Jairkingsly Labradors

The pups were growing like weeds, and soon it was time for them to embark on their own adventures and find new families. I must admit, this part wasn’t exactly on my list of favourite things to do. Another breeder had suggested to us we keep them until 10 weeks instead of the usual 8, as some skills are best taught by their mum. The puppy from my last post was a prefect example of this. So, we had a few more weeks to create more cherished memories like this one! One evening my husband was lounging on the sofa, teetering on the edge of relaxation, when one of th cheeky pups casually walked by and gave his tow a little nip! If you know, you know-those shark teeth are no joke! To this day he has a small scar on the underside of his big toe!

Before all the excitement of the new homes, the pups had their first vet visit at 6 weeks old. Getting 5 wiggly puppies into a car and to the vet was quite the adventure! We had a crate on wheels, and they were all piled in like sardines in a tin. As first-time car travellers, we weren’t sure what to expect, but bless them, they were really well behaved, unlike their mum when we first bought her home! As you can imagine, taking 5 adorable Labrador puppies to the vet was a delightful event, filled with cuddles and kisses from all the staff and some of the other owners. The vet weigh each one, microchipping them and giving them their first vaccinations. They were absolute stars, unfazed by anything that was happening to them. They weighed in at 5 kilos each, with the biggest of the puppies tipping the scales at 6! It was then that we noticed something a but peculiar about the little chunk. With the3 sun shining through the vet’s window, we saw a brown tinge to his fur, much like th brown spot Poppy had as a puppy. Any other time, he was black unless the sunlight shone, which was quite strange. As he grew, the brown tinge disappeared, just like Poppy’s had.

Sadly, for me, we had a lot on enquiries about the puppies. We decided to “interview “ potential new owners, taking a page from the book of the owner we met for Poppy. The puppies were kept out of sight, meeting only Poppy as she was the mum and Tilly, just because. Let’s face it, any puppy is cute, but they don’t say that was for long! We chatted and asked questions, ensuring thy didn’t live in a top floor flats and knew what it took to raise a Labrador who could grow up to 40kgs, have no sense of personal space, launch at you with no warning and more importantly understand you will ever go to the loo on your own again! We settled on a couple for The Wirral, Merseyside; another from Salford, Manchester; a third from Congleton, Cheshire; and the last puppy moved just around the corner from where we lived. That let one puppy, a girl, whom we had already decided to keep. Since there were two girls and one was moving to Congleton they said we could choose which one. But before we made our decision , the puppy made it for us! So, that was it-the adventure with the Jairkingsly puppies was coming to an end. 🥲.

The first boy to leave us was Jarkingsly Blazing Star who’s the named Joe. It was a very sad day, but we knew he was going to a good home. Next was Jairkingsly Betty Boo, now known as Maisie. Then came Jairkingsly Black Magic, now known as Bailey. The one thing we noticed that each time a puppy left, Poppy didn’t seem to miss them, which made us feel a bit better knowing it was th right time for them to move on. Over th3e years, we’ve kept in touch with each other of them receiving update and lovely pictures. Because of this we new the choices of new owners we made were the right ones, although, for me, it did not feel like it at the time.

That left just one of the boys. His new owner was in the middle of moving house and asked if we could look after him a bit longer, of course, we agreed. But when the time came for home to finally leave, it was the hardest goodbye of all. Jairkingsly Bo Jangles, now named Fred, after the former England cricketer Andrew (Freddy) Flintoff.

And so, our little puppy story came to a close. They had all found new homes, except one little girl, Jairkingsly Briar Rose, now known as Lottie!