(Links from this page in the news summaries may not work due to old material being removed)

24th December 2005: Well the Christmas Season is upon us and we are finally ready, all presents have been wrapped and all the food is ready to cook, cards have been sent out and the tree is decorated.

We hope you like the pictures of Willow, Ti and Indi on the front page with their Christmas hats on, so far they are enjoying the Christmas season and they seem to know that something is up with lots of visitors and strange smells and sounds. We hope to have lots of lovely walks over the holiday and my boots are ready by the front door for the off.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Peaceful and Happy New Year. For those of you who are regular visitors to our site, we would like to thank you for your support and interest in our Leo's and for new visitors please drop by again in the New Year for our News Review of 2005.

See you all in the New Year, until then, good health and good cheer.

9th December 2005: Well, we had an interesting day at Birmingham during the Ladies Kennel Association Champ Show, we took Ti along for the extra practice and to see what kind of result he could achieve under yet another judge, however, we did not expect Ti to turn into 'Tigger' while we were there. He would not settle, no matter what I did, and was very excited and wound up about something, he literally bounced his way around the ring in front of the Judge, Mrs G Lilley, who showed amazing patience and gave me the opportunity to run him again to see if he would calm down, but to no avail. Ti also decided that he didn't want to stand and played about, I could not get him to concentrate, and as a result we suffered the consequences, he was not placed in the first five, oops. This was no surprise to me in the slightest considering his 'performance'. Ti was having far too much fun messing about to concentrate on showing, but he enjoyed himself and I had a good laugh too, and so did many other people watching I might add. This was Ti's first really big indoor event and I think the atmosphere and occasion was a little overwhelming for him and may have had something to do with his skittish behavior. Never mind, there is always another show and considering his success to date, we did not come away too down hearted. Boden (Leonius Leviathan at Valeguard) also took part in LKA and behaved himself impeccably and in a much more appropriate way so for his news please see the Valeguard website (link on - other web site address page).

It was nice to bump into lots of our regular show friends and see how everyone was doing and congratulations to them all for their success at the show today.

Meanwhile at home, Indi continues to settle in well and we have some more new pictures of her with Ti and Willow for you to see. We are off to the vets this weekend for her final set of shots and a microchip. Next week we are going to visit the lake to introduce her to ducks, swans and much more of the outside world.

Willow continues to grow a new coat which, for some reason, is taking forever to come through, she is also enjoying the peace and quiet that a new puppy has brought in that Indi entertains Ti and plays with him constantly.

Well, we will have just 4 Open shows for Ti to practice ready for crufts in March 2006 and these will be in January and February 2006, but until then we will have no more show news unless, of course, the critiques for Bournemouth Champ Show or the LCGB Club show are printed, in which case we will put these onto the show results page.

Well thank you for visiting again, don't forget to leave a message if you enjoyed our news (link via front page), we will be updating this page once more before Christmas so see you in about a week. Bye for now.

26th November 2005: Indi has now been with us for a week and what a week it has been, she is a very confident happy little puppy and is more than capable of standing up for herself, so far she has Willow and Ti wrapped around her paw (as well as the whole family). Ti is like some love sick puppy when she's not around a cry's like a baby until she comes back. Willow is more relaxed about the whole affair taking everything Indi throws at her, from nipping and biting, to pinching her food. The only exception Willow took was when Indi tried to steal her favorite bone to which she was swiftly reprimanded.

Indi has had several trips out in the car to get used to traveling about and we caused quite a stir at my son's school when the children saw how big she was and that she was just 8 weeks old. Loads of children came over to say hello and stroke her and Indi just stood there very nicely and wagged her tail at them all. I told them to look out for us on the following day as I was to walk Ti to the school and they could not believe how big he was and that Little Indi would not be far behind him.

Indi has also had her routine trip to the vets, where we had a clean bill of health given, inoculations have been started and a microchip will be put in next time we visit in two weeks. She was a big hit at the vets with everyone wanting to have a cuddle before she left. Again she took her visit to the vets in her stride and seems to be phased by nothing. Indi is already a hugh part of our family we all love her to bits.

We have been very busy taking lots of pictures and have put a few of them on to Indi's page of her settling in to her new home. Well that's it for now so catch up with you again in about a week. I'm off for an Indi cuddle.

19th November 2005: After 8 weeks of eager anticipation we finally brought home our new little girl, we are proud to introduce to you Glenbrindy Indigo at Leonius to be known as - Indi. We would like to thank Martin and Bridget Clancy and all their family at Glenbrindy Leo's for their help and for allowing us to have this beautiful little girl, we promise to take very good care of her. We have two new pages dedicated to Indi so please take a look at Indi's pictures page and Indi's Pedigree and Health page. Indi has a lovely nature is bouncy, cheeky and as you would expect very fluffy and cute, as a puppy should be.

