welcome arrivals

Last week saw a long awaited event, the arrival of Fly’s first ‘proper’ litter of pups. I say proper as, you might remember that last spring Fly produced a single pup Alfie much to our surprise.

But this time it was no surprise as I’d taken Fly away to be mated back in December. The father called ‘Laddie’ belongs to a friend of mine, Derek Scrimgeour. Laddie is Jakes full brother and was English National Sheepdog champion in 2008.

So we were all delighted at the arrival of four dogs and three bitches, all with beautiful black and white markings. Fly is being a great mum, although she is already deciding that she should return to work part time.  At present they are all keeping warm in the kitchen, where they get plenty of attention from the family. They’ve all been given names Bet, Zola, Jen, Gus, Bruiser, Bud and Colin (you’d have to ask my daughter where the name Colin came from!) They’ve all got a lifetime of work ahead of them on farms in North Devon, but for the moment, we can just enjoy the very special new arrivals.

p2212039