25/12/09

24/12/09

09/12/09

I had the pleasure of judging a Club Christmas Match last night. I had some fabulous dogs to "go over" - and a huge variety of breeds, it was a pleasure to be with such quality dogs - I was really spoilt for choice!

The pleasure of being surrounded by dozens of happy, healthy and breed typical dogs more than compensated for the disastrous journey to the venue. Unfortunately for my stress levels I managed to sustain a puncture courtesy of a very large pothole which was filled with rain and appeared to be a puddle! The front nearside tyre literally burst (well it felt like an explosion!). This of course necessitated a road side wheel change (no time to wait for the breakdown services). Not much fun changing a wheel in the dark, the rain and on a deserted and narrow country lane! However all was restored and I arrived at the venue in time. A quick cup of tea and a glance round at all the lovely doggies soon made all thoughts of mud, rain, tyres and explosions quickly disappear!

Stan became a Daddy again today, 7 lovely pups, 4 girls and 3 boys.

01/12/09

Leisl sent me these lovely photos of Muppet, what a darling she is.

30/11/09

Stan says "There is something I want in the kitchen... perhaps I'll climb the gate... oh no Mum's seen me!"

18/11/09

Our dogs were very pleased to welcome me home after our holiday!

The excitement proved too much for Buttons and Haze who had to have a snooze afterwards!

17/11/09

We are just back from a lovely relaxing holiday in Egypt. We had a fabulous time and saw hundreds of beautiful fish and coral reefs in the Red Sea.

It's a bit of a shock leaving bright, sunny and warm (38 C) weather but at least the sun was shining here today even though it was 25 degrees colder!

Here is a photo of our baby Pattie (Sh Ch Terriles Tonuelo x P. Power Of Love JW) taken this afternoon.

31/10/09

Megan (P. Precious Simba) and KT (P. Celtic Rose) are celebrating their 3rd Birthday today with a tug of war over their presents. The referee is Ryan!

20/10/09

We are thrilled to hear that Muppet (Powerscourt Pandemonium) has made the short list for Pets As Therapy Dog Of The Year!

Out of 4,500 registered P.A.T. dogs Muppet is in the final 6. We are very proud of you Muppet and Leisl.

Please vote for Muppet to win using the link on her website at www.orange-cockers.co.uk. Thank you for your support.

25/09/09

No real news of late, we have been busy with a major refurbishment of our dog run and various household repairs due to doggy wear and tear!

Last night the sky was stunning, here are a couple of photos taken from our back garden.

26/08/09

Happy 11th Birthday today to our dearest Rosie. Archie also celebrated his 9th Birthday yesterday.

13/08/09

Paul and Peta sent me this lovely photo of Bertie (P. Peter Piper) with their son Henry. Bertie is doing what a cocker does best - door stop to prevent a toddler from tipping over!!

And Sue and Adam sent me this lovely photo of Archie (P. Pingu x P. Pure Love) passing his Bronze and Silver KC Good Citizen awards!! Well done to both of you.

12/08/09

Leisl sent me this photo of Muppet "receiving" a cheque on behalf of P.A.T. dogs from the East Of England Agricultural Society.

04/08/09

Our Vet's telephoned us this morning to let us know that our latest set of hip score results were back (after an almost 6 week wait!!)

Always a slightly nerve wracking time waiting for results as although to the untrained eye the X-Ray plates looked good you can never be 100% sure what the KC/BVA hip panellists will determine as the score!

03/08/09

We had a super day at our annual Powerscourt picnic yesterday.

Thank you to everyone who attended, we always love seeing our "babies" and their owners. Over 50 people joined us together with their doggies! As ever all the canine attendees behaved impeccably, not a cross word from any of them (their owners were pretty well behaved too!)

I've taken hundreds of photos, if anyone would like a copy please let me know and I'll send you details about how to download them!

Here are some photos!

28/06/09

Lottie has been enjoying the summer sunshine today so we grabbed the opportunity to take a quick photo of her sunning herself.

She celebrated her 6th birthday on the 15th June.

19/06/08

I was a very proud Mom today, our youngest daughter (my baby!) has completed her GCSE's today and is enjoying herself at her leavers Prom tonight.

Georgie is a beautiful girl (well I am biased) and also a sweet natured girl with a lovely personality. Here's some photos of her and some of her with her friends...

Dearest Maggie celebrated her first birthday earlier this week so we thought we'd take some new photos of her out in the garden. Sire: Powerscourt Pure Magic/Dam: Powerscourt Precious Simba.

15/06/09

It's been quite a while since we took any new "formal" photos of Buttons so here she is (photo taken this morning).

