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Hello Pauline

 

Poppy is an absolute delight, she is very lively but she has the most wonderful temperament.

 

She still trains 4 times a week and really enjoys the interaction with us handling her and also with the other German Shepherd dogs. We take her out many times a day as she has energy beyond belief. She has lost 6 teeth so far and already replaced by the adult teeth, we have had a fenced chewed beyond repair because of this, but I do feel we have got away lightly from mass destruction that other dogs can do.

 

Last week we took her on holiday to Somerset where she spent hours walking on the farm where we stayed, meeting sheep, horses and cows and was not fazed at all. She spent a lot of time digging in the sand too.

 

 We would definitely like to have another pup from you in about two years. Poppy is such a social dog that we feel it would be perfect for her to have a constant companion.

 Best wishes and I will continue to send updated photographs of Poppy, I will find a lovely one of her on the beach and send it to you.

 

Julie

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Pauline HI,

I absolutely love your website and particularly your lovely words about Saffie. Sid is also a wonderful dog and he brings so much joy and happiness and is loved by so many people.

We moved house last year. Just across the river to Mortlake , infact the boat-race finish line is just in front of our garden! We still have access to the lovely tow path walks and we have benefitted from  a larger house and much larger garden. I think (hope!) this will be our life-long home.

We walk in Richmond Park regularly too , always on Sunday morning, and infact Sid was admired early one morning there by a very friendly , well-spoken elderly couple.....only turned out to be the Duke and Duchess of Kent ! Apparently they have a home in the Park.

I have to thank Sid too  as through him I met Clare Balding and I am a mad horse racing fan. We have become good friends (even attending her civil ceremony) and we have spent several weekends down at thier family stables in Kingsclere which of course is very close to you . It's amazing who you meet when you are dog walking!

We have had a villa built in NE Corfu and we go there for a month of  every year. Yes , Sid comes as we drive and he has his passport . We travel to the Italian coast and then take the ferry over.

He absolutely loves swimming and he adores diving into the pool ... I think it is one of his favourite things , well that and also being on the speed boat! He has become somewhat of a celebrity in San Stephanos and everyone fussies over him. Of course he responds in his usual aloof manner.... ! I think many people miss their pets when on holiday and they make a beeline to stroke Sid  and tell us how lucky we are to have him with us.

Sid really is a handsome lad and he gets stopped in the street all the time. He seems big for a whippet but I think being a solid colour makes him seem taller. He has a deep chest and at times can appear a bit chunky but the vet says he is in fine shape and I also wouldn't want him too skinny.

He has a great character and totally adores the people he knows well.

You might like to know that he has also appeared in a national advertising campaign !  He won a radio competition (4 dogs and 4 cats from 1000's). It was only a photo I submitted and then he ended up being on the MoreThan Pet Insurance advert. It is the one where a large dice rolls across the screen and in each face of the dice is a picture of a pet and Sid was one of them.I have to say if you blinked you missed it but it did make us laugh ! He got paid in dog food - good quality dried though!

Actually we should have known he had star quality as the first dog show he entered which was in the local pub had a massive 32 entries (not just whippets but that was the total!!) and he won best in show. As you can't ever beat that we decided not to enter anymore....

I think I've rambled on enough but I would like to thank you Pauline for allowing us to have Sid . I'm sure you can tell how much he is loved and he has just made our lives complete. Also I cannot imagine living without a Whippet now !

I've included a couple of photos for you to see how well he looks.

Best Wishes,

Derek.

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Hello Pauline

I hope you are well and enjoying the summer.

I wanted to drop you an email to let you know how Poppy is getting on.

She is continuing to be a delight to us all and bringing lots of love to our family. She is incredibly lively, more than any of our previous dogs and requires an ambulance of walks a day. It is good to discover lovely new parks nearby and meeting up with other dogs which is so important for them. She is fearless and does not realise that she is still a baby. Four Labs came running up to her yesterday in the park and she wagged her tail and made new friends. At nearly 12kgs, she is getting very strong and tall but certainly not any puppy fat - I guess her constant need to exercise sees to this. She eats very well and it has never been a problem for her to be fussy with her food. She is still play biting but it is getting better, I do think at times she does not realise her own strength.

