What a long 48 hours it has been as poor Ruby paced the floor puffing, alternating with coming to ask for reassuring cuddles, but finally her babies are here.

A special thank you goes to Gill our vet who helped when a crisis with a huge stuck fast puppy created a potentially life-threatening situation. Sadly we lost this big boy, which would have been our number nine, but we still have eight new beautiful black and white babies, five dogs and three bitches.  This has to be the ultimate luxury - wall-to-wall Bearded Collies.

How we will tell these puppies from Honey's in a week or two is anybody's guess - Blaze certainly "stamps his type".  There is even a "little Blaze" - just as eye-catching as his father at the same age.

Time for us all to get some rest ....