11/06/09

We received this lovely photo of Willow today enjoying her recent trip to the seaside!

03/06/09

Teddy's hip score results arrived this morning. As predicted they are identical to his dad's score! Teddy has scored 3 : 3 which is excellent news.

30/05/09

Today I was judging for Ruthin Canine Society in Wales. We had super weather and I was honoured to have a record entry for this society. Thank you to all the exhibitors for their sporting acceptance of my decisions and for the quality of exhibits. Many decisions were "splitting hairs". There were several exhibits I could easily have taken home! Cocker BP was Coral's Riondel Caribbean Voyager and my BoB in cockers was a very cockery "young" lady who was regularly changing places with my own Lottie during Lottie's time in the ring.

I was particularly pleased with my American Cocker Best of Breed for his sound construction, delightful temperament and free flowing movement; my Welsh Springer BP for her sound construction and lovely movement and the BoB and RBoB in ESS for their abundance of breed type and outstanding movement. Critiques.

26/05/09

We took a couple of new photos of Minty (P. Perfect Love) today. As is usual for our garden there was a stiff breeze which was blowing her coat backwards across her stifle!

14/05/09

Four of our girls were sitting on the sofa watching me work, so I grabbed the opportunity to take a quick photo!

30/04/09

Teddy (P. Mr Pointment) has been to the eye clinic today, we are pleased to say he has been certified free of hereditary eye disease (including Glaucoma). Teddy was also X-rayed for hip scoring last week and we are awaiting the results. At first glance the hips looked good (not dissimilar to his parent's).

19/04/09

As the sun is shining we took the opportunity to take a quick photo of Teddy whilst he was enjoying the "summer" sunshine!

11/04/09

Happy 5th Birthday to dearest Muppet!

Muppet and her siblings were born on Easter Sunday 2004. The "Easter Bunny" didn't bring me any Easter Eggs but he did deliver a puppy to me the very second I sat down to eat my Easter roast dinner!

Needless to say the meal was abandoned by myself (not my guests!) and I enjoyed the arrival of 7 beautiful and healthy babies!

07/04/09

We received this email from Belinda today:

"Hi Chris

I am now officially the most proud dog owner in the country... oh, well it certainly feels like it! Toby passed his Good Citizen Gold Award today. It was the first time he’d attempted it but never fear... he had his usual “take anything in my stride” manner and did all the exercises brilliantly.

We are both now exhausted. Me probably due to nervous energy and Tubs because it took about 3 hours to complete along with the other dogs being tested. Anyway, he’s had a carrot and is now zonked in his basket. I’ll try and email you a photo of Toby complete with certificate over the next couple of days.

I keep saying this but he really is such a little star who does light up our lives :-) Love Belinda xx

Congratulations Belinda and Toby! We know how hard you work with his training and it certainly pays! Tiggy (P. Paint Splash) is very proud of her son!

24/03/09

Di kindly sent us a photo of "our" Megan wearing her new P.A.T jacket today. Megan (P. Precious Simba) retired from Powerscourt to go and live with KT (her litter sister) and Di. Well done Di on owning two P.A.T dogs, I'm sure they both give a lot of pleasure to the people they visit.

16/03/09

I received these lovely photos today of Leisl and Muppet doing their P.A.T dog fund raising duties at Crufts. Well done Leisl and Muppet, I'm sure the P.A.T dog funds were sufficiently boosted by Muppet's "model" pose! Muppet wouldn't of course be a P.A.T representative if it weren't for Leisl's commitment of time and effort so well done to Leisl too!

09/03/09

Wishing our youngest daughter Georgie a very happy 16th Birthday today - love you lots! xx

06/03/09

Due to other commitments we are unable to attend Crufts this year, however we'd like to wish all our friends a lovely time at Crufts 2009 and Leisl and Muppet an enjoyable day on P.A.T dog duties.

06/02/09

As the snow continues, I thought I'd share these lovely photos of Powerscourt dogs making the most of the "white stuff"!

02/02/09

Like most people we have had snow today. I love snow! Makes life hard with the dogs but as they enjoy playing in the snow it's worth the extra work.

Here's a photo of Tiggy trotting through the snow and sniffing the air.

20/01/09

It has been a while since we took any new "formal" photos of Archie so we thought we'd take a quick picture! Archie is 8.5 years young now, a little grey but still as lovely as ever!

Father and son watching me prepare supper (true cockers - ever hopeful!!)

12/01/09

Muppet (P. Pandemonium) is on holiday with us at the moment and is enjoying playing with her extended family. After a hard days play she likes nothing better than lounging about in front of the fire!

01/01/09

Wishing all our family, friends and Powerscourt owner's a happy and peaceful New Year!