Somerford Diary

Autumn 2010

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 09:55:00 GMT

It’s been a very big beginning to year 2010 can you all believe that it is almost Easter already???

We have a family tradition (in Jims family) in that his mother always makes the family her own fresh hot cross buns every Good Friday. His mother is now approaching 85. It has been like this every Easter as long as he can remember. There is nothing better that the smell of his mothers' fresh Easter buns cooking in a hot oven and a fresh bun with butter in my hand. This will always be one of my most constant and endearing reminders of the Easter Season.

Our website has undergone many changes and updates and we want to thank Amanda for giving us the motivation to undertake this project and keep the website more up-to-date.

Of course every Easter there are the rushed trips to Sydney thrown in all for good measure to attend either the NSW Weimaraner Club Easter specialty Show or the Royal Sydney Show, both usually mean early starts, lots of travel, a busy day and late home again. This year we can only attend the Royal Easter show as we have a number of other commitments including family and we also we have a litter of puppies from our lovely Lizzy who has returned to us at Somerford to have her first litter.

Lizzy currently has 11 puppies that are now over a week old and they are all thriving. We will be keeping the pick female from this litter and our friends at kadma are taking the pick male to campaign in Queensland.

Lizzy is a great mother and is so careful in the way she pays individual attention to her puppies. At this stage they are beginning to learn to walk and I find they can be a great time waster as we often just sit watching them feed or crawl around their whelping box.

Our special news at the moment is that our dog Legend is currently the No1 Weimaraner in Australia in the national and breed categories of the Dogzonline competition and for this we need to thank Shannon Barden who more recently has taken over as his handler from Amanda Lavercombe. Both handlers have done a wonderful job presenting Legend to the judges. As a mature dog Legend is enjoying working with Shannon and recently they won RUBIS (All Breeds) at Wallamba in NSW. Well done guys..there is more to come yet!

We would like to wish all of our friends a happy and safe Easter 2010 and we hope you all enjoy your dogs!

The Hot Season!!!

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:45:00 GMT

Well what a busy time Somerford have had! Since Jim's last Blog entry, there has been Christmas, New Year, birthdays, a litter, Shannon joining the team and lots of plans made... one of these plans is to try and update our website... it has been rather negleted of late as we have all been very busy... however, with the new year we have decided that this is a priority to keep our weimaraner friends updated on all things Somerford!!

Over the next few months we plan to keep the pace going with lots of dog shows entered. With Judy titled and heading towards maternal duties, we now need to get Bette's show champion title and she too will become a mum. We hope to have lots of little weimaraner puppies about during 2010 and look forward to the excitement that brings. We love meeting the new puppy buyers and hearing the wonderful stories as they settle the newest member of their family into their homes.

We re planning to head off to the Weimaraner National in May and watch the best Weimaraners in Australia compete. It is always very interesting to view the dogs of different kennels and it is incredible to see so many weimaraners in the one location. It is a fabulous gathering and we look forward to catching up with lots of our friends.

I will try to keep this blog updated each month or so, time permitting!! If you have any photos or snippets of information you want to share, please email us so we can include it in next months blog!

Happy wishes and good luck in all you do,

Amanda and ....The Somerford team xxoo -

Winter 2009!

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 06:55:00 GMT

The year 2009 is passing very quickly at Somerford, already we are passed the half way point of the calendar year and we are also on the tail end of Winter in Australia. Those yummy soul warming golden days of Spring are just around the corner and as Spring always brings the promise new beginnings I wonder what is in store for us all this Spring?

As the warmer weather approaches I know an overseas holiday has been planned for the Somerford boys. Danny has an aging Grandfather in Macedonia who he hasn’t seen since 1997 and he has been very keen to see his grandfather again for a long time. His Grandad was a very important family figure in his younger life growing up as a child in Macedonia. We will travel via Italy for a week and then a short stop in Hungary before reaching Macedonia and then a quick stop off in Hong Kong on the way home to Australia.

With the weather warming up we have been exploring some of the very beautiful walks in our neighborhood. There are a number very wonderful coastal walks surrounding our property and I have put some photo’s of the Glenrock Track on our website for you all to look at. This beautiful walk to the beach starts along our back fence The loop walk takes us through the State Conservation Area down a very lovely rainforest glade to the beach and then back up to our front door. Please enjoy the photos taken at the weekend.

We have had a great year with our dogs. At the moment ‘Lizzy’ – Ch Somerford Liz Taylor is really living up to her name, she is truly a beautiful Star. At the moment she is No 1 in the nationwide competition on Dogzonline for Rising Stars (click link & scroll to bottom of page). In her last four shows she was been placed Best In Show at the Weimaraner Club Qld (Op) Show, Best Junior in Show at the Weimaraner Club Qld (Ch) show (under International Breed Specialist Judge Mrs Gale Young USA), the following weekend she was awarded Best Junior in Group and this last weekend was again awarded Best Junior in Show which sent her to the top of the Dogzonline competition. We are very proud of our Lizzy’s results and congratulate her handler in Queensland Kevin Horne who has a very special relationship with this little star. Lizzy is currently leased to Carol Thompson of Kadma Weimaraners in Queensland. This year we repeated this succesful mating that produced Lizzy and she is now joined by her sister ‘Halle’ Somerford Halle Berry owned by Carol Thompson who, by the way, I hear did very well at her second weekend out last week beating some tough competition.

Our ‘at home’ dogs are also doing very well on the local circuit against tough competition and they are all placed well in the various national online competitions particularly when one considers that we are not ‘out’ at dog shows every weekend, preferring a balanced approach to our busy lifestyle we do not enter shows every weekend. We are very proud of ‘Legend’ – Ch Somerlaren Ima Legend, ‘Bette’ – Somerford Bette Davis who has already won class in groups and class in shows and is only 8 months of age and ‘Judy’ - Somerford Judy Garland who has also had similar success on the same circuit to Bette.

