Welshie Winter Gear

Happy Christmas

Its December again! This year has flown.

Tess has started opening her advent calender and counting down the days to Christmas!

She was five last month. Where have those five years gone? She celebrated as always with her brother, Wilby, with a cake I made out of liver, with a yoghurt and chocolate drop topping Delicious! I think liver must rate as a Welsh Springer Spaniels favourite treat, closely followed by cheese. But then there’s sausages, scraps, doggie choc drops, Boneos – the list is endless!

I think we must be the luckiest county in the UK at the moment. Just a smattering of snow, but very, very cold. Not that Tess minds, but our morning dog walks are very icy. The worse bit is the snowballs that collect in her paws – compacted bullets which are difficult to remove until they melt. Must be very uncomfortable. And the funniest thing, when I get her ball out of the car, its frozen solid!! Not that anything comes between my little Welshie and her game of ball catching!!

Oh well I hope all our Welshie owners are staying warm and safe.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and good wishes for the New Year to you and your dogs!!!!

Slimline Welsh Springer Spaniel

You might remember I mentioned Tess had put on a little weight while she had a limp – understandable but just like humans its so easy to put it on and so difficult to loose!!!!
Anyway we have switched her food to Joe and Jacks, a vet devised complete food, which she loves, cut down amounts and tried to be careful with treats. Our biggest downfall too!!!!! But I think the biggest impact has been exercise. Although we have good daily walks I realised she wasn’t really getting any cardiovascular exercise so dug out the old ball thrower. What a difference it has made.

She would chase that ball all day if I let her and she is now back down to her fighting weight of 15kgs and got her trim little waist back. What a beautiful Welshie she is!!
Now if only I could follow suit……………………………

A Funny Story

On one of Tess’s stays with our friend Laura a funny thing happened.

Well it could have been disastrous, but alls well that ends well, as they say!
She hadn’t been there long when I received a phone call – ‘’nothing to worry about but Tess has been attacked by………the tortoise’’!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well once I have established no lasting harm had been done I laughed at the ridiculousness of it! Apparently when tortoise get amorous then get quite violent and ‘bite’ even though they have no teeth. Tess got in between such an encounter and he told her off, giving her a little wound just under the eye, as you can see from the photo.

She was fine, but did require quite a lot of tender loving care and milked it for all it was worth!!!!! Typical Welsh Springer Spaniel !!!!

Although she obviously wasn’t too upset, as on her next visit she tried to pinch the piece of lettuce he was nibbling!!!! Just to show who’s boss I guess!!!!!!!!!!!!

WELSH SPRINGER SPANIEL UPDATE!!

Well life for our Welsh Springer Spaniel Tess is still eventful!
Since her last blog she’s had lots of visitors to stay.

First Maddie the English Springer Spaniel, mad loopy dog that that she is, although I must say she was on her very best behaviour. She really responds to a man’s touch and did everything to please, including watching the FA Cup with Steve!!!!!
Her brother Wilby was here in June, and we’ve just had Freddy to stay, another Welshie who Tess seems to have fallen in love with and displayed some inappropriate behaviour!!!!!

Over the summer we’ve been to a BBQ, where she was much better behaved than when we last tried it. At least everyone’s burgers and wine glasses stayed untouched!
Then a weekend stay in Suffolk, visiting Flash (her first love you’ve heard about previously) and his sister Dizzy. A trip to the beach at Aldeburgh was much appreciated.
She’s had a few weekends away, while we’ve been on dog free trips, which she loves. Always difficult to tell if she’s cross with us for leaving her or annoyed we’ve brought her home!!!!!!

We have a constant stream of visitors coming throughout the summer, which she loves. We are doing a bit of training to try and stop the excitement, and control the noise levels when both the paper man and postman arrive in the mornings, but I think we’re fighting a loosing battle.
Any ideas to solve this problem would be gratefully received!!!!!!!

Oh well that’s it for now.
Next report will probably be about our forthcoming trip to Blakeney, on the North Norfolk coast – our favourite spot as many of you will know!

Hope you’re all having a great summer too!

Look Familiar?

Thought you might like to see this photo we took of Tess.

It was during all that snowy weather and we tried a new walk and she shot to the top of this mound, scaring the life out of us both!!!!

It reminds us of a very similar shot of this wonderful breed on the front of Anne Waltons must have book, The Welsh Springer Spaniel.

What a very special breed they are!!!!!

SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PRESENT

As we’ve already said, Steve celebrated a big birthday in January and as a surprise present I had a picture painted of Tess, as an everlasting memory of our little Welsh Springer Spaniel. Well, what do you give a man who has everything!! He was stunned by the likeness and we hope you agree, it is a superb portrait of this wonderful breed. It was painted in pastels by a very talented artist, Lorraine Gray, and if you would like to see more of her work or have a picture of your own pet, go to her web site http://www.pastelpetportraits.co.uk/. You can also see the original painting of Tess, but here is our framed version.

Where have we been?

HELLO ALL!!! Bet you’re wondering where we’ve been since September.
Tess is still alive and kicking but life just seemed to get in the way.
Here we are again though. And what a busy few months it’s been.

First Tess developed a limp. Nothing to worry about we thought, it would soon sort its self out. NOT! After a visit to the vets he assured us it was probably just a sprain and gave her an injection and some tablets. Nothing happened so after a suitable length of time he decided to xray the offending limb. Still nothing so shes been eating a luxury (that means expensive!) Hills Prescription feed for joints ever since and so far so good. Lack of exercise (and too much Christmas excess!) has meant she’s put on a little weight, but more of that later!

Of course November is Tess’s birthday. This year she was 4 and as usual we celebrated with her brother Wilby. They are definitely maturing, but still have typical Welsh Springer Spaniel traits – nutty, nosey and clingy, following you everywhere! We had a lovely weekend in Norfolk, walking at Sandringham and Burnham Overy Staithe. And, of course, raising a glass (or two) to the siblings!! They get on brilliantly, which is lovely to see. They are such a gentle, lovable breed.



Along with December came the snow. Most dogs love romping in the snow and Tess is no exception. I think Cambridgeshire was the least hit county in the UK, thankfully, and we managed to function as normal, but sympathised with the rest of the country. HOW DID YOU MANAGE IN YOUR NECK OF THE WOODS?? Still managed lots of nice dog walks???

Christmas was a magical time. We had a quiet festive holiday spent at home with our little girl. We had a long walk on Christmas morning at our favourite Magog Downs, along with lots of other dog owners. What a good excuse to get out in the fresh air. And Tess just loved opening her presents. But, just like us, she had a little too much to eat and we entered the New Year trying to loose a few pounds. She’s shot up from 15kgs to just over 17kgs which is a worry as she is quite small for her breed, although still within the accepted breed standard. So no more turkey for her!!!!!!!! Of course at this time of year – cold and wet and muddy – they probably get shorter walks so hopefully the extra pounds will drop off!!

And so to 2010.
Steve celebrated a big birthday so Tess went to stay with our usual dog sitters while we had a ‘grown up’ weekend away in our favourite Blakeney. Strange to be there without our little Welsh Springer Spaniel, especially when we met a little working cocker skidding round in the mud on the marshes, but nice to be able to dress up for dinner and visit the local RSPB bird sanctuary at Cley, which we can’t usually do with a dog in tow! And now its February. Roll on Spring when we can have a nice walk without having to spend ages cleaning the mud from paws, feathers and tummies. Oh and my wellies!!!



And watch this space as Steve got a rather special birthday present, but you’ll have to wait till next time to see that!!!!!