Our Summer so far....

*This post is written by Anna, my human*

We've been having a good Summer. We've had some pretty hot weather, which the Bernese aren't keen on (they stay in the shade) but the little too love (they sunbathe). We've had a lots of fun on the beach - the dogs love chasing seagulls, paddling in the sea, doing zoomies in the sand and they made a new friend, a terrier, who leaves right by the beach and joins us when we go for a walk there!

We had a family party which of course meant lots of people around the house. The dogs coped well with the busyness though and loved cleaning up all the crumbs on the floor afterwards!! We also had a bouncy castle which they loved exploring :)

We still have Louis, the foster pup, even though he was planned to go to a new family by now. Long story. We're now keeping him until the start of September. Other than sometimes annoying the other dogs with his puppyness and chewing EVERYTHING at the moment, he's a brilliant dog and recently discovered the joy of swimming. All the encouragement he needs is something to retrieve and he jumps straight in!

We've also moved the dogs back onto Acana Wild Prairie Kibble - the raw just wasn't working for us. They are also getting Lily's kitchen tins, scrambled egg, steamed mackerel and dried meat chews; they seem to be happy with the change of diet and it's suiting them much better so far.

Cody also celebrated his 1st birthday! He's 48kg now, his birth weight was 520g so he's grown quite a lot since the 29th July last year. He got one of those ultrasonic sqeauk dog toys, which only dogs can hear.

Hope you like the pics :)

Just pics...

Today we're just going to share some recent pictures of our pack - as the saying goes 'a picture speaks a thousand words'. Hope you like them!

Chicks

Yesterday, something rather egg-citing happened!



Two little chicks hatched! Anna's sister put four of our friends possibly fertile eggs in her incubator. She candled (looked inside the shell with a bright torch) the eggs and discovered that there was indeed a chick growing inside - you could even see it moving! Then yesterday, exactly 21 days after putting the eggs into the incubator, the chicks started to pip the eggs, and a few hours later, out came a chick! Then, just a little while later, the other one hatched too! It was amazing...

 

They came out slightly soggy but soon dried off - they were left in the incubator until they were all fluffy. Then this morning, they moved into their brooder! They are very cute :) Our friends have named them Annie and Babara and when the other two eggs have hopefully hatched, they will be going home with them.

Me saying hello to them in their brooder - they were chirping away!

Anna's sister also has some of her own Orpington eggs to hatch as she is expanding our own flock of chickens! So lots of chick fun over the next few months.

The Vaccination Decision

Recently, Anna did some research on canine vaccines, and to decide what vaccination protocol to follow for us dogs. There was so much information and different opinions on the subject!

In the end, we decided that all of us dogs would get a single vaccination as a puppy (aged between 12 - 16 weeks) for Parvovirus, Distemper and Canine Hepatitis. After that, no more for life. The reason we would wait until that age was because giving the vaccine any earlier than this would be blocked by the mothers immunity. 

We will not be getting either the Lepto or Kennel Cough vaccination. This is for several reasons, to start with the Lepto vaccine - it has the highest risk of adverse effects, and only covers the dog for a very short period of time (often less than a year, meaning your dog would have to be boosted reguarly). As it is a bacterial infection, as long as it is caught early on then it can be treated. For Kennel Cough, as there is so many different strains, it will not prevent your dog from getting KC and therefore ineffective and not worth it in our opinion. Instead, Anna will focus on keeping us healthy so we have strong immune systems, and therefore should we get KC the chances are it would only be mild. 

We will not be getting 'boosters' as with every vaccine comes a risk of adverse effects, plus in the majority of dogs if they are given the initial puppy booster this then covers them for life. 

You can titer test your dogs which is a blood test that shows immunity to these diseases, however we have decided not to do this as our Vets don't offer this in-house meaning it would be very expensive and we don't feel the need to do this. 

It is of course, just a personal decision we have made for our dogs from the re-search we have done and we just wanted to share our choices. If you would like to find out more you should look at WSAVA, Dogs Naturally and Mercola Healthy Pets websites. 

Pooch Pack...

Our Pooch Pack arrived a few days ago, but as Anna was away (more on that in this post) we didn't open it until this morning!

We found lots of brilliant things inside :)

Pawsitively Natural Treats - These yummy biscuits are made with human grade, ethically sourced ingredients. We got the Honey and Cheese flavours. I loved these and can't wait to finish the rest of the pack!

Beco Bone - Did you know this toy is made from bamboo and rice husks?! We already have a Beco hoop and were so excited to find the bone in this months box as we love the Beco range of toys!

Natures Menu - These treats are made with 95% meat, and we got the Lamb Flavor. They tasted just as good as they smelt - which was delicious!

Fatcat Toys - This 'Snake o' the Grass' toy, from the Yankers range can take up to half a ton of pulling fun! I had a great time playing with it and was so pleased to discover it had a squeak (as I love squeaky toys!)

What a wag-tastic Pooch Pack it was this month :)

Weekend Away

Anna and the boys (Cody, Wilson and Louis) went away for a few days. They went to Anna's grandparents house by the seaside. (This was because I am in season and they couldn't go to the dog boarding place as the lady was on holiday...long story!) 

Here are some photos of what they got up to:

Enjoying walkies

At the cove

Cody in the garden

The three boys together

They mostly had a great time - us dogs love the garden at Grandma and Grandpa's because there is so much to explore. They have lots of different paths and lots of heather, which is pawsome for rolling around and jumping over. They also went to a dog agility show - it was Will's first time on the agility equipment and he took to it like a duck to water, or so they say! Louis also won a rosette in the 'Dog the Judge Most Wants to Take Home' competition...but who wouldn't want to bring such a cute pup home?! 

The thing that wasn't-so-great was on one of their woodland walks they met an off lead dog whose owner was driving - yes, driving - along behind in the car with his dog totally out of control. The dog annoyed Cody, who was on leash (that is the rules of the forest) and was a total nuisance. The dog eventually went back towards it owner, but who's to blame the dog for running off seeing as his owner wasn't even paying him any attention? Some dog owners really annoy Anna like that. (And because they annoy her, they annoy me too.)

But like I say, other than that they enjoyed their trip away except for missing me, of course (and Holly). I stayed home with the rest of the family and was sooooooooooooooooooooo excited when they came back I was doing zoomies all over the house and even knocked over my water bowl which meant I splashed water all over the hallway, oops!!! I'm really glad they are home again.

Easter Wishes

Me and Anna would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter. Have a pawsome weekend!