It’s been a risky strategy but Fortnum and Mason have been allowed to try out Domestic Executive HQ this week. This is all part of their growing independence away from their play pen and crates. Whilst you can’t leave them unsupervised they are getting better as just being around the house.

They’ve been really good bedding down whilst I’ve been coaching by phone. Only one or two minor altercations with things on the floor but overall I have to praise their obedience and ability to just hang out and sleep. If only Fortnum didn’t snore so loudly!

Here’s some pics of the sleeping babes during today’s working session. Cute eh!

Since we didn’t think that Fortnum and Mason would be able to stand a day at the cricket we packed them off to their basset family for the Easter break. They were very excited when they arrived to be back in familiar territory happily climbing into their kennels when we arrived.

When we went to pick them up they were sitting happily with their brother and sister peering through the gate waiting for us. They were definitely pleased to see us, jumping up and squeeking loudly with Mason trying to get through the gate and not being held back by the fact he was simply to big to squeeze through the gap!

Here’s a few pics of their basset family. You have to understand that Basset photography is a complete profession in its own right but hopefully you’ll get a sense of their whanau at least.

Four of the five adult bassets at Courtside Kennels

Abbie (mum) and Berkley (uncle) – can you see the family resemblance?

Although our boys love to play and have occasional fights they are devoted to each other. In their early days they were inseparable and when they were apart they were very upset.

As they’ve got older they’ve realised that separation is not usually permenant and are more independent of each other. Their bedroom is now divided into two so that at night they sleep in separate beds but given the choice and certainly during the day they are happiest when they can sleep together.

And when I say sleep together, I mean really together. Here’s some pics to show them close up and happily dreaming yesterday!

A basset’s favourite place out of the sun on the cool tiles

Sometimes Fortnum and Mason can be found sitting looking longingly at someone or waiting patiently for you to emerge from the house. This picture taken by Bob captures the intensity of their longing beautifully.

It also sums up the way we were all feeling today as we said goodbye to Bob and Sheila who were off home via Bangkok after their kiwi adventures.

It’s nice for MT to be able to commune with his puppies and play master at weekends. It is however typical for him to be spoiling and indulging Fortnum and Mason in ways that do much to undermine the disciplined approach that they get with me most of the time.

There are treats, lots of petting and more importantly space for basset anarchy which usually ends up with Fortnum and Mason playing havoc in the flower beds. To say that I don’t approve is an understatement but then where bassets and their master are concerned there are some thing you just have to accept are going to happen.

Here master here’s a stick for you!

Happiness is…. playing with my favourite indoor toy outdoors

That’s blown it, how are we going to get the stingray out of the flowerbed?

No problem, I’ll fetch it back

Well if you’re allowed in the flowerbed I think I’ll take a stroll

Hmm, plenty of good sniffing here

Sooooo comfy too to lie down. She’ll never know!

Want to see more bassetblogging?

In their short lives Fortnum and Mason have only really known hot sunny days. Of course it has rained and it’s been often enough to know that they don’t like it much.

This week the weather has broken and it’s been cold, wet and miserable. The southerly has brought a stiff, cold brrrrreeze to Kaitoke. The temperature has dropped around 10 degrees which is shock to the system I can tell you.

The bassets hate it too. On the occasions that I’ve put them in their playpen they’ve retreated to their dog house to play and snooze. As I have a heart I’ve also had them in the kitchen area to play which is OK until they start fighting over toys and chews when they are then banished to their bedroom (aka laundry) where they have taken to shredding newspaper or in Fortnum’s case, destroying the stuffing in his bed. I’m putting this annoying and less than charming behaviour down to cabin fever which they seem to get when it rains and they can’t be running around outside.

Whilst we expect rain and we need it for the water tank and garden I really really wish it hadn’t come this week. My friend Sarah has arrived from the UK for her visit and it’s just not fair that she has to endure the mist, rain and chill. Thank goodness for the central heating so we’ve been able to keep warm. Fingers crossed that the weather will improve before she heads off on her 5 day tramp of the Milford Track.

The person who came up with the saying that “A problem shared is a problem halved” must have been completely deluded. I’ve been sharing my current problem of weed attack with Bob, my father-in-law, but it doesn’t seem to have halved the problem at all. It did however make the legs and back ache slightly less than it might otherwise have done.

