Zara Update

Since Freya left on Saturday, it's been a time of adjustments for Zara. Instead of having a 'litter' we now have our new 'puppy' and so it's different. We have given her a big crate (as her bed) with a small pen attached, which has toys, a water bowl and a toilet tray (as she uses it so well I decided to go for the easy option and keep it). She isn't quite as happy about being left in the pen, as you'd expect. The other dogs, so far, are pretty good with her - except for Holly. I do give her time being free (but supervised) on the house, trips out and about, playtime in the garden, training etc. When she is in the pen she sometimes gets kongs / puzzle toys / frozen carrots. Having a puppy is hard work though! Today she managed to chew up a chunk out of the lino in her pen and pee in the van. We took her out with us to Tesco's and she saw lots of people walking by, one person put their hand out to her, she saw traffic and lots of trolleys being pushed and rattling. She was fine with all of that but not impressed about being left in the van for about twenty minutes (something that is great about service puppies is being able to take them everywhere!). Even though there are some challenges, she is such a fun puppy <3

Bernese Club Show

On Sunday we headed up to Dublin for the Bernese Club's Championship Show. I had been really looking forward to it and had bathed & blasted the two girls the day before. Zara went in the back with Amber for the journey & Wilson also came along too. Cody & Holly stayed at home with our friend. 

When we arrived we took them both out and overall Zara was very confident and relaxed. She is slightly nervous around dogs (and there was dogs, like, everywhere; although most were friendly). I think the thing that scared her was when people walked past the cars and some dogs would then start barking protectively. Many dogs did come over to say hello and some of the Bernese boys are big, but most were gentle. 

Her brother, Gilbert was there and it was great to see him again! He was so excited! The two pups enjoyed playing together. Daisy (an Amber X Mr Darcy puppy) came later on and she is lovely. She looks quite like Amber. Her sister, Saphy was planned to be there too but her owners couldn't make it, so hopefully we'll get to see her another time. 

I had Amber entered and she is totally out of coat. Even more so than when she normally sheds because of having the puppies. I decided to show her anyway - to begin with she did pretty good and did everything I asked but then as I was stacking her just before the judge went over her she found something to sniff on the ground and got distracted! She was happy enough with the judge handling her though and did stay standing. She moved okay for the first triangle, then the judge wanted a straight up and down, and she wasn't in the mood, I managed to get her going though but just as we were about to turn she tugged really hard to get out the ring (I wonder if something spooked her). So we just left as I figured she wasn't going to do anything more and she still got a very good :) We need to do more ringcraft and since that's the first show she's been to since probably last year, we didn't do too bad! 

We got to see some other relatives too; Amber's sister (and three of her puppies, two girls and one boy), Zara's daddy and a puppy who is related to Cody as her mother is half sister to the A-pups daddy. There may have been others too! It was nice to watch the other Bernese in the ring, there were a few dogs that I really liked. 

My sister Beth & Wilson did the agility try outs. It was the first time running a full course for them both. Wilson, despite having not done it before, ran up the A-frame quite happily! Go Beth & Wilson :) I would have had a go with Amber but when I went over there was a long wait so didn't get to. 

After the show we headed back to Daisy's owners house. All three dogs were welcome to come in and they were quite good actually! Zara peed & pooped on their floor plus tried to steal food a few times but didn't chew anything; other than dog toys! She didn't mind the little children cuddling her and wasn't fazed by Daisy's barking (she wasn't sure about other dogs in her house). 

It was a lovely day, lots of fun :)

Zara, Gilbert & Freya!

The puppies are now 12 weeks old! I had hoped to do lots of posts on here about them but so far I've not done very well at that, I will have to make a big effort to keep it updated now :)

They now have their new names! Gilbert (Mr Dizzy) RockyBear Count On Me - Zara (Little Miss Sunshine) RockyBear Follow Your Heart & Freya (Little Miss Chatterbox) RockyBear On My Way. 

Gilbert went to his new home on June 1st. He is settling in well and is living with three other bernese, one of whom is his Daddy, Gandhi. Freya went home on June 20th (so we had some extra time with her) and she too seems to be enjoying her new adventures! Zara is our new puppy and so will be staying here with us :)

This is the last video of all the puppies together.