Belle Departs

After a last minute change of plans Blue Amarillo will actually be travelling with Aidan McAllister on the way to Portlaw and her date with Droopys Maldini. It will mean a very early start tomorrow as the pick up is arranged for 6.30am and it will take a good hour and a half to get there! Such are the joys of being a greyhound breeder.

You are what you eat

I'm a firm believer that you can only get out of your dogs what you put in. You could go to the Dunphy's or Dessie Loughrey and take the best bred pups from there at 12 weeks but if they don't get the correct feeding they will turn out to be expensive graders. The feed preparation area that we built has proved to be a godsend. Its a compact area where everything is to hand and has cut down on the time spent on food preparation.

I have very few hard and set ideas about greyhounds but only feed the very best that I can source.

New Walker

The weather of late has been very poor, on Saturday over 5cm of rain fell and it was very cold on Sunday which turned the rain to snow and we had a good heavy covering. This has made it impossible to get the dogs walked. Its times like this that I'm glad we invested in a 3 dog walking machine. It didn't take long for them to get used to it, in fact some of them really enjoy a spin on it. It certainly has saved the hassle of coating up to get them outside and to be honest they don't enjoy walking in the bad weather.

I'm a firm believer that dogs need to be walked, both for physical well being but also for some mental stimulus. Dogs in large kennels that only see the light of day to be turned out couldn't be running to their full potential.

Belle in Season

http://www.greyhound-data.com/d?d=blue+amarillo

I noticed a little swelling and a spot of blood on Belle's hindquarters at lock up time last night and this morning she was noticeably swollen with plenty of blood in evidence. I think it was the couple of gallops that hurried mother nature along as I was expecting her to come back in season around 3/4 weeks ago.

Choosing a stud dog at present is no easy task, especially for a brood with Head Honcho in her pedigree through Top Honcho. That ruled out a large number of sires and has directed me towards the Larkhill Jo/Droopys Kewell sire line. In fact it came down to a decision between Droopys Kewell or his two sons Droopys Scolari or Maldini. Now all the smart men are saying Scolari is a better sire, basing this on the fact that he is slightly more expensive than his full brother, but I have looked hard and deep and Maldini is throwing classy animals.

The Farloe Oyster litter are all top class, Di included, but there is another litter that is starting to make a name for itself out of the Dunphy's own brood Droopys Beauty. There are a couple of these running around Monmore where they are expected to figure strongly in the upcoming Puppy Derby. Indeed one of them was highlighted by fellow blogger Neil Duggan as one to follow, http://zigzagwookie.blogspot.com/2008/02/barnfield-beaten.html .

The Larkhill Jo sire line is a well proven cross when mixed with Top Honcho bitches and this mix also contains a nice cross double of Daleys Gold and Im Slippy appears three times on the fifth pedigree line, hopefully a nice injection of early pace will result.

http://www.greyhound-data.com/dbtestmating.php?&sireid=720266&damid=1217814

I had considered using Larkhill Jo but I have reservations about subjecting my stock to unnecessary anesthesia when other options are available.

The transporter is booked for next Tuesday. All that remains is for Belle to have her booster shoots before she sets off.