I found my breeder through the Kennel Club – and wouldn’t go anywhere else because I have a Labrador. They’re bred so commonly that you’d struggle to sort out good breeders from bad if you cast your net too wide to begin with. I wanted to be able to check health tests for parents, grandparents – and you can do this through the KC provided they’re registered.

In terms of picking breeders, I started by chatting with them on the phone for a few minutes. If I didn’t like the sound of them I didn’t arrange to visit the litter.

I’d suggest that when you go to visit a litter for the first time you don’t take your kids. You need to make a completely dispassionate decision and having your kids their will scupper that one. Also – talk to the breeder first, before you start handling puppies and getting attached to them – you need to be happy with what you see and hear and be prepared to walk away – again this is easier if you haven’t just spent 20 minutes playing with curte puppies!

Go with a list of questions to ask the breeder, to an extent it doesn’t actually matter what these are – the point is to engage in a conversation, and for you to be happy with their answers rather than testing them on anything. Personally I’d want to know why they were breeding the litter, if they were keeping one themselves, how many litters they’ve bred before, where they found the sire. Try to meet the other dogs in the house/kennels as well as the mum. Expect to see health test certificates and know that all the tests appropriate for the breed have been carried out. I’d want to in the very least see a photo of the sire and to be confident that if I asked I’d be given the opportunity to speak to his owner and arrange to visit.

I’d also expect a good breeder to practically interview me. If they don’t care whether I’d be a good owner then they don’t care about the litter.

Alarms bells would ring if the breeder wasn’t happy or able to answer my questions, if I felt I was rushed, if they dismissed any health concerns, if I couldn’t see mum, and if they were cagey about the sire.

Finally, good breeders will talk to you about the personality of different puppies in the litter, and will be able to help you select one that is appropriate to your circumstances. They’ll know which is the most confident, the most energetic, the quiet sleepy one, and will help you get the right puppy for you.

Drac – Moderator

I’ve these guys in the past http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk always were very good.

Seconded – they’re on my drive between home and the beach – so taking the dog for a walk often involves a trip into their ENORMOUS WAREHOUSE OF BEER… Is quite a sight… and worth a wander if you’re around that neck of the woods…

Coolio – thanks very much for the suggestions. From that I’m thinking a wander around from the old town bit, to the docks bit, to the SS Great Britain, then over to the cathedral and cabot tower bit, and then on to the city museum if it’s a bit miserable outside and I’m feeling dinosaury… Or up to the Clifton bridge if the day is nice enough…

Final question – any good pub recommendations in the middle of the city? Real ale, and decent bar food a must…

Mmmm Beer.

Special mention to Adnams Sole Star – remarkably good for a 2.7% which makes it very lunchtime friendly

Otherwise I’ve mostly been enjoying:
Adnams Lighthouse and Ghost Ship
Woodfordes Wherry and Nelsons Revenge
Marstons Double Drop and Single Malt
Sharpes Doom Bar
Badger Blandford Fly
Thwaites Wainwright

Right its been 20 years since me and the ex army lads got together for a reunion.

Now a few of us are mountain folk but the remainder will prob just wave their tackle about on Scafell..

Being ex army and all…

The tree at my Parents is the same. Last year was an absolutely bumper crop – this year = useless. I was all up for making cider this year and now I can’t – my life is so hard.

I thought it alright – I’ve read far worse. Then again I’ve always thought time spent reading is rarely wasted*

*Stephen Fry’s book The Liar is my most recent exception to this rule – utter drivel

geoffj – Member

Don’t get it wrong!

Edit – actually just google for lousy tippers database, but not if you are asily offended.

Or just not a racist

My lab isn’t fat – he’d eat his bodyweight four times over if I let him. So I don’t let him.

bigsi – Member

House is registered in joint names as joint ownership (no stated equity split) so yes i could go for the full 50% but that’s not my style.

You are being more than reasonable, she is not, if the house is joint ownership with nothing to describe the split of owenrship it is 50:50 – regardless of who paid what when… She is lucky you’re willing to send the 15k back her way… Let her go and get some legal advice, let her see the fee tables from her solicitor, and then see if she is still being pissy…

Essex – earlier today…

(his name is WalesBoyo – I kid you not)

My lab doesn’t eat his poo either.
(Although rabbit, horse, cow and bird poo are all the doggie equivalent of caviar for him apparently)

He’s mine, 6 months old, after a hard morning’s work destroying a cardboard box

Its lewd and indecent behaviour.

