May 20 Photo ~ Can we go Home Now? Please

Here’s Chut’Chut’, virtually fully recovered from his injuries & still my teddy bear/human-puppy baby ~ he still asks for cuddles & sits up on my lap as if he were a people baby & not a puppy. He came with me to check Rawnie Spangle & Foal in their borrowed field. A fellow horse owner has loaned me this field of grass as I haven’t got the land I’ve rented for the past 3 years. Unfortunately, when he & his son came to see my beautiful foal, they ran over my black tomcat Pahn. . .

 

May 19 Photo ~ Luxury

Skoryy Lovok has a new bed ~ he can’t get up onto people beds yet & he loves to lie near me, so I treated him to the biggest dog cushion I could find. It’s 4 foot across, so will do him for a while, I hope. I’ve curled up on it with him, but here he’s showing his regal posing & his ownership of HIS cushion

 

May 18 Photo ~ Cutie

Worn out baby!

 

May 17 Photo ~ 2 Boys, 2 Girls

Skoryy Lovok, who’s now taller than Midnight RippleBack (they were the same height when he arrived!), Midnight, Foal, Rawnie Spangle right behind my house. I’m standing by the back door taking this.

 

May 16 Photo ~ Gaining Independence

Here is Rawnie Spangle up behind the house taken from the middle bedroom’s window

Here is Foal from my bedroom window & she’s by the fuel/feed shed gable & away from mumma

 

May 15 Photo ~ More of the Babies

This is Stardust with her kittens. She keeps them hidden after birthing for a while before we find them in the feed shed

There is a stray white paw here or is it a head?

Here is Foal & Rawnie Spangle, with Skoryy Lovok looking on

A close up of Foal showing her mother’s colouring. You can’t see that she’s chaney eyed in these pictures ~ this eye is ice-blue, the other deep brown like Rawnie Spangle’s

My 2 Gypsy Cob Draught mares with puppy in similar colouring! That wasn’t planned, it just happened that my huge puppy is mainly white like the horses

I love my royal Russian baby ~ he’s a long-haired sight-hound, but only has his single puppy coat yet,

so is anything but long-haired. His tail reaches the ground when he stands up

All this is so new for him ~ baby horses, mad pony, goats, other established dogs of odd breeds

This blurry picture shows 2 of Stardust’s kittens in the feed shed, though I think that this feed sack contains wood for the range…

 

May 14 Photo ~ Babies

This is Rawnie Spangle & her day old foal. I’m still paranoid, going out to check them every hour or so

This to me is the most beautiful sight ~ Foal is feeding with no problem & no help. Neither of our last foals fed properly & both had to be helped, guided & even held in place, but this girly can do it all by herself

You can see just how similar Mumma & Baby are ~ almost the same colouring & patterning.

This is my baby boy ~ he’s all legs & fear at present, but is settling in slowly & losing his wariness with us

ScrappyCat suprised us with this kitten ~ I was sure that I could hear mewing under my bed, but could see nothing.

Mumma & Baby with “Auntie” Snegi. The pony is still being kept away from the other 2 so she doesn’t chase the foal, but the can all see each other & “talk” through the fence.

 

May 13 Photo ~ Witnessing a Miracle & Other Little Ones

3 years ago we lost 2 foals shortly after their birthings. I’ve been watching Rawnie Spangle for weeks & checking her every morning as laqst time she foaled over night, This year I was so lucky to be able to be present & watch the process. The vet was not quite so happy as I kept ringing up for reassurance. They were so patient with me & understood my paranoia.

These pictures will need clicking on to enlarge them as my telephoto lens is still packed. Here the foal is just starting to emerge. This point lasted, to me, a very long time, so I went into the field & Rawnie Spangle pulled the foal back inside, refusing to proceed. I left the field & rang the vet!

Rawnie Spangle seemed happier lying down for a while, changing position occasionally

The head & front legs emerge, still in the sac

Once they are out

Rawnie Spangle stands up & spends what seems to me ages walking around with her baby half inside & half outside, fore legs “walking” with Mumma

I left Rawnie Spangle alone for a while to watch some other babies. The 1 & only incubator hatched egg this year gave us a chick who had no friends. After a few lonely days under a heat lamp, Mumma hen took pity on it & added it to her brood. The tiny brown fluff is the incubator chick.

Zorba inspects the new additions to the flock.

More foal comes out, watched by Mumma

Nearly fully born

Foal born, licked & upright on her own 4 legs.

Another baby arrived this day: meet Skoryy Lovok. He’s 4 months old & is a Russkaya Psovaya Borzaya (Russian dogs are generically female) or more commonly known as a Borzoi. His full breed title means “Russian Longhaired Sighthound”, just “Sighthound” in the more common English usage. He’s already the height of a Whippet & has 16 more growing months…

He has only his puppy coat at present ~ his breeder thinks that the colour will change, the white & beige being his undercoat & he’ll have a white & blue top coat as the 2 coats develop

He’s having to get used to his new home & to being an inside dog, not a yard dog

I think he’s started to feel a little relaxed with me

 

May 12 Photo ~ Puppy Playtime

This is Bridie & Chut’Chut’ in the yard. Chut’ty is still smaller than his mother & the Spaniels. All is quiet here & sedate at the beginning of their evening play.

Chut’Chut’ has found something to play with ~ a stone or a twig.

Midnight RippleBack decides to join in the fun.

 

May 11 Photo ~ Kittens

If you enlarge the photo, you can see the little pink tomgue of 1 of the kittens & her bib.