We want to especially say a BIG thank you to our friend and team mate, at Somerford, Amanda Lavercombe who helps us so much in so many ways. Amanda holds a full time job, has two children under 5 and rarely misses any shows that we have entered and she also attends weekly practice sessions with all the dogs and is a much loved and highly respected member of our team – thanks Amanda.

This week we also need to congratulate Colleen and Tony who have Judy’s litter brother REX – Somerford Duck Assasin who is currently being trained for his debut in field work next year. Last week Colleen gave birth to their first child a little boy called Zac Thomas, well done guys.

I just wanted to thank all of our puppy buyers who purchased a puppy from our last litter in June 2009, thanks for your cards and emails keeping us posted on the progress of your puppy's it sounds like they are all doing well and that you are enjoying the new additions to your family. I will endeavour to get some photos up on the web and some of your emails also. Thanks again and we are so happy you are enjoying your new puppies!
Till the next Blog......... Keep luven those dogz......

Happy New Year 2009.

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:45:00 GMT

I hope all my readers had a great Christmas and a Very Very Happy New Year.

We have had a delightful break from work, we are rested and ready for the challenges and opportunities that 2009 will present.

The weather has been perfect, if not a little too hot on some days and we could now do with a little rain again.....yes I hear the groan from my Queensland readers and I know that you have had a very wet summer to date so please send some rain down here for us to share.

Our puppies are doing really well they are all very even in size they are very playful and are nearly 7 weeks old ..... wow where did that time go?

They have now had their 6 week vaccination shots and they will have their last vaccination shots before they leave here early next week. They can start going to their new homes in the middle of next week. If you are collecting your puppy next week then you can now phone Danny 0438 289 798 to arrange a suitable collection time. If you need to know what to get before you collect your puppy please read our FAQ section.

We have had a great holiday spending time with our friends, having fun days at home with the puppies and our dogs and also special times at the beach and relaxing in the wonderful summer weather we are experiencing at the moment. We spent Christmas with Amanda and Damien Lavercombe and their family and had a great lunch and a relaxing afternoon. We also had a great New Years Eve partying with our friends the Follington's on their property at Warners Bay. It was a great night although very tiring the next day as we both needed a grandpa nap in the afternoon.

Last weekend was the first point score show for the NSW Weimaraner Club and Danny and Amanda made the long trek to Wollondilly where Legend was placed Res Challenge male and our baby - Somerford Judy Garland who needs her own page soon won Best Baby of Breed. Ellie also placed Best Junior of Breed.

The best news however was from Queensland where our movie star minor puppy - Lizzy Somerford Liz Taylor - , in Queensland with Kevin and Donna Horne, had an amazing start to the New Year winning Challenges both days on the weekend and on Sunday Best of Breed, RUIG and Best Puppy in Show. Hope George and Michelle are also following her progress as she is a decendent of their Am Ch/Aust Ch Deerpaths Charlemagne.

Lizzy and Kev are having a great time in Queensland and Lizzy is steadily climbing the breed ladder in the online competition. Check out her progress on Dogzonline.

Tomorrow it is back to work for Danny, I guess we are both a bit sad that the break is over so quickly but also a little excited about the potential we see in 2009.

Before I forget how can I not congratulate Laine on the success of her import 'Mark' winning Best in Show last night in his first weekend of shows in Australia - Well done team Ashlaren! .... and congratulations. All that said........not a bad weekend and end to the holidays.

Till next time that is all from me.

Jim

The week before Christmas.

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:45:00 GMT

Well it is officially that time of the year when we all begin to celebrate Christmas and shortly after that the end of year celebrations will begin. At Somerford we have a lot to celebrate and be thankful for this year. I guess the first thing that we need to be grateful for and to celebrate is that we all survived a fairly tumultuous year. This time last year all the headlines were about the booming economy and wow hasn't that changed in a relatively short period of time? For Danny and I this has been a good year. We are so grateful to have Amanda Lavercombe working on our team and handling the show dogs so competently in the ring, we also have to thank Pepe le peu for helping us master our presentation skills in the ring and as a result of his expertise and our team participation we have a new Champion in the Kennel Ch. Somerlaren Ima Legend. We also have to thank our friends Kevin and Donna Horne for taking our Somerford Liz Taylor to Queensland and giving her such a brilliant start in the show ring and obtaining her first Baby Puppy in Show the very first weekend out. She is already off to a flying start in the Queensland Weimaraner Club point score for 2009. On a personal note many of you will know that we own The Petshop Boyz Store in Newcastle NSW. Last Friday evening we took our staff out to dinner for a night of fancy dress and karaoke ..... yes I can already hear some of you saying 'o no not karaoke' but it actually turned out the be an amazing night with lots of laughter, fun and competition. I really didn't know how many great singers we have on the staff. Check out a few sample photos of the party here. It was a busy week with pre Christmas dinners and party's to attend. Yesterday we spend almost the whole day with friends trying to get some great dog photo's of our Wei's BUT you know what they say ......never work with children or animals. It was a very trying day with the redeeming factor being the impromtu lunch created by Barb and her team. 12 of us all sat down to a great lunch of fresh roast chicken and bread rolls, needless to say at the end of the lunch nobody was too motivated to go out and start shooting again. I have updated a couple of shots of Ellie taken yesterday. Wasn't today a magnificent day? Because the weekend was so busy for us both and with so little time to relax Danny and I took some of the dogs to the lake for a swim. Have a look at the photo's here. Weimaraners love to swim and retrieve objects so we set Legend a task to teach our new puppy Judy to swim. I'm not sure he accomplished that but I did see her take a short swim and she enjoyed watching her big brother Legend play in the water with Danny. For those of you interested in the puppies I have placed a couple of new photographs on their page. They are doing well and are weaning and eating solid foods now. Next week they will be more out and about and fun to play with. Well thats about my lot for the week. I hope you are all enjoying the fun and fellowship of the season. jim

Legend is now a Champion!

