(NOW SOLD!)Last Man Standing - 'Tank' - Boss of the litter, English Springer Spaniel Puppy with serious working dog potential.

(NOW SOLD) After a nervous few weeks over Christmas with very few enquires from potential owners things have gone seriously crazy. We have met some lovely people over the past week, all with a different story to tell but all ideal homes for the Bramleys. Some of the pups have gone local (Malmesbury Manor!) and others have almost gone to another country. Prize for the biggest effort so far goes to John from Cumbria, after a 10pm phone call on Monday, he set off with his family at 5am to reach us by 10am the following day, after meeting the remaining pups he choose an absolute cracker and started the return journey, pup in box, by 1pm. By 6pm we received a picture message of the pup 'Smudge' by the fire in his new home. Below, we managed to capture the moment when Smudge showed his approval for the first time to his new family. Ahhhhh

Its lovely to get some highly positive feedback from puppy buyers so far. Its been fun to keep in touch either by email, facebook or phone after the puppies get back to their new homes. New names to replace our nicknames as follows.... Juniper .... Samson .... Meg .... Truffle ... Holly ... Smudge (kept!) ... Dexter ...

Its a funny old business watching people pick from the litter... different families see different qualities in each pup and it really is impossible to tell which one they will go for. I think everyone that viewed the litter would have been first met by the biggest boy who we playfully named 'Tank'. Hes very distinctive with his perfect liver head and striking white body with a touch of liver on the tail. Mandies Dad (a Springer breeder in a previous life) picked him out after 6 weeks as the best dog suitable for a Working & Family life. Very alert, bold and enthusiastic, playful and very intelligent. He started naturally retrieving before the other pups and due to his size he certainly bossed the litter at its height.

Up until last night we had an owner that was perfect and planned to train him up to use all his natural working dog abilities, but sadly due to unforeseen circumstances 'Tank' is now back on the market and available to the right owner, hes even advertised in the Shooting Times! We have made a little video to hopefully show something of his 'worker' potential at the tender age of 11 weeks.

If your interested in meeting 'Tank' and giving him a family and working dogs life (yes you can do both) then we would love to speak to you, call us on 01666 829159 for further information.

Happy New Year to the Boys... The Bramleys hit 10 weeks

Its back to reality time ... Christmas is a hazy memory and 2011 is well under way. The Bramleys had there first Malmesbury Christmas and I think they had a good time. It was great to have them out on in the garden on a snowy Christmas morning (see the video below), it sounds idyllic but it all serves a purpose in helping them with socialising and getting used to new sounds, smells and weather conditions. Certainly if you buy from a kenneled litter you might not get a nicely grounded puppy ready to cope with its new world from the off.

The good news is that before the festive season we managed to find three cracking new homes for three of the bitchs. We have received all good news from their new owners as the puppies settle in to their new environments and new families. Keeping on the festive theme we decided to call the bitch that we are keeping Holly. She's coming on great guns and her five brothers certainly seem to give her added spirit as she plays in her box.

We decided to quit all advertising over Christmas as buying a puppy is not high on peoples priority lists (with all the family commitments that undoubtedly take place). The next advertising blitz hits the Shooting Times classified pages in the next few weeks and we are hoping that has some quick success in finding homes for the remaining 5 boys.

The boys are a handsome bunch (see below) and at ten weeks old are all starting to really shine. Bramble is continuing to look after them well, and she loves to have a good a old motherly play with them in the garden.

If your interested in viewing the remaining litter we suggest coming to visit us in rural Wiltshire as soon as you can. First come first served basis (to the right homes) and the boys are available for £400 each. Available also if required is a reference from a pre Christmas buyer who has been hugely impressed by the confidence in their Bramleys bitch they now have at home.

Call 01666 829159 for more details or book an appointment or email us at luke@artbypeople.co.uk

Bramleys hit 6 Weeks Old - Its time to start exploring the garden.

