which i struggled to even get out of bed, i think i may finally be getting better ( dare i say that) so have managed to get a few pictures of the now 2 week old pups, who are doing great at the moment, nice and content. Saphy has been a fantastic mom which is just as well the way i have been feeling, so i have had to do very little up to now. A few more days and the fun should begin.

There will be more pictures on the web site shortly.

And after a hard days

playing in snow what

else is there to do?

We had a good day at Manchester on Friday, in Tervuerens, Scarlet won the puppy bitch class and Coral was 2nd, so was Adonis in puppy dog. Barney won the post grad class in AVNSC and then went on to res best dog, Ghia won the junior class in AVNSC and Rare breeds and then Gaby was 3rd in post grad but was only beaten by males so then went on to res best bitch AVNSC, she then had a 1st in post grad Rare breeds and best bitch. It was nice to have a day out for a change, its even better when you win something.

Saturday night Saphy had her babies, 8 of them, not sure where she hid them as she was not very big at all. After the initial shock and a big squeal one popped out on the floor, she looked at it in amazement then decided that maybe it did belong to her after all. The rest followed very quickly, she had them all in just over 2 hours, thankfully they are all big and strong. She is being a wonderful mom to them at the moment and pictures will be on the web site soon

At last we have snow, even if it is only a inch or so at least there was enough for Kai to make his first snowman.

The dogs also had a great time playing in it, alot of them being the first time they have seen snow. For a short moment there Lina thought she was back home in Norway.

Am I glad christmas is out of the way, shopping with every spare moment and then what happens, a week before christmas every one comes down with this horrid bug that seems to have affected every body else in the country. Me and callum had it the worst, with it lasting almost 3 weeks before we were completly well.So most of christmas was ruined with everyone drinking lemsips instead of beer and not wanting to eat anything. Still we must keep smiling? It will be nice to now get back into a routine.
Anyway today made up for it a little bit when we went to Worcestor & Malvern open show and had a fantastic day with results as follows,
In Tervueren, Belsharose Chianti (Scarlet) won 1st in Junior D/B and then went on to Best Puppy and Reserve Best of Breed, Belsharose Chardonnay (Coral) had 2nd in Junior D/B, Belsharose Cote Du Rhone (Adonis) had 2nd in Post Graduate D/B. Then onto Groenendaels where Belsharose Masacio (Barney) had 1st in Post Graduate D/B and then had Best of Breed. Finally the 2 Laekenois were both 1st in AVNSC Junior D/B and Post Graduate D/B with Ghiana D'Eroudur at Belsharose (Ghia) had Best AVNSC, and then Gabrielle D'Eroudur avec Belsharose (Gaby) getting a 2nd in Rare Breeds Post Graduate D/B. And they all showed fantastic so we had a lovely day but i am now shattered so i think its time for bed.

Well its been a while since I last posted, we have been a little busy trying to plan Christmas presents amongst other things, with 5 children we have a bit of a hectic time coming up to it.
Ghia arrived safely from France and has settled in wonderfully, no problems at all. She is very much like Gaby in her ways, I now have 2 Laekenois on my bed, not quite sure how that happened?
Looking through Paul's phone to see what pictures he had taken, i came across a little video that my daughter Jordan had made, not sure what planet she was on but at least you can see how Ghia has settled in.

On Sunday 9th Nov I was at Discover dogs with Leon and Flame, Pat came along with Barney. We had never done this before so it was a bit of an experience. The dogs were all brilliant and loved all the attention. I had planned to take some pictures of the event but the time seemed to go so quickly before we new it the day had gone. At least we got a free royal canin rug out of it. Ghia has took a shine to it and will not move off it.

On Tuesday we went to see Mary Ray give a demonstration on clicker training. I had seen her before but was so impressed I thought I would treat Paul and Callum to a night out, they both thought they would be bored rotten but were very pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed themselves, needless to say I ended up coming home with a bagful of clicker training devices.

I think Callum was a bit star struck

Here is a small piece of Mary Ray giving her demonstration

Snow in October

Wednesday saw snow in October, much to the kids delight, unfortunately it didn't stick, but who knows we may get a white Christmas at this rate.

Some very sad news tonight when my old german shepherd, Rosie passed away due to old age, she would have been 13 in march.

A very strange thing happened later, i had put rosie in the back room until we can bury her tomorrow, one of the other dogs who was close by started barking and cowering up the corner, even though she had been lying there all night, when i looked at the clock it was 12 midnight, 31st october, Halloween.

Makes you wonder!

Lotty , the rescue malinois went to her new home today which left us with mixed emotions as we had grown very fond of her but we are glad she has found a nice home.

Friday we went to Midland counties ch show. All the pups behaved them selves impeccably, apart from Adonis who thought everything on the floor was food and every bag he could get his nose into belonged to him. They all showed great and took it all in their strides.

Paul leaves for france this week to fetch Ghia home, so that should be fun and games.