We have been very busy, organising and running the dog section of the Bicester and Finmere Country show, and getting ready to move the puppy blog to another site. There will still be updates here but not so many.

The new blog and web site will be up and running properly by Sunday (fingers and paws crossed).

No hiding, little puppy, you are to be a star of the new blog! 

The site will have articles on training your pups, plus a blog so you can see what we are doing, and some links to other interesting things.

We hope if you have enjoyed the puppy blog you will enjoy visiting our new site..... and new owners you are not off the hook! Remember we would like to hear how you are getting on. Puppy pictures are a must!
The new site will have the web address www.foxpathpuppytraining.com

As this is another two days into one post it starts with a picture of Arthur who is enjoying his birthday. He is eleven years old, and still a puppy at heart. Happy Birthday my beautiful boy.

Yesterday Muttley left us to go and live with his new family. Muttley is a calm little puppy, who will no doubt charm everyone he meets. As long as he is not wet and muddy when he meets them! He has his bottom towards the camera in this picture.

The builders have finished ... Hooray!!!! They have had lots of help. The wheelbarrow was a great source of fun, they crawled under it, climbed on it and had fun spinning the wheel around!

As each day passes Alice is playing more and more with the puppies and feeding them less and less. Although they are still getting some comfort from her when she is with them. They are bold confident puppies and have a lovely gentle nature. 

As long as they get a really good basic training and are not put in any danger or are frightened by bigger dogs or pushier dogs they will continue to grow and develop as both Alice and I would hope. I have just published a new web site, part blog and it will be part articles, with training information on it.

There will be advice available from my friends as well as myself. I have asked John, Per and Steph because they are trainers of many many years standing and their knowledge is second to none! There are a lot of trainers and 'qualified behaviourists' out there offering their services, but not all are any good. 

I know of a few degree qualified behaviourists who ask John, Steph and myself for advice. Please use the contact form or call one of us for help. Do not struggle with a problem, and remember I can always take a puppy back, but it is hard to take back a puppy who has been injured or frightened, as I have to do a lot of work to fit the puppy back into my household. I never worry about taking a puppy back but I do get very annoyed if the problem is allowed to develop and my puppy is ruined, to a point where possibly he can never be re-homed, so he ends up being put to sleep! 

The foreman of works sits on his box supervising the building inspectors as they probe every aspect of the new concrete path and new drains. What would we do with out them?

Thats the new drainage system checked out... Seems to be working.

Helping check the netting surrounding the drying concrete path and checking the builders wheel barrow is in good working order... A short rest break then it is play time!

Spot the big brown dog... it is a new game, a bit like spot the ball really.

A little black pearl in an oyster shell.... 

Today has been a busy day, the puppies were out in the garden earlier than usual so they would we hoped be asleep when the builders arrived to start work.

When the builders arrived, there was a delay before they started work of nearly an hour. It must have been a great puzzle what ever was wrong as three men stood in the garden staring at the ground and doing that odd thing men do which is best described as 'sucking their teeth'.

The puppies didn't mind and it gave us more time to practise 'sit' and 'no biteys'. They have got both really well and are getting less bitey every day and the sit is now so automatic that with some individual work they will probably be able to start on some short 'wait' commands.

As you know we still have five puppies here, where you might ask is number five?

He was trying to climb the step ladder! Perhaps he thought he could sit on top of that?

The builders mate. The puppies will run around playing but as time goes on they become fractous like small children do and with in a short time they will start to settle and go to sleep.

This one decided to sleep on the new hard core base the builders are putting down.

Two more excavators.... just helpin' thats all they are sayin'

Alice playing with the puppies.

In it or on it, the pool makes a great toy. It is a fort to be defended, a place to paddle, a high point to sit and observe the world or even a place to sleep when they are tired.

Two more puppies went to new homes today leaving five here. Even though there are only five they can still get into a lot of mischief! This one got into the builders netting and rubble to lay down and eat a chunk of grass he had dug up! Naughty puppy, he was quickly moved out of there.

A naughty paw, it has been digging in the garden and now has muddy toenails!

A quick paddle removes the digging evidence from toe nails and sometimes noses too.....

Suddenly the puppy notices he is being watched ...... What mischief was he up to?

Later I gave a puppy a yogurt pot, he stuffed his nose down it and at first I thought it was stuck, until I spotted a small pink tongue licking the bottom while he tipped his head up and back to try to get the last drops of yogurt.

A few pictures of those mischievous looks puppies are so good at.

The peace before the storm......

Thursday I was up before the pups woke at 5:30am getting my morning jobs done as I had to work in the morning instead of the afternoon. 
Jobs done and off to work I go!

Thursday afternoon my friends John, Steph and Phil came over to visit and to get the pups micro-chipped.

Brave little pups did not even squeak, I'd have hollered the place down if it was done to me. Steph and Phil stayed on after for a sandwich tea and let me see Mav and Nancy two of their dogs.

The pups are now registered with Petlog, which is good since the KC have not yet sent back their registrations! I got a phone call to say that when my money was taken at the Kennel Club they had taken the wrong amount and my fee was therefore £20 short! 
I am informed it will now be another 3 weeks at least before I receive the registrations. :(

The pups you may recall were barking the plum tree. Most annoying, so to stop them I put a barrier around the plum, but can you see what is in there with the tree?

Another clue? (Hint it is not a blackbird) lol

Yes the determined little monsters found a way to get in and continue their destruction....

Little did we know it but Friday was going to be a horrible day to start with...