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:00:00 GMT

At nearly 15 months of age we have another Champion at Somerford Weimaraners.

Ch Somerlaren Ima Legend.

Legend was able to finish his Champion title on the weekend and he was also placed Runner Up to Best in Gundog Group with the NSW Judge Miss J Seary. It was a wonderful finish to his title and we had a great weekend celebrating with friends and fellow exhibitors. We have two more shows before the end of the year and then a short break before the point scores begins again for 2009.

Today we had our puppies from Kirra and Legend out on the lawn for their first time and we have taken some photo's for those people who have a puppy ordered from this litter. Please take a look here. The puppies are growing very fast, they will start to be weaned later this week and by the size of them their mother will welcome a little support as they are very big robust puppies.

Our minor puppy Somerford Liz Taylor is doing very well in Queensland. She is only half way thru the minor puppy class and is already half way up ( position no 25) on the list of top 50 Gundog Rising Stars in Queensland. She still has two more classes to move thru before she stops qualifying for this competition and so we will watch her progress in 2009 with great interest.

Thank you to our friends at Kadma and the Horne family for campaigning her in Queensland. I'm sure you will continue to have great fun with her in 2009.

The last two shows for the year will be at Morisset on the weekend of the 22nd December and we are looking forward to these last two shows as they are usually a lot of fun and they have a strong Christmas theme. We are also planning on taking a break ourselves from work and will be able to spend lots more time with the puppies and our dogs over the Christmas New Year break.

While we were away at the shows on the weekend we had a visit from the sneaky neighbourhood foxes and our small chicken flock was reduced from 6 to 2 very frightened hens. I think this is a very wise fox as he always knows when there is no one around to stop him and when the other dogs who are left at home are locked up....then he strikes......

Well that is about all the news for this week.

Take care...

Where did the time go?

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:00:00 GMT

My Daughter just emailed me and said your blog is not up yet? So Jim ...consider yourself told.

Where did the week go?

For me it was a little too busy for comfort and one of those weeks were everything seemed to go wrong. We had an axle break on our ride on mower , just as the grass is growing and inch a day, fortunately it was still covered by warranty. My mobile phone just stopped working last Wednesday so it is now back with Telstra getting repaired.... it is 3 months old and this is the second time its been back, hope it is not a lemon. We also had some rather annoying problems with the computer network at our business and that stopped eveything for several hours on Friday and interrupted emails for some time. We also had a major upgrade on the computer network and we have come to expect problems when this happens fortunately all is back to normal at present.

Last week Jim's godmother Ethel truned 90 years old. Ethel and her family travelled to Australia with Jim's parents nearly 60 years ago and they have been family friends ever since. On Saturday we attended her 90th birthday celebrations. Check out the party photo's here.

This week, being that today is Thursday we have had another busy week and I have included some photo's of Amanda and the dogs at show training. Check out here!

The puppies are growing furiously. These puppies seem to be very advanced for their age. They have only just turned two weeks old and their eyes are fully open, they have started walking (very well for their age), they are alert, watching everything around them, their coats are great and they are very healthy. See new pictures here.

The puppies will begin weaning next week. Keep looking on my blog for new updated photo's.

Our Somerlaren Ima Legend is the father of this current litter of puppies and as I write his second litter is being whelped at Ashlaren Weimaraners in Sydney. The tally at 1.00pm today was 6 females and 1 male and more to come I'm sure. Here they are!

It is very exciting to hear of his progeny being born. He is a lovely dog and has a lot to offer. It will be very exciting to see his progeny in the show ring next year. If they have half his personality and showmanship they will all do well.

Special thanks this week to our mentor and show trainer extraordinaire .....Pepe le Pu.

Pepe gives freely of his time and shares his experience with us every week and we all learn so much from him. Thanks for your time and enthusiasm.

I hope all of my subscribers have great weekend and to all my American subscribers Happy Thanks Giving for last weekend. I bet the trees up North are magnificent. One year Danny and I keep promising ourselves that will come over for an icy Christmas in New York. I just love the fall over there having only seen it once I still remember it was absolutely magnificent. No this year we have beautiful puppies to be with instead.

Take care till next week

Jim

Spring Fair Weekend 2008

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:55:00 GMT

Welcome to my blog for this week. There is a lot to report this week. Firstly our puppies are doing very well and we have found that 'Kirra' although a first time mother has turned out to be an excellent mother. Take a look at these pictures and in particular take note of Kirra's temperament with the intruder in her box. Although her puppies are only 4 days old she is very happy to allow Darcy Lavercombe to climb in to her whelping box and look at her new puppies. She is feeding the puppies very well and already at less than a week old they are robust, healthy and growing fast. The only person not allowed near the box is the sire of the litter 'Legend' he gets a very low and threatening growl any time he goes near the box and in reality all he wants to do is to take a look at the puppies. On Sunday Danny stayed home to baby-sit our litter of puppies while I went to the annual Spring Fair Dog Show in Sydney. I can't tell you how exciting it was to watch our co-owned bitch 'Ellie' Greyflyte Queens Angeldust Imp NZ win Best of Breed on the Weimaraner Club of NSW Point Score Show. Ellie has also just won BOTH Junior and Puppy of the Year in the NSW Weimaraner club point score competition for 2008. Ellie is a very pretty bitch and has come to stay with us for a while to be campaigned in the Hunter Valley region. She is a half sister to Legend and they both have the same temperament, loving, gentle and easy to live with. They are both great ambassadors of the breed. Another bitch that we co-own 'Sophie' - BIS Aust/NZ Ch Ashlaren Sophie Saphire has been sent to New Zealand in October and is having a sensational career over there and we are very proud of Sophie. She will be one to watch when she comes back to Australia in 2009. Sophie is currently being campaigned by Pip Simmons of Carmellis Weimaraners in New Zealand and we are very grateful of the wonderful job she is doing with Sophie. Another of our dogs 'Lizzy' - Somerford Liz Taylor has just entered the minor puppy class and she is being campaigned in Queensland by Kev and Donna Horne. Last weekend she was awarded Res Challenge out of 12 bitches in the first point score of the Queensland Weimaraner Club for the year of 2009..... now don't ask me any questions about how this could be the first point score for 2009 when it is still 2008 because that is just how they do things in Qld. Lizzy also placed best Minor Puppy in Group at the same show. Danny has now notified all of our puppy buyers and confirmed their offer of a puppy from Kirra's litter we are very proud of our puppies and we are also pleased to receive feedback from our puppy buyers. This week we heard from Paul who purchased one of the puppies from our last litter. Check out what Paul has to say here. Keep tuned to my blog and I will post new photo's as the puppies as they grow. Before I finish I just wanted to let our friends in Queensland know that we are thinking of them as many of them battle to put their homes and properties back in order after the horrendous storms of the past week, having been thru a similar event in the winter of 2007 we know what it is like to clean up after these terrible events. Hang in there it does get better in time. Next year when we come up to Qld for your specialty I'm sure the place will be back to normal.