We attend puppy dog training four times a week and she responds immediately as soon as Brian puts on her working lead. She is desperate to learn and out of the puppies in the class is ranked either first or second. Her sense of smell is incredible and she has an incredible success rate of scent work, so good in fact that when I lost my car keys over a country park a few days ago, Poppy dragged me over a long distance to find them and picked them up with her mouth. (we were about five minutes walking distance from where we dropped them).

We are taking Poppy on holiday with us to a converted barn in Somerset in two weeks and are all looking forward to relaxing walks in the 30 acres the barn is housed on  and her first visit to the beach.

She is a natural water baby and swims happily in her small pool at home and also dives into the shallow streams on our walks. Bathing her is no problem at all, she loves the attention she gets.

We still have Poppy in her crate with us in our bedroom, but once the disruption of the holiday is over, our plan is to get her settled downstairs, She does get anxious when we leave the room (even for five minutes) and of course as I am at home all day it makes her used to constant attention even more. However, it is such a small thing for us to conquer, I am sure that we will succeed.

Please enjoy the photograph, she is tall and very leggy and a delightful addition to our family.

Julie and Brian

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Hi Pauline,
 
I hope all is well with you and all your dogs.  I expect you are very busy at the moment with puppies and prospective owners!  Tiggy's puppies look gorgeous and I especially like the look of the parti-colour.
 
I just wanted to let you know how Roxy is getting on now she is almost a year old.  We have had a lovely year with her, she has been brilliant and we haven't had any problems at all.
 
She has been very well travelled and has accompanied us on holiday to the Isle of Wight and Snowdonia and visited family in Devon (twice) and Suffolk (twice).  Everybody loves her because she is so friendly, her tail never stops wagging!  She is really affectionate, michievious and literally never stops, she seems to have endless energy for a whippet and makes Rio look like the laziest dog in the world (which I think she is!).
 
I have sent some pictures for you from our recent holiday in Snowdonia but they're not brilliant because she never stays still long enough to get a decent picture!  If I ever manage to get a nice one I will send it to you.
Take Care
 Claire and Glen

Ashvillebur Jazzy Buttons ( Roxy) 11 mths

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Hello Pauline

I hope you are well, despite your incredibly busy time with the puppies.

I have great pleasure in attaching a photograph of Poppy in our garden. She is the most sweet natured, lively, affectionate and loving puppy we could ever wish for. She is settled already into our home and loves everyone that comes to the house and makes a great fuss of them.

She is showing signs of being very inquisitive and looking to get into everything, exploring the house and the garden. She is happier when she is outside, and we are delighted that she is happily content at times doing independent playing  which is great as she is showing great signs for being an independent dog. I have to say with great pleasure that she is house trained already. We showed her "the spot" in the garden for her to use and to this day, she has not had any accidents in the day and night which is staggering as she is only seven weeks. Already she has learnt the word "sit" and "come" and Brian is able to do puppy recall with her. She is eager to please us and we truly believe she will be an incredibly easy girl to train.

We have had challenging nights where she was upset about going to sleep, but last night was a great success and she slept through the night quiet (and clean). We are taking her out (holding her) for walks so she can get used to smells, sounds and movement and at this stage, does not seem bothered by anything that comes her way. We will continue to socialise her with people, road traffic etc so when she does get to that "fearful age" she has already been introduced to it. She was inquisitive with the sprinkler in our garden and every time the sprinkle rotated, she would take a step closer. Eventually she sat on top of the sprinkler bathing in the cool water on such a hot day. I guess water will never be a fear for her.

She had her vet check yesterday and slept through most of it, when she woke up, she gave such love to the vet which was lovely. 

Thank you once again for bringing Poppy into our lives.

Julie and Brian

(Ashvillebur Winni, no.2 bitch) Poppy is a daughter from Quexi/Dino

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Hi Pauline,

I thought I'd send you a quick few pictures of Marley now that he's 10.5months old. You'll notice the 'hay bale' photo and the great likeness to his father Hector!

Marley is doing so well and is such a friendly lad towards all people and animals. I've had no issues with him whatsoever. I thought it would be hard to find another wonderful dog like my last one, Sam, but Marley is quickly learning!

