The story of Kanga so far

Kanga the GSP is the new Larkswold pup. As many of you know she joined us just 4 weeks ago

4 long, long, piranha-infested weeks :-)

Having lost the wonderful Pip the sprointer earlier in the year, we registered with GSP Rescue (German Shorthaired Pointer) mostly to get my fix of pointer pictures each day. For anyone who follows any animal accounts you will appreciate that this took out a good chunk of my working day!

So on Thursday 11th July when I was just doing the little Larkswold talkie talkie bit to Joanne who is a lovely american lady visiting the Cotswolds when my phone goes. Hope Rescue had emailed me earlier in the day to say that they had a litter of GSPs and would I be interested? OK - I need to probably mention that about 2 weeks before that I had responded to a post on Facebook saying I would happily foster an entire family (Mum, Dad and 11 puppies) of GSPs and so I think the rescue centre had thought I maybe interested in getting a new dog! I thought I had been very hush-hush about the offer to foster 5 million dogs, but apparently I had the conversation on the Larkswold account so a little more public than I had planned - not an issue - but it did bring up the small issue of not having asked Mr Larkswold if he was also keen on fostering an entire rugby team of gremlins...

Anyway, back to the story - so Joanne the American kindly let me take this call from Kate at Hope Rescue in Wales and by the end of the day we had two further guests all supporting me in my bid to convince Mr Larkswold we need to go and pick up our GSP puppy the following Saturday (thanks ladies - much appreciated).

As Kanga is a rescue dog, she did have a bit of a challenging start in life. Hope Rescue were contacted by a gentlemen saying he had two GSP dogs that he could no longer care for and that Robin (Kanga's mum) was pregnant. After Hope Rescue had spoken with the owner it became clear that he had imported Robin over with the intent to breed her with his existing 4 year old male pointer (both dogs were from Serbia originally). After Robin became pregnant he realised he wasn't in the right place to take care of a new born litter so contacted them to help. On arrival at the house Robin was in a kennel in the garden where she had given birth, the pups were cold but ok and were quickly transferred them to the centre to give them round the clock care. Around a week later the owner contacted again to ask if they could take Dad as well, Pooh-bear arrived and was transferred to one of their rescue partners where a home was ready and waiting for him.

Both Robin and Pooh-bear were isolated until blood tests showed they were clear of any infectious diseases that are present in other countries, and Robin has since been adopted by her foster carers where she is living life to the full!

Now maybe you can see that Kanga got her name from one of the characters from Winnie the Pooh, thanks to her dad Pooh-bear. Being such an obedient dog (!) she continues to live up to her name by jumping all over the place like a crazed kangaroo with the addition of baby puppy Piranha teeth. She has also picked up some rather blue growling language which means she jumps from "butter wouldnt melt in my mouth" to "have you had your tetanus jab as I am coming for your jugular" in a flash.

I know I know - why couldn't we have gone with a nice placid labrador or gentle little spaniel? Because - you have to choose a dog that suits your family and demented as a box of frogs, unable to sit still so need to do zoomies then fall a slip seconds later is just how we roll.

Anyway - as you know we love dogs in the studio, so I hope you and your hounds come to meet Kanga soon. Probably best if you are a chicken or a duck to give it a little longer as Kanga has currently got a bit of a thing for trying to pick them up and carry them around which can be a little be freaky - particularly for Guy the duck who keeps on finding Kanga in her bed trying to make friends!

If you do own a pet and would like to get photos as amazing as the ones Kanga was kind enough to be gifted by Lucie from Cotswold Pet Photography then do give her a call. They are based in Chipping Norton and Kanga and I had the best time.

Oh and Kanga might have just got her own Instagram channel....well she begged us - what were we to do! https://www.instagram.com/kanga.gsp/

OK OK let’s talk about creative stuff!!

This week I have been perfecting the ‘lesser feathered wool wrapped flamingo’ craft at Birdland and Emma has been emmersing herself in making tiny little books.

We have appreciated Maisie who has been working for us at Winchcombe railway (she currently has very short nails unlike mainly other ‘young people’ who often seem to have rather loooong nails) so she can fully enjoy playing with air-dry clay, making pressed flower pendants... Oh and Sian for being the one who tidies it all up!

Lady Ashchombe - Sudeley Castle

Sorry, just one more thing on the dog front. We went to Scooby Doo Day at Sudeley Castle last Sunday which was part of the celebrations for the 50-year milestone of Sudeley’s longest serving Chatelaine, Lady Ashcombe. Lady Ashcombe and her failful hounds sported the most wonderful outfits to celebrate the day - see the video below.

It was bonkers hot but it is just the most idylic venue - if you haven't been, do go, its such a great place.

Whats coming up?

We have a lot of offsite commitments this month, but if you need a little Larkswold fix we have the Dried Flower Wreath making and Candle Making on Saturday 24th August.

Little Larks club in the studio Tuesday 27th August ( 4 spots left)

Little Larks Summer Club (Age 10+)

Book Now

And if you are starting to think about wellbeing for you team or the next away day, why not book into a complimentary discovery session on Friday 30th August where you can try both block printing and candle making for just 2 hrs and get to see what we can offer to make your team event as relaxing and memorable as possible.

NEW NEW NEW

Millie from Papermill Calligraphy is coming on board to join us in the studio later this year to deliver 2 totally awesome workshops prior to Christmas. Millie first came to our studio as a guest to make her puppy a leather collar and lead. I am not sure why, but I happend to have stalked her the previous day and realised she was a total amazing calligrapher (which is something we have needed for ages). Anyway - she seemed OK with the stalking and finally popped over for coffee and cake this week to agree a beginners calligraphy workshop running at the end of November. You will learn all the basics and leave with your kit and your very first hand written Christmas bauble.

The dates will be Sunday 24th November and Thursday 12th December - it isn't live on our website yet, but drop us a email if you’d like us to reserve you a spot.

hello@larkswold.com or call on 0800 999 1914

Enjoy the weekend!

Melinda

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