A glorious Morning

It is absolutely glorious here this morning, a heavy frost but beautiful sunshine, took the gang across the fields to the woods thought I would share a couple pictures on here.

Blitzan Rhapsody

Couldn't wait to show you another one, this is our Leah, now 10 years old, bless her, and related to all the Blitzans out there. Brian has really captured her, those who know her personally will appreciate that. I am really am chuffed with all the photos Oh sorry I should say Andrew is really chuffed as I bought them for him ;-)

Hi

Hi Ali. I think the photo of Logi is great and looking forward to seeing the others.

Photos

Lovely pictures again Sophie, love the one of Sid, it's looks like he is in slow motion and the river is in fast motion, very good.
The picture of Logi is on eof the ones taken by Brian Eastgate at the photo shoot last Thursday, I will post a new one each day, what do you think, I love them.

A Valentine from Logi

Photos

Hi here are a couple of photos from last weekend the second time we've been to willing ford bridge with Ilka. (we took some friends with us so it was difficult not getting them in photos hence some ones legs in the first) and dad took the one of Sid running in a shallow bit of the river. Sophie

Photo Shoot

What a great day we have had, Brian Eastgate and Sharon came over today and we had a photo shoot, very professional, all the lights, white background etc; We had individual photo's of all the dogs taken, I can't wait for them to arrive I will post them on here when they do, it was my valentines gift to Andrew, (not that I want them done of course!!!!!!) Brian was great very patient and Sharon was a great help with getting the dogs attention, and helping me decide on the right pose and best photo. 4 hours and a lot of fun, and fantastic pictures which will be forever a reminder of our gorgeous dogs,, well worth every penny and very reasonable too, anyone interested take a look at Brians web site or e mail for his details.

Lovely head shot of your Zeb Elle, thanks for posting that one, I had a cuddle with Dylan and Genna today theu both look very well, in fact all of Sharons dogs look well and all had to have a cuddle, well they would wouldn't they - they are Munsterlanders after all.

Hope you have all had lovely Valentines Day's we don't usually remember the day here but glad we did this year.......

Logi sends his love to all his Wives!!!!!

The Best Blitzan!

Do not know if this is going to work! and God Knows if I will be signing in as me - or fred blogs! but above a pic of Zeb, Blitzan Rendition!! Sorry to hear you have had "problems" with *** adding comments!! know the feeling.................

BE AWARE and TAKE NOTE

I am sorry I had to delete the post Elspeth put on as someone out there in the www left a comment with a link that was disgusting, because of this I am now doing away with the comment links anyone who wants to comment on posts, photos or anything just sign in and add your comments by way of a post, just chat is fine you don't have to post pictures or questions anything so long as it's clean and friendly is fine. If your not a member and would like to be e mail me or if you would like to comment but not join then e mail me and I will post your point of view, pictures or comments many thanks and sorry for the sick people who thought it would be good to do add a link like that.
Below is Elspeth's post, nothing wrong with the post of course just the comment box which had no relevance to our site in any way shape or form.

What lovely parents to be they are.
Well we got Ceilidhs first certificate tonight and a purple rosette. After worrying all week that she might be scared of the rottie pup... she beat him up! In a playful way of course. He was much more gentle this week so fingers crossed for him in the future.
Ali, thank you for the vitamins advice, everyone has been commenting on how silky and soft her coat is (and how beautiful her markings are) so the supplements are really making a difference to her coat not just her health etc.

Hope you enjoy!

Ceilidh

Congratulations Elspeth and Ceilidh thats great, well done and I hope it's the first of many, bless her, I am glad the Rottie didn't bother her, that shows how well socialised and just how confident she is, that's down to you. :-)

Now the Daddy

The father is R. Simply Dazzling or Jiggy he is the father of Diva's (Blitzan Leah's Stunner jw) Puppies that were born in Oct 07.This will be Jiggy's 3rd litter.

Again a lovely natured dog who loves to be shown and LOVES going to visit Ali so he can get the usual mud pack to keep his skin and coat in good condition!!!!

He is a total joy to own and live with.

I want 8 please 4 boys 4 girls.

The Mum to be

This is Keisha or R.Sweet Child of Mine. Her dad is Logi or Sh Ch Blitzan Rhine jw shcom. Her mum is R. Showgirl.

She is a beautiful young lady, well her nick name is princess because she is one. The only munster in 23 years of owning them to steal my husband heart.