Willow and Ti have both been introduced to Indi, Willow has already given her a head to toe bath taking over the role of surrogate mum. Ti was not quite sure what to do but when he lay down to have a nap Indi jumped all over him. They all fell asleep together which was a lovely sight to see, with Indi curled up in a ball next to Willow and in all the excitement I forgot to take a picture. Indi tucked into her food after her nap which took us by surprise as we thought she go off her food for a while as she settles in, but she seems completely unphased by the whole situation.

Our 3 children are thrilled with the new member of our family and have given all the new toys they selected to her. They also both had a cuddle with her while she had a nap. It's been a big day for Indi and now we will let her settle in with a nice quiet week, with nearly all visitors banned until further notice, while she gets used to us all.

Well, with only a few weeks left until we attend LKA with Ti we won't have much news, but we will post some picture of Indi, Ti and Willow as they all get to know each other so check back in a week.

Bye for now.

12th November 2005: Well, fireworks night passed off without incident and both Ti and Willow slept through most of the noise, we are very lucky that they seem so stress free at this time as so many people's pets suffer such terrible anxiety.

We have received some lovely pictures of Max, Tucker, Ziggy and Boden from their owners that we think you will enjoy and so take a look. We think they all look beautiful and we are very proud of how they are turning out. Thanks to everyone for sending in pictures of their puppies for us to share.

Today we were able to visit our little girl puppy and she is beautiful, it was a hard job to choose from such lovely puppies but when we saw her we knew she was the one for us. We were very excited at the prospect of seeing lots of lovely fluffy Leo puppies and were not disappointed. With only 1 week until she comes home we have already decided on her name and can't wait to post her web page and pictures onto our site. We can then introduce her to you all properly.

Willow's moult is now nearly at an end and her new coat coming through is a wonderful deep red colour again. She still mothers Ti, ritually cleaning his ears and face just like he is one very big baby.

Ti is now quite a bit bigger than his mum and still growing fast, we look forward to his next show in December at the LKA but until then we will continue to enjoy our walks down muddy lanes and swims in the lakes and canals, how Leo's enjoy them both! Ti has also invented a new game called 'pull mums tail and run' to which he is guaranteed a response from his mum and a hefty telling off if she is not in the mood.

We would like to congratulate Yvonne and John Lance on some lovely news, firstly Boden gained his Silver Good Citizenship Award from the Kennel Club at just 8 months old, not bad guys well done, and secondly, they have been awarded their kennel name Affix, Valeguard, so please visit their new web site (www.valeguard.com) which is now up and running to check out what they are up to and also to see more information on Boden and his family. Congratulations Lance family.

Well that's all our news for now, please come back in a week when we will finally be able to introduce you to our new little girl. Bye for now.

17th October 2005: What a weekend, we prepared for the 4th Leonberger Club of Great Britain Championship Show by giving Ti a well needed bath and brush up on Saturday. An early start was needed on the Sunday of the show and we set off at 7.30am to arrive at the show early to settle Ti down. We were surprised by the excellent turn out at the show with nearly no exhibitors absent. In a very tough Minor Puppy Group of 12 exhibitors Ti came 1st which we were so thrilled about. This means that we achieved our objective of qualifying him for Crufts 2006. He went on to show in the Puppy Dog Group and gained 3rd place against some extremely tough competition of 12 exhibits and more mature dogs so we were thrilled with this result also. We would like to thank the Judge, Mr Frank Kane, for thinking so highly of Ti in this event and we look forward to seeing the critique. We have entered the details of this weekends results to Ti's Show page if you wish to see what he has done so far.

It was lovely to see so many of our friends get placed so well at the show and congratulations to you all, there are just to many to list but you know who you are.

Unfortunately it was just not Boden's day, but he behaved himself impeccably and we were very proud of both Boden and Yvonne for showing so well in the face of such really tough competition. As Boden has already qualified for crufts I have no doubt that the next show will bring a better result for him.

We would like to thank everyone who supported us on the day and went out of their way to say hello to us and for saying such nice things about Ti and Boden. Thanks also to everyone who said that they visit our website and follow the progress of all our puppies, this meant so much to us both. We hope you all continue to enjoy the entries in our diary and the pictures and thank you for your support.

We were delighted to see Jess again a week ago, she is looking lovely and has a very sweet nature, unfortunately I did not manage to get any pictures of her but it was lovely to see her again. We also have some more pictures of Bailey, Bones and Tucker, they are all looking just fabulous and coming along very well so check out the pictures on their pages for their latest news.

Willow is in the throws of losing her coat again after just getting it back, so we are finding hair everywhere, we hope with her next coat she will be able to re-enter the show ring in full glory just after March next year.

Our next show will be Ladies Kennel Association in December so not much show news for the next couple of weeks, but if we have anymore news we will put it on the site at the next update. Well that's all from us so until next time, bye for now.