Kind Regards

Mark

Marley at 10 1/2 mths is a son of Lara/Hector 2009



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Bobby below is 8mths

 

Hello Pauline, I hope you and all the lovely dogs are well. It's such exciting news about Carla; she really is a beautiful little girl. Bobby is great. He passed his Kennel Club Good Citizen Puppy Foundation Stage class a few weeks ago. The trainer said he has done really well for a whippet, as they are usually difficult to train. He's my little star! I attach some pictures I took of him today on a visit to see my daughter in Southsea. He dipped his toes in the sea, which was a new experience for him! He's such a friendly little lad, he's made lots of human and doggy friends out on walks; everyone loves him. I've had lots of comments about what beautiful markings he has. I hope all goes well with puppies for Tiggy, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her. Very best wishes, Kathy

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Hello Pauline, here is an update on Louis, who is now eight months old. We are going to weekly Obedience classes with an ex-Crufts trainer, Maureen Shelley, and he is doing well. He is extremely dominant and Maureen has said that he is highly intelligent, which is great but doesn't make training any easier as he is deciding to do what he wants to do rather than what he is being told to do, but she says that we have to be very strict with him as he wants to be the leader of the pack and we can't let him be. However, the training is teaching him to listen and do as he's told more, but the treats are the answer as he will do anything in the world for a treat. It will be some time before he can get his puppy awards but he is calming down a lot and is beginning to conform more. Luckily, one of my children was a very difficult teenager so I have had some practice in wilfulness! His temperament is wonderful but he still has a tendency to chase cars so we dare not ever let him off the lead, which is a shame. All in all, he's doing well.

Anne Poulton

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Hello Pauline,

  I have really been meaning to contact you for such a long time and can't believe that I haven't managed it.  When you called last year and missed me a few times, my father was very ill and then died, so I just never got around to getting back to you. But the thought was there. Well, what can I tell you? Kaiser is the most handsome dog on the planet (in case you didn't already know that).

He has the most majestic poses, my favourite being the one where he looks very much like his father in the shot of him over the bale of hay.

He is super intelligent (he gets that from his mother -that's me!), and I am afraid he is as bold as anything, which is all my fault because I spoil him rotten! Can't help it.

 Kaiser came 'first' in his puppy training class, although that was quite some time ago.  We also had a trainer that came to the house for a while last year, and he responded very quickly showing what a clever boy he is; so he isn't uncontrolled if that's how I've made it sound , just more spoilt than my other two were. He actually loves doing training exercises and he is fabulous at the agility course we have in the garden.

 I would love to bring him over to see you.  He is great in the car and loves it, doesn't care where we are going as long as he goes too.  The day I brought him home he got sick on the journey and then again the next few times I took him, but I was determined to persevere, as Blitz our Doberman had got sick on his first trip home and was always a nightmare from then on wining continuously, you couldn't take him anywhere for pleasure.

If you open a car door even to off load the shopping or my girls have arrived, and are taking their bags out of the car,  Kaiser jumps straight in and sits there until he is sure you are not about to drive away without him.

 He also knows where we are going, depending on which keys I pick up; I assume they make different noises.  If it is the car key, he runs out, circles the car twice and waits for the boot to be opened, the kennel keys, then he runs ahead of me up the hill; or the office keys, he runs straight to the office.

 He loves to play find, and is extremely fast on his feet.  He has a superb temperament, loves people and other dogs. (Had a thing about people in caps when he was a puppy, but we trained him out of that.) He is happiest when there are lots of people in the house, sulks a bit when it is just the two of us and thinks he should have my full attention.

 Let me know if you would like us to pop round to see you some time, or if you would like to pop into us.

Best wishes and kindest regards,

 Mandy

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Hi Pauline,

Thought you may like to see a few pics of Marley - he's 7mths old and growing so quick. He passed the Good Citizen Puppy Foundation with flying colours in January so we are now working towards the Bronze and hope to take it in the Summer. He's doing so well and has been socialised from an early age so he's no problem at all with friends, work colleagues, dogs and even cats! Such a great calm nature and gorgeous looking too. We are going to spectate dog agility / working trials and may consider training Marley in the future.                                 Regards Mark

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Another photo of handsome Louis in the snow in France,owned by Anne Poulton

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 Handsome Marley 19wks

Marley's nearly 20 weeks and as you can see he's growing into a real handsome chap. He's doing really well at puppy training and in January he's doing his Good Citizen Puppy Foundation Certificate which he is expected to pass with flying colours! Once he has achieved this, he is going on to the next stage.

