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!

Meet Louis

We've got a new little puppy brother. Well, sort of. We will be fostering him for the next six months, and he is a trainee autism assistance dog, like Skye and Bramble. So, meet Louis, the Labrador Retriever.....

He's 12 weeks old at the moment and he's settled in really well. He likes to steal our toys and pull our ears but most of the time, we love him!

And we've already taught him how much fun mud is! He looks so cute with his little muddy nose.

Louis thinks he is a big boy like us, and whilst he is actually quite small right now, he still plays rough and tumble with me and Cody.

Louis has his very own blog which will follow his journey to becoming an assistance dog. I'm sure you'll also hear lots about him here at Amber's Doggy Diaries too :)

Our Holiday

We went to Holiday to a place called 'Warwickshire'. We got up to lots of fun, there's so much to tell you all about.

Enjoying the garden

The first thing we had to do before we even started packing all our stuff into the car was go to the V.E.T. Oh no! Luckily, it wasn't too bad - we just had to get a pet passport so we were allowed to travel. It meant getting an injection, but we did get a treat afterwards so it wasn't all that bad. And all us dogs - Cody, Holly, Wilson and me - got our very own passports! How cool is that?!

Me and Cody at the holiday house

Then came the long car journey all the way to get there, from our home here in Ireland. It meant we had to spend lots of time in the car but I didn't mind because we stopped often for walks. The journey also included a trip on a ferry across the sea. When we arrived at the holiday cottage, there was lots of exploring to be done! After dinner (and Pancakes for the humans, because it was Shrove Tuesday. They were too greedy to share, though) it was already time for bed! Anna put my Tuffies bed beside the sofa where she was sleeping and put my blanket on top, just like I like it, and I settled down to sleep. Cody was a little naughty though and thought it was playtime and tried to jump on Anna when she was trying to sleep on the sofa and then chewed up her book! (This was his first holiday so it was all new and exciting to him).

Me and my boy

The next morning we were up bright and early. Anna and her sister took us for a walk across the fields. We met the horses, who weren't that interested in us and just kept eating their hay! Then we met the humans cousins and had a fun day playing in the garden and digging holes (The humans weren't too impressed about that.)

With Wilson

The next day was the day the humans were going to Crufts, like they did last year. Us dogs weren't allowed to come, because only dogs who were invited by the Kennel Club were allowed to go. I'm not sure why we weren't invited, since Anna tells us we are the best dogs in the world, but we went to a boarding kennels for the day instead. It wasn't a normal, boring boarding kennels though, it was amazing! They had lots of big fields to go for walks in, and we had our own rooms so it was more like a hotel. We had a really fun day and got lots of attention from the humans there. Then our humans came to collect us but we didn't want to leave, we were having such a fun time! The humans brought us back new collars and leads, my ones were candy pink and brown stripes. We also got some yummy treats and new chew toys.

Wearing my new harness and lead

On Friday the humans family came to visit and brought their dog, Ruby with them. Ruby is supposed to be a Cavalier, like Wilson, but she is more like a Cocker Spaniel. She's very cute whatever she is! We went to the forest for a walk and showed Ruby how to get covered in mud. She did pretty well and went home needing a bath :) Just like me and Cody and Holly and Wilson!!!

Cody, who is now eight months old

On Saturday and Sunday we went to our favourite boarding kennels again, as the humans were going back to Crufts. They told us they saw lots of Agility, and are hoping to start doing it with me soon! They also saw Police dog displays, heel work to music, flyball....and met lots of different breeds of dog, including Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs who are us Berners Swiss cousins! We got even more goodies, including some tasty, crunchy fish treats, yum!

Holly and Wilson loved the sofa!

Walkies!

Me in the garden

Then we had a few more days of walks, meeting new dog friends and having fun before it was time to go back home. We did the long journey again, went on the ferry, and then were back on Irish soil! We had such a great holiday, but it was still pawsome to be home again and back to annoying the cats.