1st October 2005: Well, we are having a nice long rest from the show ring at the moment, our next being October 16th, the LCGB Champ Show, daily practice starts again as of today. We were excited to see the critique for Ti and Boden from the Birmingham City C.A. Championship show (thanks for e-mailing them to me Yvonne) and I have put these onto their show pages if you wish to take a look, we are very pleased with the judges opinion of the boys as I am sure Yvonne and John are for Boden, not bad for a first set of critique's.

We continue to have our nice Leo walks around the countryside the only difference being what we now have to wear, coats hats and gloves have replaced the shorts and T-shirts. The dogs of course take no notice of the weather and once they have had their swim in the lake it doesn't matter if the heavens open as they are already soaking wet.

Willow is looking fabulous at the moment, she has gained back a good amount of weight and has filled out substantially now, she is back to full fitness after her first litter. We hope to have her back in the ring after Crufts next year.

We were thrilled to receive a call from Freya's owners recently to say that they will be visiting us soon so we are very excited about this, it will be lovely to see how she is doing, we can't wait. I will post some pictures of Freya's visit on her page the minute she has been.

We also have some exciting news about our search for a little girl puppy to join our happy home. We have identified a litter from which we have been fortunate enough to secure an excellent choice of girls, we are extremely excited about this and can't wait to visit them in about 3 weeks time. I will be letting everyone know who she is, where she is from and what her name will be very soon and hope to bring her home in about 7 weeks. It will be strange to have a little puppy in the house again as Ti has grown so fast its not like he is a puppy at all anymore. Well that's it from us for now so take care and we will be back soon.

4th September 2005: * NEWS FLASH * Well, what a weekend we have had. We attended Birmingham Championship show with the main focus being that I would try to improve my handling technique (which holds a little to be desired) and hopefully get a good place with Ti in his Puppy Dog Class, to our complete joy we won the 1st place, to add to that joy his brother Boden gained an excellent 2nd place, continuing his career with excellent results, congratulations Yvonne and John with your continuing success. We stayed to challenge for best puppy against the winning Puppy Bitch, and a beauty at that, and were thrilled when he gained Best Puppy in Breed.

With some trepidation we realised that we now had to wait to enter the Working Puppy Group to Challenge for Best Working Puppy. We did not really expect to gain a place as the competition was outstanding and were ecstatic when he gained Working Puppy Group 2nd place beating about 14 other Best in Breed Puppy's. We were all exhausted but completely on cloud nine. We can't thank Jean Hammond enough for thinking so highly of Ti in the Breed Judging and also to Mrs Horan for thinking so highly of Ti in the Working Puppy Group Judging. We would also like to thank everyone on the day for their kind comments about Ti and Boden and for the helpful handling tips, all of which are duly noted.

With all of this happening for us, our friends Gary & Rachel Pitchford were also enjoying their winning of the Leo Best of Breed with their boy Bear, many congratulations guys, and the minute they were finished in their challenge for the Best Working Group, they ran over to support us in our the final minutes of the judging for the Best Working Puppy group and I would like to thank them for their load cheers of support, staying until the bitter end with us while we waited for the judges choice, thanks guys, it was much appreciated.

To top our weekend off, if this was not enough, we had a very special visit from our beloved Jess, who you may remember we homed at 13 weeks of age after the difficult decision not to keep her. She is looking amazing with a coat as red as Ti's and a face that would melt any heart, Gill, she is just gorgeous and I wish I had kept her, thank you for taking such excellent care of her. We have some lovely photos of her during her visit so take a peek at her page.

We also finally managed to scan in the pictures of Freya, but unfortunately most of them could not be used due to being too fuzzy, but we have some for you to see, she is a beautiful girl and like her sisters looks just like mum.

Our next show for Ti is in October at the Leonberger Club of GB Championship Show in Coventry where we will be trying to qualify Ti for Crufts, so I have some 6 weeks to practice and improve my skills with all my new handling tips. That's all our news for the moment, take care and bye for now.

20th August 2005: * NEWS FLASH * We have Exciting News, I am so pleased to annouce that Boden (Leonius Leviathan - pictured on our front page) has done us and his owners Yvonne and John Lance proud, not only did he come 3rd at the Builth Wells Championship show in the Puppy Dog group, by doing so he has become the first Leonius puppy to qualify for Crufts. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE LANCE FAMILY. This was Boden and Yvonne's first ever show and they should both be extremely proud of how they did for their maiden outing. Yvonne and Boden were supported by their family who had joined them at the show. We are so proud of you for doing so well.

Ti (Leonius Titan) did well gaining a 5th place in the same Puppy Dog group and while he has not yet qualifed for crufts, I believe it is only a matter of time before he does. We shall try again in October when we compete in the puppy groups at the Leonberger Club of Great Britain Breed Club Championship Show but will have another occasion to practice in September at Birmingham Canine Association Championship Show.

Well, thats our news for now so keep an eye out for our next set of show results in September.

15th August 2005: Well we have lots of news and lots of photos, I'm not quite sure where to start, so hear goes........

