Posts filed under ‘weather’
Puppies: week 5.
The pups have been dodging torrential rain and gale-force winds throughout most of this week but we’ve still managed to get them out for at least a few hours every day and, as a result, they have quickly become immune to all of the racket from the storms raging in the trees around them.
They have also enjoyed lots of visitors and additional cuddles through the week, as well as becoming super-adept at eating solids from their feeding bowls. Now, at 5 weeks of age, they have transitioned almost entirely onto their raw food diet with mum making visits to feed only once a day, and this will drop off further over the coming days so they should be fully weaned by this time next week.
Developmental changes are more gradual this week, but a brief break in the rain (if not the wind!) did allow us to get some extra head-shots of them today:
THE GIRLS
Miss Lime
Miss Orange
Miss Pink
Miss Purple
Miss Yellow
THE BOYS
Mr Black
Mr Blue
Mr Grey
Mr Red
Mr Red – Bonus Shot!
Belatarr Reunion.
This last weekend saw the gathering of the clan as we hosted our 3rd Belatarr reunion. After weeks of daily rain we were incredibly lucky and blessed with unbroken summer sunshine for the entire afternoon. 20 Belatarr Wires were present, together with special guests Oz and Bertie the Labs, Molly the Golden and teeny-tiny Frankie the “Shorkie”. Needless to say much wiry romping in and out of the river and around the garden ensued and it was wonderful, as ever, to see our babies all grown-up and very much enjoying life to the full!
Many many thanks to everyone who came to the day and who braved the holiday traffic travelling back and forth to us in Devon – we couldn’t do it without you all – and particular thanks to Sarah for fulfilling the role of official photographer for the day and for supplying all of these great pics. 🙂
Mama Phoenix in full flight!
Belatarr at Bournemouth.
A super day for the Belatarr babies at the Bournemouth Championship Show… The heat was often stifling, but 4 Belatarr dogs from 3 generations of Phoenix’ puppies took to the ring today, and judge and breed specialist Karen Richardson did us proud.
Billie stacked in Open Bitch.
Billie’s examination – (camera facing straight into the sun, unfortunately!)
Belatarr Mahalia Jackson ShCM (Billie) was awarded 1st Open Bitch and went on to take Best Bitch, as she had previously done at the same show in 2014.
Her younger brother Belatarr Scluptor (Kofi) was 1st Post Graduate Dog and went on to take at excellent Reserve Best Dog, whilst, very excitingly, it was also the show debut of two of the newest generation of Belatarr puppies – the Hitchcock litter – as Belatarr North By Northwest (North) and his brother Belatarr Vertigo (Sabi) took to the ring at just 6 months and 2 days of age. Both boys looked terrific and though the heat made concentration and focusing very difficult indeed for them, they both acquitted themselves very well and both managed to qualify for Crufts 2016. Thrilled to have been there to see (and, in Sabi’s case, move) them in the ring 🙂
Belatarr Vertigo (Sabi) – a hot pup!
Sabi on the move in the ring.
A very hot North on the move in the ring.
Puppy Portraits: Week 6.
Last week’s drab and damp weather has given way to a wonderful week of Spring sunshine and the pups have been enjoying being outside every single day this week, where they have experienced tractors and low-flying aircraft and watched pigeons and numerous other birds (and cats) come and go about their Springtime routines.
The gang sunbathing in their outdoor run.
Monday saw their first attempt at tackling raw chicken wings – an essential step towards the chewing and chomping or raw bones that will mark their adult lives.
Mr Bronze gets stuck into some serious chicken-wing chomping.
The pups (and their now needle-sharp teeth) took to them with huge enthusiasm and quite a bit of curiosity, excited at the prospect, yet unskilled at how to tackle such a large prey item. Approx. 60 mins later they had figured out what to do and all meat had been stripped and consumed and all bones had been cracked and (mostly) swallowed. Time, then, for a long and satisfied snooze for all of the babies. By the end of the week, though, they had all grown considerably more savvy at tackling their new foodstuff, and today’s wings were dispatched within about 15 mins or so.
After many, many hours of watching, stacking and photographing these babies we can also now reveal their new, Kennel Club identities and formally introduce the Belatarr Hitchcock litter:
THE BOYS
Mr Black – Belatarr Secret Agent.
Mr Blue – Belatarr Notorious.
Mr Bronze – Belatarr Vertigo.
Mr Red – Belatarr North By Northwest.
THE GIRLS
Miss Green – Belatarr To Catch a Thief.
Miss Mint – Belatarr Thirtynine Steps.
Miss Orange – Belatarr Topaz
Miss Pink – Belatarr Rebecca.
Miss Purple – Belatarr Marnie.
Miss Yellow – Belatarr Jamaica Inn.
It’s tiring work being 6 weeks old.
Brother and sister – Belatarr Notorious & Belatarr Thirtynine Steps
Puppy Portraits – week 5.
After being spoiled by last weekend’s Spring sunshine and unseasonal warmth we’ve been plunged back into the more typical near-freezing wet and overcast English weather this week. We still wanted to take the pup portraits outdoors, but the poor mites were pretty chilly and less than impressed, and the resulting images certainly don’t have the sunny glow or depth/accuracy of colour that we captured last week. Still, the boys are girls are all coming on very nicely and have enjoyed a lovely week indoors near the fire whilst a succession of daily visitors arrive for those all important cuddles and snuggles socialization exercises. 🙂
THE BOYS
Mr Black – looking cold 😦
Mr Black – much happier!