He's very socialable and loves everybody....everybody loves him too. He works with me and as you can imagine gets loads of attention.He always knows when it's time to behave and time to play! He's even sat in on a few meetings with me! 
There is quite alot of livestock in my area and he's been as good as gold with the animals. He has a few doggy friends and is always up for a play...sometimes a little too much!! Hope all is well with you and you have a good Christmas and New Year.
Regards Mark

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Hello Pauline,

I hope you and all your family are well.

 Bobby is great, growing before my eyes! I'm not very good at taking pictures, but you  can see how long his legs have grown. He's such a lovely dog in every way, very gentle and affectionate.
I had a little bit of a problem getting him to walk on a lead. I got a little leather harness for him, as I was worried he would slip out of a collar, but he just about refused to walk, started backing up, trying to get out of the harness (I gather digging their heels in is not unusual for whippets!) I searched the internet, and found the harness he's wearing. It's lovely and
soft, clips round behind his ribs, so there's nothing to rub him anywhere.
He loves it and now walks beautifully on a lead, tail up, ears alert, no pulling.
The harness was from Jan's gifts online, I can definitely recommend them, very quick service:We're gradually building up the length of walks- he's doing about a mile, although he's eager to do more.

Everyone who meets him says what a lovely dog he is and what beautiful markings he has. I can't imagine being without him, he's so lovely.
One thing I find especially endearing is his way of sucking the corner of his fleece, or the foot of his cuddly toy as he falls asleep. It reminds me that he is still just a little baby!

I hope you and your lovely dogs have a wonderful Christmas.

Kathy x

Bobby (Ashvillebur Jack be Bold)

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Hi Pauline! Lovely to hear from you!

We are all well, thank you, apart from the usual irritations of winter snuffles, etc. and Rosie is wonderful. 

 We wonder how we ever managed without her.  I can't believe she is now two years old.   I have  managed to send you the last picture I took you will see she is just as pretty as ever.

Rosie is now 2yrs old, a dark grey sable daughter of Kaysha.

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Hello Pauline,
Here is an update on Louis at nearly 20 weeks.
 He has settled into life in France very quickly. We have been back home in the Limousin for three weeks now and having lived in a motor caravan from 10 weeks until he was 17 weeks old in the UK with us, he now absolutely adores having his own garden and living in a house.
 He is intrinsically a very well-behaved and bright dog who wants to please and our only worry about him is that he continually eats stones - this has meant that we had him insured as soon as we returned to France. He's just had his rabies blood test returned as positive which is great news as we will want him to be able to visit the UK with us. We are off to Portugal for the winter straight after Christmas so he will go back into the motor caravan but at least he is used to it after his seven-week start in one. It's fascinating to see his siblings on the website and we shall keep looking to see their progress.
We are so pleased that we chose you as a breeder, Pauline, as his temperament is absolutely excellent and he is such a healthy animal. He reminds us very much of our first German Shepherd, Oscar, who was very placid but incredibly intelligent and who enjoyed every minute of life.
Anne and Keith Poulton.

Here is gorgeous Louis 19wks old a Lara pup

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Hi Pauline,
Hope you are well. Smudge is doing great. She took the trip to the vet's to get her shots completely in her stride. No problem at all. All the staff
there loved her and her tail was wagging most of the time.
She is very orally fixated at the moment and trying to bite any thing that
moves (or doesn't move come to think of it). I'd forgotten how bad puppiesare with doing that and how sharp there little teeth are. She has lots oftoys of her own to chew on as well as rawhide chews so I'm sure we will get through it without too many scars.
She has seen her first racoons and deer through the window but hasn't comeface to face with one on the outside yet. She was a little scared with the racoons as there were 3 of them and they were as big as she was.  It's almost another 2 weeks before she will get the second round of shots and be able to go for some walks. I think our garden is already getting a bit small for her and she wants to go an explore.  I've attached a few photos of Smudge in our garden on Monday. Hasn't she grown
already and aren't those ears nice!

