At the start of 2011 I welcomed "Bling" into my home for a month or two. She is a harrier hound pup who had joined me for a bout of "Puppy Walking" where a young pup leaves the pack to be socialised. She was tremendous fun to have around, but kept me on my toes with practicing her "speeches" at 6am every morning and constantly redistributing shoes, brushes, sponges and the like all around the farm. Bling even made an appearance at the North Island Dressage Championships - but there is a bit of a funny story to go with that!

I was so excited to have my new horse van to take to a show (www.horsevans.co.nz) and a chance to take this lovely pup. I planned everything ahead of schedule - packed the dog food; a knife to cut it with; milk powder; bowl; fork to stir the milk; the bin that the pup shelters in; a saddle cloth for her to lie on; her favorite toy - a long breezestopper from under the door - everything I could think of to take a young pup away for the weekend. Sarah and I drove to Kihikihi - about an hour away, excited about being in a brand new mode of transport, and taking Donnerwind to a show. When we pulled into the showgrounds I turned to Sarah and said "Where's Bling?" - we had forgotten the hound! I think that goes to prove I'm definately NOT ready to have children yet!

A friend went back to Raglan and fetched her - some of the pics below are taken at the show - including Bling meeting Louie the Great Dane from Brooklands Park!

Another fun time we had with Bling was to take her to Matakana when we had been up for a showjumping show. She made herself at home at my friend's house, and after a few wines we decided to asses her "Type" by placing her on the coffee table and reading out the NZ Kennel Club's Breed Standards for Harrier Hounds. In our minds she was all but perfect!

Bling is now back at the Hunt Kennels and I hope to see her out hunting very soon with the pack.