18th November 2008

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Firstly I must apologise to all of my readers as I have not made a regular posting to my blog for several weeks. October was a record month for our Somerford Weimaraner web site as we had over two and a half thousand people visit the site, reading our stories and looking at our pictures. I thank all of those people from all around the world for taking the time to visit this site and view its contents.

While it takes me a lot of time to write the material in the articles and take/ load the photos it seems worth the effort when I see how many people visit our site regularly.

Its been a very busy time lately. Our last litter of puppies have now settled into their new homes.

Somerford Liz Taylor currently being campaigned in Queensland has just enetered the Minor Puppy class and is doing very well with her handler Kevin Horne. Watch Lizzy rise in the point score in 2009.

I am currently building a new web page for our current baby puppy Somerford Judy Garland who will commence show training this week and will start in the show ring later in December.

This morning I'm pleased to announce that 'Kirra' has given birth to 8 puppies sired by 'Legend'. Kirra had 5 female puppies and 3 male puppies they are less than 24 hours old as I write this blog.

See pictures here. Kirra Puppies.

For those people who have ordered a puppy from this litter Danny will confirm your allocation of a puppy later this week or on the weekend. Please stay tuned to this blog to watch the progress of your puppy as he or she develops. For those people who have missed out on a puppy allocation from this litter please check out Ashlaren Weimaraners as they also have two litters due shortly.

One of those litters is also sired by 'Legend'

'Legend' has been doing well in the show ring of late he attended the Weimaraner Club NSW Breed Specialty Show judged by F.C.I. Breed Judge Dr Axel Linnewebber ( Germany), who graded all the Weimaraners present at the Breed Specialty .

'Legend' was one of only 18 dogs out of approximately 128 Weimaraners to receive an EXCELLENT GRADING.

During the past month our godson, Dylan Uhrig turned 2 years old and we decided to take him on the train trip to Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney for the day check out his picture page.

This month we have travelled to Orange in regional NSW to attend dog shows with our handler Amanda Lavercombe and her children Darcy and Maya.We had a great weekend and really enjoyed the time in the country. Both children also enjoyed the trip.

12/10/2008

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:25:00 GMT

I must apologise that I missed my blog post last week. It was a long weekend in NSW and we rested up and hosted a barbeque for a few friends in our back yard. Danny wanted to say thank you to some of the people who helped him break the world record dog walk and I also wanted to invite a few dog friends over for a relaxing afternoon at the Somerford Ranch.

Who can believe that nearly 8 weeks have come and gone. All the puppy owners will be able to start collecting their puppies from thursday of this week. These puppies are so gorgeous and they are sooooo friendly, everyone who has seen them has commented on how happy they are and they are constantly wagging their tails. I can't go out there with shoes on without my laces being undone in seconds.

Its time to think about what you will need to bring with you to take your puppy home and what you will need at home to prepare for the puppys' arrival. Most people let the puppy sit on their lap on the way home. This a good bonding exercise and allows the puppy to feel safe and secure as it is leaving its' birth family and the first few days can be a little intimmidating to a young puppy. This might also be a very good time to review the frequently asked questions part of our website.

If you haven't made an appointment yet to collect your puppy call Danny on 0438289798 and make a time. He can also give you any last minute tips on what you will need for your puppy.

This weekend we have Legend and Lizzie entered in the NSW Weimaraners Club Spring Speciality show in Sydney. This year the club has engaged a German Judge who is grading all of the dogs. Legend received an Excellent Grading and Lizzie being still a baby puppy has received a Very Promising grading.

I will put more on this topic on my blog next week as this week we are concentrating on prepartions for the puppies to leave and go to their new homes.

For those people waiting for news on our next litter i can now confirm that Legend and Kirra are going to be parents so if you are waiting to place an order for a puppy to be ready in mid January 2009 now is the time to call Danny and place your order on 0438 289798.

The working week.

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:35:00 GMT

Well now that the Big World Record event is over we have concentrated on getting some projects finished around the property.

This week Jim has been able to lay water and electricity to the new puppy pen. Previously we had installed recycled water for cleaning the yard but not fresh water which meant frequent trips to the closest town water taps to wash utensils or provide fresh drinking water however now we have fresh running town water in the puppy pen and a light at night so when we need to go down to the puppies we don't need a torch light. On Wednesday we will also have a new concrete path leading all the way across the lawns to the puppy pen. Previously this areas was all lawn which is usually fine BUT in wet weather becomes soggy and slippery. I can't wait until this is finished on Wednesday afternoon.

On this last weekend Danny and Amanda showed Legend at the Cessnock Dog Club. On Saturday morning he took Best Of Breed and in the afternoon the Dog Challenge so it was a much better weekend than the previous one but as I said previously ...this is dog dog showing for you one week you are a Prince then next a Pauper......