The harsh weather conditions this November have presented us with a real challenge in introducing the Bramleys to the great outdoors. If it was summer time we could have built a nice outdoor pen and let them sunbathe all day. However with temperatures rarely getting above zero for the past week or so we have had to hold them back from garden life. We took the plunge on Sunday as the ground had defrosted slightly in the late afternoon. As you can see on the video below:

The plan is to have an hour each day at around lunchtime for them to scamp about in the garden. At least with everything frozen solid they cant get muddy paws. I guess every cloud has a silver lining.

5 Week Old English Springer Spaniels - Character Coming Out

All of a sudden, the puppies have all got big! With the food intake nearly doubled over the last seven days and Bramble still giving the occasional feed the puppies have come on leaps and bounds in the past week. Take a look at the video below to see the latest progress.

As they grow bigger and stronger the individual characters are beginning to show. They all seem like an adventurous bunch, intrigued by everything they encounter and thankfully they dwell towards the action and dont shy away to the back of their current four walls.

The snowy weather has however made us cautious about introducing them to the garden. We are hoping that over the next week or so as the snow subsides we can give them their first taste of the great outdoors.

With two puppies now sold we advise you to give us a bell if your interested in maybe having your own Bramley. Call us at 01666 829159 or maybe email luke@artbypeople.co.uk

3 Weeks Old, English Springer Spaniel First Feed Time...

After around three weeks it was time to start the weaning process and give Bramble a bit of a break. The puppies are growing nicely and are all starting to develop little sharp teeth. As they get older it obviously gets more challenging for Bramble to feed them.

In order to make the weaning process as successful as possible its best to feed the puppies the same food as Bramble. This means that the goodness in the puppies first feed should be similar to Brambles milk. We served up the well mashed weetabix and milk in a large & clean roasting tin and placed it in the middle of the whelping box, results can be seen in the video below:

Over the next few days we have given the puppies two meals a day, one first thing in the morning and the second at around 7pm in the evening. In between this Bramble has been in and out of the whelping box to feed them when she feels the need.

The pups have responded well and seem to come to life when a meal is due. They have gained quite a lot of weight since , some pictures below. Ahhhhhh.

The Puppies - Two Week Old English Springer Spaniels

In the last two weeks since whelping day all of Brambles nine puppies have come on leaps and bounds. They have doubled in weight in the last week alone and now weigh between 750g and 1kg, the lightest being one of the four bitchs. A good sign is the 'wrinkly skin' prominent on all the pups, i'm reliably informed that this is due to Bramble doing an excellent job in giving them plenty of milk to help them grow. Its almost like the skin has grown in anticipation of the rest catching up! You can see all the latest video footage and photos on this video.

Mandie very carefully clipped the front claws of the puppies in order to make it less painful for Bramble when feeding. Although very tiny the claws proved sharp and were beginning to graze Brambles skin.

As of yet none of the puppies have opened their eyes, its going to be a very exciting and manic day when this happens. I anticipate that once their eyes open each puppy will begin to develop there own personalities as they begin to react to the new world outside of their whelping box.

Whelping Day - Theres more, more and then more!

On Saturday 23rd October right on the sixty third day of pregnancy and on schedule the signs were evident that whelping wasn't to far away. Hot, panting, restlessness and temperature drop. When Bramble tried to start nesting in the shed we new the first puppy was on the way.

Low and behold the first little chap popped out in the garden at around 5pm. He caught us all by surprise so we had to improvise and let Bramble do her stuff in the garden room. A healthy pup, wriggling around with Bramble doing a quick clean up straight away. (as you can see in the photo below)

Shortly after we managed to get the new born puppy and Bramble back into the whelping box number two arrived and immediately started to suckle.

Like shelling peas now, number three!

Number seven was very small and I had to help out with proceedings by holding her upside down and blowing gently into her nose.

Job done, its now 1am in the morning, nine healthy puppies, five boys and four girls. Well done Bramble.

The next day I took this short video of the puppies whilst Bramble was exercising in the garden. What a comical racket they make.