Ahh the age-old battle cry of the disgruntled sexual bigot. What you like to get up to is “normal” but what other people get up to is perverted…

🙄

teef – Member

Don’t get one – why risk being a bad neighbour having a nuisance dog?

0/10 poor trolling – must try harder

Women’s heavyweight double – because Kath Grainger is a bit of a legend but mainly because I’ve known Anna for years, she’s awesome and I now have the privilege of saying I coached* an Olympic champion!

(*OK – I only coached her for one outing – about 6 years ago – but it still counts)

Want to spend less than £300 on a pup.

Not trying to be rude or pry – but why?

The initial cost of a dog is tiny compared to their “running” costs – if you haven’t already I’d suggest having a proper look at all the things you’ll end up forking out for over their lifetime…

Did they pour a gallon of olive oil over the Fijian flag bearer?

Similarly confused here – I dread telling people that I have a dog when both MrsH and I work full time. Some people look at you like you’ve just confessed to mass murder. I even get stick from my father-in-law about it.

Like others up there: we never go out on a school night; work from home as often as possible; are strict about getting home from work on time; and have a dog walker twice a day to look in on our pup. I can also work some flexible hours so that I can spend longer with him. MrsH can just about fit the 20 min drive home, 20 mins of fuss, and 20 min drive back to work in her lunchtime is she has to as well.

When I work from home, he sleeps for the majority of it. We also started out very early (the 1st week we got him) leaving for little periods at a time, and built it up so that he got used to be left longer – thus far he has never shown any signs of seperation anxiety.

Holidays will be in the UK or Europe on pet passport for the foreseeable future, I never want to have to put him in kennels if I can help it. After MrsH he is the most important thing in my life and I want to spend as much time with him as I possibly can.

Biggest sacrifice I’ve made so far: changing our local because the one we used to drink in doesn’t allow dogs…

It is *possible* that the buyer is trying to play you to get the sale price lowered. Of course if this is valuation directly from their lender, then not likely. But it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that they’ve asked a surveyor friend to carry out the valuation, got them to state a lower value and are using it to negotiate with you…

Yay! This is my first ever dog thread on here – very excited…

Indy when we got him at 8 weeks:

And a few days ago, aged 6 months on his first proper trip to the beach:

Having lived in Cambridge for 10 years when it came to buying a house we decided to move to Ely – largely because we could actually afford a house rather than a wardrobe. Given the mainline to London, proximity to Cambridge, and reasonable amenities i think it’s a good place to live.

It’s got a couple of decent pubs and restaurants – although no real variety to speak of. Cambridge but a short train ride away (look out for the fascists who work for Cross Country trains and don’t let you take a bike – scum). High street has standard high-street shops, although I’ll always go to Cambridge for shopping as it is actually quite good there. Rumour has it we’re getting a cinema soon – woop.

There are very few places to ride MTB, but roads round here tend to have few cars if you like empty tarmac – I don’t do proper roadie-ness myself, but I get the impression that there isn’t much in the way of great variety in scenery.

I work in Cambridge mostly and London sometimes – neither commute is totally painless, but nor are they horrifying. All in all it is a relaxed little place, with access to proper places like London and Cambridge without any real effort and with pretty low house prices.

Recently more and more of my wife’s colleagues have been moving to Ely instead of the other nearby options of Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket or the villages. Seems like an endorsement to me.

I’m from Cote d’Ivoire… Famous for child soldiers and blood diamonds… Great…

SamCooke – Member

I agree! I’m also very very important and these 15 minute periods of free-for-all make me very upset too. It means I have to be particularly careful around schools at certain times of day and sometimes I have to drive slowly. On occasion I’m even delayed!

Oh dear… You’re one of those people…

[sanitisation hijack]

How do you sanitise the primary fully? I end up putting a few litres of solution in and sloshing it about for a bit – but it claims you should have contact time of 5-10 minutes. Do you just completely fill the fermenting bin to the brim to achieve this?

[/sanitisation hijack]

The carrier is a Thule lever clamp one – I thought I was just making it nice and “secure” for the roundabouts and corners on my way home… 😳

vorlich – Member

Looking at that pic, I don’t see what you’re talking about. Looks OK to me.

Yeah it is hard to tell from the photo – but it is defintely flat on both sides where I clamp it… Feeling a bit better now a few people have told me I probably haven’t *totally* ruined the frame.