You can check up on the latest puppy photo's which have now been loaded. As you can see the puppies are now looking like cute little weimaraners and they look forward to their regular excursions out to play in the yard BUT their favourite place to sleep is still in Danny's lap that is after a hard 30 mins or so of play.

This week the puppies will receive their first vaccination shots on Wednesday and then we will be on the home run to them leaving for their new homes in Mid October. It is always sad to see our puppies leave, this litter in particular seems to be full of gorgeous temperaments. The puppies wag their tails furiously every time we approach them or speak to them.

For those people waiting for our January litter we should know if Kirra is in whelp by the middle of next week I will keep you posted.

This week Paige has been on heat and the ole 'Legend' has been very testy or should I say very randy....sounds like a good name for a puppy...what do you think?.

Seriously Paige is having a break this season but she is still very interested in her nephew, dogs don't seem to discriminate. Needless to say Legend is off his food and cries to get out to her all the time.

Well that's about all the news for this week.

Jim

World Record For Danny

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:20:00 GMT

What a weekend!

It all started on Friday, we had our 'Legend' - Somerlaren Ima Legend, entered in an all breeds championship show about 50 mins from home. My catalogue cards did not arrive on Thursday so initially I made the assumption that I had forgotten to enter this show on my schedule however I usually don't get this so wrong and I decided to call a friend who was at the show and she confirmed that we were not entered.

My friend casually mentioned that another dog which we co-own with Laine Knox was however entered in the bitches section. Now this dog is a little younger that Legend and is also sired by the same dog so I was a little suspicious as I was fairly sure that Laine had not entered this show. To cut a long story short it turned out that many of the entries had been damaged in the postal system and the cataloguer could not decipher my entry form, which was damaged, and ended up making a guess on which dog was entered. By the time this was sorted out we had missed the Friday Show but were advised that we could go to the Saturday and Sunday shows.

Unfortunately as most show people are aware one day you can be the best dog in the show, group or class and the next day get judged completely differently. This was not to be our weekend in the show ring. As you will see if you read on. Saturday came and went with mediocre placings in class but no big awards. Danny, Jim and Amanda Lavercombe Legends' handler were all at the show which was very hot and windy.

On Sunday Danny went off to the Doggy Day Out, a large dog focussed community event that we help to organise and sponsor through our retail pet business the Petshop Boyz in an effort to raise funds for the Surf Life Saving Movement, and Amanda, Legend and I all set off to the Chanpionship show in the other direction.

Here is how the day panned out for me........

SUNDAY - 21/9/2008

At approximately 12.36 and 46 seconds in the pm our very own Danny Boskovski became the new WORLD RECORD holder for the mostest number of doggies walked on one lead for 1km. The previous world record holder walked a measly 22 pooches BUT our Mr. celebrity DJ and my partner Danny has upped the anty to 24 ,wooo hooo , pooches left walking on his lead after a 1 km measured walk.

Of course Danny being the consummate committed competitor and organiser, was up and off at 5.30am yesterday morning to meet with 'Nitro Glycerine' the head of the Cavalier pooch pack.

Little ole me was left to feed and clean , 7 puppies, 3 adult dogs, 24 parrots and 26 chickens all before preparing to attend the local championship dog show with ‘The Legend’….our weimaraner pooch.

It was a stressful morning for me, just as I had finished feeding and cleaning-up after most of the animals ( all by myself) our handler Amanda phoned to say that she was leaving for the dog show, ( bugger I thought I won’t be ready for at least another 30 mins) I still needed to have a shower and pack the van so I was a tad stressed….. you’ll see what I mean later.

I hurried into our study to get some papers I needed for the dog show and noticed that an adjacent toilet in the bathroom area had burst a pipe at the back of the cistern overnight and gorgeous toilet blue water was running all over our beige woollen carpets. Bummer what next? By that stage I was in a panic as I was very late. Turning the water supply off to the toilet I decided I would deal with that problem after the dog show, I ran upstairs to have a quick shower before leaving for the dog show.

Quickly jumping into the shower in a mad rush and turning on the water I realised that I had forgotten to take off my underpants before entering the shower…. Oopps too many senior moments happening of late so made a quick mental note to snap out of it and get myself together.

Drove at break neck speed to the dog show in just enough time only to be smashed by our competitors…. Never mind it wasn’t our weekend.

Sat quietly in the shade with Amanda and legend licking our wounds after the dog show when suddenly the phone rang…… did he or didn’t he???????? GROUND BREAKING NEWS FOLLOWED (make sure you listen to the sound track on this link) it was confirmed……. I was now living with an international celebrity……..Even though you may think everything changes when you live with an international Dog Walking Celebrity somehow the world just stays the same…although it did feel very very special last night being given my desert by a world record holder even if it was only a pooch lovers record......

Wooo Hooooo!

As you can see it was both a stressful and wonderfully exciting weekend.

All the fun and excitement aside I want to share something important that I learrned over the weekend. For those that don't know our Danny has a passion for music and dancing, you should see him on the dance flooor...double wooo hoo! Because of this he likes to watch Australian Idol.... yes I know......

My point is that it is early days in this years show however already it is one of the better years of the show. Last nights' show was featuring songs from the 80's. When some of the contestants are only 16 years old it was obviously outside of their experience range to know this decades' music intimately. To help the contestants the producers of the show had invited Cyndi Lauper ( an 80's singing star) as a coach for the contestants. As part of the show they aired clips of her working with each contestant. She was old by their standards but her knowledge, experience and know how was extraordinary.

When the contestants came out a some of them had improved 100's of percent over their previous attempts. It was amazing.

It reminded and reinfored in me the importance of the knowledge base and experience held in trust by our elders and it also reminded me strongly of our trip to the USA Weimaraner Club National Dog show earlier this year.

