THINKING ABOUT BONNIE

Bonnie is doing well and her head tilt has improved quite a lot. We are still going to the Chiropractor because I now believe she had an injury when younger. She and Topaz play hard and I remember the time I heard Bonnie cry and Topaz had pushed her against a kitchen cabinet. My vet has said that if it was something serious she would not be getting better and she is. The head tilt is almost not noticeable. Most would not pick up on it. I may try to find her a nice home where she will get more one on one. She is a smart girl, I started her training at 8 weeks and she remembers it well. She knows sit and down and walks well on a leash. She is house trained and crate trained. Of course if she went to a new home she would need house training to develop a new routine. I would like her to be with someone who was home most of the time.
I don't think she would be happy hanging out in the house or crate all day while someone worked full time. She is super smart and trained so fast. She is still puppy at 13 months. I believe she has so much potential. I am not sure that I want to breed her and I want the best for her. Time will tell and if the perfect place comes along for her then I would consider doing what is best for her. I love all my dogs and it is hard to think of letting them go but sometimes they need more than I can give, especially with so many Shelties. I have placed a few Shelties over the years and it was not easy but I knew what I was doing was best for the dog. If they can get better than what I do for them then it is right.
Sometimes it is more loving to give them something better than what I give them. I know them well and I know their needs. We will see what time brings.
Topaz is enrolled in basic obedience and she is super smart too and I am looking forward to training her. I would love to get back into Therapy work. Hopefully I can work towards that.
I have had four Shelties that were awesome Therapy dogs. It is very rewarding for the people we visit and also for me. I love to share my dogs.
I take life one day at a time and believe that what is meant to be will happen.
The hair is flowing around here, so today I will completely groom two more, maybe three if I get the ambition. Everyone is shedding, even Bonnie but she does not have undercoat, but is shedding some of her coat. She never had undercoat but maybe it will come with age.
All for now! Rosie is telling me that it is time for breakfast so I better get moving.

BONNIE AND TOPAZ

DOGS AND RAIN!!

Another day of rain, and wet, muddy and smelly dogs. You think the rain would bother them but not so. The seniors definitely don't like to go out in the rain, I have to give them a gentle push, heaven forbid that they get their feet wet. Especially Brooke, she just does not want wet feet. The young dogs don't care which is great, they will run right out in the rain and want to play chase. They don't care if they get soaked. They just shake it off and go on playing chase, and catch me if you can. The Shelties and dogs in general are amazing as they accept whatever is given to them and especially the weather. Although Bling who is 9 years old becomes very upset with heavy rain and thunder. With thunder she will find a place to hide and bark at the thunder. I think she thinks that she can chase it away. One night we had storms and she barked the whole night. Thankfully the others did not join her. If they had there would have been no sleep that night. I did a complete grooming on Brooke and Keeper yesterday and thankfully they go out and do what they need to and come right back in. They don't get muddy and their coats just fluff up a bit with the rain. I am glad that I started with the seniors yesterday and not the younger dogs as they get muddy and very wet. I took out tons of hair yesterday as this is the shedding time of year, now through September, and once the undercoat is gone they look so pretty. Will do two more seniors this week, Max who is 13 and he hates brushing. But that is only because of his age and it hurts his skin, so I do small portions at a time and it takes several days to get him groomed out. I started on Glory the other evening and sat on my grooming box rather than put her on the table which I usually do. She was in seventh heaven. She put her head on my knee and just soaked it all in. Glory would be a wonderful Therapy dog for someone. I co-own her with a friend and she is here to have a litter and then I may find her a home where she will blossom with not living with a pack. But this will take a lot of thought as it is pretty easy to get attached to her. The home will need to be perfect, she is so sweet and loving, I can see her visiting the elderly and giving much joy. Having a therapy dog  is a wonderful experience for all. The elderly love to see the dogs, have a time to pet and talk to them. Many have memories of dogs in their past. It is so rewarding to share your dog and bring joy.
I have digressed from the rain topic. I am hopeful this will be the last day of rain for awhile. I want to get everyone groomed and it would be so nice if they could stay clean. I have small stone in my dog yard but the dirt is beginning to come through. I have purchased a few pieces of kennel deck which helps a lot. They are over the area by the gate which used to get very muddy and now they keep clean. They like the decking and often lay on it and not on the stone, it is much more comfortable. Actually they prefer to be in the house. They are good for the most part, although if Topaz can steal any kind of paper she will. Then we have a great game of catch me if you can. She loves the little yellow notepads, she will rip pages off before I can catch her. Then Bonnie sees what fun she is having grabs a sheet of paper and proceeds to shred it, what fun!! Someday I hope to get back into therapy, maybe Topaz. We start her obedience class tomorrow and if she does well we will go on with the training and get her Canine Good Citizen title so that she can become certified for therapy.
For now all is peaceful. Maybe I will be lucky and have a few moments of peace before breakfast. 