We have just returned from two wonderful weeks holiday in the beautiful hills and valleys of my first home 'Wales'. The dogs loved the fabulous walks including many swims in the sea, lakes, ponds and rivers, Ti is a natural and swam his little legs off, while Mum, Willow, watched from the comfort of chest deep waters. I have put some pictures on to the pictures page for you to see how they enjoyed themselves.

Willow has a wonderful coat at last and I have put a picture of her on the pictures page of her on top of a hill in Wales looking fab, she is still lacking the feathers on her front legs and hind quarters but apart from that she is looking her old self again.

Ti has the most wonderful red coat, still quite fluffy in some places but slowly being replaced with a more mature second coat. He competed in his first ever show on Sunday, Bournemouth Championship Show in the beautiful New Forest. I could not have been more pleased with his behavior, he stood nicely and did as I asked and considering the environment, which can be quite overwhelming, was new to him he took it all in his stride I was so proud of him. He was awarded 2nd place out of 4 exhibitors and was competing against dogs that were about 3 months older than him so I was thrilled to see how well he did at his first ever show. Thank you to everyone for their kinds words about him and it was so nice to see so many old friends again after my break of some 8 months from the show ring. We have WKA Championship Show next Saturday so we hope to have some more good news then, with both Ti and his brother Boden entered we will have some fun on our hands as they have not seen each other since they were 8 weeks old. I wish Yvonne good luck with Boden, we will be rooting for you as much as for ourselves. We will let you know how we all do so check out the website again next week. It will be a tough competition as there will be some fantastic pups attending so everyone wish us luck.

With yet more beautiful photo's sent to us by the owners of some of the Leonius puppies, I have added them to their pages, so take a look at the pictures of Jess on her page, she's looking so beautiful and so like her mum, also of Max who is looking just so handsome and so like Ti I can barely tell them apart. There are some smashing pictures of Bones at a UKLA fun event enjoying himself and a picture of Tucker who has become the unofficial mascot for a local scout group which he regularly attends with Deb his owner. We were delighted to receive some photos of Freya in the post and we will get these scanned in in the next few days and put on to her page, she has been practicing ready to become a PAT dog in a few months time, we wish her well for her test and will let you know how she does, she is looking beautiful and again I see such a likeness to her Mum. Thanks again to all the owners who continue to send in news and pictures of their lovely puppies they are all growing so fast and changing into such lovely boys and girls, they are all a credit to their owners who are doing splendid jobs of caring for them all. It means so much to us to see them all so happy and healthy.

Well that's about it from us for now so take care everyone and until next time, bye for now.

16th July 2005: Well I couldn't wait another 2 weeks to update as we have been sent some more new photos of some of the Leonius Puppies. So today I have updated Tia's page as we were sent such wonderful pictures of her on a recent family holiday I just had to put them on to share them with everyone, so please take a look they are great. She has discovered the beach and had a wonderful time splashing about in the sea, apparently she is now an expert digger and sandy beaches are a firm favorite, thanks to Carol and Nick for sending them to us for her page she is looking fantastic.

We have also recieved a lovely picture of Bailey who has his best friend sat right next to him, and who said that cats and dogs don't mix! Thanks to Lee and Claudia for this lovely picture of Bailey.

Well just a quick update today so check out the last entry for more news recently added. Bye for now.

12th July 2005: Ti is continuing to get bigger and bigger he will soon be the same height as his mum. Our training continues with some success, Ti is standing nicely now but timing is all important and we still have a way to go on this, with only 5 weeks until his first show we must now put in some serious overtime on the ring training front. There are some new pictures on him on his page, so take a peek.

We were absolutely delighted to have a visit from Linda and Tom, Nana's owners, Nana is looking absolutely wonderful and we took loads of photos of her and have put a small selection of these onto her page so please take a look. We were so pleased to see one of the puppies again and to see how she has developed so far. Willow and Ti went mad when they realised who was visiting and they all played in the garden for nearly an hour before collapsing tired out. Nana has developed nicely and is a credit to Linda and Tom who are doing a fantastic job of taking care of her. She has the most wonderful nature and is lively and fun loving. Thank you Tom and Linda for bringing her to visit, we can't tell you how much this meant to us.

We also have some new pictures of Boden out in his garden so take a look at how Leo's love to keep cool.

Willow is doing well and has had her first season since the pups arrival, her coat is coming back wonderfully and is a lovely deep red, she is gaining weight steadily and she is starting to look more like a Leo and less like a greyhound! Willow has also become an aunt, he sister Zoe has become a mum having the same amount of pups as we did, 11, unfortunately one was lost but the others are doing well, and our congratulations go to David and Heather Niall at Davenheath Leo's for the safe delivery of their second litter and hope they are getting enough sleep!

In June our deepest sympathies were sent to our good friends Gary and Rachel Pitchforth of Arcanine Leonbergers who lost their beloved Dana, a beautiful and very promising Leo girl who sadly left this life far too soon. Hug your Leo's, you just don't know how long you will have them for, and however long it is, it is never long enough.

