First Summer done!

What a busy summer it's been, we were full up in the kennels for most of the summer holidays and as a result we took the decision to shut the cattery to make more room for dogs! We had lots of our regular dogs in and lots of new ones too, some of whom have been back already so that tells us we are doing something right. There was lots going on including some slow motion filming of some of the kennel dogs by sirens cinematic, we hope you enjoy watching it as much as the dogs enjoyed it!

Click here to watch it

Lovely May days

happy dogs in the sun

So far May has proved to be a busy month and it's so nice to see everything in the countryside greening up and all the wildlife being active in the fields around us. Just this morning there were about half a dozen hares in the field, we had a woodpecker at the bird feeder last week and we also spotted two swans with their little signets following them across the kids playpark in the village!
We've had some new doggy guests and the return of some of our regulars this month too. The chooks are doing really well and we're getting up to eight eggs a day with the odd double yoker from time to time. It was even warm enough one day to give wee Squiggles our cute Shetland pony a bath!

Eggs!

Our new horses have settled in a treat and are really enjoying the better weather, especially when they get to have a roll around with no rugs on and then a wee mad turn round the field. I've had the pleasure and honour of getting to ride the beautiful Rosie who is liveried here and she is an absolute darlin'! I've even started taking lessons to try and get a bit better and build my confidence up a bit, it's really good fun and I've got a lot to learn but I'm loving it x

Wet Squigs

  

Rosie and me x

Spring has sprung!

Well the clocks have changed and although that has taken a bit of adjustment we finally feel that we're leaving the winter behind and spring is definitely taking hold. The birds are singing, the lambs are out in the fields round about and our hens are laying!! We re getting 5 eggs a day and they are delicious, we've also managed to train our terrier, Penny to leave them alone - it's a struggle for her but she's managing...just!

The weather has been so nice and our horse owners have been getting out and about for some lovely hacks, I was lucky enough to get out on Aria one day too! I haven't been a hack for over 20 years and the plan was to just go out round the village for a wee half hour but we ended up out for around two and a half hours!! I think I'm starting to catch the bug a bit and I'm loving helping out at the stables with the wee shetland pony we have on loan, Squiggles.

Wee cheeky face, Squiggle

Beautiful Aria x

We've also been taking advantage of the good weather and getting out with all our canine guests this month. Some of our boarders have been Oscar, Archie, Teenie, Titch and TJ, Enzo and our 3 Great Danes have been back in - Zeus, Venus and Cleo. So it's been a great month with lots of guests and good things going on, here's hoping April is just as good  with slightly less chocolate eating although there are still quite a few easter eggs still to be munched!

Archie, Teenie and me!

Fun in February

Well it's been a very wet winter but we've still managed to have some good fun here at Windyhill. We got 10 chickens to add to the menagery...their names are Hope, Mica, Cookie, Chookie, Hunter, Henrietta, Agnes, Lucy, Melody and Faith as named by Ben our nine year old son!  After having them indoors for a few weeks we decided the time had come to let them out in the field for a scratch about, unfortunately as I was inside the coop shooshing them out the resident terrier escaped from the house and scattered the poor terrified chooks far and wide!!! After a frantic search and rescue mission we secured 7 of our wee birds and then after a late night search we managed to find another one under a shed and got her to safety. I went to bed that night with a heavy heart, fearing the worst for Lucy and Agnes who were still missing, worried that Foxy Loxy would be on the prowl, first thing next morning I went out to let the dogs out the kennels and there was Agnes strutting around at the stables!! I feared the worst for Lucy as she was missing for another full day and night but incredibly she appeared from the field yesterday and is now happily tucked up with her sisters once again!!

We've had some lovely canine guests over the past few weeks including Missy, Ella, Rosie, Otter, Shadow, Pippa & Podge and many more! We are expecting Venus, Zeus and Cleo in tomorrow which is causing some excitement as they will be our largest guests to date...3 Great Danes!!!