For me the highlight of that trip was meeting the elders of the club not so much looking at all the dogs on parade, I was more interested in the history and to share in the knowledge of how they got to this pinacle with their dogs and hobby.

I had talks and discussions with George and Michelle Govette, the breeders of Am/ Aust Ch Deerpaths Charlemagne imp USA this dog was bred by George and Michelle and was brought to Australia and had a major impact on the direction of our breed in this country. It was wonderful for me to hear their story and share their wisdom. To meet Virginia Alexander the co-author of the bible on Weimaraners 'Weimaraner Ways' was in itself inspirational to say the least. To see and hear her story was very motivating for me. To meet other breeders like Judy Colan, Chris Grissel and others and to gain more insight and explanation on their breeding systems was an exceptional experience. To share this with my fellow Australian Breeders at the same time was also motivating and special being able to spend this time talking about our Weimaraners.

At times we all find irritation in dealing with older people but I urge you all to also appreciate the value and validity of the knowledge and expereince that they can bring to all of us.

This week the puppies have done well, they are now feeding themselves easily and not stepping in too many poops and they love playing on the grass although they do get tired quickly as you can see from this weeks photo's. Puppies love to eat, poop, play sleep,.... not necessarily in that order.

Till next week that's all from me.

Where did this week go?

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:25:00 GMT

Can you believe that another week has come and gone? It seems like it was 5 mins ago that we were all bunkering down in the big stormy weekend of dogs shows at Newcastle. So what has happened this week, firstly the puppies started their weaning schedule last Thursday, can you hear the groan of relief from Holly? It is hard work making enough milk for a whole litter of puppies, they grow very fast at this stage so the mother is ready for help by weaning time. The Puppies (see photos) are doing very well, they have taken to their food quickly (although will still suck their mothers milk for some time yet) and are gaining more and more confidence walking around. Now they are also starting to play with each other and today I noticed that their first set of teeth are coming through their gums. I think this is a very fiesty litter as they all make it known if they don't like what you are doing to them. The weather locally has also started to improve dramatically (Spring has definately sprung), I don't know what the temperature is while I'm typing this but it seems very hot and there is also a terrible wind blowing outside. On Saturday last the temperature was perfect for the puppy's first excursion out onto the grass. Danny got some great shots, you can see from the expression of their faces that they were not entirely happy and I could hear them crying from quite a distance away when Danny was taking the photo's. From now on we will start introducing more and more new experiences to them and we will also handle them a lot more as they gain confidence and independence from their mother. Tomorrow their new puppy pen, outside the main kennel area will be complete and they will slowly make the transition outdoors in the day time, they will have lots of room to begin to play and explore their expanding new world. Keep your fingers crossed for fine weather tomorrow so that we can get the new puppy pen finished. So what else is news this week? Danny has been practising for the Guinness Book of World Records attempt to break the most number of dogs ever walked on a dog lead at one time. He has been training a team of 27 Cavaliers to walk 1 kilometre on a single dog lead.... no mean feat. I think he may succeed this year. This is all part of a local fund raising day called 'The Doggie Day Out' which will be held this coming Sunday. We sponsor this event and it is in part our contribution to the local community as the funds raised go to the Surf Lifesaving Movement in Newcastle. This weekend we have posted a new page for Lizzy - Somerford Liz Taylor who is a puppy from our last litter by Paige and Benson born in April 2008. At the weeknd Lizzy had a very successful debut as a promising show dog at the Dogs NSW Northern Region Show in NSW. Well done to Kevin and Donna who are her carers and handlers, I'm sure they had lots of fun and thrills especially as this was Lizzy's first full weekend of dog shows. We will all wait and watch how she goes from here on in. Take a look at Kev in the ring with Lizzy at Gunnedah at the weekend. Yesterday after the rain in the morning we took Legend for a training session with his handler Amanda Lavercombe. Here are some candid shots taken just after the rain finishes, his coat looks a little spotty because it was wet from the rain. Amanda and Legend are quickly learning to work with each other and their first full weeknd of shows will be coming up shortly. This week we also mated Legend to Kira we hope to have a litter of puppies from Kirra and Legend in the middle of November 2008. I'll keep you posted on this as its early days at the moment. Well thats me done for another week however I just wanted to say thank you to all those readers who emailed me personally this week to tell me how much they enjoy my weekly blog. It is a big committment but secretly, if I have the time, I enjoy the writing. Take care and enjoy! jim