Well I will be back when we have some more news to pass on so until then good bye.

21st June 2005: It Hot, Hot, HOT. The weather at the moment is not really the type that Leo's enjoy. Willow and Ti have spent the last few days shade bound or in the new kids swimming pool we bought for them to play in. Ti sits quite happily for hours in the cool water and then slumps next to mum in the shade and just chills out. Walking has become impossible during the day and we have left our daily strolls for the evenings only for the duration of this hot spell. Willow is suffering less with her short coat but still finds it too much for excitement and playtime and shows unending patience when Ti decides its time to play.

We had hoped to attend the Leonberger Club Open Show on Sunday 19th June but with the weather being so hot it would have been unfair on the dogs, to put them through all that hot weather especially as we were not going to compete, so we stayed at home and tried to stay cool.

With the exception of Ti, all the Pups from our first litter have now spent more time with their new owners than they did with us and so far all is going well, we have had news from everyone on their progress and I am happy to say that all the owners are doing their pups proud. We have had pictures of nearly all the pups for their web pages and I think you will all agree that they are looking wonderful.

We have been sent some more lovely pictures of Bones to add to his page so check them out, he is looking fantastic.

Boden has proved a very clever boy and has passed his Bronze KC Good Citizenship Award at the tender age of just 16 weeks old, Congratulations to Boden and his owners the Lance family on your award.

As its quiet for us at the moment we don't have much news for you, so we will sign off and hope to be back in about 3 weeks time. Bye for now.

5th June 2005: Willow, or 'Furless Fred' as we call her at the moment, is enjoying her no coat stage during this hot spell of weather, she is staying nice and cool as a result and can't quite understand why everyone else stays in the shade and won't play with her. We've had lots of nice walks recently to aide her recovery to full fitness, and we are well and truly back to our old routine and she is happy to be back playing with her friends on a regular basis.

Ti is coming along nicely and we continue with his ringcraft training in the hope that we will be ready in time for his first show in August. His personality is such that he has his Mums gentle and fun nature mixed with his Dads relaxed, calm confidence and he is winning friends where ever he goes. I've put some new pictures of him onto his puppy page and his details page for you to see. He has discovered that the children's swimming pool is an excellent source of fun and a great way to stay cool but has yet to discover what bubbles are all about!

For those of you who know the history, you might like to know that Jess, who left us at 13 weeks of age, is settled and enjoying life at her new home, we recently received some pictures of her and thank Gill for letting us know how she is doing. We still miss her but are happy that she has adjusted well to her new surroundings and as you will see is very comfortable!

We were also delighted to have received some more wonderful pictures of Leonius pups from their owners so check out the pages for Boden, Bones, Bailey, Max, Ziggy, and Tucker, I think you will agree they all look wonderful. Thanks to everyone who has contributed photos so far for their puppies pages and for keeping us up-to-date on their progress, it is much appreciated by us. We will be back again in about 2 weeks, so bye for now.

15th May 2005: Willow's coat continues to fall out, I have never seen her with so little fur, she has no undercoat at all and most of her top coat is now deserting her. I was warned that this would happen and her new coat coming through looks like it is going to be amazing. I am giving her various supplements to help her coat recover and she is regaining her fitness quickly with lots of walks.

Ti is coming along nicely and we continue to practice his basic training and ringcraft. We have entered him for his first show which will be at Builth Wells in Wales, it's the Welsh Kennel Association Championship Show, which is a biggy. I was hoping to get him to a few Open shows first but as he will not be eligible for any that are happening it will be a case of 'in at the deep end'. I don't have high expectations as it may be a bit much for him on his first outing. He is quite laid back though so it might not phase him as much as it does me and as he is such a show off if he thinks someone is watching, he may just surprise me.

Ti and Jess both had their first proper walks on Friday with a once around the field at the back of our house. This was an interesting trip for both of them as they were only used to various peoples gardens, the car and vets. At first they were both a little hesitant at so much space to investigate but after 5 minutes realised that there was much fun to be had. We now do two small walks a day around the field, and you could not stop them if you tried, they have met with a Corgi some Terriers and a Boxer. They couldn't quite figure out why the Terriers were barking so much and they sat and watched them with a funny look on their faces, until Ti simply had enough and put one very big paw gently onto the terriers head at which the terrier went very quiet and stopped barking and its owner nearly cried laughing. We also visited the lakes at the weekend and were introduced to ducks and geese and some swans, all were taken in their stride.

Jess - We have, in a way, sad news about Jess, we finally had a suitable home come forward for her, and she left us today at 13 weeks old, with much sadness on our part but also happiness that she will have the one-to-one attention she deserves. We will miss her terribly, and I must admit to shedding a tear or two but know she has found a loving home with her new owner Gill from Chertsey. We wish her well and hope to keep in contact with her owner on how she is progressing.

