This is the diary of English Bull Terrier Norma
Norma was born 3rd of july 2020 at Kim and Bente Bressendorff (Breslau's Denmark) and lives with us since October 2020 in Westzaan. Her pedigre name is:
Breslau's Norma of Magor
Norma
is the daughter
of breeder Norma's Magor Master Blaster and Cherry (Villensia Bressendorf).
varkhond, tess, bull terrier, bullterrier
Enjoy our
adventures!
Navigatie non flash: Norma, Meisje, Gladys, Tess, Sue, Bolletje, Tosca, Pups, Home
27th of January 2024: Norma and her daughter Meisje fooling around with the chickens in the garden ;-)
7th of November 2023: another gift from the local hunter, a big fat goose. Norma, Meisje and I shared it. Thank you!
2nd of October 2023: the local hunter boated by in the stream next to our house. We had a nice chat (he is probably the only person I will speak to this week...), I cuddled his Golden Retriever working dog, and he gave us a freshly shot Duck! What a treat, thank you! Norma was thrilled and she and Meisje got the fresh heart and liver while I cleaned it, and then we had a feastly Duck stew on toast for a late afternoon brunch.
23rd of September 2023: we spent the day with Marcel and Judy of Nebari, who warmly welcomed us, took us on a puppy tour, great to see our darling midwife Jolly again too, and fed us a lovely lunch. Their Holly has been on vacation with us before in Westzaan, amongst many other visits, so Holly and Norma were already great friends. Meisje and Holly really struck a lovely friendship too, they played wildly and then cuddled up to each other on the couch for a nap. And I loved seeing Holly again, when she spent too weeks with us it was a pretty exciting experience for her, first time away from home, strange house, new dogs, and a sometimes pretty strict me: we really bonded in those two weeks, she's a great girl, I adore Holly, and I'm sure she will be a very good mother. Thanks Marcel and Judy for a lovely day, great to have you as such good friends!
Marcel and his daughter Rachel took some photo's of Norma: golly Norma is a stunner when she is posed correctly ;-)
15th July 2023: Norma and Meisje taking a nap, after just having washed each others heads, so cute!
3rd July 2023: Happy Birthday Norma, 3 years old!
4th of June 2023: Norma and her daughter Meisje sunning
24th of February 2023: This morning Norma gave birth to 5 beautiful BT pups, 3 boys and 2 girls. Norma is a great mother! But how strange, they were born on the Black Birthday of Ukraine. I want to thank in alphabetical order for all their help: Hans and Marionne, Kim and Bente, Marcel and Jolanda. Without you this would have not been possible, I owe you!
Slava Ukraina, Heyram Slava!
15th of February 2023: This morning Norma had her x-ray, all is looking well!
11th of February 2023: I ordered some stuff from Witjes Verzendhuis. They had to change the colour of a dog bed, and Ad of Witjes gifted Norma a huge bag of dried flatfish (Scholletjes) that arrived today. Thank you very much Ad, Norma loves the fish, I timed her, 23 seconds to devour it ;--)
A very pregnant Norma in her Whelping Box. The anti-slip bedding (vetbed) is also from Witjes and of excelent durable and washable quality, I purchased a 10 meter roll in 2016 and still have plenty to spare.
28th of January 2023: our dear friend Leo (White dog fell from the sky) is off for a weekend do, so we have his Dessa (Superbowls Queen of Spades) here on vacation for a long weekend. During Covid Leo and I were in a so called 'bubble', and saw each other and the mutual dogs once a week, so Dessa feels well at home here: I think she's relaxed and happy ;--)
25th of January 2023: we did Norma's echo at our vet, Norma is pregnant and carrying 4 to 5 pups.
25th of December 2022: on Christmas day 2022 Norma was mated to Son, Emred Devils Limelight @ Hans and Marionne Konings (Kingsfarms). A beatiful boy with the gentlest of gentle stable character and physically well suited to Norma.
4th of December 2022: nice, we had Marcel, Judy and Holley over for coffee today. Holley is Judy's Nebari BT girl who vacated with us during her first season, golly she's grown ;-)
3rd of September 2022: Norma, Albert, Ab and I attended the BTRN Clubmatch in Hoofddorp today. It was a nice family day with a jolly and peacefull atmosphere. A friend of Mathe and Yvonne (off Daikini), coincidentally also called Peter, handled Norma perfectly and with joy in the ring, and won first place open class bitches: thank you Peter!
I hereby want to thank the Judge, Mrs. Carole Killpatrick, for coming all the way over to help make our Clubmatch a succesful day, the BTRN, both the board and all the volunteers, and all the participants, visitors and vendors for a nice family Bull Terrier orientated day!