The BIG Weekend

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:50:00 GMT

What a big weekend. Our friends the Knox's and the Stock's (Ashlaren Weimaraners) came to Newcastle for a weekend of Dog showing. There were four shows scheduled for the weekend, one Friday night, two Saturday and the final show on Sunday. Laine and Warren Knox camped on the dog show grounds and Rachel & Greg and their children including our god son Hugo stayed at our home. This was also going to be the very first weekend for our new handler Amanda Lavercombe. Amanda and 'Legend' have been practising for the last fortnight and this was to be their first scheduled weekend in the show ring together. 'Legend' has warmed very much to Amanda who is very gentle and will present him to the judges as he should be and I'm sure as a result of her experience she will take him on to greater things in the show ring. Legend deserves to be handled by a very competent Weimaraner handler like Amanda. I have to admit my handling skills are not as good as they could be. On Friday afternoon a typical NSW East Coast low developed off the coast of Newcastle and the weather deteriorated badly throughout the afternoon. By Friday night the rain was constant and becoming torrential at times. BUT as you all know dog shows are NEVER cancelled. Maybe only fools and Englishmen go out in the midday sun but nutters go to dog shows in torrential rain. On Friday night we had Danny and myslef, Laine and Warren Knox, Colleen and Tony Rowlands and our handler Amanda Lavercombe huddled under a small gazebo together with five shivering weimaraners. Friday night was the the debut show for Amanda and 'Legend' and they did very well taking out Runner Up Best of Breed and Best Junior in the Gundog Group. Unfortunately that win meant that we had to stay longer in the freezing winds, the lashing rains and wait for general specials later in the night. Most of the dogs in General Specials were showed in the pouring rain and unfortunately we didn't win anything further that night. What a night, we all limped home, sodden, cold and weary. As we went to bed the gale increased and we had a wild night of wind and rain. The morning dawned not much better than the night before, Rachel and Greg Stock having arrived from Sydney with their 3 young children late in the evening on Friday decided to skip the first show because of the poor weather. Danny and the Stocks' spent the morning touring the Newcastle Art Galleries and doing a little shopping, the Stock children visited our store to pet the baby rabbits. I spent the afternoon colouring in with young Lauren Stock when she innocently asked me if I had a baby in my tummy......mmm think it might be time to start that diet.... three year old's have a delicate way with words! By Saturday night the weather was marginally better the storm was starting to abate so Danny and Rachel decided to take 'Legend' to the night show at Hillsborough. I'm glad they did, as he was placed Best of Breed, Runner up Best Gundog in the Group, Best Junior Gundog in the Group and Best Junior in the Show. Well done 'Legend' and Rachel. We all had a few wines and a great roast dinner at home to celebrate on Saturday evening. I'm glad I wasn't at the show however as the grounds were a quagmire of mud, was best to stay home and colour the space men books with the children. On Sunday morning the day dawned warm and sunny, how quickly the weather can change once the storm front has moved on. I ventured out to check the damage in the garden. Our neighbours have a large gum tree down in their driveway but apart from a few shredded leaves on many of our trees we escaped any major damage, The children came out with me to collect the eggs from our hens and they enjoyed their bacon and eggs for breakfast even more knowing thet they had collected the eggs fresh from the hens. After breakfast we tidied up the house a little and the Stock's packed up their belongings and we all departed for the last show of the weekend. Again 'Legend' was placed Best of Breed, Runner Up Best in Gundog Group and Best Junior in Gundog Group but was eliminated from the General Specials when the Runner Up Best in Show came from the Junior Class. What a weekend. This week the puppies who were born in 'Legend's' litter all turned 1 year old so happy birthday to all those puppies and their puppy owners. This week Danny also launched Danno's Direct on our Petshop Boyz Web site, check it out (click on video in centre of opening page). I didn't know this was happening and when Danny called me to take a look 'Legend' was asleep next to my computer so when I turned the sound on he jumped up to see where his other Dad was, you should have seen his expression when he saw Danny on my computer it was priceless. The puppies are doing exceptionally well. Their eyes are open, they are now learning to talk, they have found their squealling voices and they are old enough to start interacting with more people. I will include a few shots of them playing with the stock children at the weekend. This week they will start getting weaned and that means more work for me! Its also time for me to start introducing new experiences for them. I will take them out on the grass later in the week when it warms up

10 Days old

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:00:00 GMT

The puppies are now 10 days old and it is also the last day of winter and of course old mother nature is having one last miserable day to say goodbye to winter. I'm told that it has been the coldest August on record in this region, so much for global warming it certainly hasn't happened in our region in the winter of 2008. We took our Godson Dylan to the park at the beach today but it was very cold and wet so we didn't stay too long. Today I have put some fresh photos on the website for those people who are following the progress of their puppy's on line. Holly's puppies are now 10 days old and their eyes will open any day from here on. They are all very tubby and growing well. I have finally stopped sleeping with them at night (was good to get back to my own bed at last) as they are now getting more mobile and can easily find their mother and move in closer to her if they get cold during the night. On Friday we moved them outside to the kennel complex, with heating at night of course and they made the transition very well, although Holly does like to be inside closer to where we are. Once their eyes open they will start to learn to walk then the fun and games will commence. Keep watching this space for updated news on your puppy. Being the end of the month I usually review the happenings at Somerford for the previous month. In August 2008 we have had over 1200 visitors to our website. The average time people spend on our site looking at the information contained is 9 minutes. I continually get totally amazed and fascinated by how diverse the locations are that people who check into our site come from. Some of the more unusual places this month are: 300 visitors from the USA, Chile, Vietnam, Japan, Spain, Belgium, Panama, Malta, Turkey, Italy and Brazil. To all those people who have checked in and joined our ever growing mailing list I say thank you. The pressure is on for me to keep our site up to date and interesting. I also want to say thank you to over 50 people who have emailed me to say how refreshing and interesting they have found our website and about 10 reader who have called personally to pass on their best wishes. It seems that many people love reading the story's on the site. I am currently writing the story of my very first weimaraner and it is very funny. This month has been very busy with the Christening of our godson Hugo Oliver Stock, the birth of Holly's litter and completion of some renovations in our kennel complex. This month we intend to build a new puppy play area and have some new paths installed so that I don't have to traverse the muddy areas when it rains a lot. Next month will be even busier with a hectic show schedule and once weaning of the puppies commences my workload increases because there is more cleaning and lots of feeding but also good play times with the growing puppies. This month we have received many updates on our puppy owners and here are just three that I have listed Shatzi Kaiser Ozzy Thank you all for taking time to look at our site.

5 Days Old

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:14:13 GMT

The puppies are now 5 days old. I have posted two new Photo's today. You can see how quickly they change in a matter of days. When Weimaraner puppies are born they have what we call zebra stripes for the first few days. This changes very quickly once they start suckling and the bitch's milk comes in. You may also notice that around the puppies mouth the coat has changed slightly and has what looks like a brownish or orange tinge around the mouth area. This is because they are suckling and this area is often wet from milk and saliva. You may notice the exact same thing happens on many white dogs. When a white dogs fur is constantly wet it goes this same colour reddish brown. Often noticed more as tear stains around the eyes or around the feet on white dogs it goes away after weaning on the Weimaraners at this time the mouth area becomes predominently dryer (at least once they get the hang of not dipping their faces in the food). The puppies are doing well, Holly's milk has come in now and she is getting very saggy boobies and the pups are rapidly putting on more weight every days as they gorge themselves on the free flowing milk. Holly still spends most of the day and all of the night with the puppies and we now step up her food intake as the pups will demand more and more milk every day. The weather has changed here today it is very warm and spring like. I wonder how long it will last? Hope you enjoy the photo's... Jim

Puppy News

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:50:00 GMT

Just a short note to let you all know that the puppies are doing well. I will put some new photos up tomorrow. Danny has contacted everyone today to confirm their puppy allocations so now you can sit back and watch your puppy grow as I post new photos.

