Incredible!

Over the last week or so we got some worrying emails from Slovenia telling us that Limão was unwell, although it was unclear to anyone exactly what the problem was. Various vets were consulted, and several possibilities considered.

Then a couple of days ago, his owner, Nina, was alarmed to find a lump. She took him straight back to the vet, and it was decided to operate. To everyone's amazement, what they found was not a growth, but a wooden kebab stick almost 12 cm long, which had been sitting in Limão's stomach for an incredible two weeks (see picture). Even more extraordinary is the fact that none of his internal organs appear to have been damaged.

Now it has been taken out, Limão is back home convalescing and Nina's main problem is to keep him still, and not running about.

So, thank you Nina for the photos, and for looking after Limão! We are all hoping he will soon be fully recovered...

Shows - Odense and Vila Franca de Xira

It's been a busy ten days or so, culminating for us in the show at Vila Franca de Xira at the weekend. But in the meantime we were delighted to hear news from Denmark where one of our pups was showed for the first time the weekend before last.

"Flash da Roseira Brava" was named after his father, known here as Flash, officially Fellshied Tell Me More. Young Flash has gone to live with Britta Norlund in Denmark, and at his first show, in Odense, he won best puppy in the breed. Here's a picture of him, kindly sent by Britta.

And at Vila Franca, we had a good day. Canela, still in junior class, took BOB for the first time. So after taking best bitch on the second day in Porto, she's making a good start to the year.

Marta in whelp

Marta (Dafne da Roseira Brava) is now definitely in whelp to Louie (Snow Winds Churchill). This will be Marta's first litter and Louie's first litter in Europe. The puppies are due in early March.

Although Marta is a bitch of our own breeding, she is also a relative newcomer to our set of terriers. We sold her as a puppy, but late last year we were contacted by her owner, whose personal circumstances had changed, leaving him unable to keep her on. We were delighted to have her back, and look forward to her puppies, and to showing her later in the year.

Marta was born at our old house (just up the road), in the dry and hot September of 2004. Her mother, Carolina da Roseira Brava (better known as "Whitiezinha"), had also come back to us for her litter, although in her case it was just a temporary move, while the puppies were born and reared. She then returned home to her permanent pet owner.

Marta has been settling in well, and the photo shows her with Louie on the day the other newcomer arrived from the US. (More photos of both on our website.)

Dirty pups

Dirty and wet, but who cares?

Ready for towelling down before bed.

Lisa's pups

As predicted, the mist and rain are back today, but here are some photos from yesterday's training session.

Foxy (left) and Folia (below) are both settling into their lead work.

Pedigree (and puppy pictures) in the litter section of our site.

Patch & Canela

After several days of rain, mist and muddy dogs, the clouds lifted to give us a glorious sunny day. So we had the puppies out in the garden, and this afternoon I took Patch and Canela out for a walk down to the cliffs.

More rain/wind/thunder is forecast for the next few days, but in the meantime, here's a picture of the dogs scrambling down part of the path.

Limão e Gelo (or, Ice and Lemon...)

Anothing important thing that has happened this winter is that Limão has gone to a new and permanent home in Slovenia. Despite the ice and cold, we are pleased to hear he is doing well.

He is now living with Nina Werdonig, and her other PRT, and is co-owned by Jani Korosec. As well as finding a new home, Limão will continue in shows and has started in agility.

Limão is a special dog for us. We have three of his daughters here (Canela, Patch and Lisa), and currently a litter of his grandpups (see our litter page). He went with us to the UK in 2005, and also spent some time in the US in 2006.

So we're delighted that Limão is in such good hands, and we wish him and Nina every success for the future.

More pictures and information at http://www.slo-prt.com/limao.htm.

All clear!

This week we completed a task we set ourselves last year - to test all our dogs for patella luxation and for eye problems. All our dogs have tested clear on both counts.

We are doing the tests at the Lisbon Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. The director of the clinic is a specialist veterinary orthopaedist and tests the dogs for patella problems. The eye tests are carried out by the clinic's resident ophthalmologist, who carries out a detailed and complete examination.

We are not able in Portugal to have eye tests carried out by a member of the European College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists, for the simple reason that the nearest member is in Barcelona, more than 1000 km away. The membership requirements for the college are extremely strict, and require experience with equipment which does not exist in this country. However, we are assured that the equipment in question is not relevant to identifying the conditions which are normally tested for in dogs.

So we are now committed to annual eye tests for all our breeding stock, which will help us in our resolve to breed sound and healthy terriers.

In the picture, Abby (Aurgwen Abracadabra) just short of her seventh birthday. Abby has progeny in several countries and was top PRT in Portugal in 2006.

Don't cry for Louie

Louie (Snow Winds Churchill) has joined us here at Roseira Brava, kindly leased to us by his breeder, Mary Strom.

He made a good start at the Porto shows, winning the CAC on the first day, whilst on the second day he made it onto the podium in the junior handling - all credit to the young girl who took him in.

Louie is a seasoned show and stud dog, and having him here will add extra interest to our plans in 2007. He is also a nice dog to have around, happily playing with the others, and also with the pups.

Two litters, one mother

Here's a photo that shows a happy ending to a sad story.

A few weeks ago we lost one of our bitches due to complications after whelping, leaving us with three orphaned puppies. Luckily, Lucy had had pups just two and a half weeks earlier, and was able to adopt them. She had already heard them crying in the other room, and when I brought them in she got to work immediately, cleaning and nursing.

So Lucy (Snow Winds Turn Me Loose) has been rearing a total of seven - four dog pups of her own, and three smaller ones. A tough job, but with a bit of help she has saved the day.

A special word of thanks also to our helpers - Catarina, João and Dona Isabel - who held the fort while we went up to Porto for the first show of the year.