Albert with Norma on his lap, his 88 year old father Ab, and our friendly neighbours with their Daikini girl, a daugther of Dessa's daughter. Albert is in league for a BT boy from Norma's upcoming litter, lives 5 km from my home, and has become a personal friend and BTRN member.
30th of August 2022: Norma and Sky fooling around in our garden.
27th of August 2022: dear Han, Father, Brother and very good Friend - Rest In Peace. See you on the other side.
25th of August 2022: Floortje is on holiday in Spain so we have Sky (Rhydaman) celebrating her vacation in Westzaan for 2 weeks. Sky is an absolute model dog per good behaviour. Sky knows our pack well and fits right in, so apart from setting out an extra bowl of dog food twice a day Sky causes no extra work: she's a darling ;-) And I think Norma likes having Sky here immensely!
15th of July 2022: Norma and my parents' Braque d'Auvergne playing in our garden
2nd of July 2022: at the beginning of the war in Ukraine I tried to see if I could somehow help Ukraine Bull Terriers. Ukrainian FCI gave no response. I then digitally found Julia Fischer of the Milky Way BT kennel in Ukraine, contacted Julia and gave a donation for food for her BT's. Now, 4 months into the war, Julia has taken back three BT's: their owners were murdered in the war!!! This week I sent Julia another donation and received back a photo of Julia and her BT Dragon, and the 8 bags of dog food she was able to buy from the donation:
It brings me immense joy to have been able to bring a happy smile, if only for a small moment in between the missile strikes, to this strong beautiful resilient Ukranian Julia and her BT Dragon. If you also want to make a donation, to Julia's BT's, or to the other dogs in her village, please contact me, and then I will send you Julia's PayPal information. Peter - Slava Ukraini, heroyam slava!
11th of June 2022: afternoon sail. Rather busy on the water...
5th of June 2022: this morning we visited my parents for coffee and cake. Norma and their Rose played gently but wildly, Gladys was happy too.
31st of May 2022: today I was finally able to pickup Dominic Murphy's artwork from the framer, Rob Staphorsius, a family friend for +30 years. I think he did a fantastic job!
Norma is framed in a classic looking frame, to match the gent on the right we picked up when my family was living in the UK (1974 to 1983?).
While waiting for Norma, Dominic posted a sale of past works to proceed to Ukraine, naturally I had to support this and purchased The Preachers doG. Rob put her in a +50 year old frame someone had traded in because she thought the frame was not classical enough for her home interior...
Thanks Dom, I'm right chuffed with the artwork. Keep up the good work: Slava Ukraini, heroyam slava!
27th of May 2022: Norma's first time ever at the beach, and it's only a 25 minute drive from our home... my life is ridiculously busy... Norma was awed by the vastness of the beach!
17th of May 2022: after some hard arm twisting by Mathe (of course not, Mathe van den Broek is a gentleman who placed a kind suggestion), we, after 8 years of non breeding, again placed an ad in the BTRN e-times. I wish to sincerely thank for their help, not only for contributing to the add, but for many years of friendship: Mathe and Yvonne, Kim and Bente, Marcel and Judy + Yovanka and Peter + Irene Collier (many for also showing Norma and for the photo's of Norma) but especially Harry, with whom I have had a great working relationship since the foundation of our Kennel Club the BTRN: 11 years ago Harry did the Dutch website and all the graphic design, I did the English version and the BT rescue, together with Leo Dieker and Floortje Daemen.
9th of May 2022: Today Dominic Murphy's commissioned painting of Norma was delivered:
Dominic Murphy is a British artist who has made many painting of Bull Terriers.
This is his website: https://www.dominicmurphyart.co.uk/home
You can contact Dominic (for example to request a commission) through: dominicmurphyartist@gmail.com
Momentarilly Dominic is working hard making paintings that shame Putin, the proceeds going to Ukraine, so please support Dominic Murphy!
Slava Ukraini, heroyam slava!
2nd of May 2022: Norma's Chuckit Tumbler ball had gotten worn down, so I ordered Norma a whole box of new play goodies. Of course she got to open the box herself. Enjoy seeing Norma's utter surprised joyfulness below ;--)
17th of April 2022: today Norma was at the CETS 2022, she was invited to represent The Netherlands after being put forward by the BTRN. Norma had a fun day and I met old friends and nice new people. Marcel Steenkamp (Nebari) showed Norma well. No prizes today, but the competition was stiff (invitees with the best dogs from from 10 European countries).
10th of April 2022: today we went to the NBTC Clubmatch in Beusichem. Norma had loads of fun, meeting new people and especially lots of lovely of her own kind, they're essentially pack animals, BT's love other dogs, and most of all like-spirited dogs! For me it was a day of re-meeting old friends, totally without any stress, for I didn't have to show Norma, dear Jovanka (Be Gentle With Love) showed Norma perfectly.
