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

  

MISSING PUPPIES

 I have time to be rested and get caught up around here. I am giving myself plenty of time without any puppies. But I sure do miss them. The excitement of the birth and seeing what pups are born, their sex, their color, size and shape.I won't be having pups until spring and that sure feels like a long way off. When pups get to 5 weeks they are very messy and it is a lot of work. Seeing their personalities develop is amazing to watch. They are all so different, they develop at different rates. Some are responding almost immediately and others take more time. I love teaching a four week old pup to stand on the table, placing his feet and making him look like a real show dog. They learn to stand to be brushed and handled. When they go to the vet for first shots they stand on the table so beautifully and the vet is so surprised at how good the pups behave. Sounds crazy but I am looking forward to all of this again. The pups from my last litter are now four months old. Maggie, the little girl that I kept is growing up fast. She is so much fun to train. Things don't bother her at all, she is very curious and loves to train. She makes working with her so much fun. By the time the next litter is here she will be a year old.  I am hoping to do some nice photos for Christmas. I hope to have four Shelties line up in front of the decorated fire place, wearing pretty red ribbons. My granddaughter is going to help me this year. She loves decorating and since I have not done much decorating since I lost my husband it will be fun to have her here, helping with it. 

Today I groomed the two oldest dogs who are spayed and had enough coat to make another three shelties.  It was a huge job but they looked so good when finished. I just love looking at them when they are so neat and clean and so pretty. It took all morning to brush out  these two girls, so heavy coated. They were so good, stood on the table a long time, let me cut nails and clean ears. Still have to do teeth but maybe tomorrow. They needed a break by the time I was ready to do their teeth. 

I am looking forward to this Christmas with my granddaughter helping with the decorating. It is not fun to do it alone, so I just did not bother. I can't believe that we are half way through September already. Hopefully by March pups will be on the way. My spring will be very busy but so much fun with new pups again. I can't believe how much I miss the puppies 

Maggie is still very much a puppy and keeps me busy. Skye is 10 months but also a puppy.  Training two pups at the same time is a challenge, but they are doing well. 

I  hope that everyone who has one of my pups is doing well too.

                       My granddaughter with her boy Walter!

GETTING THINGS DONE

 It has been awhile since I have written. Took time to get all the puppies settled in their new homes. Wonderful families and all my pups are happy and doing well. It took a long time for the DNA on the last litter to come back but finally we know the litter was sired by Keeper. CH Weststars Finders Keepers. Keeper passed in March from a dental, he did not come out of the anesthesia. Fortunately we had bred him to Topaz, and we had also bred Sammy, Illusions Living the Dream to Topaz. She had a funny split heat and when the pups were born I had the feeling that they were Keepers, just from the look of them but we still had to do the DNA testing to be sure. All the pups came back as Keeper kids. I was so happy to hear this as I decided to keep a daughter of his. Keeper was the sweetest, most calm, loving Sheltie ever. I still miss having him lie under the desk with his head on my foot. 

His daughter Maggie, is a sweet, loving girl also and she is very smart. I am having fun with her training. She is learning the agility obstacles and doing well and she has fun. She and Skye get along so well and play all the time. Skye is already 10 months, don't know where the time has gone. My baby is all grown up. 

I have now had the time to put all the puppy equipment away and clean the house. It is so nice to have everything back in order and dusted. The puppies took so much time that I did not do much housework. All caught up now and I can spend time with the dogs. Hopefully to train Maggie and Skye in basic obedience. They both have a good start but need to be more reliable. I probably have two months where I can still work out in the agility area with them. By the end of October it will most likely be getting too cold. I will continue as long as possible. Skye is doing great with her house training and Maggie is coming along pretty well. The 6 months between them makes a huge difference. 

I place Maggies mother Topaz into a wonderful home with Glory. Glory has developed kidney disease which is being treated but she needed a companion and Topaz was perfect for her. Also the people that Glory and Topaz are with are wonderful and if something happens to Glory they will still have a Sheltie to love and be their companion. I love Topaz and I miss her but what she is doing for Glory and the family is so special.

Topaz has had three litters and was a pretty good mother but not overjoyed with babies. She will be happy that she is finished with having pups.

So I am taking a break and will probably breed Quinn in Feb/March time frame, pups would be due April/ May time frame. Pups available in June. A nice time to house train pups.This will be a nice break for me and Quinn. I have been sleeping through the night, no pups crying or Topaz barking to go out.It feels good to be rested. This morning Skye started barking at 4:45 which is very unusual for her, so she really had to go out. This does not happen often and I would rather get up than have to clean a dirty crate. Of course when one starts barking they all decide that it is time to go out. So we had an early start to the day. 

I lost my beautiful Brooke on August 4th. She had liver issues and was on medication but it did not help much. She was loosing movement in her rear also. I hoped that we could keep her going for awhile. But she started bleeding from the nose and it did not clear up. It would come and go each day and I knew more was wrong. It was time to let her go. So many losses in such a short time. 