I’m defintely not Arnie – I’m a skinny wee runt – just goes to show that Archimedes was right about levers

fenred – Member

neighbours have children. I think Tree Bees can get a bit lairy if disturb

Torch it…Or at least go talk to your neighbours for their view.

Won’t Someone Think of the Children?!

elzorillo – Member

Have three accounts with santander.. never had a problem at all.

Goofellas – Gangsters eat cadbury creame eggs

tracknicko – Member

new lab here. and if its a puppy you’re getting, it’s time not money you should be worried about.

he’s a cracking lad, but its a hell of a commitment…

Commitment and time is biggest thing for me too.

My 3-month old lab is currently fast asleep (snoring) on his bed. He sets us back about £1 per day to feed, £1 per day to insure, then I seem to spend at least £20 a week in the pet shop on anything and everything (poo bags, chews, treats, toys etc etc etc) plus the (allegedly) one-off costs of crate, play pen, bedding (which keep adding up and are well over £100 by now) and classes for us so we learn how to train him (£12 per week), dog-sitter for £45 per week when me or Mrs.H have to be at work and can’t be around to feed him or let him out.

Wouldn’t change any of it…

I haven’t had a problem with my Jetboil in the wind – where’ve you heard that?

I promise I’m not your wife, just a curious student.

I wish my wife was more curious…

I have twice walked in on my Brother-in-law’s girlfriend while she has been changing… Thankfully they’ve now split up so there’s no risk that I’ll do it once more and create a trend.

Where I used to work we had a colleague who couldn’t aim his arse at the pan, and also couldn’t work the flush – the number of times you went in there to be greeted by horror was quite disturbing. It happened so frequently that we eventually narrowed it down to about 3 people by process of elimination on who was in the office.

It is also amazing how many men aren’t aware that their genitals come equipt with multi-directional functionality… Either that or there are lots of guys with tiny willys who therefore don’t have the scope to aim them.

robbo – Member

Black ties are for funerals. Bow ties required…

+1 – and that means a black bow tie… none of your coloured/stripy/patterned nonsense unless it’s a membership thing…

rmacattack – Member

I’m gonna say Labrador as well. … Only drawback is they wanna eat everything going

Very true – mine had his breakfast twice this morning because my wife didn’t realise I’d already fed him… That didn’t stop him wolfing it down…

Given that he is only 9.5 weeks old with a teeny tiny tummy I’m expecting a call in about an hour to say he has awful diarrhoea…

Lovely…

Echoing the voice of many, Greene King is dull dull dull dull.

I’d go for Old Cannon – lovely stuff.

St Peters is OK too and a lot of peole really like it, but personally their style has never been to my taste, can’t put my finger on it but something in their beers just doesn’t work for me.

+ 1 for MTFU and buy it before. The fact that you had the balls to pick what you thought she’d like will be enough for her to love it. If you have absolutely no idea what she might like then you probably don’t know her well enough to marry her! Plus – buying it is great fun… I spent a thoruughly enjoyable afternoon with a mate who is a jeweller poking loose diamonds round and picking mounts… Plus, it saves them ever finding out what ypou paid… Mrs Helios would kill me if she actually knew how much her ring is worth, and would probably stop wearing it…

Alright alright… maybe “totally shafted” was a bit extreme…

This isn’t about working overtime. Basically I was told that if I wanted to do a project I’d have to give up my own days off to do it because it had no funding. When I got funding for it after the work was complete (in my own time) the company took the money, and refused to give me back a couple of days of holiday. I think that’s pretty rude.

Oi! Stop being rude about Ely… You’re missing the best bit of it… It is CHEAP… honest to god my house here is £100k less than it would cost in Cambridge…

I’ve lived round here for 10 years since uni, and while I would love to live in town with all its commute-by-bike possibilities (which is the biggest thing I miss since moving out to Ely), if cost of living is an issue – think outside the city.

Agree with what has been said about Bar Hill tho – avoid like plague, otherwise, anywhere north is cheaper than anywhere south because of London commute, but you really will struggle to go wrong. Not many horrible places to live round here.

Having said that… Traffic on the A14 is Satan’s idea of fun, so avoid that as your commute and you won’t do too bad.

I’m all about Pampero Aniversario. Lovely Venezuelan stuff – in fact our Wedding cake was made with it – yummmm…

Gary_M – Member

You can donate money without sticking something on you to show everyone that you’ve done so.

Your statement is factually correct. But you’ve totally missed the point of wearing a poppy. Some people may do as you say – but I hope (and genuinely believe) they’re in the minority.