Golden girls!

Phoebe, Ruby and Gilly have all passed their gold good citizenship kc award.

I along with the other handlers are so very proud as they are all just 1 year old.

We are going to have a puppy party to celebrate :)

All For Dogs are going to continue with our training sessions by introducing some fun classes.
For me, I just love getting her out and about, learning how to be a good, well behaved member of society. The handlers all have a good chat and giggle too.

One of my jobs soon will be to strip the grape vine. It is laden, as always. Full of black, very sweet grapes. Our fruit trees have had a great year too.

All go!

My lovely boys are all very happy all at different places at different times which is challenging but fun.

Eldest now at Futaba doing an engineering apprenticeship and enjoying it.

Middle son very happy doing his AS levels. Particularly enjoying economics.

Youngest having a great time at Denstone where he has settled very very well. Wish I had moved him sooner.

Down on the farm we are still quite busy from the summer rush. The cattery was completely full last week end.

I have an apprentice coming on board Monday. She seems very keen and I think we shall work well together so fingers crossed as I may even manage to get a day off :)

Summer is over!!

Yes the temperature has dropped and the sun seems to have gone in but what a lovely summer we have had. T shirts only for months :)

We have been very busy with no room at the inn for either dogs or cats which is what we worked towards and this keeps us afloat in the lean times. We are still reasonable busy with those without school aged children taking their holidays.

For me this is time to do maintenance, cleaning and prepare for my next project.  Well! we cannot stand still :)

Phoebe continues to do very well with her training. She is working towards her gold KC award but I am also doing some "rally" training with her which in a nut shell will further develop her heal work and obedience. I am so proud of her.

My boys are all very settled and enjoying life.

Eldest has started his engineering apprenticeship middle is enjoying being back at school studying for AS levels and youngest is loving it at Denstone College.

Sooo well behaved!!

Ok, so it took a few attempts but this is Phoebe training group. They all came to play at ours and we did actually do some training. The dogs were pooped and the humans chatted lots of course

Finley decidid he had had just about enough of sitting and looking pretty :)

Busy busy

As I suspected we are very busy with every unit, everywhere booked for the summer.
I am really enjoying it which is just as well with a truly 24/7 life.

I have some help now and I couldn't manage without it.
My boys are great too when I need extra help.

The vast majority of dogs come in and settle easily but we have had an odd one who has struggled a little. I find it so very rewarding to be patient and work with these dogs to bring them out of their shell. I watch their confidence grow and by the end of their visit they are out playing with the rest. Owners have commented about a "different" dog coming home and have booked for next year so we must be doing some thing right :)

My eldest son has been offered an apprenticeship and the company intend to sponsor him through his engineering degree. He is thoroughly enjoying driving too. We insured with "insure the box" this was chosen for many reasons but it does enable him to view, on line how he is driving. For me I hope it keeps him driving sensibly as if not his insurance will not decrease next year.

Where do I begin?

My eldest son is now in Tanzania, working in the school for orphagned children. He has no phone etc so I can only assume he is having and enjoying a fantastic life experience.

He passed his driving test on Monday before he left last Wednesday and had the third phase of an interview for an engineering apprentciship so what a week he had.

My middle son is working very hard at the moment too as he is now raising funds to go to Tanzania next summer. He is helping me (we moved 11 tonns of gravel) He is glass collecting on 7 hour shifts and doing manual labour for our neighbours.

I feel very proud of my boys as I am fully aware of the reluctance of many youngsters to "graft"

Business wise, we are incredably busy.

We have been granted permission to increase our number of dogs as we have been turning customers away since the dog boarding was just 1 year old. Needless to say we are no longer advertising.

The cattery is almost fully booked for summer too. I do think we are doing so well as all of our units have their own outdoor run, especially in this weather but also it offers the cats stimulation as they all have a lovely view too.
We have done quite a lot of maintenance this summer with a new roof going onto the cattery soon too so we are looking very smart.


I am so very pleased with the dog boarding as this heat is a great test of it and the units themselves are certainly lovely and cool. I did heavily insulate the roof and put a grannit floor in all of the units and it is all paying off now as the dogs are clearly very comfortable and cool. The self filling water dispensers are certainly a big hit, providing fresh, cool water constantly and I am not for ever carrying buckets of water.

Phoebe is still such a star as she breezed through her silver Kennel Club award. She is such a pleasure to work with and so very easy to train. She certainly does her breed proud.

Our new lawn mowers!

Well, what better way to get the grass cut :) They are on our lawn:)

If horses feel safe and secure it isn't unusual for them to lay down, Scotty and Rocket are best mates.

I am struggling to keep ontop of the weeds. After a relatively dry spell the heavens opened and the grass and weeds have shot up. Horses will eat nettle once they are cut but not whilst growing, so a big job for me next week is strimming. If I don't strim it leaves very little for the horses to eat and being thorough breds will loose weight easily.

We are looking to create another run for the boarding dogs, taking them onto the island, between the trees but we will bypass the moat. It will be like an adventure playground :)
There have been a couple of times when I could have done with a third run and what a fun place it would be for the dogs. I will make sure it is very secure of course.