We have been sent some lovely picture of Boden by his owners the Lance family and also from Tia's owners the Martin Family so check out their pages as they both look just wonderful. Tia has been helping to redesign the family sofa, much to her owners dismay, and there is a picture of this lovely design for you so see!

We have had e-mails from most of the new owners who continue to say how well all the puppies are doing and the progress they are making. It is wonderful to hear how well they have adjusted and that they are happy and healthy boys and girls. That's all our news for now so goodbye until next time.

2nd May 2005: Willow is now completely losing her coat and looks a bit of a mess, as most Leo owners know, we now have hair everywhere, grooming every day has helped and I have put as much out for the birds as possible for their nesting material but we are still finding it everywhere. She is gaining back her weight slowly after the pups but we still have a long way to go. We have resumed our Sunday walks with Daisy, Lotti and Nina and she is so happy to see them all. We can also now resume our walks in the field next to our house which means she will meet all her friends again.

Ti and Jess have now had all their injections and their microchips are implanted. We are now very excited about taking them out next weekend for their first real walk in public and will be expecting the usual questions about what they are and where they come from. They are growing fast and gaining good weight. With no suitable enquiries about Jess, we are expecting to announce next week that she will be staying with us for good, but we are quite happy about that.

We have a famous pup, Jo Wainwright's Pup, Bones, made the national papers last weekend. For the details on this check out Bones' page to see the article that appeared in the Sunday People news. I am sure that Jo will be happy that she will no longer need her trolley now he can walk outside on the ground! We have had some lovely pictures from Baileys owners Lee and Claudia so check out his page as well, Bailey is doing really we and has made great friends with the family cat. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the new owners with pups from our first litter good luck with their first walkies out and about in the next week. Be back in two weeks, by for now.

24th April 2005: Last weekend saw Freya go home with her new owners, a week later than expected but we enjoyed having her for the extra time. We have received many e-mails and phone calls from the new owners saying how well everything is going with their new family members. All are gaining weight well and settling in to their new environments. This has meant a lot to us and want to thank them all for letting us know that all their pups are happy. We are hoping that they will stay in contact and let us know how they get on. We have even received photos from some of the new owners so check out the pages for Max, Ziggy, and Boden, with the additional photos we have taken of Jess and Ti there is quite a lot to look at, and with promises of more photos to come from other owners there will be plenty to see.

For us training has begun and success is being achieved. So far we have sit, stand, come and down off to a tee. We had to change Ambers name to Jess as she was not responding to her first chosen name, it took several hours of negotiation with my husband to come up with and finally agree that Jess was the one to pick, and it worked she comes to us everytime when we call her now. Ti and Jess are learning fast and gaining weight well. Ti is now 24lbs 8oz and Jess is now 20lbs. We are starting to train both of them for the show ring, tentative steps are being taken in the garden with just 10 minutes each, they are both so keen to learn and it is strange to see 3 Leo's obediently doing as I ask, both Jess and Ti are watching Mum as we practice and they copy what she does.

Willow had her first proper walk in ages today as we start her on the road to building her muscle tone and weight back up. We hit the Chase guns blazing, Daisy, Lotti and Nina joined me and we watched and laughed as they all took off down the pathways at top speed. After our walk a well needed bath was had, Willow, and both puppies now smell so much better and look lovely with their coats all clean and fluffed up. The puppies didn't seem to mind the bath at all and this is good, no one likes to try to bath an unwilling dog, especially a large one! I've started work on a new look for this site and hope to unveil it in about a months time. That's all for now, I'll be back again in about 2 weeks.

10th April 2005: Willow and Puppies update:- The weekend has been hectic and exhausting, all but three of our puppies from our first litter have gone to their new homes and we are left in almost silence. Willow is coping well with the separation and with three pups still here to help keep her occupied I think she will be ok. I was quite worried how she would react but she has been fine, I also think she will be glad to have some peace and quiet. We are all quite drained emotionally as it has been hard to see them go one by one, but we are also happy that they are starting their new lives with such lovely people. We home one more puppy next weekend and then that's it for a while.

We can finally start to build a relationship with our remaining puppies and are proud to announce the theme of our first litter as 'The Age of Mythology' Hero's and Heroin's. With names now confirmed by the Kennel Club we have put each name, and the matching pup on the Litters Page. Most of the new owners are keen to send us pictures to add to our site as each pup will have a dedicated page, it will be nice to see them as they develop over the next few years and with a few owners expressing a wish to try showing it will be interesting to see how they do.

We still have one little girl left to find a home for, she is so beautiful I don't think it will be long before some suitable home comes forward to claim her, her name is Amber (after her mum's show name) and you can see her details on the Litters Page. If she hasn't been homed by the time she is 12 weeks old we will quite happily keep her ourselves.

I can now start to prepare our pup(s) for the ring by starting to train them in ring craft. Just a few minutes a day to start with, along with some obedience and playtime.