I am really excited about this litter I think they have all got good noses as they can sniff their mother coming already and you can hear them getting excited as she approaches. I have never witnessed this happen at such a young age. The weekend was very cold so we were very careful to keep them warm and now today it feels like there could be a little Spring in the air.
Yesterday we attended little Hugo Oliver Stocks' Christening Day. Danny and I are now officially his godparents. It was a wonderful experience and the Clergy Person who officiated at the ceremony was very good with all of the children present. We stayed with the Knox/Stock families to celebrate for the afternoon then travelled back to Newcastle.
Today Laine Knox (Hugo's Grannie) sent me some of the photo's she took at the Church and the light coming into the window at the church and surrounding little Hugo while he was being christened is really very special. Danny and I have started to compile a photo booklet of the big events in his life so that we can give it to him when he turns 18.

Shortly I will put up a list of things that any new puppy owners should obtain before they collect their puppy. If anybody would like to obtain an advanced copy of our puppy care booklet (comes free with all of our puppies) let Danny know now and he will email it to you so that you can be prepared with the basics.

Wasn't the closing ceremony of the Olympic amazing!

Thats all for now

Jim

Puppy Update.

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:35:00 GMT

Wow didn't it turn cold this afternoon. Fortunately the puppies are in a room that we keep at 24 degrees so they are all comfortable. Most of the time they are eating and sleeping as puppies do at this age.

They are all thriving which is good news. The first few days are very intense for me as I sleep with the puppies for the first week until I'm sure they are all feeding well and growing big enough to get away from their mother just in case she accidentally sits or lays on a puppy in the middle of the night.

These puppies have a very good nose and they find their mothers nipple with great ease and then they attach and suckle quite often.

Here is what you have all been waiting for the first pictures of the litter taken a few moments ago. You can see a number of the puppies are suckling in the photo.

It is a busy weekend for us this week with the Christening on Sunday and the puppies to care for. Our friend Barb is coming over on Sunday morning to puppy-sit for us while we are away. Stay posted to the blog for updates on the photo's and more news as the puppies grow.

By the way the photo on this page is of me holding Holly when she was a baby.

Jim

Puppy News 21/8/2008

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:45:00 GMT

Well here is the news that everybody has been waiting for.

Holly whelped her puppies last night.
We have 4 males and 2 females. It was a long night. She had her first puppy just after the heats of the 5000m running in Bejing. Yes I got to watch the full days' olympic events from the beginning to the end last night.

The puppies are doing well at this stage. The next few days are the most crucial as Holly's milk comes in and the puppies learn to suckle competently. All the puppies were born healthy, they are a good grey colour with no white on them at all. Currently they are suckling and settling into a routine.

In the next few days I will begin taking some photo's and posting them on the web so you can see your new puppy as he or she develops.

All of the people on our reserved list waiting for their puppy will have their allocation confirmed early next week when Danny will either email confirmation or will call people to notify.

I have calculated that the puppies will be able to go to their new homes on the weekend of 18th October.

Some puppy's may be able to be collected just before that if required. Keep your eye on this Blog as I will post any news or notices on this part of the website.

Jim

The week that was!

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:55:00 GMT

The past week has been cold and a little sad.

We said goodbye to little 'Ozzy' our puppy from the Paige and Benson litter. Ozzy was about 14 weeks old when he left here so we had become very fond of him and it was very sad to see him leave. He is a gorgeous puppy and was welcomed in Jakarta by the Romyn family who are anxiously waiting to take him home from quarantine. He should be released in a few days.

Holly has about 10 more days to go before her puppies are due to be born. She is very fat now, waddles a lot and can't play as much with the other grown dogs she is also eating a lot. We have prepared the whelping box, painted the floors in the kennel area with a new epoxy based paint and all the adult dogs have new sleeping quarters that look very swish. Knowing weimaraners as I do I wonder how long it will stay swish?

I am tipping that our new weimaraner puppies will be born on 22/23 August so lets see if I am right? Enquires for this litter have been very strong and we have currently closed the book on any further orders until after the litter is born as we don't know how many of each sex we will get until after the puppies are born.

Danny is currently very busy preparing for the "Doggie Day Out" event, this is a major community event that we sponsor and co-organise to raise funds for the Cooks Hill Surf Lifesaving Club. The event attracts all kinds of dogs and doggy people and is held at the big park next to Cooks Hill Surfclub at Bar Beach.

This club needs to be able to raise funds of approximately $100,000 each year to maintain their community services of patrolling our beaches in the summer months. We have selected this worthy group to give something back to the community in which we live. It is a lot of hard work and every year we say this is the last time we are going to do all this work but each year rolls around and we do it all again. Spare a thought for Danny as he frantically works towards the next event in September 2008.

Next weekend Danny and I have been asked to be the godparents of little Hugo Stock the grandson and son of my dear friend Laine Knox of Ashlaren Weimaraners and their daughter Rachel Stock. We are both thrilled to be asked to be Hugo's godparents and are both looking forward to the christening next week.

It will be a busy week with puppies and a christening at the end of the week.

Just before I finish the NSW Weimaraner club has requested candid photo's of weimaraners at play if you have any shots that you think may be good enough to be included in the calendar 2009 email them to me jim@petshopboyz.com.au and I will send them along for consideration. They need to be in Jpeg format.

Have a good week and stay tuned to Somerford Weimaraners diary blog.