Posts filed under ‘HWV Extended Family’
Belatarr Mahalia Jackson Best Bitch at LKA
Ending what has been a terrific year in suitably terrific style Billie, Belatarr Mahalia Jackson, took 1st in Post Graduate Bitch at the LKA Championship, and then went on to be awarded Best Bitch and Reserve Best of Breed under judge Mick Howes.
His super critique for her read:
“A real showgirl with class & style. She did not put a foot wrong. With overall soundness & balance, this bitch has an eye catching outline. Shown in good coat & presented in lovely condition. She has a very pretty head with good earset & correct eye, strong neck & lay back of shoulder, plenty of fore chest with straight front good pastern. Plenty of depth with spring to rib, excellent tailset. She has good muscle tone which showed in her movement which was steady with drive & extension keeping her topline & using her tail. Well deserving of Best Bitch”
Billie on the move.
Django’s big win.
Following on from his brother Gryphon’s big result last weekend Django stepped up a gear today at the Plymouth & District Kennel Association Show where he won a large class in HWV Open and topped an all-Belatarr top 3 – with Brother Gryphon (Belatarr Dizzy Gillespie) 2nd and sister Belatarr Mahalia Jackson 3rd – before taking Best of Breed. This was Django’s 13th Best of Breed out of his last 15 shows, which is a pretty good score rate by any reckoning!
In a tough 17 strong line-up featuring many top dogs he then he went on to beat them all and be awarded a wonderful Gundog Group 1 (Best Gundog in Show) under judge Jane Lilley, prompting her to remark that “he does something to my heart” which was a lovely comment to hear. Her equally super critique was:
“Such a very high quality entry which, I was delighted to see, resulted in three siblings taking the first three spots. 1st Belatarr Django Reinhardt well balanced handsome and masculine, so good for make, shape, size and type. Here was quality combined with the best of construction and movement with excellent topline and tailset. A happy showman beautifully presented in hard condition and well textured coat. So very sound and effortless on the move, he looked as if he could go on all day with no trouble at all. Most impressive & should be even more so when fully mature. BOB G1“
Django’s Plymouth awards.
We took the gang out to the beach for a celebratory romp this morning and took the opportunity to capture a few new Django head-shots at the same time – very wet & very sandy – just the way he likes it!.
Introducing Lyra!
The Belatarr pack expands once again as we officially welcome Belatarr Lyra to the household.
Belatarr Lyra.
The pick of Phoenix & Mingus’ recent litter Lyra (formerly Miss Lime, for our puppy watchers!) is an absolutely gorgeous girl with her fathers deep red wire coat and a completely unflappable confidence in everything that she does.
Lyra was named after the heroine of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and also, in line with all of her litter-mates, after the Lyra constellation.
Riding in the sling, just like her parents and big brother before her…
…and wiggling to get down to hurtle around in the grass, just like her parents and big brother did before her…
The famous “butter-wouldn’t melt” expression.
Looking eager, as usual!
Lyra almost does her first point.
The determined explorer.
Trying cow parsley for size.
Lyra at nearly 7 weeks.
and at 6 weeks.
So Lyra carries the hopes and plans for Belatarr into the future and it’s a future that we are now extremely excited about!
Saying ‘hello’ back at 5 weeks old.
Puppy Portraits: Week 6
The Boys
Mr Black.
Mr Blue
Mr Bronze.
Mr Green.
Mr Red.
The Girls
Miss Fawn.
Miss Lime.
Miss Orange.
Miss Pink
Miss Purple
Miss White.
Miss Yellow.
Puppy Portraits: Week 5 (a bumper crop!)
THE BOYS
Mr Black 1.
Mr Black 2.
Mr Black 3.
Mr Blue 1.
Mr Blue 2.
Mr Blue 3.
Mr Bronze 1.
Mr Bronze 2.
Mr Bronze 3.
Mr Green 1.
Mr Green 2.
Mr Green 3.
Mr Red 1.
Mr Red 2.
Mr Red 3.
THE GIRLS
Miss Fawn 1.
Miss Fawn 2.
Miss Fawn 3.
Miss Lime 1.
Miss Lime 2.
Miss Lime 3.
Miss Orange 1.
Miss Orange 2.
Miss Orange 3.
Miss Pink 1.
Miss Pink 2.
Miss Pink 3.
Miss Purple 1.
Miss Purple 2.
Miss Purple 3.
Miss White 1.
Miss White 2.
Miss White 3.
Miss Yellow 1.
Miss Yellow 2.
Miss Yellow 3.
Puppy Portraits: Week 4
The Boys
Mr Black.
Mr Blue.
Mr Bronze.
Mr Green.
Mr Red.
The Girls
Miss Fawn.
Miss Lime.
Miss Orange.
Miss Pink.
Miss Purple.
Miss White.
Miss Yellow.
A month old already and huge changes in the pups this week. Nearly fully weaned they’ve learned how to polish off pretty much every morsel of their raw food diet and now manage to eat in a very orderly fashion:
Team 2 tuck in.
They also started to come out of the whelping box into their indoor run about a week ago, and now merrily hurtle up and down squeaking and yipping as they go. They have also taken to their cozy mini-dens (aka cat carriers) with the same enthusiasm as did their older brothers and sisters and can regularly be found in randomly piled arrangements within in or more often spilling out of the dens:
Meanwhile… an unusual new puppy joins the litter.
Puppy Portraits: Week 3
The Boys
Mr Black.
Mr Blue.
Mr Bronze.
Mr Green.
Mr Red.
The Girls
Miss Fawn.
Miss Lime.
