Meet the PUPPIES!

Summer 2020 … for the team here at Heronbrook Farm it meant puppies, gorgeous, squidgy, wriggly puppies, and what fun it has been. In June, our chocolate working cocker spaniel bitch Truffle came into season and the wheels for the litter that we had been planning for the last 18 months were put into motion. This is Truffle’s second litter, and as we were so pleased with her first litter, we chose to use the same sire so I loaded her up and off we headed all the way down to Devon. Being a bit of a Princess, she showed her readiness but refused to stand to be covered on their first meeting so I had to return to Derbyshire without her, heading back to collect her 2 days later! She was in fantastic condition, and breezed through the 9-week pregnancy and on a Friday morning she woke me at around 4am to let me know that it was time. She and I settled into my office, her curled in her cosy bed under my desk, and began the wait. Four hours later the first puppy emerged, and by midday she had a bed full of six squirmy puppies. 3 black, 3 chocolate, 4 girls, 2 boys, all perfect, and she settled down to mother them.

At two weeks the eyes started to open, another week passed and they started to move around more, and by four weeks old their little characters were starting to emerge. Dotty was always first up for a cuddle, Fern was first to carry things around in her mouth. Chunky Oban stood out with his stunning head and markings, he will be a head-turner wherever he goes. Bracken’s persistence and boldness soon became clear and Storm quietly watched it all happen before throwing herself into the melee. Echo, second pup out, tiny, a beautifully marked chocolate boy with the sweetest nature has a mohican of a hairdo and a heart that races at a ferocious rate as he has a significant heart murmur. No one has told him that this is a problem so he joins in fearlessly despite being less than half the weight of his ever-growing siblings. He will stay either with us, or have a slightly quieter life with a near neighbour.

So here in the video, we felt it was time to introduce them to you and at 6 weeks old they are full of energy and thoroughly inquisitive. They live in the house, but we took them over to the barn so they could experience new surroundings and smells, and they had a blast in the hay, soon escaping from the pen of bales that we built for them!

In a few days they will leave with their new families. All have fantastic and active homes to enjoy and I’m sure will bring joy and chaos in equal measure as they begin their new lives. We wish them all the very best.