Steve Zammit

Smudge, a sable Kaysha pup lives in Colombia Canada

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Sasha Harrison 15wks old below, a Lara pup

Hi Pauline,

Thought we would send you a quick update. 

Sasha is fit and well and growing into a wonderful dog, full of energy and as bright as a button. The puppy training classes are going well we have just completed the third week out of five in puppy good behaviour and she is turning out to be the teachers pet and the biggest. The next step will be puppy agility at six months.

She weighs 12 kilos and is eating 12oz of arden grange large breed puppy food a day with either a few flakes of added tuna or chicken. She now has a very healthy appetite and is looking wonderful as you can see from the photos. She seems to have calmed alot in her behaviour (less biting) the last couple of weeks and her wonderful nature is shining through. Whoever invented the kong and peanut butter deserves a medal.

We took her to Boscombe pier and beach the other day and she loved it. We met loads of lovely dogs and people, she paddled in the sea and dug in the sand. Her first seaside adventure went brilliantly and she didnt drink any seawater.

Hope this finds you well and happy. Keep in touch.

Jackie

Boudica, a Lara pup & Jason

Hi Pauline

Thought you might like to hear how Boudica is getting on now, with a few photos added too.

She is a very confident little lady and extremely intelligent, very easy to train and she enjoys it. She trains well alongside Jason at home at the moment and I'm very pleased with her progress. She can already carry out basic commands such as Sit, Down, Paw and Leave a food distraction until released on command. I am currently sourcing a good training school that we can attend when the time is right, hopefully we can progress to the KC Good Citizen Scheme sometime in the future. That is my aim anyway!

She does make a fuss in her crate to come out but this will settle in time I'm sure, she thinks she is missing out on something!!

Hope all is well with you, give Lara a squeeze from us.

Karen & Family xx

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Dear Pauline,

Unfortunately at the grand old age of 13 years and 7 months we have lost Max.  We have now realised just how empty our lives and home is now he has gone.  We know he can, and never will be replaced but feel a new beginning and much loving home is wasted at this time.

 We have approached you due to the quality and care of your dogs all the help and support you gave us when he was a puppy and are hopeful you can help again.  We are preferably looking for another dog rather than a bitch.

 For your information his dad was Cumnorhurst Yoll and his mum was Ashvillebur Iteila.  We have also enclosed a couple of photo's of Max in his later years.  The first aged 10 and the other two aged 13 ½.

 I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

 Kind regards

Steve & Helen Hale

(Ashvillebur Lasko) Max is a sable longcoat, here he was 10 yrs old, his coat grew very long & fluffy after late neuturing.      

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Hi Pauline,

Just to let you know that Roxy has settled in really well, Rio loves her as you can see in the pictures!

She's so pretty, she's had quite a few visitors already and they all think she's lovely.  Fingers crossed all continues to go well as so far no problems!

She's very affectionate and learning fast, can't wait to take her out and about with us.

Hope all is well with yourself and all remaining puppies, will send you some more pictures when she is bigger so you can see what she looks like.

Claire and Glen

Roxy is a Chelsea pup

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Hi Pauline, Just thought I would  let you know Marley is settling in very well. He has settled into his home really well and has already been pretty good at going to the loo outside - obviously there have been a few accidents but on the whole he has asked to go out or I have caught him just in time!

He has plenty of toys to chew on and enjoys playing in the house and the garden - he's already getting used to the hoover and was really happy and confident around the lawn mower too.

I'm doing a few hours work this morning and he's happily asleep on my office floor! I've attached a few photographs

Regards Mark         Marley at 8 wks below

Marley at 10 wks below, a Lara pup

Hello Pauline Sasha is perfect and she is settling in really well. We only got up once last night and every day she is learning and growing into her own character. I have attached some photos so you can see how she is getting along. We have been out with her every day, short trips in the car, meeting people, ducks, birds and getting used to traffic and noise. We took her for a picnic today beside the river in the centre of salisbury with lots of traffic, she took it all in her stride and remained calm but interested. Best Wishes Mark & Jackie