Miss Orange.
Miss Pink.
Miss Purple.
Miss White.
Miss Yellow.
Probably the busiest week of all for the pups. With eyes and ears now wide open and fully functional the pups have started to explore and investigate their environment, and one another, with increasing curiosity and an ever increasing range of vocalizations too!
At the same time appetites are growing exponentially and so we started the process of weaning on Sunday, when the pups were 19 days old. This was 3 days older than with our previous litter and that extra bit of maturity meant that the process of lapping (which is obviously a very different skill set from that required for suckling) seemed to come much more easily to these babies. Still, as with any babies, progress was initially slow and messy, with each pup being taught individually twice a day whilst Phoenix took care of their main food intake.
By Day 23, though, their lapping skills had increased sufficiently to try the pups out on their multi-stall “WeanaFeeda“, which they took to with huge enthusiasm. So now, after another day or so of their starter mousse, we’ll start to blend in their raw food diet and by next week they should be happily tucking into a pureed version of the same diet that their parents and big brother already enjoy.
Miss Fawn winding down.
Can I eat this?
Mr Black.
Mum comes to sort everyone out., meanwhile Mr Bronze discovers that he can climb…
Mr Green looks thoughtful.
Miss Fawn winding further down.
Everyone on the go.
Puppy Portraits: week 2.
The Boys
Mr Black.
Mr Blue.
Mr Bronze.
Mr Green.
Mr Red.
The Girls
Miss Fawn.
Miss Lime.
Miss Orange.
Miss Pink.
Miss Purple.
Miss White.
Miss Yellow.
Pup Report
This was a big week for the baby Beltarr’s. Their eyes started to open, with Mr Green taking an early lead by opening his eyes at day 10, which is very early indeed! The rest mainly waited until day 13 or 14 and a few are still only just on the verge even now. Mostly they keep eyes closed though, and can be seen in their pics, and vision is extremely limited/blurry for now in any case.
Coupled with their senses gradually coming on line they started to wobbly-walk around day 11 and 12 and are getting more proficient each day, although mostly walks still consist of a few wobbly quick steps and then a turn-turtle.
Weight increases briefly slowed at around day 9 so we started to supplement with bottle feeding. Within 24 hrs they had also got the hang of it (rather surprisingly, since the action required is totally different from that used when feeding from mum) and they are all now piling the weight on once again, most passing 1kg on day 14.
Finally their 2-week old claws have already turned into razor sharp needles, so claw-cutting began in earnest on day 14 – here’s a very compliant and super cute Miss Purple getting her tallons seen to:
Puppy Portraits: week 1.
Seven days old and already around 75% heavier than when they were born, we’re pleased to report that all 12 pups have had a very satisfactorily smooth first week of life….so without further ado let’s introduce the gang:
The Boys
Mr Black.
Mr. Blue.
Mr Bronze.
Mr Green.
Mr Red.
The Girls
Miss Fawn.
Miss Lime.
Miss Orange.
Miss Pink.
Miss Purple.
Miss White.
Miss Yellow.
With no hearing, vision or coordinated movement at this age all focus is on eating and sleeping in endless, looping succession, so, with that in mind here are some additional shots of snoozing pups from throughout the week:
and finally, just to prove that they are occasionally awake!
Puppies have arrived!
Tuesday saw the arrival of our excitedly anticipated new generation of Belatarr babies as, right on schedule, Phoenix and Mingus’ second dozen were born.
The whole gang together
Miss Orange was the first to arrive, at a very respectable 10:53AM, with 10 of her brothers and sisters duly following in quick succession and puppy number 11, Miss Lime, making her appearance at 15:15 that afternoon.
Miss Lime & Miss Orange.
All of the births had been very quick and very easy, with just one or two contractions and then a new arrival. So far so good. However, after puppy number 11 things ground to a halt, although it was very evident that at least one more pup was still waiting to arrive. After a few hours of waiting and no signs of any further action we all decamped to the vets (11 puppies included) where two shots of oxytocin, a 15 min IV drip of liquid calcium, a vigorous walk up and down the road and 5 hours later puppy number 12, Miss Fawn, finally decided to put in an apperance, arriving (in the car boot) fashionably late to the party, but (despite our fears over the worryingly long wait) very fit, healthy and at a good weight.
Mr Red takes centre stage.
Now, some 48 hrs later, all 12 babies – 7 girls and 5 boys – are feeding very well and all are gaining weight at almost identical rates.
Random puppy pile-up.
As with Phoenix’ first litter there are no tiddlers or weaklings amongst the bunch and all twelve are vigorous indeed! With mum having only 6 functional feeding stations we have, as before, divided the pups into two teams and feed them one team at a time, every two hours, night and day to ensure that everyone gets their share.
Team 1 take their turn.
Whilst team 2 wait to be called into action.
Phoenix herself has been a wonderfully attentive mother, as ever, but today she surprised us by deciding that she wanted to go out with the boys for a swim in the river and a quick hurtle around the land before thinking that she really should zip back up the hill to return to her offspring.
Mum forms a comfy resting spot for Miss Yellow.
That’s the story so far.. .more pics follow below and watch this space for ongoing puppy antics and the ever-popular weekly puppy portraits too!
Mr Black and Mr Green.
Mr Blue hangs out his teeny-tiny ears.
Miss Purple.
Mr Bronze, who is so dark that his collar often looks as though it’s disappeared…
Mr Black, on the other hand, is the palest of the pups.
…and a good contortionist too!
Miss Yellow.
A snoozy heap.
…and another.
Everyone together once again.
Belatarr Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla. 