Hormone hell

Hormone hell in this house recently. Nina's in season, so she's stir-crazy from being kept indoors. She's on a diet of Tic-Tacs to mask the attraction to Max and Satch. It has worked, in that we didn't have a night when Max barks all night, which we usually do. He barked a lot, mind, and nearly drove me mad, but at least I didn't have to sleep on the breakfast room table, whch I had to do last season. Why does he quieten down when I'm in the room? I don't even want to go there!

Satch is funny. He's not been allowed to cross paths with his mum much either, but when he does, he just thinks playing with mum is so, so exciting. He wags his tail faster than I've ever seen before, play bows and jumps around, but clearly has no idea why he's finding her particularly exciting right now. I'm sure he'd work it out if they were together for long, though, so they've definitely been kept apart.

Things are finally starting to calm down. They're all together as I type this - Max sat on my lap; situation normal. I always feel as though I've got him back from a journey when he starts to be able to turn attention to me again after a week or so of total monomania with Nina. Maybe he'll even start eating again soon. He won't touch dog food - tinned or dried - for about 10 days. Predictably, he doesn't seem to think sausages and dog biscuits (fed by hand, of course) count as food, so that's what he's been living on, but he's still skinny.

Satchmo wins again

Well, we're doing well at Open shows. On 20 Feb at Bristol & District, Satchmo got Best Puppy, Reserve Best of Breed and then Best Puppy in the Working Group. V v proud of him. Needless to say, he was really hard work, but if you get it right with him, he looks fabulous, just poised and quivering.

A few boasts

Satchmo got his Kennel Club bronze obedience award on 5 February. Didn't put a foot wrong. His sister Ella got hers at the same time. That was a bit more nailbiting - right up to the day before, every time her owner, Nicky, called her in for a recall, Ella just ran straight over to me. Serious work was put in getting Nicky to jump up and down sounding like a banshee, and it worked a treat.

Satchmo also won Best Puppy (BP), Best of Breed (BOB) and Puppy Group 2 (PG2) at Yeovil and District Open Show in January, so you can imagine how proud I was. He got 1 third and 2 seconds at BDDC and also 2nd in obedience there, so that was pretty good too. Ella also got a second at the same show.

Very pleased with both puppies. Totally unbiased and objective, of course.

Episode 2

Well, that really did start a stream of consciousness, didn't it? Episode 1 in October; episode 2 in January. Satchmo is 8 months now; he is one gorgeous little boy. I use that euphemistically as he's about 37kg now. What a sweetie. V beautiful; v bonded; v good. V v time-consuming. Today I put all three dogs in the car together - WW3 did not break out. Max looked a bit pissed off, but then he's good at that. Walked them all in the snow. How come pavement not cold enough for snow to settle, but dogs' backs cold enough?

Took Max to vet yesterday to get checked up after recent swollen ankle (abscess). Usual Max Wall impression - legs bent, creeping along with excuse for a tail clamped to bum. No I know Max Wall didn't have a tail, but you get the picture. Vets will never know what a proud, handsome boy he really is.

Nina has new red collar. Her colour. My colour. Who would think a new red collar could be as enhancing on a dog as a new red dress would be on me...

Introducing the grafmax dobes

Hi. Grafmax is my kennel name for my dobermanns. I have two adults - Max (Kenex Spain at Grafmax) and Nina (Cosajoro Nina Simone at Grafmax). Then, in May 2009, I did something really crazy, considering I live on my own and work full time - I bred my first litter. They are the Jazz litter - what else could they be with Nina Simone for a mother? I have kept Satchmo (Grafmax Louis Armstrong) and I'm part owner of Ella (Grafmax Ella Fitzgerald). The other two pups - Grafmax Billie Holiday and Grafmax Fats Waller - live some way away.

It was a fantastic, and seriously expensive, experience breeding and raising a litter. I really enjoyed it and I'm so proud of Satchmo and Ella. They were five months old yesterday and they've both had their Kennel Club Puppy Foundation Certificates for some time.

I've just posted off their first dog show entry forms and I'm really excited about that. I'll be gutted if they don't get anywhere.