I am going to take advantage of the sunshine and warm temperature today and get the dogs out to play. Hope you all have an enjoyable and safe holiday!

Brooke at 1 year!

TIME TO LET GO

 My last post was about letting go when your dog is sick and nothing more can be done for them. The time came for Brooke on August 4th, the medication was not helping and she was developing other symptoms, she was having nose bleeds and we did not know the reason for those. She was having trouble getting up and lying down. It was a such a struggle for her. The only thing that did not change was her appetite. She was always hungry. The vet said that her metabolism was off, she would eat but would not feel like she had eaten and wanted to eat more. So the decision was made that the time had come to let her go. I took her in and went in with her. We put some spray cheese on a tongue depressor and she licked that until she fell asleep from  the first shot that was to relax her. She enjoyed that cheese so much, that is all she was concentrating on and then when it was almost gone she fell asleep.  Then the other injection was given to end her life. She was asleep and had no idea what was happening, I hope that she sensed that I was with her. I think she did.

She has been gone over a week now and life is so different with her missing.  I can load the dishwasher now with out her help. I can run the can opener with out her barking like crazy, all the little things she did I now miss so much.

I don't know if the other dogs miss her or not but maybe in their own way they do. This is all a part of having dogs and giving them a peaceful an end as possible.

She will be remembered forever, now when the puppy licks the dishwasher to help me load it I am sure that Brooke is there telling her what to do. 

She will always be in my heart!

 

                                               BROOKE

END OF LIFE STAGE

 An important part of having a dog is helping them when they come to the end of life stage. You can see that they don't feel well, have difficulty getting up and down. Drinking lots of water and urinating just as much. You look into their eyes and you can see how they feel. But you post pone what you know should be done. Maybe another day or two and they will feel better. You don't want to let go. Maybe another medication will help and it does for a short time. But no matter what we try the symptoms do not go away. We don't want to think about what we know we should do. It is time to let go and we don't want to face that. But your friend has been there for you for all their lives. When you didn't feel good they would comfort you, when you were sad they would make you laugh. Seems like they always knew what to do to make you feel better. Shelties are very stoic, they don't let you see their pain, although it is hard for them to hide it in their eyes. They want to go on taking care of you but you know it is now time for you to take care of them.

I am at the point of having to make one of these decisions. My old girl Brooke has liver issues and does not feel good. When she pees it is a flood and she drinks tons of water. She is on medication which seems to be helping. But when she is no longer comfortable I know that I have to let her go. I have done this many times over the years but it never gets easy. It is very difficult to make the decision. This is a very important part of responsible dog ownership. Brookes medication is giving her some relief but I don't know how long that will last. When she appears to be in pain and is not eating well then I know the time has come. 

It is your responsibility to take your dog to the vet and stay with them while they drift away from this world. They need to know that you are there. It is a very peaceful time for your dog and he will no longer have any pain. I know many of you don't want to be with your dog, but think of him and not yourself. Look at all the times he was there for you. You know what has to be done and he needs you.

When Brooke gets to the point that there is no hope and she is in pain I will let her go and I will be with her. They know we are there and it comforts them. 

So be brave and think of your dog. You will have a sense of peace when you know they will not hurt again.

The old girls, Brooke on the right!

HOPE YOU HAD A HAPPY AND SAFE 4TH

 The Fourth is over and I hope it was good for everyone, especially for the dogs.

My dogs do not do well with the fire works, especially the loud booms. Fireworks in the area for two nights and finally ended about 10 pm.Thankfully they were not very close. 

My pups have moved to their new homes and families and all are doing well. I have one pup here and I am just waiting to see who her sire is. She too may go to a really good home. I know I have said it before but I am so thankful for the people who have my pups. 

The rain has finally stopped and my dog yard has lots of mud, hopefully it will dry out soon. Once dry I will put more patio blocks down and get rid of all the dirt.  That will help tremendously. I am also planning a large play area attached to the dog yard. I will have agility equipment out there and lots of fun toys for the dogs. The main thing is they will be able to run and do zoomies. They love to run all out and it makes me smile!

The sun is poking out and I sure hope it dries things out. I know we need the water but the dogs sure hate getting wet. So funny watching them tip toe through the puddles.

Now that the pups are settled I plan to spend more time working with Skye. She is a smart little girl and you can see her think. I tell her to find her baby and she goes and gets her lamb, which is her baby. She finds her big ball when you tell her. She is so quick and learning the names of her toys. She taught herself to use the stairs. She is an amazing little girl.

I am definitely taking a break from breeding. Too many pups in too short of a time. I think that in 9 to 12 months I will know if I want to breed or just want to enjoy my dogs. I do love producing healthy, quality pups, with great temperaments that make wonderful family companions. I always want to breed to improve the breed. The Sheltie is a special breed and needs to be preserved.

Breakfast alarms are going off, their clocks still work very well.Time to get this day going.