'And I can't stop the reels from turning....'

 New Puppy Pictures

Once again, I have added a whole collection of new puppy photos to our website. The link above will take you straight there, so theres no getting lost in cyberspace! I would also like to mention that if any of you keen readers wanted to get in touch with me or anyone else in the Helgen clan, you can email us by clicking here.

Now to begin.

The title of this post I feel sums up the feeling of time slipping through our fingers. We cannot stop it, no matter how hard we try. Indeed, it doesn't matter how much we try to soak up every second and store it away in our memory, the moment will pass and we shall never see it again.  The quote is actually from a song by the Friendly Fires called Blue Cassette and it can be found on their new album Pala. I find their music exhilarating and definitely worthy of a few dance moves. However, beneath the sounds of the summer, lies a collection of words that form some beautiful, heartfelt lyrics. I would definitely recommend a listen.

Living by the beach certainly has its qualities. I've already been sea swimming twice in the last week and, despite it being only May, it wasn't too cold. Theres something very therapeutic and relaxing about walking along the coast even when its windy or raining. In some respects, I often find that this adds to the atmosphere. Certainly from a photographer's perspective, bad weather usually creates the most intriguing shots. 

I particularly like this shot.

Falmouth is not the prettiest seaside town in Cornwall, but theres still a sense of tranquility as you walk to Pendennis Point and look out to the English Channel. I find if you can just block out the docks then it is rather lovely and at night, they pretty much disappear. The best part of the summer term is the time we're given to just explore and enjoy Cornwall. I'm very excited about the next few weeks! But then again, as much I love to spend time down here, I can't wait to get home. Time really is a strange concept. I guess, really, we would all just like to be able to pause and rewind it. Then we could race to the best moments before reliving past to make sure we got as much out of it as we could.

I love this photo. It just sums up my younger brothers. Luke (the one in red) will be a year old on the 17th June whilst Ben is 7. The grin that Luke is pulling, and Ben is imitating, is his favourite pose for the camera. They are so good with the puppies considering how young they are. Luke will literally walk to the pen and just sit and watch them with occasional outbursts of laughter. I think its important to Luke and Ben to be raised around animals. I think it makes them understand the world better. This is the third litter that Ben's lived with and so although he still obsesses over them, he is used to them being around. But Luke? He's only just started walking round the house, and now there are puppies that can run around too...it must be very strange for him.

The puppies now have names. 

We always give them our own nicknames mostly just so we can identify them but its also makes the process just that little bit more magical. The Famous Five are:-

1. Sally
2. Twinkle
3. Speckle
4. Spot
5. Dash

All five can now get out of their pen quite easily which has resulted in extra board being put up. The trouble is that Amber still needs to get to them which is why Josie has just literally took her eyes off them for two or three seconds to suddenly find a puppy has trekked over the entire dining room. Its quite sweet really but highly annoying. With this new found freedom, the puppies have begun to show their personalities although I am always cautious about stereotyping the puppies into categories as they often change again when they get to about 6/7 weeks old. But for now, we have a laid back dog in the form of Spot, a trouble called Dash, some terrible twins who go by the names of Sally and Twinkle and a quiet bitch called Speckle. They have now all got a few teeth and are on 4 meals of Pro Plan Puppy a day.

For me, time is ticking away now. I will see them in a few weeks but by then they will be getting ready to go to their new homes. I suppose it is a good job we don't have control over time, it would just make life ten times more complicated than it already is. However, i've always believed that it doesn't matter how busy your life is or how complicated it can get, if you just stop every now and then you will see some remarkable things. Our house never stops, ever. We've had friends to stay who have simply got lost in the midst of it all. And yet, the other day for about 15 minutes everyone stopped to catch a glimpse of the fox that had curled up on our lawn and fell asleep. Its these little moments that make life beautiful, that make photography interesting, that make time standstill.

The Famous Five

New puppy pictures

The link above shows beautiful shots of our puppies growing up very fast!!

