A NICE BREAK!!

Christmas is over and I am glad. It did go well, spent the Sunday before Christmas with my older son and family and we had a nice somewhat old fashioned Christmas. Christmas day I spent with friends for lunch and a couple of hours. That was nice too. The highlight was going up to Illusion farm with friends to visit Kathleen and all her Shelties and Walters litter of 8 week old pups. They are gorgeous, almost perfect pups. We saw Quinn's pups also and they are lovely too. I could have taken the little tri male home. Such a lovely pup. We also saw three older pups of Kathleen's, maybe four months or so. All three were lovely pups and the sable male that is going to a pet home could easily come here. Kathleen's breeding program is awesome and I have been so fortunate to get most of my foundation dogs from her. I am breeding Topaz to Keeper so I may soon have my own lovely pups. Time will tell. 
My grand daughter is coming to visit today and we will make cookies and play with the dogs. That is her favorite thing. 
This will be a nice relaxing day and maybe a movie tonight. I love the old western movies and the dogs just like to snuggle up. 
My new years resolution is to set aside and hour or so to do training with the young dogs. 
I have to have a schedule or I do not get a whole lot done. I will start with Bonnie who is 6 months old and a little on the wild side. I did a lot with her as a young pup so she does have some basics. Hopefully she will pick up where we left off and we will make some good progress. 
Well I am going to put some cinnamon buns in the oven for a mid morning break. Hope you all have a wonderful week between the holidays!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all have a wonderful and peaceful day.
This is my second Christmas morning alone and I will say it is a little difficult to get used to. I played my husband's favorite song from Fast and Furious," When I See You Again." He loved this one, so I played it for him, I sure hope that he heard it.
I started a new tradition and made cinnamon rolls, played bagpipe Christmas music and shared the rolls with the dogs. Just a little piece for each. Made the morning special for all of us.
I opened a gift from my sister and it was perfect. A green zippered sweat shirt, just what I wanted. Keeper my new boy was not sure about the sound from the paper tearing. I let him sniff the paper and he was OK.
Off to my friends for lunch in a little while. I was alone all day last Christmas day, except for my Shelties, so not truly alone, but I am making progress.
Last night the kids all got one of their Christmas cookies that a friend made for them.
They are all natural and human grade and the dogs just loved them. A real treat!
The Highland music is still playing and I could sit and listen to it all day.
The music seems to soothe the dogs, maybe because of their Scottish heritage. They are all sleeping peacefully.
Have a wonderful day!!

       COOKIE TIME

CHRISTMAS EVE

Today will be a quiet day for  myself and the dogs. We celebrated Christmas yesterday with my son and family. My daughter-in-law is in the medical field and has to work today.
Other than caring for the dogs today will be work free. This morning they seem to know it is going to be a quiet day, even the young ones are being so good. Sometimes they get pretty rowdy playing with the toys and chasing each other around, they are being exceptionally good this morning. Hopefully they will be good throughout the day.
I gave my granddaughter a huge brown bear, dressed for Christmas, and Rosie took one look at the bear and decided he was not friendly. She would look at him from the corner of her eye and then leave the couch. And Brooke was startled when she looked at him. She decided it was best to leave too. You can see the expression change in their eyes,  they sure do feel and sense things and have funny reactions. I know they were happy to see that bear leave yesterday. 
A friend made them some nice natural cookies and today they will each get a cookie. They have been sniffing at the container since it arrived. They do have a hard time being patient especially when something smells so good. 
Ever since I was young and we had Collies, sheep and horses I would stay up until midnight and go out to the barn to hear the animals talk. They may not talk as we do but they definitely talk in their own way. I may stay up tonight to see what the Shelties  have to say, I think that I will know what they are thinking.
My  Shelties and I wish you all a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!!!

                                                                

BEAUTIFUL BLING

Bling is one of my seniors that came to me last May. She needed to retire and I had fallen love with her a long time ago. When she came here it took her awhile to adjust to living in the house with my other seniors. Now after seven months she is all settled in and she is completely house trained. 
The name Bling really suits her as she is a pretty and very flashy girl. Her registered name is Figures Paint Your Nails which suits her too.
After the dogs make their potty run early in the morning they all come up and spend an hour with me while I have coffee and look at emails. They love this routine and so do I. Shelties and dogs in general are very routine oriented. Once they get into a routine it is hard to change it. When four in the afternoon rolls around they all know that it is supper time, they let me know and don't settle down until they have had supper.
But this is about Bling. My front door has small side windows that run up both sides of the front door and they often act like a mirror. Well Bling has discovered these windows and this morning on her way to the kitchen and stopped and looked at the dog in the window.  She was entranced and as she looked she turned her head to the right and then to the left and back again. She made me laugh and what a great way to start the day. So I imagine that every morning now Bling will stop and see herself in the looking glass. I sure wish I could tell what was going on in her mind. After a couple of minutes she turned away and went into the kitchen.
Every one of my Shelties are characters and each have such different temperaments.Makes living with them fun and from one day to the next you don't know what is going to take place. The seniors have a great sense of humor. They know when they are doing something funny, and they love to be silly.
Below is beautiful Bling as a young girl!!

