Beanies Birthday

The Cocoa Bean is two years old today. His diminutive, Beanie, derives from.. well, he's a boy so, you can guess.

He was the first born of a litter of seven, five black and two chocolate puppies. On the days before she gave birth, Maera was so fat she could hardly waddle and we thought there was risk she'd explode!

I wasn't aiming to keep a puppy, but there were those who knew I couldn't resist one little chocolate dog. The other chocolate pup was lovely and had deep green eyes and a slightly darker coat. Cocoa's coat was copper when he was born and when his eyes turned from deep birth blue, Cocoa's seemed to be of solid gold. They still are today.

He's a great little dog. Has enough of his mothers genes to make him fast and an instinctive gun dog, and his fathers genes make him an easier dog to handle and more obedient than his mother.

Maera lost her beauty of youth after having pups and had to be spayed when Cocoa decided his mother would be his first birthday present. I wouldn't have considered another litter anyway. One litter, raised well, is all I wanted. Another puppy, identical to her mum and a handful for her experienced owner, lives here on the Estate.

It's lovely to have the pups and their Mum working together on the shoots in the winter.

Happy Birthday, Cocoa Bean!

Here are some photos of the pups first few days. Photo number 4 was Cocoa at 10 minutes old!