Hello Pauline, Thank you for your email, I'm glad the flowers have lasted well. It must be very quiet, now the pups have gone. They have had such a wonderful start in life with you.  Bobby is just wonderful! He's like a canine dynamo at times, zooming around and having fun. Then he sleeps. He still hasn't had one 'mishap' in the house, he is so clean. We've been so lucky with the weather, he just loves spending time outside, or in the summerhouse, where it's lovely and warm.  I've been asking friends to come round and see him, to get him used to different people, and they have all fallen in love with him. He's been chewing twigs, grass and plants in the garden, so I have dug up all the foxgloves and lily-of-the-valley, just in case. I also have a cotoneaster with lots of berries, so I looked on the internet to see if they are toxic. I found a good list of toxic plants on the Dogs' Trust website, and cotoneaster isn't on it, but I've taken off as many berries as I can. It also says on there that avocado is potentially fatal, which I hadn't heard before: I will send more pictures of Bobby as he grows, I'm so happy to have him. Best wishes, Kathy

  21^st Sept 2009 Ruby below is now 3yrs old, a Kaysha / Kesyra Ekko daughter, she is a short coat sable.We have just repeated this litter.

Hello Pauline                                                                              Hope you are well. Herewith are a few more photos of Ruby and co.                                                                                            Might be a year or so before I have time to get it organised, but I'm thinking of enrolling her as a PAT dog!  She just loves people. We went to Majorca this year for a week of sunshine and employed some Pet and Property Sitters.  They came to meet the dogs in May and then at the end of July when we went to catch the plane, we left the house at 5am and the sitters arrived at about 9am.  They let themselves in and Ruby made a big fuss, whilst the Labrador Hazel growled at them initially until she came round.  You couldn't sell her as a guard dog Pauline.  Are they all the same from that litter?

Best wishes Zena

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Chelsea's dog pup is settling into his new home!

Jake rather wet after games with the hosepipe!

Some feedback  from Jake's owner when he was about 5 mths old

Hi Pauline,                                                                                 Jake is absolutely gorgeous.  He is growing so big and very, very handsome.                                                                                     He is doing great at puppy training, he has already been moved up into the next group.  I am amazed how intelligent he is and how quick he picks up instructions.  He sits, stays, lays down, fetches, shakes paws, waits and rolls over on command, in fact he will do anything for a treat!                                                                                         My mum and dad come here to look after him  when I go into the office.  They absolutely adore him.  It is amazing how he has really settled in with us all.  Every morning when we come down he acts like he hasn't seen us for a week.  He really has just fitted in perfectly with us. I am so glad we got him, we all just love him to bits.                    He has been a little quiet over the last few weeks but only because his teeth all fell out for his new ones to come through.  He went off his food so we went back to mixing it with water to soften it and that seemed to do the trick.  His poor gums were really sore and bleeding but he is back to his old self now. 

 I am so glad that we took your advice and started socialising him straight away as he is so friendly.  All the neighbourhood dogs are his friends although his best friend is a lively boxer called Floyd at puppy training.  They are so funny together!

 The head trainer at puppy training also knows a lot about German Shepherds, she has 3 of her own including a five month old boy, same as Jake and she adores Jake.  She says he is a perfect German Shepherd. He is always on his best behaviour for her!  She also comments on how handsome he is.  He is going to look like Hector I think. He has a lovely dark face, so expressive you can almost tell what he is thinking. I can't wait for you to see the pictures of him, you will be so pleased with how well he is coming on.   

  My family all treat him like another grandchild.  He even has pressies under the tree and a red tinsel collar so I reckon he will have a lovely day tomorrow!  We have been invited to John's mums for lunch in Surrey and I was reluctant to go as it would have meant leaving Jake for too long but she has invited him as well.  He is the baby of the family and everyone is daft over him.

 We had to change the car as he got too big for the back seat and wasn't happy in the back, he wanted to sit on the driver's lap which really wasn't ideal so we now have a jeep with a dog guard and a huge bean bag for him to lay on so car journeys are now problem free.

 One thing I will mention is that he is really good for not chewing.Some of the puppy owners at puppy training are having a nightmare with their dogs chewing but other than an old pair of slippers he has not chewed any furniture at all.  We had to lay rugs over our tiled kitchen and dining room floors as I was worried about him slipping about when running in from the garden at a million miles an hour and he started to chew the corner of one of the rugs but as soon as I told him off he stopped and has never chewed them again.  He still sleeps in his crate but we leave the door open now so he has the whole kitchen but he still tends to stay in the crate.  It is his little sanctuary. 

