MY GOOD PUPS

Wow! did not realize how many days I have missed writing here. We had some very nice people visit yesterday to meet the Shelties. And I must say the pups were all so good. I was really proud of how they behaved. Even Walter let his personality shine, he can be such a funny boy and he just loves doing his high five. I think he feels proud of himself for learning this. My granddaughter taught him this little trick. From the way he behaved yesterday I think that he could be a therapy dog. He is very gentle when he meets people and that is so important for therapy. Rosie took turns laying at the visitors feet. She is such a good girl, loves everyone. She is a good ambassador for the Sheltie breed.
Topaz is still off her food and last night did not eat her bedtime biscuit. These are such good signs that she is pregnant. I should know for sure in a couple more weeks. It has been almost 19 months since we have had pups here. It is always such a special event. Keeper the sire is a wonderful producer and has produced better than he is. That is our goal to improve on the breed He has some very lovely kids out there.
Secondly we want to produce healthy pups both in body and mind. With Keeper and Topaz we should have awesome temperaments. Keeper probably has the perfect Sheltie temperament, he is calm and stable but friendly, a little wary of new people but warms up quickly, a very easy dog to live with.
I have had all of Walters health testing completed which is all normal and when he turns two he will have his hips checked. Important to do this testing!
Bonnie who is usually my little wild one was so good too. She greeted our visitors and then decided on a nap. 
Today is my least favorite day as it is dump day. Living in the country so much you have to take care of yourself. Every day seems to be a little easier. Later, off to a friends to help her groom her Shelties. 
I know that my granddaughter will be happy that I wrote. She usually reminds me that I have let too many days go by. She loves the dogs and wants to hear all about them. 
Bling is 8 years old and decided to take up reading last night. I have a book called the Dog Church and it is actually a place in Vermont. I guess the cover looked really good so she took it off and read the first page. I was so surprised, you usually don't see an 8 year old decide to read. 
Dog Church is a fun place to take your dogs, very pretty grounds for the dogs and also a small chapel for pictures of your deceased pets. 
Maybe Bling was trying to tell me something.
All for now.   

Topaz

 

GOOD GROOMING DAY

Well it snowed over night and it is still snowing. I always have a hard time with motivation on these gray days whether snowing or raining. I will wait for the snow to stop before I go out to clean up. 
In the meantime I will work with Bonnie, she definitely is ready for more training even having to train inside. Once we do a little training I will do some grooming. It is strange that my dogs are shedding this time of year. Not just a small amount of coat but a complete shed, losing all the undercoat. They usually shed like this in August. Maybe it is just this crazy winter we have been having with cold and warm. It seems to be the older dogs who have the most coat. The younger ones don't have the undercoat that the others have so that is a huge help. 
They all look so nice when brushed out. Will try to do some nails and teeth too. Which most of them hate, only because I did not start young enough, with the teeth. It is really important to try to brush your dogs teeth, dental disease can bring on so many other health issues. If you do a little each day they will eventually be good with teeth brushing. So important!
Starting with a young pup you can make a game of it, something to have fun with, and they will always look forward to the brushing. Be sure to use tooth paste that is made for dogs, our tooth pastes are not safe for them. Plus dog tooth paste is made to taste good which is a help. If you can be conscientious with this, regular brushing, you will not have to have cleanings under anesthesia, nor spend the money that it cost. It can be expensive!
So much to think of in caring for you new pup. If you start now your pup will grow up to enjoy the attention and grooming will be so much more pleasant for both of you.

Bonnie

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year to Everyone! Hope you have made some good goals with your dogs, whether it be obedience training, or just learning a few new manners. My young dogs can easily get out of control and act like they have not had any training. So it is now time to concentrate on them. 
I would like to have Bonnie herding tested in the spring and I can't do that with her if she is out of control and does not have a good recall. Basic obedience for her is a must. I can't just sit by and let her grow up.  She is 6 months now and really ready to learn. Maybe even a Beginner Novice in her future. Young Shelties love learning and they love to please you. 
For Keeper I would like to do some basic obedience training and then maybe shoot for a Rally title.  Lots of work for sure and he is almost 9 years old. Old dogs can learn new tricks. He is very engaging and I think will enjoy the training.  I remember reading the Sunny Bank Collie books by Terhune and how each Collie found his favorite place in the house and as I look around here I see the same thing. Keeper who has only been here a month has found his spot beside the couch in a corner. He loves it there and if I ever can't find him that is where he is. Bling who is also an older girl has picked the landing of the stairs that go to the dog room. I think she chose this place because the heat from the furnace comes up the stairs. And Max who will be 13 in a couple of months is always under the computer desk, his den and he gets upset when someone takes his space and Brooke usually tries to take it. Both Rosie and Brooke like the floor in front of the couch in the living room. Rosie is more under the coffee table than Brooke. 
Walter, Topaz and Bonnie are too young to have the run of the house yet so they have not found favorite places. Topaz's favorite thing to do is to grab the remote and often something clicks on the TV. She will run with the remote, maybe because it has a soft rubber cover on it. Once in her mouth it is a real challenge to get it from her. 
So it is time to get busy with training the young ones a few basic manners. If I don't we won't have a peaceful house and that won't work. I joined Susan Garrett's Recallers and with that I will have hopefully the motivation to get into training. Her training is game based and fun for the dogs and for me. 
Now is the time to get started, they are not getting any younger and this is a goal that I should be able to keep.

                                                                    

                 This is Amber who belongs to friend Kathleen, doing a pretty sit.  

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!!