Morning coffee with the kids!!

LONGER THAN I LIKE

Twelve days since I have written about Bonnie. Her head may be a little straighter but still tilting. I have decided to take her to a veterinary chiropractor. In trying to cover all bases it is possible she hurt herself and maybe has a pinched nerve. An adjustment might help that and she would be able to straighten her head. It is worth a try and would be wonderful if this is the problem. I am hopeful.
The dogs don't like this weather anymore than I do. They just lay around and some of them love the basement floor, it is quite cool.
I had another one of Topaz's puppies visit this week. It is so nice to see how the pups are developing. Topaz and Zuzu her daughter seemed to know each other. When Coco visited a few weeks ago she and Topaz also seemed to know each other. It is fun to see them interact with each other. 
This is a really good day to brush dogs in front of the air conditioner. With this heat and humidity their coats are just falling out in big tufts. It is not too difficult to brush when the hair is dropping on its own. 
Topaz is a very independent girl and will often ignore me especially if there is some paper she can steal. That is her favorite thing to do, she just loves paper of any kind and will play keep away as I really don't want her eating it. That is her next favorite thing to do. I have to make sure that nothing important is within her reach. She loves to steal any thing that she can reach.  So Topaz and I are going to a beginner obedience class. A few manners will be good for her. Lately she has been ignoring my come command, I go get her and tell her come but next time she ignores me again. She is having fun, thinks this is a game. She will get down on her front paws, butt in the air and tail wagging, she is challenging me, "come get me if you can." If I grab a cookie she will come to me but I don't want to reinforce her bad behavior. She is so funny and I try not to laugh, she gets this look on her face that says " I dare you" and she really does. I now put her on a leash when she comes out of her kennel in the morning so she has no choice but to do what I ask and she is fine with that. I think that she will train beautifully and we will have fun. I can picture her as a very well trained dog.

Topaz and Bonnie!

BONNIE NEWS

A beautifully cool morning this morning. Should be a nice day without the humidity and heat. The kind of summer that I love. Bonnie is doing well, we don't have answers for her head tilt. We had thought maybe a tick disease as those diseases attack the central nervous system. All her blood work came back normal, no tick disease, thyroid normal and all other blood work normal. She is on Doxycycline so that if there is some infection this will clear it. At times her head tilt looks a little better but it always goes back to the tilting left. I thought about an MRI which would show any tumors and maybe swelling in the brain, I have decided against it as I would not put Bonnie through the surgery for a brain tumor. Operating on the brain can be so risky. Once she has finished the month of Doxycycline she will go on Methadexazone in case there is any swelling and hopefully it would help that. Then another thought I had was that she could have had a toxic reaction to the heart worm meds. I always used to use Interceptor until they stopped making it, there was no Ivermectin in it. I switched to Generic Heartguard as there was no choice, but it has Ivermectin in it and that could be a possibility. I have read about Ivermectin toxicity and the damage from that is not reversible. My plan for Bonnie is to just keep her comfortable and happy. And she is a very happy girl and seems to have no pain. There is the possibility that she played too rough and hurt herself, but my vet said she would get better from an injury. 
I am sitting here writing and I feel this cold nose poking at my leg, of course it is Keeper wanting some attention. He is the sweetest boy ever.
With this heat everyone is dropping coat and I have hair everywhere. I am brushing as fast as I can and it is pretty easy as the hair is just dropping out. Soon everyone will be naked and much easier to keep, sometimes I think a smooth coated Sheltie would be wonderful.
Well that is my news for today, enjoy this beautiful cool air. 
A friend of mine has a 10 week old bi black female available, she is so cute and has a wonderful personality. At 10 weeks she really needs her own home. If anyone is interested give Harriet a call at 603-539-1603. Her picture is below.