I have heard reports that they are now adept at escaping from their puppy pen to the extent that they've been found hiding underneath the table at least 4 times now. The Famous Five are truly living up to their name :D

We have now registered the puppies with the Kennel Club under the following kennel names:-

Helgen Mr Minster

Helgen Windsor

Helgen Button and Bows

Helgen Confetti

Helgen Easter Surprise

The puppies have also been given temporary pet names so that we can begin to look at individual personalities and conformation. They were weighed on the 9th May and these were their weights:-

boys-1100g(2lbs 4oz) and 980 (2lbs 1oz)
girls-910g (2lbs),1050g (2lbs 3oz),980g (2lbs 1oz)
The puppies are doing amazingly well; they now all have their eyes and ears open. Mum brought our whippet and our youngest Dobermann, Crystal, in to see them yesterday and apparently they adored them. Crystal has always been a very maternal bitch and she was licking them through the pen bars. There were a few times we found one of the dogs out of Ambers last litter sleeping with Crystal when he was a puppy. I always find it sweet how much our dogs love having puppies around.

Mum's going to wean them next week as they will be 3 weeks old. This is always a fun process as it involves putting a tray of lactol and mashed up puppy food. Watching them wade through the tray marvelling at their sticky paws is always quite amusing. It usually takes them a good 5 minutes to realise that they can actually eat the strange stuff that is now stuck to their bodies. Amber also loves this process as she gets to eat the leftovers whilst the puppies bound back to her for milk. The last time we had a litter of puppies, Ben was only 5. This time we have an 11 month old called Luke who is probably going to wonder why Mummy has allowed the puppies to smear themselves with food when he's not allowed to!

In a few weeks they will be truly bounding round their living quarters and wanting to inspect the garden, but for now, I think the entire house is quite thankful for quiet, content puppies whose only troublesome streak is finding places to hide in the dining room.

After having a brief conversation with my mum over the phone today, I also found out that our Dartmoor pony, Izzy, got placed 3rd out of 5 today in her showing class. She is only a year old and we have high hopes for her.
Pictures of Izzy :)
Pictures of us!

The summer is certainly on its way and with a busy show season and watching puppies grow up, its going to be very busy here at Helgen!

A Life In Two Parts

Life in Cornwall has its advantages but there are times when you feel like you are missing out on something very important.
The photo on the left sums up this feeling. It shows my littlest brother Luke and one of our puppies. His face is one of amazement and surprise, you can almost hear him say "Mummy, look! It's a puppy. Can I play with it?". I guess at these words and thoughts seeing as I am 300 miles away and he can't actually speak yet. These photo's offer me a chance to take part in his life, my family's life and the animal's lives. I can see what I can only imagine from my Cornish coastal town.
It is interesting then to note that, to our puppy owners and people that enquire about our horses and dogs, this is all they see too. Maybe that is why I felt it was so important to create this blog and to connect to you guys out there.
Selling puppies is always strange as it is me who usually deals with the enquiries and begins the initial contact. So when I have to say that actually I won't be around for this stage and that stage, I do feel a sadness. I am missing out on the puppies growth and meeting their potential mummys and daddys. This was particularly prominent with Amber's last litter as I spent 6 weeks checking they were feeding, going to the toilet and just generally cooing over their little black paws and noses, when all of a sudden I had to leave to go to University. They were truly a remarkable litter and seeing photo's of them now in their homes fills me with pride and joy.

Bringing puppies into the world is one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I don't think I will ever grow tired of the excitement and joy they bring :) I only hope that next time I shall get to spend more time with them.
I mean, look at that face!

First Day at the School of Blogging

Heyy cyberspace and anyone that might be reading this!!

It's been on the cards for a while as I've been trying to think of ways to connect to fellow dog and horse lovers out there and finally I decided a blog was the best thing. It allows people to see whats happening at the Hadfield Zoo which is especially useful if you're thinking of buying a puppy from us. It also takes the pressure off our news section on our website which will now only be used for short statements; this is where you can get the full story!

So sit back and enjoy :)

Becca
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