So, I'd like to show you my completely life altering distraction for the next few months!

Puppies about an hour old

Meet Chunk, Three Spot, Little One and Wide Blaze lol Four boys. To be named properly at some point in the future...

They were born on 4th September after a very long all night labour (no sleep received on Wednesday night/Thursday morning!) culminating in a c-section on Thursday morning. Had a water bag at 1:30am and no puppies followed; if it wasn't for the fact the water bag had gone it would have looked exactly like normal early labour. They are big puppies and when the vet opened her up he discovered that her uterus and abdominal muscles were all so stretched she couldn't contract enough to push them out. We had a bit of a job getting Three Spot and Little One breathing properly but got there in the end, the anaesthetic didn't help. Sadie has been fantastic throughout, she took to them straightaway and she is being a fabulous mum.

Two Day Old Puppies (LtR: Wide Blaze on his back then Little One, Chunk and Three Spot!)

I need sleep! Three Spot is a screamer when he loses the nipple or objects to something :-P Especially at 4am...

Little One doubled his birth weight on day 8. Chunk doubled on day 9, of the other two one also doubled on day 9 and one is 8 grammes off - when I weighed them the day they were born I got those two muddled and I'm not sure which was which! - but they weighed the same on day 9. Chunk's eyes started to open yesterday, Wide Blaze's eyes are starting to open today. Won't be long until they can see and then hear :-)

Chunk at 9 days old, eyes starting to open

They are strong and healthy puppies, now 10 days old and thriving. It's been an amazing experience so far, so much better than I thought it would be. We started Early Neurological Stimulation on Day 5 (I was apprehensive about doing it so started a little late, but actually it was much easier to remember than I thought it would be and we got into a nice routine very quickly) and they have had their nails cut a few times already. Amazing how quickly they grow!

9 day old puppies at the milkbar, growing fast! (LtR: Chunk, Wide Blaze, Three Spot and Little One!)

Went down to FAB Cornwall on Sunday. Elton had two runs (Agility & Jumping) and Ria had three (Agility, Jumping & Steeplechase). I wanted to do Grand Prix rather than Steeplechase with Elton and then it went on so long I couldn't stay, so unfortunately he missed out! Decided not to run Solei as he only does steeplechase and I didn't have enough time to gather my thoughts after Ria, plus it was an entirely right sided course which isn't his strong point. I ran both Elton's courses NFC and his Agility was stunning. I was so pleased with him, wish I'd had video! He managed 12 weaves and was driving on nicely, even managed a tunnel without me having to be there! His Jumping was nice to start with, and then went pear-shaped when he decided he'd forgotten how to weave since he ran the agility lol very frustrating when (after a couple of completely failed attempts) he pops out at #11 and I want to reward because he's done so much right but can't! But so much more confident and driven, he didn't stop to look round at all.

Ria...during her agility and jumping (both NFC) spent a lot of time running round the ring with some nice bits when she was focused! Because she has come such a phenomenal way in such a short space of time (I can't believe it's barely been 4 months since she started training again) and she is very able in some ways I forget she is still very much a baby dog, although 3.5yrs. She's also at a funny stage - because she started foundation at about 8 months old and trained til she was 2, in some ways she has done a lot...but because of all the issues we had and the fact a lot of her classes were fairly unproductive, in other ways it's almost as if she never started. Anyway! For her Steeplechase - as I was going NFC anyway - I asked them if I could drop her down to small - I was fairly sure most of the reason for the largely unproductive previous runs was because at medium height she goes round half the jumps, she just hasn't got the experience and confidence yet...which then makes it all go wrong.

This is what I got!!! The end bit was entirely my fault - I was convinced the course went round in a circle including the tunnel again (it didn't include the tunnel) so cued the tunnel which she thought about but then didn't take (apparently dog knows the course better than I do!) which meant I was further up the course than I would have been had I not cued the tunnel but didn't get the time I would have got had she taken the tunnel to move away. That then meant (esp as she patterns things VERY quickly) that due to my position she was expecting to go left again, she then corrected herself but that meant she took the penultimate jump at a very acute angle to the right - and then expected to wing wrap. Again corrected herself, but by that time I'd already thrown the toy so made her go round the last jump (having played it back in slo mo I see why - the below is where she was when I started to throw the ball. You can very much see the wing wrap she was expecting and the fact she was facing completely the wrong way as I threw! In fact having seen that still I'm impressed she managed to alter course)

Great rewarding on my part :-P One day I might get it right!

Redid that last bit (last 11 seconds of the video) and it went much better (though I still hadn't twigged the tunnel wasn't part of the course at that point!)

Yet another day I never thought I'd see! She never ceases to amaze me at the moment.