Having got the flower beds weeded and mulched it was time to start on the soon to be herb and salad garden and the remaining land around the house. After about 4 hours of work between us we’ve cleared about 20 square metres. Not a bad effort but just think about how long this is going to take to tackle the other couple of acres of weeds.

Still, armed with my fork, trowel, weed hacker and my trusty garden cart I shall set forth day by day to try and clear the worst before the rains come and they multiply all over again. But hey, it’s all in a day’s work eh out in the country!

Back by popular demand – this is what Fortnum and Mason do to contribute to the weed busting effort. Playing together in the sun (that’s after they’ve been shooed off the area being weeded where they like to lie right where you are working)

For more on my garden.

It’s been a tough time for the bassets since their op’s made harder by Fortnum’s longer recovery. However, we try to make it as much fun as possible for them with an occasional treat to cheer them up.

Also, Fortnum’s been increasingly allowed to take his hat off and run free and wild. He is much happier when it’s like this but because he needs to be supervised all the time to ensure he doesn’t start licking his wound it can only be a short respite. He looks so depressed when you pick up the buster collar on but despite his hatred of it he placidly accepts that’s the way it’s going to be.

Fortnum and Mason are just such different characters. Mason is the bold, clever (sneeky) and athletic of the pair. He is a real attention seeker who loves to make mischief but pretty obedient in training. Mason’s not really food motivated too much and would rather snout around and play in the flower beds given the chance rather than sit with a food toy to distract him.

Fortnum is almost the opposite. He’s the follower, more tolerant and loveable in his inability to be agile. He’s a big boy and lumbers around although content to sit or lie on the veranda sniffing into the wind. Most of all he loves food – pretty much any sort. Most of all he loves his bones, pigs ears and treats. In the morning he loves to play picking up his soft toy stingray as he hurries out the door to do his business first thing. He gets very upset when Mason doesn’t want to play and will bark for attention before heading into the corner to sulk or find a way of flopping into your lap for a cuddle.

Every day you see them both develop physically and their characters. There is no doubt they create huge amounts of work but they give enormous amounts of pleasure too when you watch them goofy around or simply kicking back basset style and laying in the sun.

You can see more of Fortnum and Mason.

It’s not been a good time for the bassets this week. There was a set back this weekend in Fortnum’s recovery following his insistence on licking his stitches. As a result he was packed off to the vets to get a buster collar fitted and antibiotics/painkillers.

It was an alarming experience for both of us when he first put on the collar. He simply stood in a catatonic state staring at me with complete bewilderment. He did however start to realise that standing in one spot forever wasn’t going to be helpful and by the evening he was starting to womble around a bit getting his big hat caught on the ground.

It was a pretty sleepless night on Sunday as he got it stuck and started barking and then pleading with me in the wee hours of the morning to take the thing off. The hard hearted person I am refused but did allow all 22kg of him to climb into my lap for him to go back to sleep.

By Monday he was getting used to his new attachment and has increased his capability to play, run, drink and eat whilst wearing his collar. However, the moment we take it off for some relief he promptly heads for a good lick of this stitches. But he is starting to recover now and hopefully by the weekend we’ll be able to relieve him of his collar.

Mason has been frustrated and upset by it all too. After all he lost his playmate and the rough and tumble that he loves to have has been curtailed. Also he’s been losing out on the attention stakes making him dream up as many new ways of being mischievious to get attention as possible.

I can’t imagine what it must be like to wear a big plastic cone around your head but I’m proud of Fortnum for being such a placid dog and tolerating it as well as he has. There is no doubt he’d rather be without it but the recovery is now back on track and before he knows it he’ll be back to normal.

Today the puppies were treated to some time with their two legged domestic executive being allowed to sit on the veranda outside DE HQ. It wasn’t long before Mason was exploring over the door threshold and having real fun with me chasing him out again. Oh, not to mention pulling all the paper out of the waste basket too!

Here’s some basset blogging to demonstrate.

Puppies exploring the inside of Domestic Executive HQ

Banished to the veranda for a snooze!

I forgot to update you bloggers of how big the puppies are growing. They were weighed at the vets this week and as you might expect they are getting bigger and bigger.

If you look back to previous posts you’ll see how far they’ve grown:

To the strapping lads we now have with Fortnum weighing in at 22 kilos and Mason at 17.3 kilos.