Congratulations

TO Keisha, Jiggy and Judith, Logi is very pleased to be a Grandfather again, not long to go now, I shall place my bet with the guess of 12 babies, 7 boys and 5 girls, what does everyone else guess at, Judith a photo of the blooming lady would help!

That is fantastic news! Who are the proud mother and father to be?

Passports and stuff

Elspeth, Diva has her passport so in August I can take her to Sweden to visit Gozzi, her husband to be, very easy to get done but allow yourself around 7 - 8 months before you can bring them back in. First they need to be micro-chipped, then a vaccination against Rabies, a month after the vaccination they will have a blood test, once the blood test result has come back showing they have the correct anti bodies then it's a six month wait until the dogs can come back into the UK, they can leave at anytime but it has to be a full 6 months after the results from the blood test before they can come back. That's why Diva didn't go abroad last year, we were out by 10 days and I didn't want to wait, well couldn't afford the time to spend all that time abroad with Diva, this year however the world is her oyster.
One thing to think about Elspeth is the European ticks, they are particularly nasty in France and Scandinavia and there has been cases of dogs dying after being bitten by one, the Flatcoated retriever who won the group at Crufts last year, died last June after being bitten by a tick in his own country and not long after competing in a show here in the UK. The dogs all have to be seen by a vet within 48 hours prior to your return trip and the vet has to treat them with a flea and tick remedy and a comprehensive wormer. As for locations Andrew and I cheated for our honeymoon as we got married in Sri Lanka and then flew to the Maldives for our honeymoon we were away for 16 days and not a dog in sight, I did miss them but we had a fantastic time just the two of us, thats a few years ago now though. I love Switzerland and have heard Croatia is fantastic, not too busy, beautiful scenery and fantastic beaches. But as I said Diva, Judith and I are planning on flying to Sweden later this year.
Joannne the dogs look so well and what great scenery, thanks for posting it's seems to be working, I decided to go with a blog as I felt it would be a great place where owners could put up photo's, stay in touch and get help and advice and of course meet each other, so far so good it seems to be working thanks to you all. :-)
Judith is well known for her obsession for the man Jon Bon Jovi, so much so that she has his signed photo framed above her bed! Tony is still waiting for his favourite Kylie!!!!!!!!

Guess what

Logi's going to be a Grand dad again, ha ha ha

Canadian Munsterlanders

Hi Ali, here are a few more pictures of Duke and Duchess in British Columbia, Canada. We were out on a fall walk near our house. I really like the picture of Duchess looking up the tree with all the deadfall around her. Duke seems to have spotted something in the tree, and our Springer Spaniel Elly May always has her nose on the ground.

Thank you Sophie that is really useful. I have had a quick look and that is exactly the information that I was looking for. I did not know that horses needed passports. xx

Hi Elspheth
I don't know alot about passports but we have them for all our ponies (not that were going to take them any where just that you now have to have passports for horses) and we got them from the vet I think.
Here's a website that might be useful (don't know if they are).
http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/pets/index.htm or
http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/quarantine/regulation/eu_reg.htm
Sophie

You will have to share him!

Does anyone know much about dog passports within the E.U. Quarantine regulations etc? We were just thinking about honeymoons and were thinking about ferrying to a few Scottish islands which I know is fine, and Gregor thought about a ferry to somewhere in Scandanavia but we do not know about passports etc. Also any ideas on sea sickness cures for dogs, and humans (I go a lovely shade of green)? Just incase. Nothing is set in stone obviously so any help and comments are welcome! Or even any honeymoon suggestions!
ELspeth xx

This is

This is what i want has a pet, please !!!!!!

Other animals

Hi these are our other animals the first pony is my Mums the coloured cob poppy the second is my Dads she is fell cross thoughbred and the third is my little sisters sadie who is part newforest and the grey is polo who is my connemara. Goats nibble, nutmeg who is nibbles mum and phoebe, cats Skitkit and Jack who you might have seen photos of before.
Sophie

Just a few pictures of Ceilidh taken this week. The top is a new walk that we have found off of the old railway line. She loves it. The other two that are out and about were taken up Dumyat. She was a little terror that day, refusing to come back when we called her even though she has been fantastic on every other walk! She found a dying sheep and ran around it barking and upsetting it so we think that is why she was being so naughty. Understandable when she has never really seen sheep up close before. We were not able to go to the beach with the Scottish munsterlanders yesterday afternoon because we ended up having other things on. So we took her in the morning on her own, she was a bit overwelmed having all of that space but she still managed to make friends with a young border terrier. I will post pictures of that when I get them uploaded onto the computer. It is great to see that eveyone is doing so well! All of the truly's are stunning!