 I hope you and your family including Lara etc have a wonderful Christmas and New Year and we will be in touch again as soon as I have the photos to send to you.

 Very best wishes                                                                     Marie and John

Another letter from Jake's owner when he was a year old 

 Hello Pauline
 I hope you are all OK!
 I thought I would send you some photos taken today,  on the eve of Jake's 1st Birthday!
 As you will see, he is growing into a big handsome boy!
 
He is such a lovely dog.  Still very playful and sometimes a little boisterous but so friendly.  He adores people and other dogs.
 
He is still going to puppy obedience classes and has now progressed into the Novice class. We are also enrolling him into Agility classes when he is 14 months old, he will love that!
 
He has not been castrated yet, we are struggling with deciding what to do to be honest.  We took him into the Vet last week to discuss our concerns.  It's just that he is not at all dominant, he is generally really calm unless he is in a playful mood and has never shown any signs of aggression, all the things that we are told castration prevents.  He is not 'humping' anything (doesn't cock his leg yet either, still squats) and it seems to us that the operation is not necessary at this time. The vet agreed that castration can calm dogs but as Jake is generally so calm anyway there was no need if we did not want to.  He said we can always have it done later if we change our minds.

 
  He had a nice break away with us in April and met loads of dogs on the beach and had a fantastic time.  So many people admire him and say what a wonderful looking and well behaved dog he is.  We are very proud to own him.
 
Anyway, we always keep up to date with your news via your website and I see congratulations are in order again - 2 lots of puppies together again, you will be busy!!
 
I hope both mummies are doing OK and wish you good luck.  I look forward to seeing pics of the puppies on the website.  I won't be tempted just yet, maybe next year, a little girl (John says no, we have our hands full with Jake but I would love another)
 
Take care Pauline
 Kind regards
 Marie Alexander xx

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Jack above is owned by the Mulligan family

This feedback below was when Jack was 6mths old

This feedback was when he was 1yr old

 Hi Pauline, Lovely to hear from you.  I have attached a couple of recent photos.  Jack is as gorgeous as ever!  No we don't really have any problems, just the fact that he is going through a naughty stage at the moment (must be adolescence!)  He is being a bit defiant when off the lead (not coming back very quickly etc.) but nothing to worry about.  He still loves everyone and 99% of all other dogs that he meets.  He just loves to play!  He still barks at the postman and anyone who comes to the door, we try and discourage him but its a difficult one as we do appreciate that he is doing his bit to protect us. 

 Regards                                                                                          Anita

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Ruby below is a sable daughter of Kaysha, same breeding as Lara

Below is feedback from Ruby's owner.

  Glad you liked the video. Yes, Ruby is fine with dogs too, as well as people.She is a bit bossy, but she is always free and off the lead (not near roads) when we walk near the lakes, river or the country park.  We come across dogs and she usually trots up to them with hair up like a hedgehog, has a sniff and comes away.  She's not particularly interested in playing with them, although occasionally has a run around with some dogs (she has a penchant for male terriers and greyhound/whippet types, which I put down to her early days with you).  Most of the time though she prefers to mind her own business and retrieve her Kong!  On occasion she has been snapped at by a dog on the defensive and she comes away, she doesn't snap back.  The only time that I have seen her being a bit grotty was when we first introduced her to Labrador Hazel and on the odd occasion if another dog will not leave her alone and tries jumping on her etc, which I think is quite acceptable.  She doesn't bark or bother with cattle either, although I won't walk in a field with cattle.  She has been known to run into a field which was empty one day and then had cattle in the next.  She just ignores them.

 I have to say though that her temperament with children is second to none.  Completely bomb proof, better than the Labrador!  She just loves them.  In fact any human being, but particularly kids!  She is not however a very good guard, whereas the Labrador is.  Ruby would let anyone in, but don't tell the burglars!!!!

 Are her litter mates doing well?

 I'll send you something else when I get chance. The video was done on a mobile phone, so it's a bit jumpy and the colours look a bit paste-y.  She's not as pale as that. She is very slim and she has a lovely gait. 

Best wishes

Zena