WORRIED ABOUT BONNIE

Bonnie just had her first birthday and is a little terror but very smart and can be sweet if she wants to. The past few weeks she has started tilting her head to the left and can't seem to bring it straight on. At first I thought she was just cocking her head and being cute like pups do. Now it seems to be more than that. We are going to the vet on Monday for a good physical and blood work. There is vestibular disease but she is too young for that, it is something that can be common in old dogs, a head tilt with circling and confusion. Bonnie does not have any of those symptoms. She is just as feisty as ever and every thing else is normal.  I will be glad to have her checked out and see what we can do for her. 
Took a ride up to Illusion farm yesterday to visit my friend Kathleen and see her beautiful pups.She has some outstanding pups and your heart just melts. I am hoping that one day I will have some pups that look like hers. 
For now I am happy that my young ones are growing up. A break from the puppy stage will be really good. I love my seniors and I have five of them and they are so good and so easy. Although it is a little sad to see them getting old. They are such good company, they have their favorite places to sleep and spend much of the day sleeping. But when Fed ex or UPS comes they are right up and letting me know. Then I see these beautiful pups and would love one but know that what I have now is easy and pups grow up before you know it. Having been a breeder for 40 years and showing dogs almost as long, it is something hard to give up, it is in your blood and you never lose the urge to produce beautiful pups.
On that note I have bred Bling to my Walter who is producing stunning pups and maybe something will come from that, but at the least I will have beautiful, quality pets that will make families very happy and that gives me much satisfaction. Quality, healthy pets for families is even more important than the next show dog.
I will post more on Bonnie once we know what is going on with her.
The fourth of July is coming up this week. Please be careful with your dogs, don't let them out during the fireworks. All dogs should be chipped so if they get lost it will help to bring them home. But the best thing is to be extremely careful during this holiday!

BONNIE

A LONG TIME

Guess it has been awhile since I sat down to write. Time just seems to go so fast. The past couple of weeks have been hard and there is no explanation other than I am getting close to the second anniversary of my husbands passing. It has been weighing on my mind, all that has gone by and when my mind gets like this  it is hard to put thoughts on paper.
Been spending more time with the dogs, the evenings have been nice and cool and perfect for playing ball with them They all love the chase. Sammy is an awesome retriever. Walter is a close second, and Bonnie often comes up with the ball and brings it right back. When Topaz gets the ball I have to immediately grab it from her as all she wants to do is to take the covering off the ball. We could sit out there for hours but after about an hour everyone is slowing down, the exercise has worn them out. So now when they all come in they should be good and go lie down. But it does not take long for them to be ready to go again. The old saying a tired dog is a good dog and that is so true.
One of my pups came to visit on Saturday and it was so nice to see her. She looks wonderful, and is learning some basic obedience. They are doing an awesome job with her. I did glue her ears for them as they were looking like a German Shepherd. When the pups are teething their ears can go all over the place and it is a good time to set them so eventually they tip properly.
It is so nice to see a sheltie with pretty tipped ears. They add so much to their expression.
The ticks here have been miserable, it is like they are just waiting for you to come out and they attack. I have to spray the dogs about every other day to keep them tick free. I am going to try a new natural spray called Wondercide, supposed to work really well and I can use it on my clothes too. 
Many chores waiting for me today so that is all for now and once again I will try to not let so much time go by.

My friend Harriet has this lovely sable male pup available, he is 13 weeks and so sweet. You can reach her at 603-539-1603
                                                                 

ROSIE aka ROSEBUD

Yesterday I had Rosie spayed and she had a dental at the same time.She could not have breakfast or her morning cookie, she was not happy. No one got their morning cookie as I could not leave her out, so everybody was not especially happy.
Rosie is one of those special Shelties that loves everyone. She was happy to go for a ride, not knowing what was going on and she was happy to see everyone at the vets. She did not seem to mind that I left. 
I picked her up late in the afternoon and she was not so happy but managed a small tail wag for me. Once home she was very quiet and seemed depressed, she just wanted to sleep which was the best thing for her. Last night was the first time in Rosie's life that she refused to eat. So not Rosie. Later that evening she did eat a little and I was able to get her medication into her. She likes to sleep downstairs where it is much cooler. I carried her down, she is a smart girl, I knew she would not try to run upstairs and she did not. She hurt and seemed to understand she had to be quiet. This morning she greeted me at the stairs with a couple of tail wags, and she was not going to miss another morning cookie, I knew then that she would be fine  in a few days. Right now she is sleeping next to me while I write. This is the best thing for her and for healing. 
I am so glad that I decided to do the spay now, she will be 8 years old in October, we share the same birthday. I asked the vet about the condition of her uterus and it was filled with fluid. She could easily have developed an infection. I had hoped for a Rosie daughter, but just not to be. 
I am thankful for Rosie and hopefully now we will have many years together. She is my best friend. I often call her Rosebud, her nickname. Len started calling her that when she was a baby. She responds to both names.
I love all my Shelties, but Rosie is my heart dog, we have all had one of those who are just extra special.

The best mom Sheltie there ever was!!She just loves babies and when the pups are about 4 to 5 weeks she will play with them and take care of them even if they are not hers.