I have made a start to redesign the structure of our website, slimming down the amount of pictures to only the necessary few. I am looking into designing some more graphics for the pages of the website so my books will come out and learning will begin in earnest. My next big project is to concentrate on our house selling and moving and settling our family into a new home in Wiltshire. Our site is likely to be a little quite now until we start to show our boy and girl(s) again, but will still try to update this site as much as possible with any news we might have. Bye for now, one very exhausted person off for a rest.

27th March 2005: Willow and Puppies update:- Only two weeks to go until our first litter go to their new homes, in a way I am dreading it as I will miss them terribly but I will also be happy to see them go to such good homes. I have yet to choose my boy and possible my girl, but hope is on the way, Ivan's owners Darren and Mandy are coming to help me as I have found it impossible to choose, I need a fresh set of eyes to check them over. I have the added benefit of Willows breeders who will also be giving them the once over and their opinion will be invaluable to me. I have finally sent off the Kennel Club registration form for the puppies, a little later than I had planned but its done now. The names should be confirmed within a week so I will be able to announce the names and theme of the puppies then.

Well they all took their first stroll in the garden two weeks ago and so far everyday since then they have ventured out 3 times a day for playtime and to get used to all the strange noises that are around. They all ran to me in a mad panic when they heard my neighbours dog bark for the first time but are slowly getting used to this and now some stand by the fence looking like they could take on the world and-then-some! Characters are all wonderful, cheeky, fun filled, brave and adventurous and they are all so confident now and calmer than you could ever imagine a puppy could be. They are piling on the weight now some over half a pound a day. At this rate I will be broke feeding them all! Shopping has become a bit of a spectacle, when you take an entire shops supply of frozen lamb mince and natural yogurt it raises eye brows, and when you tell the people behind you what its for, because they just have to ask, their faces are a sight to see. They must think I'm mad. There are more pictures on the litters pictures page so check them out and I'll be back to update you all in about a week or so.

6th March 2005: Willow and Puppies update:- Well today was mothers day and I didn't get to rest in bed, the puppies were not going to let me! We have now reached the tender age of 3 weeks old all the puppies are still with us, all have opened their eyes and are starting to play and investigate their surroundings. They have also experienced their first solid meals this week and to my delight on the 2nd feeding they all piled in and took the scrum position, demolishing their food within seconds. I am moving them up to 2 meals a day from today so I have my work cut out in the cleaning department this coming week. As they start to make less mess it will get easier but at the moment they still like skating in it. Most of the puppies have moved well into the 3 lbs weight mark and gaining more each day. All the puppies have had new proper collars fitted today. I have moved them on from their little woolen collars as they are now too big for them and I have finally run out of wool. I can still identify them but it was hard work trying to find 11 different colours and designs to tell them apart. Their personalities are starting to change even more, with some always wanting to play and other more interested in investigating what the hoover is all about or what the new toy is that has suddenly appeared in the pen for them to play with. I am introducing them to as many shapes, colours, smells and sounds as I can to help with their development, with nearly all our puppies going to family homes with children it is very important that they are not worried about the sight of new objects that make strange sounds and motions. Willow is still feeding her babies and starting to teach them some puppy manners, it's interesting to watch how she puts up with them crawling all over her face, biting her ears and tail. When she's had enough she lets them know and wanders off for a rest and some peace and quiet. Willow has not lost her coat yet and as she was due to moult next week anyway we are looking forward to finding hair everywhere again for the next few weeks. We have some more pictures for you to see on the new Leonius Litters Page which can be reached through the link on the puppies page or front page, this one is dedicated to single photos of each puppy. I will be applying for their Kennel Club registrations from 4 weeks old and will then be able to announce to everyone their Kennel/Show Names and the theme we have picked.

24th February 2005: Willow and Puppies update:- It is now day 11 and all is well, all puppies still going strong with no sign of slowing down. They are all making good progress and gaining a good amount of weight each day. Some are starting to show signs of opening their eyes and one definitely peeped at me yesterday. My camera has never been so busy and its hard to choose from all the pictures I have which to put on this website. I have managed to take a couple of pictures with them separated in to 3 groups to identify them as girls and boys so for all you puppy junkies out there check out the new pictures on the puppies page there should be 6 new ones. I had an interesting time yesterday trying to trim the puppies little nails, they were wriggling and squirming and even at this age they are quite strong. I bought some cat claw trimmers for this purpose which were brilliant for the job but it was still quite difficult. Willow is starting to spend a little more time each day away from the puppies and it won't be long before her gorgeous coat falls out, as is the nature of whelping bitches at this time. We plan to give her the beauty treatment after this has happened with a wash and brush up as she always looks so sad without her lovely locks. The process of weaning the puppies will start soon another one to two weeks time and then the hard work will really kick in, messy, food covered puppies and lots of meals to prepare and with mum soon handing over potty duty to me that will be another task I shall have to clean up after. Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.