Woke up Friday morning to find a skip had been put outside the house, with our address on it. Somewhat surprised I phoned the land lord who said that work was due to start n the back of the house on Monday!!!

I pointed out that I had requested this was not done until after the 7th August. The person I had spoken had said they had done this, but total despair they had decided they would work to the original schedule. :( So I asked how they planned to break up the concrete, and was told they'd bring a machine.... 

The machine to break up the concrete was described as very very loud I was worried for the puppies hearing. Then my daughter suggested I take them to her place for a day or two.

After a bit of thought Paul said he would lift the old concrete up by hand as it would be quieter. 

It has taken Friday and Saturday to take up all the old concrete path! The garden looks a mess which I am not happy about.

I'm hoping all the hard work on the breaking up and clearing the ruble will mean the builders will not be here long!

No time for pictures on Friday or today but the ones here are very nice.

On a happier note the pups weren't worried by Paul breaking up the concrete, and so should not have any problems later in life when going shooting. 

I always make sure bangs and loud noises are something the pups are ok with but if they were not I'd get the CDs Something Scarey & Something Noisy.

Usually when noisy bangs like fireworks go off, I chuck something across the room and make it into a retrieving game or allow them to play in some way, so they then think of the noise as a signal that something exciting will happen. (Hope you like the selfies).    

Although hard to see what they are arguing over, it is a game of 'who will win the sage bush branch'. They have been eating my sage bush and the poor plant is begining to look scrawny. I have had this bush since 1977 and it has always moved house with me. Many cuttings have been taken from it over the years.

Friday morning Adam Masri my vet called in for puppy cuddles and also to give them the once over as they are 8 weeks  old and so needed their 8 weeks vet check. All passed and just to keep things interesting one of the puppies decided to go to the farthest end of the out door pen. one part of this has a roof which does not lift up.

Adam rather foolishly decided to get into the pen and retrieve the puppy who refused to come out and be examined. Instantly the other eight pups found they had urgent business in the pen and rushed in to nibble ears and anything else they could get hold of. After much giggling and messing about the pup was duly retrieved by Adam and had his check up. All passed with Adam remarking what a lovely litter they were and that he thought they had been well looked after.

After the vet check dear little Monty went with Andrew and Sheila to his new home. Here he is in his new garden.

Today (Saturday) Merlin went to his new home with David and Sarah. He is pictured here having his ears cleaned by his new friends Jasper and Ruby.

Having been pleased with the poem I decided last night to post a slide show of the two days missing, but it was not to be I could not work out how to get it exactly as I wanted. 

Never one to give up entirely I have had another go..... 

The puppies redesign work continues the holes being dug in the lawn will soon be big enough for the much desired swimming hole.

Alice likes to come out into the garden in the evenings and play with the puppies, up to this point she has been the Mummy dog with all the worries and responsibilites, far too serious about puppy rearing to play daft games with them.

Finally a pool! With a tiny drop of water in when it was very hot mid day and later with no water it made a great little fort to be defended and finally to curl up in.

Today we have a slight technical hitch..... Stupidly I forgot to charge my camera, so although loads of photos were taken none can be uploaded until the camera is charged up and rarin' to go!

So I thought I'd do something a bit different now and tomorrow upload two blog posts to make up for tonights blunder.

So I present a poem called Nine Little Puppy Dogs by P D Booth. 

Nine little puppy dogs,
Each one dressed in black,
Tumble out like nuggets
From a grimy coalman's sack.

Spill out through the kitchen door,
Stampede across the lawn,
Now all me lovely flower beds
Lie battered, bruised and torn.

Funny little puppy dogs,
With clownish, baby faces,
Tugging at me heart strings
As they chew me old boot laces.

Happy little puppy dogs,
Playing through the day,
Thrills and spills, they've wrecked me house
And turned me hair quite grey.

Nine little puppy dogs,
Now eight weeks have passed
And off to nice, new homes you'll go,
While I get peace at last!
 
p.d.b. (28.7.14)

The first out the door this morning. 

Today was a lot cooler we didn;t have the rain that we thought we might get. The puppies have wolfed down more food today than the last few days due to the cooler weather.

A good appetite is always helpful when combined with some pate as a bribe to get the puppies on the scale to weigh them before they were wormed again.

Worming was much easier and we didn't have the struggles we have had in the past. Pate is the answer to the worming puzzle! Simply hide the worming tablet in the pate.

In the last two weeks the puppies have on average doubled their weights! Paul worked out the percentage of weight gain for each puppy, and the least percentage of weight gain was 86% and the heaviest was 112%.

It is interesting to see how one week one puppy is the heaviest and the next it is a different puppy. The smallest two puppies made more weight gain than a couple of the mid range ones who scored the lowest % of weight gain.

After breakfast the pups decided they needed to be working on the garden.... as usual, but then they discovered the new fold up chair and decided it needed the flatcoat seal of approval.

Little tail spot in the chair is the first puppy to be able to scramble up onto the chair. I had not left them for more than two minutes and walking from the back door to the kitchen and he was on the chair! So I grabbed the camera to photograph the little hair inspector.

Paul decided to try to find a way of stopping the puppies tipping over their water the moment we put it down. The solution he came up with was to cut a round hole in the bottom of a seed tray. 

Naturally the puppies wanted to help and advise him on how to get the job done properly. They are good at designing things and better at testing them.

The final testing before the seal of approval....

The hole cut in the seed tray had to be examined thoroughly, one puppy was very hard to impress!

Now on to the next task of the day... 

A puppy's work is never done!