Mr Blue
Mr Blue snuggles (more colour accurate too)
Mr Bronze.
Mr Red.
THE GIRLS
Miss Green
Miss Mint.
Miss Orange.
Miss Pink.
Miss Purple.
Miss Yellow.
Pupalanche!
Belatarr Best of Breed at Bournemouth.
Dodging endless ominous looking thunderstorms. all of which seemed to break just beyond the showground, Belatarr Mahalia Jackson (Billie) scored another memorable win today under breed specialist Mike Lewin at the Bournemouth Championship Show.
Billie in the Bitch Challenge.
Billie in action in the Gundog Group ring. Photo courtesy of Katherine N. Gunstad.
Having won 1st in Limit Billie then beat the assembled Champions to take an excellent Best Bitch and was then awarded her 3rd Champ Show Best of Breed of 2014, further consolidating her place as the Top Scoring HWV bitch this year.
Billie and Irene share a moment in the Group Ring. Photo courtesy of Katherine N. Gunstad.
National Gundog Championship
A lovely bright and breezy day greeted exhibitors at this years National Gundog and the Belatarr clan also got off to a great start with Belatarr Dizzy Gillespie & his sister Belatarr Mahalia Jackson beating a huge entry of 30 pairs in the brace class to claim their first ever Championship Gundog Brace 1st place under judge Colin (Jock) McKay.
That brace win – photo by Alan V Walker.
There was also a lovely breed entry of 78 for HWV specialist Chris Guest, the third highest entry of the year after Crufts and the HWVA Championship. At a few days over 12 months Belatarr Sculptor (Kofi) stepped out into his first ever Junior Class and was awarded an excellent 2nd place, whilst his big sister, Belatarr Mahalia Jackson (Billie) was also awarded 2nd in an extremely competitive Open Bitch class, and then excitingly went on to be awarded the Reserve Bitch CC – her second RCC in a row.
Billie at National Gundog.
Gertie and Jack: the continuing adventures of a boy and his dog.
The ingredients:
1 x Belatarr Musca (10 months old)
1 x Jack (5 years old)
1 x Glorious Cornish Coastline
1 x Summer Sunshine
mix well and enjoy:
With many thanks to Sarah for the wonderful images and happy memories.
Big Belatarr wins at Bath.
The Belatarr youngsters continued their run of Championship Show successes today at Bath where the monsoon conditions failed to dampen (or, more to the point, wash away) spirits!
Three Belatarr’s were in action at the show and at 10 months and a day young Belatarr Sculptor (Kofi) was Best Puppy Dog and later won the puppy challenge to collect his first Champ Show Best Puppy award. His big brother Belatarr Dizzy Gillespie (Gryphon) was placed 2nd in Open Dog and went on to take Reserve Best Dog, whilst sister Belatarr Mahalia Jackson (Billie) was 1st Open Bitch and Best Bitch before collecting her second Champ Show Best of Breed of the year.
Billie & Gryphon’s Bath winnings.
To round things off Billie & Gryphon then zipped off to another part of the showground where they were placed an excellent 4th out of the 19 entries in the Gundog Brace Class.
Belatarr Babies in the ring.
The Belatarr babies had another excellent show weekend, and all in blazing sunshine too…
First up on Saturday was Django who was awarded Best of Breed at the 3-day benched Royal Cornwall Show – another award previously bagged by his father 3 years earlier, and Django’s 6th consecutive Open Show BOB.
Following his win, and whilst seated on his bench, Django played host to a pretty much non-stop array of well-wishers (including brother Otis – Belatarr John Coltrane!) and fans, old and new, all of whom he was very happy to have provide their stroking/tickling and patting services…. although the continual attention, stifling heat and 4-hour wait combined to ensure that he was utterly exhausted by the time the Gundog group finally rolled around and he spent much of the time lying flat out on the grass in the Group ring whilst other Gundog BOB’s gamely trotted up and down.
One lovely show day was followed immediately by another and whilst Django snoozed his Sunday afternoon away siblings Billie, Gryphon & Charlie went into action at the Three Counties Championship.
Now 19 months of age the Belatarr youngsters are firmly up amongst the big boys and girls in Post Graduate. Charlie Parker & Gryphon went head to head, as usual, in a competitive Post Grad dog class and Gryphon (Belatarr Dizzy Gillespie) bagged 2nd place, with brother Charlie a solid 3rd. The judge was very keen to see Gryphon again to consider him for Reserve Best Dog, and waited for as long as she could, but to due *logistical complications* he was, unfortunately 5 mins away in the car park at by that time, and so sadly it was not to be…
The judges critique read:
“A soundly moving dog with many attractive attributes, excellent harsh coat, balanced front and rear angulations, deep and long ribs giving the correct body length, topline firm and held on the move.” Eileen Hughes
Sister Billie (Belatarr Mahalia Jackson) proved to be our biggest star of the day, though, and took an excellent 1st in a tough and large Post Graduate Bitch class.
Her critique read:
“It was difficult to separate the first two quality bitches. I preferred the firsts length of body and her coat; correct head and body proportions, good tight feet, very good topline and tail-set, she moved well.” Eileen Hughes
In the bitch line-up Billie then went head-to head with a previous Crufts Best of Breed winner (who had been called back after being placed 2nd in Open Bitch) and Billie emerged victorious to be awarded a terrific Reserve Best Bitch. An excellent day’s work, team!
Billies Three Counties wins.
