Hobsey's puppies have all gone home to start their new lives with nice owners. Hobsey doesn't seem too bothered, although she did go to the garden area to look for them this morning, and carried one of the toys they had been playing with outside back to the house. She likes to be close to me, and seems a bit wiser, older, and more loyal from sharing this experience.

Trebuchet the cria is doing much better, and will now only really drink one supplemental feed a day. Hopefully both cria will continue to do well and not need a lot of help as the weather deteriorates into the autumn.

I also need to put on some more hatching eggs before the year runs out. We have some turkeys and geese growing on, including an interesting grey phenotype turkey.

I am hoping to attempt to breed either Indi or Adhara next time they are in season, which if it works would mean pups born early 2017. It's said the best plans are not set in stone, in which case my plans must be really good, because I still haven't worked out what I'm doing. I was waiting for several pie-in-the-sky things that did not materialise, mainly to do with sorting out our 100-year-old house, and now we're faced with another winter in a house that leaks and is impossible to heat, and it's back to the drawing board and obscenely quiet round here as a result. So I am hoping that we might have some pups at the start of 2017, and if anyone thinks they might be interested in one, please get in touch, as the best chance of securing a puppy who's a good fit is to be on the waiting list.

Basil

This is Tom, who will henceforth be know as Basil. Of all Hobsey's puppies, he's the one I'm going to miss most, as not only does he look like he's going to be quite nicely put together and has a neat little trot, but he is people-oriented and loves toys and has a strong instinct to bring things to people. I would have kept him myself, had he not been related to everyone else I have. He has gone to live with someone who intends to do flyball with him and possibly other sports, so will have a great life doing the things he loves.

Farewell Curry Pups

Hobsey's puppies Dotty (Finzi) and Fatty (Ragnar) have flown the nest. Dick (Bentley) and Tom will be following shortly. Sweetie and Harry will linger longer (next weekend) as their new owners are on holiday. Best of luck to the pups and their new families, and I will miss them.

Chevron leads (in development)

A few people have asked me if I will make leads to match with my collars. I have recently got round to thinking about this. I don't think making a rolled lead in the same way I make rolled collars is going to work; other than being very time-consuming to make and hence expensive, the kind of seam on the rolled collars is inflexible and works well under compression, i.e. on the inside of a collar, but not under any other form of mechanical stress. If I am going to make a lead, I want it to be something with an unusual and intriguing design, not just a piece of leather with a loop in the end and a trigger hook on the other and some rivets in the middle, as anyone can make that and I don't think there is going to be much of a market after it. So I've come up with the following 'chevron' design which we are currently testing.

Curry Pups

Hobsey loves her puppies. Most of them will be going to new owners this weekend, so she is making the most of the time she has left.

The Pacas Porked

We are all waiting, but for whom?

This morning, we had a visitor. He is Van Diemen Qjori of Patou (Qjori, pronounced like 'Kory') who was born in Tasmania and belongs to Mark (pictured) and Sue Steele. He will hopefully be the father of Poppy's and Olivia's cria next year.

Spitty and Spotty had to take it in turns while the cria Trident and Trebuchet looked on, their young minds quite clearly horrified.

Fortunately Bess found Qjori quite disgusting, which is a good thing as it means she hopefully is still pregnant and on track to have a cria of her own next year.

Meanwhile, the puppies have had their formal temperament assessments done, and I should be sending their personalised socialisation plans to their new owners this afternoon. We have some lovely cuddly pups and some lovely drivey pups, and all of them are really people-oriented and should be a great fit for their new families.

Chicken Wings and paca in a jacket

The pups had chicken wings yesterday evening, which kept them occupied for some time. Today the weather is wet so the pups are having to be entertained in the house. I love the Ikea childrens' toys for puppies -- they are well made, and the toys like this fruit basket the pups seem to particularly enjoy, as the toy comes apart into lots of little toys that are the perfect size for little mouths to explore and fight over!

The forecast for today was for rain, so after I fed Treb at dusk yesterday I put a jacket on him. His mother decided it was too revealing or too naff and trendy or something, and got in a total strop and spat all over me, Trebuchet, and the jacket.