                                                                    

JOYFUL KEEPER

This is the time of year for Joy, and when I think about it the Shelties bring me joy every day of the year, in so many ways. My new boy Keeper and yes the same name as the young Keeper who is with a friend learning obedience. It is a little hard to get used to the name Keeper for two very different dogs. My new Keeper has been here about three weeks and has totally settled in. He has retired from a breeding kennel where he spent a fair amount of time in the out side kennel. With his age the cold was beginning to bother him so it was time for him to retire. I decided to bring him here to retire. We will still use him for some breeding but he is a full time house dog and absolutely loves it. He is  almost 9 years old and the cold does bother him. He is in the house with me most of the day, except for potty runs outside with the other seniors. The first time he came in after a potty run he got so excited he just about turned inside out. He was so full of joy that he could not contain himself. He realized that he was coming back in to the warmth and it was not bed time, as he always slept inside. His joy made me so happy. He was truly full of joy and he realized why. What a beautiful thing to see and feel. His joy brought me joy and made me smile. Wouldn't it be wonderful to feel joy from the so many little things in life, joy makes you feel so good. Keeper feels this joy every time he comes into the house and realizes he is coming into the warmth and finds a spot he likes to lay in. He is so appreciative. Shelties are intuitive and understand so much more than we give them credit for. If I say the word cookie they all pop up and are truly joyful and very hopeful. 
We could take lessons from our Shelties, so many little things that we can be thankful for and joyful for. In the evening when everyone is settled in, it is very peaceful and they are content. The peace and contentment they show is very helpful for me. It is good to feel their peace. This peace will stay with me through the hard holidays and make them easier. Wishing you all peace and joy this Christmas!!

SOME DAYS NOT AS GOOD AS OTHERS

This was one of those days that I hoped to accomplish a lot. I am behind with the house and need to get it caught up. Maybe tomorrow as I did not feel well this morning. No special plans for the rest of the week so can get busy in the morning and have a productive day. This is a sad time of year for me. No matter how hard I try I can not get into the Christmas mood, maybe as we get closer. It is hard to decorate and get all the Christmas stuff out when you are alone. With Len gone it is even more difficult. There are days that I expect him to walk through the door but I know that is not going to happen. I really need to get up to the cemetery as that brings me some comfort when I talk to Len. 
My cat Girly just seems to know when I am sad. She jumps up and wants to cuddle. That is just perfect and makes me feel good.
A friend gave the pups a new toy and they just love it. A fox that squeaks but they have not learned how to squeak it yet and that is a good thing. Once they learn to squeak a toy they will do it relentlessly. 
I have a young female in for breeding and she is quite shy but slowly becoming part of the group. The three young dogs are the mob, so full of energy and do not often stop. With the cold temperatures they cannot be out very long, they don't like to be cold.But sure need the exercise. I should bundle up and walk them.
Keeper and Bling who are 8 years old will go out, go potty as fast as they can and then come scratch at the back door. Telling me it is cold and they want in right now!
I have offered to do the Sheltie club newsletter, we have not had one for about a year and it is too easy to lose touch with everyone. A friend and I are going to put it together.
It will be good to have something that will have a deadline for completion.
Time to give some thought to supper. Later this evening I need to teach Bonnie to come. She loves to play games and run around the table when it is time to go out. Time to get serious with her. 
Well that is all for now, hope you all have a nice relaxing evening.

ONE DAY AT A TIME WORKS FOR ME

I try to go one day at a time  and that works for me, I don't worry about what might come tomorrow. Just looking for a good day today and getting through the day with accomplishing something, either in the house or with the dogs.  I have taken on an almost 9 year old Sheltie male.  He is a Champion and a lovely dog and is still  young enough to use for breeding. At least for a couple of years. He is a love and very sweet. He is always next to me when I sit at the computer.  Every now and then I feel this nose poking my leg. He just wants a little nose rub, he seems to love that. His name is Keeper which is hard to get used to as I recently placed a 2 yr old named Keeper into a home where he is getting tons of attention and training which is just what he needed. I am fortunate to find such wonderful homes for my dogs that need  more than what I can give them. Young Keeper has a wonderful life ahead of him, he will meet his potential for sure. And I thank his owner Deb for all that she is doing for him. 
The new Keeper came here because he wanted to be a full time house dog,he does not like spending time out in the cold. He absolutely loves being in the house. Hopefully he will sire a few pups for us and he will spend his retirement years here. 
Bonnie who is now almost 6 months needs to get back into training. She has decided to do just what she wants, no matter what I want, so tonight we get started again with her basic training. When the weather was good I took her outside every day to train, we started at eight weeks and she learned so fast, but as it got colder I stayed in more. We will work in the front room starting this evening. Shelties are very smart and easy to train but you still need to put in the time to have a well trained dog. Tonight we start with the youngest,  she needs to learn that she is not in charge. It is up to me! I would like to expose her to sheep in the spring and she will need some basic obedience in order to do this. She has lots of energy and is fast and also very smart. I would hope that we could at least get her herding tested. A good goal for the spring. Although I go one day at a time it is good to have a goal for the dogs. They need to work towards something.



                                                                      

                                        CH WESTSTAR'S FINDERS KEEPERS