The Calming of Puppy Stanley

Goodness, its been a while since I posted any news on gorgeous, stunning Stanley! He's part of the furniture now, it just seems like he's been a part of our family for such a long time and we're loving it! As you would probably expect from a Munster pup, he's been 'full on', and now he's approaching 4 months old, he's calmed down so much. The play biting is now mouthing, and he's less hyper being on Junior food. Thanks Ali for all your advice on feeding and recommended products. They've worked a treat.

Next week is his last week of puppy training (thank god). I can't say I've enjoyed the experience. Stanley gets very bored having to sit and wait while the owners are being instructed on basic obedience. He just wants to play with the 9 other pups in his class, and who can blame him! I think Stanley, and his friend Finley (a Vizler pup) were the most vocal in the group! I learned to take it all with a pinch of salt, as outside of the training environment he is a star. He's a very loyal boy, and has walked off the lead pretty much from the beginning. He really doesn't stray very far, and always comes back when called (might change!). He is the softest of dogs, not a mean bone in his body, and such a great friend. I'd love to take him to agility training as I think he's got a real talent for this. I picture myself at Crufts in a dog team, whilst Stanley jumps the hurdles to get the ball! Any advice as to how I pursue this?

I thought you might enjoy some new photos of my special Blitzan. My eldest son Tommy as become a real 'David Bailey' with his new mobile phone, and captured some wonderful shots of Stanley in our Garden.

Ali, it was great to talk to you tonight, and I'll ring tomorrow for another chat. Its all on! Can't wait! xxxxx

The Blitzan family

These are some pictures of other members of our family, most of you have probably met them before, Hector our Water Buffalo calf who lived for two months in our house with us and the dogs. Then there are the nine cats, Tinker, Cosmo, Wanda, Ambrose, Crookshanks, Tiger, Trifle, Tonks and Sky, Jamies chickens and Paxo the cockeral! So with the 10 dogs its quite a houseful! but one we love to have.

Also

While looking through my picture found some of the other pets in the house they are Frodo a 4 year old Gecko and Max a 10 year old Corn Snake. What other animals have you all got ?

Done it

Just found

Just found this picture of Jiggy on my old phone, with his stick that found out on a walk. He tried so hard to bring the stick home with us but i made him leave on the field.
We try and take some new pics in the next few days but i cant remember where i have put my card reader to transfer them, some little monsterlander ate my cable, but she will remain nameless,St****

Ok it's not letting put the picture up will try again in a bit
Judith

More photos

Hi Ali thanks for the email and of course I will keep using this blog I think it's really good.
The first two photos are on exmoor at willingford bridge on the 27th Jan and the second two are from last weekend when we had a bit of snow (Dad took these photos).
I think we might do a bit of showing we with Ilka because she looks so beautiful. We once took Sid to a little local show and he won best working dog agaist quite a few black labs and won most handsom dog at another small show in our village. Oh and Ilka is begining to lose a few puppy teeth which is good because they are quite sharp at the moment.
thanks
Sophie

A Golden Oldie and a Gorgeous Baby

This is Blitzan Ragamuffin, Dylan now 10 years old with his Great Neice, Genna, Blitzan Truly Magical, now 15 weeks, bless them, the photo was taken by Brian Eastgate, a superb photographer, click here to see just how good! http://brianeastgatephotos.homestead.com/

Both Dylan and Genna are owned by Sharon Miller. Sharon recokons the two are very alike in character, attitude and style, I will post a pic of Zeta tomorrow as I think she and Dyl are the spitting image of each other, and all different generations! Must mention Dylan is a Show Champion winning many awards including Best Dog at Crufts and last year Best Veteran Dog, Bless him he really loves showing and it shows! I hope Genna follows in his footsteps there as well. ;-)

Elpseth, Katie and photos......

Elspeth, thanks from Judith and me! Judith and I always go to the shows together, that's half the fun for going, a girls day out with our dogs, a good natter, a bite to eat and a great laugh that's the fun bit!!!! You and Gregor can of course stay with me for any of the Southern shows you fancy going to just let me know which ones you fancy doing.

Katie, I could do with a word and will try and ring you later but if you want to call me so it's convenient for you then that would be great - Thanks.

Going to post a photo of two dogs I have bred next..................

