HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween everyone. Hope all the kids have fun and will be safe,. And maybe the rain will stop in time for trick or treat! 

The 6 year old female is no longer available. For now she is staying in her home. There are times that it is just too difficult to make the decision to re home an adult dog. They take longer to adjust and you just plain worry too much about them.

It does take a long time to get the perfect situation for them and even with that you worry about them. I hope to never have to place an adult again. I only have two seniors here, lost two to illness the past few months. Hopefully my two will stay healthy and be with me for many more years. 

I have been 6 months without puppies and I do miss having them even though it is a lot of work, stress and lack of sleep,they are still missed. I plan to have pups in the spring. I will be breeding Quinn this winter and hopefully pups in May. Time will tell. In the meantime I am working with Skye, she is Bonnie's daughter and we have a few issues to work out. She is a smart girl and improving. We will be doing "Say Yes "dog training on line this winter. It is a great course for any type of problem the dog may have. They learn through games and they just love it. Games are fun for them and before you know it they have accomplished what you want. Skye should be well along in her training by spring. 

On a sad note Walter is no longer producing pups. He went sterile last summer and does not seem to be recovering. He is on special food and vitamins and we are hoping that this might reverse. But it is doubtful.

I will do some of this training with Walter and Bonnie, they both need a good reminder course. 

Hope that you all have a fun and safe Halloween. I don't get trick or treaters here so I don't have to worry about a dog slipping out the door. Be careful with your dogs.

LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT RETIREMENT HOME.

 I am helping a friend find  the perfect retirement home for a lovely 6 year old tri color female Sheltie. She is a sweet girl that is a little reserved but does warm up when comfortable with you. She will need a fenced yard, she is well trained , some basic obedience and well house trained. She is a special girl and we want the perfect place for her. If you know someone who would be perfect for this girl email me at jody.shelts@gmail.com . I will send you her contact information and you can talk with her owner. 

It  has been a long time since I have written. Don't know where the time has gone to. We are rapidly heading to winter and I sure am not ready for that. But I do have just about everything ready. New stone dust in the dog yard and it is awesome. The water just sort of disappears from it and there is no mud at all. I purchased a small electric snowblower for that yard. I have always had to shovel the dog yard and that is a huge job. This way it should go quickly with nice clear paths for the dogs. It is so nice that there is no more mud. Now much easier to keep the dogs clean. I am almost done preparing for winter. Just need to refil gas cans for the generator. 

I have given myself a break from puppies and I am actually missing having pups, but it will be a full year before more pups. I needed the time to get well rested and to spend more time with the other dogs. I have been catching up with Skye's training and she is doing so well. This week she conquered the A Frame and the dog walk, no fear at all. She is improving, she needs more confidence and with the on line course of Susan Garrett's she should make huge progress and have fun doing the courses. They are like games and really help with confidence.  I devote one room in the house to training, it used to be my puppy room. Next year it will be again but for now that is where we train.

I have been baby sitting two Shelties for the past month and I did spend time working with them too. They have now gone home and Skye gets all my attention. 

It feels good to be prepared for winter, although I don't enjoy the cold, maybe this will be a milder winter. The dogs love the snow so I know I will have to get out and play with them.

Hope you are all prepared for winter and be safe. Trim the hair around your Shelties toes so they do not clump with snow and get ice balls stuck between their toes. 

All for now and take care!

OWEN 

MAGGIES NEW ADVENTURE

 Maggie started her new life yesterday afternoon. A friend of mine had lost her last old Sheltie and now had just one Sheltie. She definitely needed another Sheltie to help fill the void. I had been putting all my training time into Maggie. I really needed to put this time and energy into Skye. She has some fear issues that I hope I can take care of. It was hard to socialize last winter with the weather and the covid. Many of the socializing opportunities were just not safe so we stayed home. Maggie was born in May and as the weather was getting better I was able to get her out and I spent most of my time with her. But Skye still has a great need and now she will get the time that she deserves. We always think that we can do everything but time does not permit us. And sometimes the energy is low.

When I heard that my friend really needed some cheering up and something to fill her time with I offered Bonnie. Bonnie has a mind of her own and made it very clear that she was not leaving here. Maggie had warmed up to her and to her sheltie so I decided to offer Maggie. I knew it was a perfect home and Maggie would get all the time that she needed. It was a hard decision, she was my Keeper daughter but I knew if we did co-own her I would not have lost her. So we are co-owning Maggie and some day she will have pups for us. But for now she has lots of growing up to do and my friend has lots of time to work with her and is excited to do that. I am happy with this and I get more time for Skye. And Maggie is still part my puppy and I can visit her anytime. So it is a win-win for all of us.

No matter the arrangements and no matter how wonderful the home is it is still hard to let one go. Now I have 6 Shelties and they are all staying. I have two seniors but they are in good health and hopefully will have a few years. My granddaughter and I are going to do a photo for Christmas of all the dogs sitting and wearing bows, so we do need to get busy.We are looking forward to this and it should be fun. In a few days when I hear how well Maggie is adjusting I will be fine.

                                               MAGGIE