Hillcrest Border Collies

Mia's Pups at 3 1/2 Weeks Old

2012-02-12T22:12:00.001-08:00

Mia and her pups

2012-02-12T13:06:00.000-08:00

I am a little behind in posting on my Blog. Here is a video of Mia playing with her squeakies the other week. She is very toy driven.

The 2nd video is of her pups when they were about 2 1/2 weeks old. I took some more video today and will load it to You Tube.

Mia is here

2011-12-22T21:26:00.000-08:00

Wow, is all I can say! I am so impressed with Mia in the day and a half that she has been here. We have been looking for a dog to replace Mick (or follow in his footsteps is a better term) as a working dog. After quite a long time of looking, talking etc the stars were aligned and Mia was able to come to Oregon. It is amazing because she really reminds me a lot of Mick's dad, Scott, and of Mick. As said in previous posts, she is bred to Kevin Evan's top Nursery dog, Doc.
Mia arrived here (Murray drove to Portland to pick her up) and was all smiles. It amazes me on what a stable temperament she has. She has never been inside before she came here and did not know what stairs were. Murray worked with her a bit on the stairs and she picked right up on them. He then brought her in the house (pergo and tile floors) and she found the bone box and toy box. She then learned about tv when Murray turned it on. He said it was funny because she put her feet up on the tv stand to try and watch it.
I had her in the house today and she LOVES hedgies (the toy ones). She took her hedgie to the couch and played with it (she had never had toys before our house). She is not fazed by the tree with bright lights in the house either. She goes from couch to couch trying to figure out which one is more comfortable. She even hopped up with my parents who are here visiting for the holiday.
I can not wait to work her on sheep.

Mia with my parents

Mia

2011-12-18T09:51:00.000-08:00

Mia

Mia was bred by Gerard Graham in Ireland. www.irishsheepdog.com
Her dam is Jess ISDS 277429 and her sire is Beau ISDS 285455. Jess was an Irish Team Member in 2010. She is described by her owner as being a very successful trial dog who is very friendly. Beau is described as be a tremendous dog who is powerful and has a great temperament and is breeding excellent pups.
Mia's mom, Jess, is the daughter of Dick Roper's Tom. www.conquestbordercollies.nl/eng/Tom.php
Tom was the most popular Stud Dog for the ISDS in 2006 and 2nd most popular Stud Dog in 2005. Tom has a long list of accomplishments which include 3rd at the English Nationals 2008, 4th English Nationals 2007, 1st Wiston National 2006, 1st Hebredian Cup, title of "Lord of the Isles" in Scotland and many more.
Mia also goes back to John Brenin's Dunedin Gem who was 3rd at the Supreme Nationals twice and 4th at the World Trial in 2002.

Tom

Mia is a sharp bitch who has tons of come forward. She needs to be held back rather then coaxed on.
We are very excited to see see what Mia can do on the trial field here in the United States along with her offspring.

Byron is Available

2011-12-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

Simic now has a home and I believe Lux will be going to his new home next week. Byron was spoken for, but is now available.
Byron is from our Havoc x Spritz litter. He is very outgoing, loves food and toys. He has been raised inside our house with our family. He is crate trained and has started on his basic puppy training.
Byron will make a great performance or herding dog. You can see more information on Byron and his parents, Havoc and Spritz, on my website. www.hillcrestbordercollies.com

Pedigree for Kevin Evan's Doc

2011-12-17T10:13:00.000-08:00

Doc is the sire to Mia's litter. Mia will be arriving in Oregon on Wednesday, December 21.
Doc has been placing very well at this years Nursery trials. On November 23 he placed 3rd out of 34 dogs, November 13 he placed 2nd out of 32 dogs, and on October 16 he placed 1st out of 35 competitors.

Stay tuned for information on Mia.