Ali

Thank you for the chat last night, it was really helpful. I forgot to say that Judith can stay with us too. Did you not travel together last year? If you could put us down for one of whichever litter you think would be best for the future, we would be delighted! It does not matter how long we may have to wait. I do hope that you find a fantastic and deserving home for the stunning boy. The poor soul.

Oh my goodness he is lovely!!! If it was a couple of months from now we would have him!!!
Ceilidh was fine after the ordeal and performed perfectly for all of the tricks. Although, what do you expect when treats are involved.
Elspeth

Help needed........

There is a three year old castrated male Munsterlander who needs a loving and understanding home. Through no fault of his own, he needs a home where he can finally bond with his owner, he is great with dogs and bitches, he does have a phobia of his collar being grabbed, ( which believe you me is quite understandable) but he is already getting over the hang up, highly intelligent and very quick to learn, extremely loving and now enjoying chasing toys and chewing treats.

If you have room in your hearts and home or know someone who does please contact Ali via e mail: blitzanmunsters@yahoo.co.uk

or by phone 01256 770948

Many thanks

Hi Elspeth, no worries I will be in all evening, I shall look forward to a natter.
As for the nasty dog at club, what a S**t, be careful he doesn't frighten Ceilidh so much as to put her off, as I have known cases where a puppy can be quite traumatised by a scare like that and easily associates the bite with the whole 'training' environment, but know Ceilidh she has probably shrugged it off and is more interested in you than the Rottie, just avoid him next week, give her a cuddle from me please.

Hi Ali

Thank you for all of the show information. We have a busy year ahead now! I think WELKS will be our first show all going well. We are going to try to make most of the ones on the list to get Ceilidh more experienced and me too!
We had a a bit of a bad night last night at the puppy class. A rottie pup bit ceiliodh on her leg and gave her a real fright (it was a good bit harder than a play bite) she refused to go near him after that. Then each puppy got passed opnto the next owner to socialise etc and he bit Gregor and broke the skin. The woman beside us had the same happen to her. I am calling the people who run the class tonight to let them know about it so they can nip the problem in the butt. Ceilidh was still playing with the golden retriever Cheddar though. She loves him to bits!
I will try phoning you tonight if that is okay?
As for staying with us for shows, what shows are you coming up for? Just so I can put it in the diary and find some cleaner walks for the dogs! Most of our walks are very muddy, their favourite I know. Hope you are all well.
Love
Elspeth xx

Zydo the 'Good Boy'

Thanks and well done

Hi Elspeth, no it should be up and running ok, had other mail, you are using the usual one, blitzanmunsters@yahoo.co.uk? try again and hopefully it will reach me, failing that give me a call in all evening and most of tomorrow. Thanks so much for the offer of staying with you that would be great so yes please and thank you very much :-)

Well done with Zydo Trish, that is excellent, wouldn't like to say that all of mine would be so good! if any of them.

Now for the other three pictures of gorgeous Zydo, and anyone else out there with pictures whack 'em up, I love to see how the dogs are doing.

Ali

Is your email down again? I tried to email earlier but it would not send. Just to let you know that if you need a place to stay for any Scottish shows inc. border union, you are more than welcome to stay here. There were a few other things but I will try and resend the email later on.
Elspeth

Zydo - training

Thanks for all the useful tips - certainly has got me thinking! On the 'crying at night' issue he was much better last night (probably read the blog!). He's totally clean - occasionally he might wake up at about 6.00am to be let out rather than wait for us to come down at around 7.15am but usually he just hangs on. Was very pleased with him yesterday when we were out on Hankley Common. 3 shorthaired german pointers were chasing a deer, naturally Zydo became interested and took off - but - much to my amazement given the excitement, and it was the first time he had come across deer, he came straight back when called. Lots of praise and treats!

Toys to make them work for it.......

by the way Trish, try this link to a great company who manufacture toys to keep your pet's brain active, I have the biscuit toys, rubber toys that you can put biscuits in and they spend agaes cchewing or rolling them around to get at the food, Diva's favourite, we use pedigree gravy bones. The toys are the 'planet range'.
http://www.companyofanimals.co.uk/

The boy in question ZYDO

Three today and three more for tomorrow, isn't he gorgeous, Judith will love these pictures and she tried everything to get Tony to let her have our 'Charlie Brown' now Zydo, the fact that he was already spoken for, didn't matter, so watch out Trish, Judith fell head over heels for your boy, by the way his Daddy is Judith's Strider and his Mum is my Summer.

