SOMETIMES THINGS GO WELL AND SOMETIMES THEY DON'T

 This past Sunday was one of those days when things went wrong. Rosie started to have seizures and I have no idea what brought them on. My dogs have never had a seizure so I had no idea what we were in for. They  started out mildly and progressed to the grand mal seizure. Rosie was terrified and so was I. I kept thinking that they would stop  and after the last one at 11:30 pm she did stop. But that was the worst one. I don't ever want to see a seizure like that again.

First thing in the morning I called my vet and she got us right in before appointments started. Thankfully Rosie did not have another seizure after the one at 11:30. She definitely was disoriented and not herself, and exhausted. I was exhausted also.The vet did some neurological testing and thankfully that was normal. So she was put on medication. I hate the thought of using phenobarbital but it does keep her from having seizures. Rosie is with me every minute, still a little disoriented but seems ok as long as she can stay with me.

What a miserable and scary day. In all my years of raising dogs I have never been through anything like this. Nor have any of my dogs. 

Rosie and I are resting today. She is still a little wobbly but doing ok. We are going to take a nap this afternoon. Rosies body has been through a lot. And she seems to know it. For seizures to start in a 10 year old dog is a bit unusual. 

The dogs can only go out today to potty and come right back in. It is so cold out there that it hurts to breathe. And their feet start to freeze if outside too long. So quick in and out. Right now at almost noon time it is zero out there.

I am raising two pups, a brother and sister, they are now 12 weeks old and keep me very busy. They are house training pretty  well. Just the cold makes it too hard, but they just run and play. Angus brought in a huge icicle. He was having so much fun. He brought it in with him and it was so funny to watch him as it melted. Since my Walter has gone sterile, I have hopes that Angus will take over as our stud dog. He has a beautiful pedigree. I have high hopes but we have to see how he grows. 

Hopefully 2022 goes better than it started out.

                   Angus with my granddaughter, she is a huge dog lover!

ROSIE IS DOING BETTER!!

 Rosie was very much her old self this morning. After two days of medication she feels better. She does not seem to be wobbly at all. I am so thankful that the medication worked for her. It was eight below this morning at 5am. Skye is the only dog who does not mind the bitter cold. She loves to play catch me if you can. Her feet don't seem to get cold the way the others do. Even the 12 week old pups, run out and do what they have to and are back at the door very quickly. Not even picking up icicles enticed them. They are so smart. I can see that we really need to work on come. Usually I can say front which Skye does very well and she will come and sit front. But not this morning. She was running and teasing me and get just close enough that I could not grab her. Finally a handful of kibble lured her in. We are starting her training course with Susan Garrett and COME will be the very first thing that we will work on. Skye enjoys working so I think the course will be very successful. She is a very different little dog with her nurturing of Rosie after she had a seizure. She just wanted to take care of Rosie. I am thinking that she may be a good mother some day. The others would just stare at Rosie and knew that something was wrong and could not figure out what was happening.  Since we were up before 5 this morning, breakfast is finished and everyone has been out and now back in and sleeping in their favorite spots. I am going to organize and clean the office today, especially as it is the favorite sleeping place for most of the dogs.  A very quiet, unexciting day will be welcome here. If it could warm up just a little, I would be very happy. We have had enough excitement to last for us for quite awhile.      

                                           

                                                  SKYE

THE HOLIDAY SEASON IS UPON US

 I can't believe that I have not written in almost two months. So much going on with the dogs. My Rosie was not feeling well and pretty lethargic. She would not touch food which is very unusual for her. She normally is a chow hound.I decided to give her one night and see how she was in the morning.She was a little better but not herself. I took her to the vet and she was completely checked out, more blood work and xrays of the abdomen and chest cavity. All appeared to be well. The blood work did show that she was fighting an infection somewhere. I took her home with an antibiotic, thinking it may be her teeth. It is a real battle to clean her teeth. Teeth are very important and an infected tooth could cause many problems. She is on the antibiotic for a total of three weeks and then we will do more blood work to see what is going on and if she is not fighting an infection we will know that it was her teeth causing the problem. Rosie's kidneys are good as she came through the spay without any problems. So she should come through a dental with out problems. I am nervous about it as back in March my 11 year old Keeper had a dental and did not wake up from the anesthesia and his blood work was good. Maybe a reaction to the anesthesia. Nothing showed up in the autopsy so we will never know for sure. It was so sad and a shock. I am nervous about Rosie having the dental but it may be necessary. 

On another note I went to visit a friends litter, they have a pedigree that is something that I really want to incorporate into my line. I purchased a lovely sable boy and a lovely sable girl. It was a beautiful litter and I am thrilled to have two pups to grow out that may be stunning adults. I am looking forward to another litter of my  own. It has been seven months since my last litter so spring will be a really good time to have pups. I a going to breed my blue girl, Quinn to Charlie a lovely sable male that I co-own with a friend. He is also the sire of the two pups that I recently purchased.   House training is a challenge with two pups but we are getting there. My granddaughter is coming to visit and we will take some nice Christmas pictures of all the dogs, it should be a fun time for all of us.

I hope to do better with the blog in the future. Living with 6 adults and 2 pups can be pretty challenging. But it is also a lot of fun and a lot of work, but so rewarding.

Skye is now a year old and I plan to spend time training her this winter. We got started outside before the weather got too cold. So now we will work indoors and concentrate on obedience and fun games. They learn so quickly when they have fun. I am using Susan Garrett's on line program called Recallers part of her "Say yes" training program. I have had a lot of success with this program and I am looking forward to success with Skye. Skye loves to work!

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!Enjoy your Shelties. They are your best friends!

 

WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY THANKSGIVING

 This Thanksgiving I am so thankful for all the wonderful families that have given my pups such wonderful and loving homes. I enjoy all the pictures that have been sent. November 22 was the first birthday for many of my pups. That was the haredest litter that I have had and for Bonnie also. She is not a large Sheltie but she gave birth to 11 pups. I think that must be a record. It was the start of feeding round the clock for several of the babies, Bonnie and I were able to raise 9 pups. She was overwhelmed but she had 9 beautiful pups. I had little sleep for two or  more weeks as there were two pups that needed so much help. One was Owen, who I gave to a friend of mine and he is a stunning, friendly boy, worth all the hard work. The other one who needed so much help was Skye, the only girl out of the nine pups. I worked so hard with her. She crashed a couple of times but I was able to keep her going. She is now an energetic, beautiful girl, worth all the work.I have seen pictures of all the pups except for Hersey, maybe I will get one soon. 

Bonnie was spayed, as it was a hard time for her and she was so overwhelmed. I promised  myself a year with no pups. I am totally rested and hopefully have a litter in the spring. It will be a year. 

I am also thankful for my family and good friends. And my dogs have kept me going and I am so thankful for them. Lots to do with caring for them but they are my family and I would be lost without them. 

We all have so much to be thankful for in our lives. Give your shelties  a hug and be thankful for the the joy they bring into your lives.

Happy Thanksgiving  

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