Posts filed under ‘Health’
Puppy Updates.
It seems hard to believe that the Belatarr dozen are approaching 12 months old, but next month will see them celebrate their 1st birthday. Meantime it’s been as busy as ever in the lives of the pups:
Django, with his ever more luxuriant facial furnishings.
After a slightly delayed start in the ring our own Django is finally now becoming quite the showman and has racked up a series of Champ Show 1st places from his handful of appearances so far. His (usually!) superb carriage even won him a Best Puppy and then Best in Show award and the local DHK Pedigree Charity Dog Show where he beat approx 60 other (mostly adult) show dogs to collect his first ever trophy.
Like Phoenix & Mingus before them Django & his brother Finley also successfully completed their Puppy Gurus Advanced training this month, during which time Finley developed an evident love for agility – a whole new string to the Belatarr bow!
Their brother Otis lives with his Hungarian pack over at Nansavallan Vizsla in Cornwall. Much like his father before him he has rapidly developed a superb deep red harsh wire coat and is proving to be a complete natural at gun dog training:
Otis demonstrates his new skills.
Otis at 11 months.
Meanwhile, in a well-earned break from the show-ring, brother Charlie Parker has been enjoying the sights and sounds of rural France along with his big brother Oz the Chocolate Lab:
Charlie learns a new skill.
…and another.
A happy boy.
and a well-earned snooze.
Back on this side of the channel, and following their successes in the show-ring, brother and sister act Gryphon (Belatarr Dizzy Gillespie) and Billie (Belatarr Mahalia Jackson) have also been learning new skills as they try out for both working and obedience tests:
Gryphon, who has clearly learned to read.
Gorgeous head-shot of Gryphon (courtesy of Sharon Newman)
Billie, demonstrating her retrieve from water whilst showing off her perfect top-line. (courtesy of Sharon Newman)
….and the dried-off version.
Gryphon & Billie awaiting their next adventure. (courtesy of Sharon Newman)
Bristol resident Milo (Belatarr Thelonius Monk) has also been over to France this summer, and looks to have picked up a new interest of his own:
Milo waiting to be served at the pub.
Starting with his muzzle Milo now has a super, tight wire coat developing over his whole frame.
Milo on top of the world (well, the cliff, at any rate).
Across town is Digby (Belatarr Oscar Peterson), another Bristolian Belatarr with a super red wire coat:
Digby at the beach, back in summer.
Whilst down near the south coast are two of the Belatarr girls, Ruby (Belatarr Nina Simone):
Ruby says hello.
Ruby, keeping up the family tradition.
and last, but most definitely not least, is our very special little girl Ella (Belatarr Ella Fitzgerald):
Ella, in full bloom amongst the heather.
Ella with hew new big sister Ilka.
Ilka showing Ella the ropes….or is it the other way around?
Much more Puppy action coming to the blog very soon with a report/ photo-montage from the Belatarr litter reunion day…
Hips-Hips Hooray.
Following the extreme weather over the tail end of last year 2011 has (so far) been fairly quiet with not too much excitement here in the Belatarr camp.
Mingus has continued to do very well in his first handful of shows as an adult, and has added another three very handy BOB/BNSC’s to his scores over the last few weeks.
This last weekend also definitely proved to be notable too, as Mingus’ hip-scores & X-ray arrived…actually, they almost didn’t arrive at all since our postie somehow delivered them to the wrong address altogether, but our near-neighbour kindly brought them round (thank goodness!!).
And the scores on the doors were: 4/3 (total of 7), which is an absolutely excellent score for an HWV, and puts Mingus very nicely amongst the best of the breed, hip-wise. Cue happy grins and wags all ’round.
Here he is (nearly)stacked at last weeks Plymouth & District Canine Society Open Show, somewhere between getting Best NSC Gundog and being short-listed for Best Gundog in the group:
Semi-stacked
Twist in the Tale.
If only I'd had one of these...
Well, that’s a turn up for the books. We got to the vets today, all grim faced and worry-lined, expecting to see Phoenix swallowed up into the Hospital complex like something from a James Bond film or Man from U.N.C.L.E. (except this would be dog from Beaford, but you get the general idea), while we wailed and gnashed, EXCEPT that the vet opened Phoenix’s mouth had a look in and one of the problem teeth was gone, it must’ve fallen out yesterday. So, she had a look at the other one, put her finger on it and it WOBBLED! “It’ll fall out later today or tomorrow” she said, handing Phoenix back to us after a bit of dog-vet cuddling had been completed.
So we we went over to the Common instead for a 2 hour walk all over the place, then home for extra crunchy chicken wings, well for Phoenix anyway. In between we had a strange encounter with an “eccentric” character in the high street who kept insisting that Phoenix was a Rhodesian Ridgeback , and would therefore need to be trained to kill lions. Later, he then got stroppy and spittle-flecked, when we told him that animals had been used and killed by the armed forces in war. Not even mentioning The Animals in War Memorial in London could shift his position. He ended the conversation by suddenly saying “There’s no point in talking to you”, which in truth he hadn’t been: he’d actually been incoherently monologuing at us while Phoenix tried to steal boxes of fudge from him that he had in a bag, used for swinging around him as some kind of conversation punctuation device. We cheerily waved him goodbye as he stomped off into the distance… Gotta love ’em.