Trish

Trish, have you played the game at home where you hide a couple of his favorite toys, could be in the garden , or house then you ask him to find them.
We started to do this with some of our dogs. If you sort of drag/rub the toy along the floor without him seeing you, he would soon get the idea of following the trail.I know alot of people who play this game. The dog has to think about what he is doing.
The Kennel Club also keeps a list of training clubs if you contact them they will send it out. You could then go and have a look at what certain clubs do and choose the best for your needs.
Judith

Here to help if we can........

Hi all
lovely to see the posts on here and great to hear how Ceilidh is travelling around, socialising is so important especially at an early age.
Zydo is obviously being a typical Munsterlander and using his not so little grey cells, which as you say Trish need stimulating. Yes mention it to your trainer that you would like to cover more exercises but failing that I will e mail you a phone number of a lady who has 5 Munster's, (two I bred, her eldest and youngest) and she goes to a few clubs which covers all sorts including agility. Not sure if it's you but she mentioned a friend inviting her for a drink to meet an owner with a brown and white young Munster, surely it has to be one of my babies!? Anyway as for games and training at home how about hide and seek, we hide treats and toys all around the house and garden and then send the dogs hunting, I start off easy and obvious and as they get the hang of it the hiding places get harder. Out on walks you can drop a Dummy and then send him back to 'find it', you can also introduce the whistle to him, teaching him to stop on command and sit is great and the sooner they learn that one the better. Agility can start before 12 months but no jumping or high work until after a year old so you are protecting their joints as much as possible, but weaving, a low A frame and Low dog walk is fine. I will have a word with Sharon and then e mail you some details.
Crying at night, they can suddenly 'try it on', and if he is you should just ignore him, it maybe that something spooked him one night and needs a bit of reassurance, by way of a night light or radio on quietly for background comfort. Since he has started to cry is he still being clean? only if he isn't then he could have a small urinary tract infection and the crying is asking to be let out. If not then just bear with it, he will settle down again.
On another note, Blue went to his first show in Australia and won 6 points towards his Ch title, Tracie his owner is hoping to join us on here so I am sure she will keep us up to date.
Glad the blog is working, share your stories, funny stories and questions, everyone is enjoying it, and no pressure just post when you have time.

Hi Trish,
Have you thought about agility? That is what we are going to do with Ceilidh when she is older (just over 3months just now) I know exactly what you mean about classes that are more about obedience. Have you tried speaking to the people who run the classes? I have spoken to ours about Ceilidhs next set of classes already. She is quite a bit further on than the puppies in her class so they are going to try to give us different and more challenging things to do to keep her amused throughout the classes. Maybe they do not realise just how clever munsterlanders actually are?!
I hope you get the crying sorted out, I have never heard of that happening before.
Elspeth xx

Training classes

Zydo is now nearly 8 months old. We've been to training classes since September and he's doing really well. However, I would like some advice - the class seems to be leading us down the competive obedience route. I'm finding that he's getting bored with the number of repititions of an excercise in class. What I would really like is to join a class that will teach retrieving/dropping/recall with distractions/generally more active things. Does such a thing exist? I'm conscious that he needs to do something to stop him getting bored....................or does anyone have any advice as to fun things I can do with him at home; I'd be grateful for any hints. I live in the Farnham, Surrey area so east Hants/west Surrey area would be good. Also, having been very good at night (he sleeps in the kitchen), for no apparent reason he has started crying and scratching the door when we go up and we lie there listening to him wimpering. I hate it (I'm sure I'm more upset than he is) but don't want to give in. I'm assuming it's a phase!

No snow here!!!

I am afraid that we have had no snow, only frost! It was the west coast of Scotland that got it all! We even went up to Aberdeen over the weekend but still none! She had a fantastic time with Paddy (the spanniel that doesnt like dogs) he is really coming out of his shell now thanks to ceilidhs persistence! I think that we will be spending next weekend hunting for some snow for her, and a trip to the beach. She fairly gets about at the moment, we are trying out different walks and visiting different people and places all of the time. She will even be coming to our wedding next year, as barmy as that might sound. Hope you had a good birthday and that everyone has enjoyed the snow.

Thank you

Thanks for the birthday wishes, and thanks for 'announcing it' Judith....... I think ;-)

How is everyone coping with this very wintry weather, Elspeth you must be the worst affected being so far North, but don't the dogs love the snow!

Happy Birthday Ali

Happy Birthday Ali
from
Sophie, Ilka and family.