I hereby thank the NBTC for organising the show, the judge Miss Penny Sands, all the NBTC volunteers and notably Ringmaster Jeanette for her excellent work (my sympathy for her having to lug a zillion 14 kg dog food bags through the ring), and especially Jovanka, for perfectly bringing out her and Norma's best with endless enthusiasm and joy!
Photo by Peter van Welij
8th of April 2022: for warm water we use a solar boiler. For cooking an electric mini furnace. Heating is electronic through air conditioning in reverse. And 38 solar panels to keep the whole stuff running. The only gas we were still using was for the oven. Solved that too, purchased a mini electric oven, and closed the gas valve to the house completely. Slava Ukraini, heroyam slava! Norma is enticed by our first attempt to use the oven ;--)
1st of April 2022: Norma dancing in the surprise snow.
27th of March 2022: Marcel and Judy came to pick Holly up today, Norma is heartbroken, she misses her best friend Holly so much...
26th of March 2022: all well here with Norma, Gladys and our holiday guest Holly, morning sail...
In the afternoon my parents came round with their Braques d'Auvergne Rose for a fantastically delicious lunch brought by Leo (White Dog Fell From the Sky). Rose is, just like Holly, also in het first season...
20th of March 2022: today Norma participated in the BTRN young dog / clubmatch, and did well in her class. It was a friendly family day with a good atmosphere, and Norma enjoyed all the attention and meeting the many BT's. I want to thank the BTRN and all the volunteers who made this possible, as well as the judge Irene Collier for this nice event.
19th of March 2022: Marcel and Judy's Holly (Nebari) is staying with us in Westzaan for a mutually enjoyable two week holiday ;--)
14th of March 2022: absolutely huge bone!
20th of February 2022: nice, Marcel and his six month old youngster Holley came round for coffee and a chat. Norma and Holley played wildly, and even nearly 14 year old Gladys seemed chuffed with all the excitement (and with Marcel's pocket full of treats ;--).
8th of January 2022: a whole field of Betsy's on our morning sail, stuntwoman Norma on the prow was intrigued ;--)
2nd of January 2022: Spring cleaning the muddy garden paths, Norma was a tireless great help ;--)
12th of December 2021: Norma visiting Rose, the one year old Braque d'Auvergne of my parents, they seem to like each other a lot, and being youngsters play quite wildly
11th of December 2021:
morning exercise for Norma, why
walk slowly when you have a fantastically strong body that can joyfully run? Bull Terrier logic ;--)
24th of October 2021: today was the BTRN Clubmatch 2021. I experienced today as a fantastically friendly positive day: everyone was nice, friendly, caring and helping each other. Absolutely no competitive hatred, just a bunch of BT loving guys and gals having a great family day out together. Norma loved today too, playing and prancing with other dogs and youngsters, meeting new people, and I think she even became BFF with a really nice 4 year old kid called Melody. These days are so important, Norma had never before met a small child, as a caregiver of Norma it's nice to know she'll is really gentle with small children, as I don't have any of my own, and my greatest thanks to parents who let a toddler run free amongst 40+ Bull Terriers and their owners, knowing the worst that can happen will be a really wet and sloppy kiss to the face of their child: thank you, respect!
I'm exceptionally terrible at showing dogs in the ring, I've done my best to get better at it, endless ringtraining at KCMY, to no avail, but today one of my best long time friends in the BT scene, Irene Collier of Superbowls, volunteered to handle Norma: they did a grand show! Irene, BFF ;--), thank you from the bottom of my heart! Norma and Irene and Kim and Bente: congrats on your first place in our youth category!
@BTRN, the board, all the volunteers and al the members who stayed true to our cause the last 10 years: thank you! Today again proved that our mission is working.
Irene checking if she would actually want to handle Norma, before the show and still outside of the ring ;--)
Irene, Norma and Judge Miss Zepke of Austria in the ring
4th of October 2021: Dierendag / National Animal Day in the Netherlands. The local hunter came with a gift today, a freshly shot goose. Norma had a goose head, liver and heart amongst others, and was a great help preparing the goose for cooking. Norma was very affectionate, I seem to have risen a couple of notches in her GWH status... Clearly a great day for Norma, not so great a dierendag for the poor goose...
11th of September 2021: fun for the dogs, just about every Saturday afternoon Leo and his BT girl Dessa (Superbowls Queen of Spades) have come round to socialize (our Covid bubble). Norma and Dessa are best girlfriends. And Dessa really enjoys coming here, somehow she can tell by Leo's patterns that it's a Saturday, and on their walk she scans all the parked cars to find their own car, and sits there waiting: oi Leo, get on your bike, we're going to Westzaan today: BT's are brilliant! Today Norma was teaching Dessa crazy behaviour: why stand on the ground when you can stand on the table ;--) ? Jan Steen...