A Tooth for a Tooth.
The Fateful Dental Exam....
At this weeks ringcraft class, one of the judges took a look at Phoenix’s teeth and informed us that she has two infant teeth growing alongside her adult ones. If they aren’t removed they could alter the shape of her mouth, cause all sorts of dental problems and most importantly, a lot of pain. There’s no way around it, Ms Phoenix is gonna have to go see the dentist…
…She’s going in to the vets for her operation on Tuesday. She should only be in for a few hours though, not overnight… 😦
Diet and Recipe Tips.
Head Shot.
As we previously mentioned, Phoenix is going to be kept on a raw food diet. We decided this following lots of reading and research about the dubious animal and vegetable by-products that make up even the highest quality commercial feed, and all the glowing testimonials from owners of German Wirehaired Pointers, many of whom raw feed their dogs. We have a chest freezer full of “goodies” some of which are too big for her to eat at the moment but she’ll graduate onto shortly. For now, she’s having 75% meat and 25% veg for most meals and the meat alternates between puppy tripe (mmm tripey kisses!), beef and kidney and minced whole turkey.
Every four days or so we make up a pulped vegetable mix, portions of which are mixed in with the meat for each meal. The recipe for this is broccoli stems, cauliflower leaves, greens, sorrel, cucumber, red peppers, whole apple, a couple of carrots, all of which are rich in Vit C. We then add two Vit C tablets, a tablespoonful of organic peanut butter, two caps of cider vinegar and dessertspoon of olive oil together with a little water to turn it into a paste. The whole mixture is then pulped because dogs can’t digest cellulose, and the pulping action breaks down the cell walls releasing the nutrient within. This provides a multitude of minerals and vitamins and, happily, Phoenix loves it. It also smells good enought to have on toast.
Oh, and a daily teaspoon of Green Ark’s Natural Green Food Supplement which comprises powdered kelp, alfalfa, nettle and parsley. Bursting with essential minerals.
In addition to all of that she has two chicken wings every other night. A couple of whole eggs (shell included but broken up) and a banana a week. All of which she absolutley loves. Many more meaty bones will no doubt follow as her jaws get even bigger…
This Cat Does Not Want Your Friendship…
Tulip.
Back to the vet’s on the 20th for the second and final vaccination. More cuddles, biscuits and general fuss made of her. The vet checked on Phoenix’s ears which were giving off an odd smell. Appears to have been a very mild infection, the ear drops cleared it up in 48 hours. This means we can take Phoenix out properly for short bursts in a weeks time. Hurrah! No other problems reported.
Midge - Furry Anarchist.
Phoenix has discovered the joy of pushing open the bedroom door – she’s not allowed in either bedroom, but the door of the main one doesn’t close properly so she’s learnt a new exciting game of “push open the door and try and steal an item of clothing off the bed and chew it to smithereens”. It’s like a little explosion of happy, wagging life everytime she does it. It doesn’t help that this is the cats hang out, and they are most put out by this wagging interlocutor. Solution: a hook and eye to keep the door secure during the day.
Midge (she who must be obeyed, top cat and all round East End bruiser feline) is becoming increasingly bold around Phoenix. So far we have had two swipes and a number of guttural whines from cat to dog. Phoenix knows the cats mean trouble but they are just oh so irresistible. This will only end in tears. Mark my words. Why are the bad ones always so fluffy???
No Madam, She is NOT Brown…
First Rays of Sunshine.
Nobody has guessed correctly what breed Phoenix is. At the vets they volunteered Rhodesian Ridgeback or Italian Spinone AND they asked if they could put her colour down as “BROWN”!!!!! Tim became quite agitated, so affronted was he… 🙂 Needless to say, we corrected them: it’s Russet (as featured in the breed description).
Weight Watchers and Knobbly Knees.
Looking at the River for the First Time.
Between the 6th and 13th Phoenix went from six kilos to eight: a 25% increase in body weight in a week! We suddenly thought she was looking skinny – she had the same body on very long and enormously thick legs. Her rear legs looked slightly awkward and we went into a panic spiral thinking she was becoming cow-hocked. Cue much worrying and wailing about what we’d done wrong, what terrible parents we were and how the doggy social workers were gonna come and take her into care.
Luckily, a reassuring email from Diane Parry (Mallard’s human companion and font of all knowledge HWV related) told us to pull ourselves together; she’s just growing and going through a gangly phase!
We now know that Phoenix is going to be a big lady as her legs and paws are huge and we have to wait for the rest of her body to catch up.
Belatarr Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla. 