17th February 2005: Willow and Puppies update:- We have reached 5 days old and all is still well. Willow left the puppies for brief exercise a small 15 minute walk to help loosen up tight muscles and aching bones, she will be having a bath at the weekend to help clean her up and make her feel a bit more comfortable. The puppies are gaining weight steadily and all look really well. We have taken loads more pictures so check out the puppies page again for some of the better ones. We are starting to see the personalities emerging of some of the puppies, we have one in particular we have named 'little blue' as the little collar we have used to identify this one is 'blue', she is a little girl who is very independent always wandering off round the whelping box fearlessly by herself and managing to find her way back on her own with no help or complaints. Another we have named Squeaky, this is a little boy who when he can't have the teat he wants squeaks his head off in complaint, or if he goes more than a step or two away from mum he squeals for help to find his way back, its not because he is hungry as he is the heaviest of them all. They all have something particular about them and I have started to take detailed notes even at this stage to help in the process of homing the right personality of pup to the right new owner and home. I find myself drawn in particular to two little pups one is a girl and one is a boy, I will need to do some hard work to convince my husband that keeping two is a good idea! They are all so beautiful just looking at them can bring you to tears, I'm such a girl! I hope to be able to update the latest news every 3 days or so for the next two weeks, so keep checking in for more details and hopefully more pictures.

15th February 2005: Willow and Puppies update:- Well 3 days old today. All are doing well feeding like mad and getting bigger by the day. Willow is slowly recovering from a retained placenta infection which made her quite poorly for about 24 hours, raging temperature etc. She had me very worried for a little while but our vet was brilliant. I sat in vigil all night setting the alarm to wake me every hour on the hour to make sure she took on water and food. I seem to be amazingly coherent considering I have probably only had 6 hours sleep in the last 3 to 4 days, it must be adrenalin. I take my hat off to all breeders, this has opened my eyes to the dedication of keeping all pups and mums safe and well. We made a mistake regarding the sex of our firstborn pup, he is actually a she, so we have 7 boys and 4 girls. They were checked again by the vet today and those that had hind dew claws had them removed. Willow's milk should come-in tomorrow so we are expecting rapid weight gain from tomorrow onwards and some more contented pups who will sleep a little longer between feeds. Have put two new pictures on the puppies page so check them out. More to come soon.

13th February 2005: THEY ARE HERE...Leonius's first litter born today 13.02.05 . Willow delivered her puppies this morning, she started at 12.50 and finishing at 7.30am. They came 3 days earlier than planned. She had 11 in her litter 8 boys and 3 girls all whoppers the smallest weighed in at 12.5oz and the largest at 1Lb2oz, many more than we were expecting. Mum and Pups all doing well. I have put the pictures on the puppies page for you all to see. Now we are going to try to get some sleep as we have had none for the last 48 hours. Will update this page again in a few days when I am less sleepy. We are so happy we could fly.

30th January 2005: We are on count down now only 17 days left until the puppies are due. We are preparing everything we need from paperwork to whelping box. My book on whelping and raising a litter of puppies has never been so well used and the pages simply fall open on the most important items to remember, with helpful tips from other kind breeders who have passed on their knowledge to me, marked in pen in the surrounding boarders of the pages - thanks to everyone who has passed on their gems of advice - mostly to stay calm. I'm more nervous than when I had my own children. Willow had her last big walk today, from now on we are going to have to make her take it easy with more short regular walks instead of her usual long ones. She is starting to slow down quite a bit and I know her best friends Daisy and Lotti will miss her while she takes a time-out for her babies. I am hoping to have some more pictures of Willow soon to update the pictures page with so keep an eye out in the next few weeks.

15 January 2005: Exciting News....Willow has been confirmed as expecting a litter. Our visit to the vets on Friday confirmed what we suspected that Willow is now going to be a Mum. I have a lovely scan picture for posterity and we can expect the patter of many tiny paws in four weeks time (Feb 16th 2005). I have already sorted out a theme for the puppies names and we are busy preparing for the big event. I'm so excited I could burst. I have hopefully secured the services of a young lady who will help me with the whelping, and when asked if she had much experience she replied, "well I've helped Wolves whelp"! Should be a very interesting experience.

01 January 2005: Well, welcome to my web site this is the first entry and is quite a historical moment for me. After heavy research, locating and then purchasing a lovely Leo puppy, the last few years have been exciting, interesting, worrying and most of all enjoyable. Not only have I had a crash course in the practical handling, showing and owning of a Leonberger, I have realised that I can never imaging my life without one or more of these wonderful dogs. I have also learned more about computers than I would like to admit and have my long suffering husband Jamie to thank for his patience in putting this web site together. Putting this web site together has tested both my knowledge of computers and my patience it is a simple site at present as I am at the very start of my web site career! I hope that you will find the information interesting, informative and at times funny. I will hopefully soon be able to say 'Leo's' as Willow was recently mated to a lovely lad and I shall be keeping a little boy from her first litter due in 2005.