8th of August 2021: bonding with Norma, I think she actually likes me!
8th of August 2021: I think Norma has some hunting dog in her pedigree, she chases Coots, Ducks, Geese and especially Pigeons (sorry Marijke...;--). This morning Norma was chasing a Goose in the reeds, it took off flying across the small river and she made a last effort jump for the catch, missed, splash, completely submarined under water, up again and swam to the shore, where I helped her out. She shook the water from her ears, and we continued our walk, not a seconds hesitancy, as if nothing had happened ;--) Norma is absolutely fantastic!
We'd been avoiding any bones that could splinter (for Sue's bowels), this morning Gladys and Norma were treated to a lamb shank from our local Turkish supermarket Kosem, happy girls!
20th of June 2021: Norma did her first show at the Bull Terrier Club Belgium Jongehondendag 2021. She finished first in her age group. I wan't to thank BTCB and the judge Brian of Eden for a lovely day, especially considering the pandemic restrictions. Unfortunately I made a really stupid mistake and left after showing Norma (it had been a long day, 200 km drive with a.o. a breakdown of our car on the way in), whereby we missed the best in show tournament (I did not know this would take place). I have sent written apologies to the board of BTCB for leaving before the end of the show, and repeat these here. A stupid mistake that will never happen again.
29th of May: finally a dry morning again, up bright and early for a sail, Bull Terriers in the mist, Norma acting stuntman up front, nice.
2nd of May: we had Floortje and Sky (Rhydaman) for a stay over
Sky and Norma playing in my bedroom
Sky, Sue and Norma outside
Gladys visiting Floor in the guest room
13th of April 2021: we love being mobile on the water again, Norma sailing ☺. I think Norma can swim, a few months ago she was doing a crazy full speed bullyrun on the shore, mistook a turn and jumped into the stream at +20 mph. Norma went under, came up again, got to the shore (it was reasonably shallow, swimming or slightly walking...), I pulled Norma on shore, she shook the ice cold water from her pelt (on me of course) and continued running ;--)
UPDATE SWIMMING: Norma can definitely swim, a couple of months later Norma was stalking a very confident goose, slowly moving in, keeping low to the ground. The goose arrogantly waddling along and quaking loudly, until Norma did a runner: the goose ran and took to flight exactly on the edge between land and water. Norma made a last effort, a huge jump trying to catch the goose in flight, missed and about two meters into the stream dive bombed completely under. Norma swam to land, I helped her up on the steep incline, she shook her pelt (on me again of course) and continued our walk as if nothing had happened.
3rd of April 2021: after six weeks of repairs and warrantee decisions we finally yesterday received a brand new Torqeedo outboard motor, thank you Torqeedo GmbH, de Stille Boot and Boot4 / Fort Marina, ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT SERVICE! This morning bright and early we took a sail with the three Bull Terriers, what a lovely way to start a day.
6th of March 2021: Leo and I had an excellent reason for a celebration (close call escape from a covid infection for me, tested, all clear): let's do a winter barbecue @ 1,5 meter / 6ft outside ☺
It was a bit chilly @ 5°C, but the doggies partied along, BBQ and huge bones
21 February 2021: Sue and Norma dozing on a spring February day in our garden
23 January 2021: the three toddlers
18 January 2021: cosy BT sandwich on the couch ;--)
17 January 2021: gezellig, Leo en zijn BT Dessa op bezoek. Norma was enthralled to meet Dessa for the first time!
Dessa is the gentlest of the gentle, here permitting Norma (6 months old!) to check if maybe one of her teats had a drop of milk...
9 January 2021: New Squeaky Kong Balls, Sue and Norma:
12 December 2020: morning sail
25 November 2020: laatste les puppencursus bij KCZIJ. Dankjewel KCZIJ team, en dan met name Christa en Laureen, voor alle goede zorg en les! Het was een vreemde puppen cursus door de Corona maatregelen, met regelmatig lange niet-lessen tussenposen door lockdowns, maar jullie hebben met man en macht er toch een leerzame en fijne school van gemaakt! All the best, liefs, Peter en Norma
11 November 2020: my lap is easily big enough fot the three Bull Terrier toddlers ☺
21 Oktober 2020: the tiny puppy travel bench was still in the living room, Sue and Normas 'cosy-space' ;--)
Oktober 2020: my father and I picked up Norma in Denmark. Dear Kim and Bente (Breslau's): thank you for granting us your little Norma! We will give her the best possible life. Love, Peter, Gladys and Sue
Photo's and movies of puppy Norma at Kim and Bente:
Norma at 6 weeks old, clicker training at Kim and Bente's
A very tired mother (Cherry / Villensia) and her dreamy pup Norma, resting her weary head: golly they're so sweet!
Norma's Ancestors:
