Where have I been?

It’s been several months since my last blog update and there have been a few things happening in life that put it on the back burner. Hopefully I can now get back to a more consistent schedule but I’m going to use this month’s blog to catalogue what has been going on and getting in the way. This will probably be a much longer blog post than usual.

I guess our life has been divided into two priorities since last October. Our dogs and our health.

Let’s talk dogs. We knew that Izzy, our Entlebucher Mountain Dog bitch, would be coming into season either late October or at some point in November. We also knew that Salvo, our other Entlebucher, was due to have his rabies jab early in November. Also, we knew that this was going to be Izzy’s last go at getting pregnant because she was fast approaching five years of age after which it is frowned upon to have a first litter. Unfortunately, having a rare breed dog means that there are scarcities that get in the way. Things like scarcities of stud dogs of a suitable match for your bitch. We had reached the point where there were no suitable stud dogs in the UK so our most obvious choice was to travel to Switzerland. After contacting our friends (our dog’s breeders) near Spiez, who made enquiries with the Swiss club on our behalf, it was agreed that there was more than one suitable dog for us to visit. So far so good!



Suldtal and the Niesen

It’s always been a bit of a guessing game with Izzy as to when her season would start which was making it difficult for us to know exactly when we could travel. The end of October was not far away and just to add to the drama, we had to get Salvo’s injection done before November 6th.

Both our dogs have Swiss pet passports. Thanks to Brexit, only Swiss vets can add important things like rabies jabs to their Swiss passports. If a UK vet does the jab we would also have to pay an additional £130 for a UK health form on which they can record this. Well, as we had already determined we were going to go to Switzerland for Izzy it made sense to get Salvo’s injection there too. But it did mean we had to be there before the 6th Nov. In addition, Izzy needed to get an up to date eye test so we decided to get that done while we were there. But that would be with a different vet in Oftringen rather than the one we would be taking Salvo to in Frutigen.



Morgenberghorn and the Suld River

We departed the UK via the Eurotunnel on Nov 3rd spending the night at St Avold in France then continued to our destination in Switzerland the following day. Thanks to Brexit you are not allowed to take meat products including dog food into the EU. If your dog has a health related diet you can take up to 2kg of food as long as you have an accompanying letter from their vet. We contacted a pet shop in Calais who carried Izzy’s food in stock so we arranged to pick it up there. We had Salvo’s food delivered to our hotel in St Avold. Before Brexit we would have packed sufficient food for the whole trip. I have simplified this paragraph as it was a lot more involved getting this bit organised.

After settling in with our friends we visited the vet in Frutigen and Salvo had his injection. Easy! Izzy’s eye test proved more problematic in as much as her eyes had deteriorated a bit since her last test and that meant she would not be able to mate with the first choice stud dog. So some frantic phone calls were made to the Swiss club and, eventually, another stud dog was put forward but he was only going to be available for a couple of days and Izzy’s season had still not started. It really was getting stressful!



Autumn in Suldtal

Then Izzy came into season so it was all systems go. Then Lynn had a fall. Fortunately she didn’t break her leg but she did seriously damage the ligaments in it and then, while she was sitting with her feet up to rest it, Izzy jumped up on her bad leg. It seemed like it was just not our lucky week. More about Lynn's leg later.

As she had come into season it was possible for us to arrange for her to meet the stud dog. His owner very kindly offered to come to where we were staying but he was only going to be available for one day now. So stress levels increased again. Izzy met Nerok on the Friday and it seemed to be going well but, as had happened before, Izzy would not stand for the mating. Nerok’s owner then surprised us by offering to come back the following day even though he was preparing for a medical operation himself. This was very kind of him but neither dog wanted to perform on the Saturday. They just wanted to play like friends!



Siera, one of Fenja's puppies

Whilst we always enjoy spending time in the Alps with our friends, this was not going to turn out to be a successful time as far as breeding was concerned. Izzy did not get pregnant even though we didn’t find this out for certain until she had a scan, five weeks later. We loved helping to look after the litter of puppies that our friend’s dog Fenja had four weeks before we arrived and I did manage to get some nice photos of them which are now on the Swiss club’s website.



Ieli, another of Fenja’s puppies

Our return to Derbyshire was uneventful and Lynn’s recovery was to take priority. Walking with the dogs was, for her, out of the question. Rest was important but, thankfully, her leg started to improve. But it would be a few weeks into the New Year before she could use it normally. Then, during that period of recovery and just before New Years eve, I contracted Covid. So we were both into a period of self isolation until I tested negative on day 13 from first symptoms. What has surprised us both is that Lynn, somehow, managed to avoid the virus.



Minninglow Hill on the Horizon, Derbyshire Dales

I am over Covid and Lynn’s leg is fully recovered so we are trying to get back into our routine. But it has meant that, as far as photography is concerned, I haven’t done much for a couple of months. I haven’t got my mojo back yet although I have spent some time editing photos and scanning slides. So I decided I needed a project and, the other day whilst walking the dogs, the project just crept up on me when I saw the amount of fly-tipping and general littering out in the Dales. So I’m going to document it over the next year with a view to making a book. Even if the book is just for my own viewing the project will be interesting.



Fly Tipping in the Dales

All the best for now and I'll see you in my next blog.