Pedigree for Doc

Border Collie (Black and white)

Sire Jake ISDS 286637	Sire Robbie Rough black and white J. Pope	Sire Jay Rough black and white John Atkinson	Sire Jim Bobby Dalziel 3rd place Int Supreme 1994
			Dam Jill David Young
		Dam Copper rough red and white Ms. J.E. Parsons	Sire Skye Stuart Wilkinson
			Dam Dell J.F. Bell
	Dam Bell Rough black tri J. Pope	Sire Jet ISDS 216812 smooth red tri Toddy Lambe	Sire Rusty ISDS 210398 rough black tri J. Dowdall
			Dam Tess ISDS 157136 black tri J. Dowdall
		Dam Nell rough black tri David Cahill	Sire Don Michael Bourke
			Dam Jess G. Flynn
Dam Flek ISDS 286719	Sire Roy ISDS 267466 rough black tri L. Murphy	Sire Rob ISDS 258982 rough black tr James Phelan	Sire Sandy ISDS 230491 smooth black tri Joe Ryan
			Dam Flek ISDS 245445 rough black white brown James Phelan
		Dam Daisy ISDS 234117 smooth black and white J. Kavanagh	Sire Craig ISDS 209561 rough black tri N. Deacon
			Dam Floss ISDS 208781 smooth black tri J. Phelan
	Dam Meg ISDS 235684 smooth black tri P. Murphy	Sire Rob ISDS 201221 rough black tr P. Murphy Jr	Sire Fio ISDS 182887 Beard black tri Timothy Flood
			Dam Nell ISDS 188001 rough red tri P. Murphy Jr
		Dam Pepe ISDS 180176 smooth black tri M.J.M. Murphy	Sire Pip ISDS 124578 smooth black tri Timothy Flood 1984/88/89 Irish National Champion
			Dam Midge ISDS 151959 smooth black mottled Mathew Murphy

Our Life With Dogs and Kids

2011-12-14T08:46:00.000-08:00

Our dogs absolutely love Connor.

2 Havoc x Spritz Boys are Available

2011-12-07T09:40:00.000-08:00

These 2 boys are from our Havoc x Spritz litter. Lux and Simic are outgoing pups that have been raised along side our family, including 2 kids. They are toy driven and love to tug. They are now crate trained and sleep through the night. They have been raised on a raw diet.

Lux is black and white, non white factored.

Simic is black tri, white factored.

These boys would be great herding and/or performance dogs.

Contact me for more information @ HillcrestBCs@gmail.com.

You can also see more information about their parents on our website. www.hillcrestbordercollies.com

Video of the pups and our dogs can be viewed on our You Tube Site HillcrestBCs

Incredibly Well Bred Litter Coming To The US

2011-12-06T12:48:00.000-08:00

Mia is being imported from Kevin Evans. She comes from outstanding Irish lines with her mom being a member of the 2010 Irish team and her father on the team years before that. She is bred to Kevin's father's top Nursery dog, Doc.
Both parents have great working styles with power to move stock with ease. Doc has already produced very nice offspring.
Mia is a black tri smooth coat (mom is a black tri smooth coat and father is a black tri rough coat) and Doc is a black and white (very dark) rough coat.
These pups will make outstanding herding dogs along with agility dogs. They would also make a great asset in one's breeding program.

If you are interested in a pup e-mail me HillcrestBCs@gmail.com and I will pass more information on to you.

Below are some pictures of Mia and Doc along with video of them working.

Mia working before Kevin put much training on her.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-75kwQG6UYQ&feature=feedu

Doc working: www.youtube.com/user/kevinevansdogs#p/u/12/I905XlyvA6c

This is Mia

Mia's Mom, Jess

Mia's Sire, Beau

This is Doc

Havoc x Spritz @ 6 Weeks Part 1

2011-11-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

The Havoc x Spritz puppies playing outside on a nice day.

Havoc x Spritz Pups Playing Inside

2011-11-09T10:14:00.000-08:00

The Havoc x Spritz puppies having fun inside.

Available Lash Pups

2011-09-22T11:16:00.001-07:00

We have 3 males that are available from our Lash litter. We are awaiting the results of the DNA test to find out if Singe or Spritz is the official sire. We are pretty sure that Singe is the father as these pups have certain characteristics that Singe has passed down to his previous pups. These pups were born June 8 and have been raised in the house along side our family. They are crate trained and sleep through the night. They have started on their basic training. Marquis, Duke and Monarch are suited for a performance home.
Contact us for more information on these lovely boys.

Duke

Monarch

Marquis

Where have I been??? With the new guy in my life!

2011-09-20T16:35:00.001-07:00

Yes, Murray and I are still happily married. We have a new boy in our life now. Oh my the house is full of testosterone with Murray, Connor and Riley. Poor me, the only female in the household.

Riley was born August 7 and I was totally unprepared. He was not due for another week, so we were planning on finishing his bedroom that weekend and I had not written out the dog instructions for my parents who were coming up from California.

Well, I had to wake hubby up at 2:30 am on Saturday and tell him my water broke. I then had to make the phone call to my parents at that time (they were still in CA) and tell them they should plan on leaving and driving straight up here asap. After the phone call I sat down and wrote out the dog and puppy instructions. It is very hard to concentrate at 3:00 am, but I did it. I then cleaned the house because we all know you can't leave for the hospital with dirty floors. :-)

Riley was born around 3:00 am on Sunday morning. My parents were able to make it up here in time and they brought Connor to the hospital in time to see his baby brother born.

Riley was 19" and 7.1 lbs.

I am having so much fun and enjoying raising Riley as he is our last one. It is hard at times managing the house, Connor, Riley, Murray, the dogs and stuff on the ranch, but heck I am 10 lbs lighter then when I got pregnant, so it has been a great diet.

Most of my posting of my happenings have been done on Facebook because I don't have tons of time to sit down in front of the computer and blog.

Here are some pictures of the new guy in my life.

Newborn Riley

Riley and his big brother, Connor

1 week old

Papa, Grandma and Riley

Saturday morning cuddle session with the 2 boys

Riley's sucky blanket

Riley at 5 weeks old. He has so much expression now.

Available Jen Puppies (Both pups are now in homes)

2011-09-07T20:20:00.000-07:00

Shock and Whammy are from our Jen litter. We are awaiting the DNA results to nail down if the father is Singe or Spritz. We are pretty sure the father is Singe as we have done the Jen x Singe breeding before and these pups have the same type of personality that the first litter did. Singe passes certain traits on to his pups that I have not seen with Spritz's kids and these pups exhibit those traits.

Both Shock and Whammy are high drive, so they are looking for performance homes where they can let their talents shine.

Visit our website for more information on our dogs. www.hillcrestbordercollies.com

Available Puppies

2011-05-16T15:43:00.000-07:00

I have 2 male puppies that are available to performance homes.

Quantum is a high drive, black tri male from our Fusion x Spritz litter. This little boy loves to work. He is a combination of his parents and will be about 20 1/2" (plus or minus) tall when full grown.

Cayenne is a red and white high drive male from our Skarlet x Singe litter. This boy is very much like his father, Singe.

Both boys are very social dogs and have grown up in our house with our family. They love kids as my 5 1/2 year old son has been with them from the day they were born. Cayenne and Quantum are crate trained and are working on their basic puppy skills.

You can find more information on Cayenne and Quantum on our website www.hillcrestbordercollies.com

Like all of our dogs, these puppies have been raised on a raw natural diet.

Puppies 1st Time Outside

2011-03-22T21:22:00.000-07:00

All of the puppies got to spend some time outside today. We finally had a nice sunny day without wind and I took advantage of it.

Spritz and Lash at the WAG Trial

2011-03-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

I had a good weekend at the WAG Trial in Corvallis. It was great to be back trialing and seeing people I haven't seen in a long time. I am really happy with the dogs too.
I have been working with Spritz on 2o2o on the dogwalk and waiting for a release. He gave me 100%, so how could I fault that one. I have also been working on his teeters. He used to come right off of the end and on to the next obstacle. This past weekend I think he broke 2 teeters and the rest he waited for his release. His start lines are getting better. He is tons of fun to run!
Lash was awesome. Lash will be 8 years old in a couple of months and is still holding her own in Masters and even placing amongst the young whipper snappers. I was very proud of our standard course on Sunday because I decided to try a blind cross on the fly. I watched handler after handler put in a front cross and did not like it. The front cross, even when executed nicely, was breaking the dog's stride. With Lash, I had her on my left over a couple of jumps, slipped in front of her and lowered my right arm and picked her up on my right. It worked so nice and I was so proud of her that I forgot to call her after the jump and she banked off of the A-frame. My head was gone after that, but I didn't care as I executed the blind cross without even walking it.

Here are the videos of the runs I got filmed at the trial.

Training Spritz

2011-03-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

I have been having fun training Spritz. We have a trial this weekend, so it will be interesting to see what he gives me. It is getting a little harder to run full out as I am 4 1/2 months pregnant. I find my center of gravity a little more forward then before.
Here are a couple videos of today's training session. He has a great running A-Frame and we have been working on his 2o2o on the Dogwalk. I am teaching him to fight to stay on it instead of coming off as he pleases. In the jumping exercise we are working on him jumping 26 inches and also learning to collect for a turn so that he does not launch himself into space and then turn on the ground.
All in all things are starting to come together.

Fusion x Spritz Puppies 1 Day Old

2011-02-23T09:47:00.000-08:00

The Fusion x Spritz litter arrived on Februrary 20. Momma and pups are doing super.

Fusion had 2 boys and 5 girls.

Atom (Male)

Quantum (Male)

Fizz (Female)

Ion (Female)

Kinetic (Female)

Nova (Female)

Velocity (Female)

Singe Running Mat 1

2011-02-12T20:52:00.000-08:00

Well, as those who watched the last training video for our running contacts know that Singe was leaping the last section of the plank. VERY frustrating! I went and bought these foam mats as they are wider and I could make them longer than the plank and I could vary the color pattern as it seemed he was leaping when he saw the yellow on the plank.

The first couple reps I had 7 squares as this made it the same length as my plank and he was leaping at the end. I added an 8th square and this seemed to help. At first he would leap every now and again, but he seemed to settle into a rhythm. I plan on keeping the 8 squares until he can run this length with absolutely no problem. I will then go to 7 squares. Once he can do this I will move him to the plank again. I have some ideas for down the road.

I did not video Havoc and Rave as I moved the plank to a new location in the field and had to start from ground zero. I will move it every couple of days until they can run it perfect in any location. I will then gradually raise the plank.

Running Dogwalk 2

2011-02-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

Today was our second session fro running dogwalk. It has been very windy here the past few days, so no training until today.

I learned something very interesting with Singe today. I started the plank work with Singe last fall and gave up over the winter. The reason I gave up is that he was constantly jumping over the end of the board. After watching videos of running dogwalk training all winter long I figured out what I wanted to see. It just wasn't happening with him and he is still jumping over the yellow. Watch in the freeze frame pictures. Then there was this one clip where Singe accidentally ran along side the plank instead of on top of it. The little bugger ran in perfect rotary gait and it was beautiful. So, my conclusion is that he is seeing the yellow on my plank (teeter plank on the ground). He goes into collection right at the middle of the plank and then extends out and over the entire yellow section.

Tomorrow's session will be 10 reps of him running along side the plank instead of him on it. If this works I will then switch to a solid colored plank or foam mats.

Running Dogwalk 1

2011-02-03T19:52:00.001-08:00

Well the last 2 days I have felt good enough to train dogs in agility. I have been working some of them on sheep though. I am nearing the end of my 1st trimester so things are becoming easier to do now.

I have started on a journey of training a running Dogwalk to Havoc, Singe and Rave. All 3 dogs are very different. Havoc, so far, is easy and has a nice running stride. Singe, is harder as he has more of a jumping stride. He seems to switch to a running stride as he settles in and becomes more comfortable. Rave, aka Lil' Nigget, is a young dog that is having her first experience in agility. She has been a little flyball girl up until now.

I am excited to see how each of these 3 dogs progress over time. I will be documenting their progress, so stay tuned.

Here is the first session of their running dogwalk training.

Running Dogwalk 1

2011-02-03T19:52:00.000-08:00

I am excited to see how each of these 3 dogs progress over time. I will be documenting their progress, so stay tuned.

Here is the first session of their running dogwalk training.

Dogs enjoyed the first snow of the year

2010-11-23T15:45:00.000-08:00

The dogs enjoyed the first snow of the year. It was in the teens today, but nothing a Carhart jacket couldn't handle.

Here is video of the dogs. The first part is pictures and then there is video footage.

Fusion Training Middle of November.mov

2010-11-19T15:44:00.000-08:00

Fusion is from my Jen x Singe litter. She is my last Jen daughter since I lost Tephra (Jen x Spark). Fusion and I have a very special relationship. Even though she is only 2 years old and under 18" tall she is the next top dog here. Kate has been slowly giving up control (don't tell Fusion that) to her. Kate allows Fusion to do things that she allows no other dog to do. Fusion being a Jen daughter is a princess. All 3 of my Jen girls are princess' and they know it. The cool thing about Fusion is that she is a tomboy princess.

Here is a little of our agility training. She will start competing this spring.

Fear Periods

2010-11-10T20:04:00.000-08:00

I have never been one to worry about fear periods in puppies. I am amazed, over the years, how many people freak out when their puppy is afraid of something as they are growing up. Over the past 10 years I have heard people ask "what should I do Fee Fee is sooooo afraid of 'X' and I don't know how to handle it".
I have seen so many people try to "work" their dogs through it. Why? If I am afraid of spiders and you force me in a room with spiders I will most likely deck you one. Duh!!!!
If a dog is afraid of a fire hydrant, don't flood them with it and force them to go up to it. Just do your walk every day and walk right past it like it isn't even there. Don't try to be a Pezz dispenser and constantly feed cookies to your dog as you are walking by something that has spooked your dog in the past.
So, over the 18 or so years of raising dogs on my own, I have learned to just let them deal with it. The more a human worries over it the more the dog becomes phobic over it.
So, my response to my dogs is to let them grow out of it. I do not try to desensitize them of anything that they are "afraid" of at the time. I just carry on with life. If they show fear of something I do not recognize it and just carry on our marry way.
My dogs are pretty much fearless in life. I really can not say that there is any one thing that freaks any of my dogs out. I know that things that come out of the blue can make them startle, but heck it would me too.

Fusion Beginning Agility.mov

2010-11-10T08:36:00.000-08:00

I have finally found the time to stay committed to Fusion's agility training. It was hard in the past because I had Connor at home with me. Now that he is in school I can work dogs more. Happy me and happy dogs. Fusion is everything I wanted from both of her parents. She is my little workaholic who loves to do anything I ask. She is biddable, but is not soft. She is very fast and has tons of drive. She makes working her tons of fun.

Besides being a very nice agility dog, she is also a very nice sheepdog. She has a natural cast to her outruns, with a nice amount of eye.

Here is a video to show some of Fusion's beginning work. More to come when the rain and snow goes away.

Kate at 12 1/2 Years Young

2010-10-19T16:45:00.000-07:00

Kate is my heart dog and the love of my life. She is the main reason I found and moved up to Oregon. I waited over a year for her mom to be bred, then another 4 months until I could drive the 10 hours to pick Kate out. I fell in love with Central Oregon and moved up here, from California, 2 years later.

She has been through good and bad times with me and I owe her so much.

Joules 3 Months 2

2010-09-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

This is Joules from our Lash x Spritz litter. She is a high drive puppy that has a sassy side to her. She loves to work and play with toys.

Watt (Lash x Sprtiz) Available

2010-09-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

Watt is a male from our Lash x Spritz litter. He is available to a performance home. Watt is very outgoing, loves to work and play and is great with people and other dogs. He has the drive and work ethic to go to the top.

Available Male Puppies

2010-08-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

We have a few male puppies available from our 2 summer litters. www.hillcrestbordercollies.com and www.youtube.com/user/HillcrestBCs

Lahar (Jen x Spark)

Tuff (Jen x Spark)

Caldera (Jen x Spark)

Watt (Lash x Spritz)

Ash (Jen x Spark)

Godspeed Tephra

2010-07-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

Brew Is For Sale

2010-05-31T17:04:00.000-07:00

Brew is for sale, on a neuter contract, to a herding or novice/intermediate agility home. Brew is a very sweet and loving boy who gets along with adult dogs and puppies and loves kids. He is very quiet inside the house and outside. Brew lives in the house as a part of our family. He plays with toys and bones and also chills on a dog bed.
Brew has been started on sheep and will be ready for full time training this summer. He was born in July, 2009 and has the ability to run in 2 years of Nursery.
Brew is for sale on a Neuter contract. Please visit Brew's personal page

www.hillcrestbordercollies.com/brew.cfm

Saint Is Available

2010-04-11T15:01:00.000-07:00

Saint is an outgoing and energetic puppy. She is both toy and food motivated. She loves to tug on anything that she can get her mouth on. Saint is crate trained and sleeps through the night. She is starting on her basic puppy training. Saint would be suitable for a performance home as she has high toy drive and loves to work.

Running Contacts

2010-03-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

I have put a lot of thought into contacts this past year. Risk and I would always go head to head at a trial for her 2o2o contacts. It was making trialing her not very fun. I also have several young dogs coming up and I needed to think on how I was going to train them. I did a lot of research, reading, watching videos and talking to people.

I have come to the conclusion that I will always teach a running A-Frame to any dog I train. I think this will help out with shoulder and back problems in the long run. I also like the striding a lot better than a 2o2o. Now, I know that I won't teach a running dogwalk to everydog as I don't feel it is meant for every dog. Some of my dogs are doing Silvia Trkman's method and some are going to do a 2o2o contact. I took this last year off to figure out what I wanted to do with Risk's dogwalk. I have been doing Silvia's method with her and I am really loving it, with her, so far. I started with Singe and I am very happy that he was taught to just run the plank as I think it will help him in the long run. I have decided to do a 2o2o with him because of his stride and style of running. The verdict is still out on Fusion. She like Singe is very bouncy, so it makes it frustrating.

Here is Risk's A-Frame. It is at 5'2" in this video. I am going to raise it up to 5'6" and take the stride regulator away today.

Singe's A-Frame is coming along nicely. I had to add a stride regulator on the descent because he was not extending coming over the apex.

This video shows the first time I took Risk off of the plank and put her on a baby height dogwalk. I was backchaining in this session.

Risk was then allowed to do the entire dogwalk at baby height. I have learned that 6 or 7 full dogwalks is all that Risk can take mentally and physically at this time. She starts to get tired after that. She is the type of dog that puts everything into her training and tugging add that to thinking about what she is learning. She starts to slow down and revert back to a partial 2o2o stride when she gets tired.

Havoc x Singe puppies 4 Weeks Old

2010-03-07T17:31:00.000-08:00

The Havoc x Singe puppies are 4 weeks old now. OK, they are a few days over 4 weeks, but the video was taken at 4 weeks of age.

The puppies love to tug now. You can see this in the first video. They a have been taking a hold of their dog beds and "killing" them.

Colt is a very determined puppy. He had been working on escaping for quite some time and let us know all about it. He escaped this one time and then I put the board up a little. Well I found out that that wasn't going to work because the bugger got out in the middle of the night and started roaming the house in the dark. I put a taller board up there now.

Risk and Fusion's Running Dogwalk Training

2010-02-24T18:22:00.000-08:00

I decided last fall that I would retrain Risk's contacts from 2o2o to a running. Unfortunately our winters are not conducive to training agility outside, so I had to wait for good weather. I have started training the dogs again. I also decided that I was going to train Fusion, Risk's grand daughter, on running contacts.

I have played around with a couple of our other dogs and found out it is not for every dog.

Fusion is just starting out on plank work. She tends to come off of the sides at times, so I decided I would put up x-pens on either side. I move them away from the plank more and more in each session. I am just working on her running, not pouncing, as she is doing the plank. What I am looking for is that her back feet are separated when they push off of the plank each time. I am very happy with it and will quickly fade out the x-pens so that I can raise the plank.

I am very happy with Risk's progress. I knew she would progress faster than Fusion because she has many years of dogwalk training. She also did "see wood run" as a young dog. I was able to raise her plank up to about 8 inches after warming up with it on the ground.

Time To Blog Again

2010-02-15T12:34:00.000-08:00

Wow, I looked at my blog and the last time I wrote in it was the middle of November. So much has gone on over the winter. Murray's mom passed away right after Christmas, so that took a lot out of us. Connor (now 4 1/2 years old) has been taking up most of my time. He is a very active boy and very strong headed too. We have also been doing some remodeling of our house along with painting.

My goal is to write in the blog at least 3 times a week. I will update on our training etc along with puppy pictures of Havoc x Singe puppies.

The winter weather makes me so uninspired to train as there seems to be very little daytime hours to get out and train. I am feeling more inspired to train dogs in both agility and herding now that the days are longer and the bad weather "seems" to be behind us.

Went and worked Fusion, Skarlet and Brew at my good friend Karen's place. I hadn't worked Skarlet all winter and the break seems to have done her some good. She is releasing pressure better and squaring up on her flanks. This was Fusion's 2nd time on sheep and she is more than ready for me to start her training. And Mr. Brew had his first time on sheep at 7 months old. We liked what we saw. Brew is out of my Skarlet and Karen Child's Rock.

I was very pleased to see that Skarlet is not coming up tight behind her sheep now. She only had one major slice leaving for her outrun and was quickly stopped and brought back to retry.

Fusion is very natural and should be easy to train up. She should be running sometime in 2010.

Who knows, she may train up to be a nice Nursery dog.

It was so nice to see what Brew had to show us. He is only 7 months old, so he will go to sheep about once a month until he is around a year. If he is able to handle the pressure I will start him then. My hopes is that he will be my my Nursery dog.

A Night In The Life Of Brew And Fusion

2009-11-17T20:19:00.000-08:00

Hi aren't we so cute just laying on the dog bed. We love to cuddle.

Help I fear my life and I am only 4 months old.

Hey, those are the family jewels you are touching.

I may be 4 months old, but I am EVIL!!

Paybacks are a BITCH!

UNCLE....YOU WIN

Abbey and Ale

2009-11-15T17:42:00.000-08:00

Here are some videos of Abbey and Ale doing restrained recalls and tugging. They are 8 1/2 weeks old and are still looking for performance homes.

See their information on our website, under Rumor x Singe, www.hillcrestbordercollies.com

Brew aka Brewster Rooster

2009-11-11T13:37:00.001-08:00

Here are some recent pictures of Brew. He is the boy I kept from my Skarlet x Rock litter. I absolutely adore this boy. He totally gets it when it comes to dog language and manners. This allows him to hang out with the group. He has potty trained himself. When he is running loose in the house, he will take himself out the doggie door and into the backyard if he needs to go potty and then back in he comes. He is only 4 months old.

Brew was doing good on his recalls until today. I think he has hit the adolescent stage and now is dragging a long line when out in the field.

I can not wait to see what he is like on sheep. I am hoping that he will be ready to train next year and I can maybe think about running him in Nursery. Time will tell though.

The Gang

2009-11-06T15:22:00.001-08:00

I have read on some blogs and have heard from others how they do not let their dogs run together. I have had dogs for who knows how long and Border Collies for 15 years. All of my dogs run together from the time they are about 3 months old. Before that age I let limited time with the big dogs just due to size. I feel that my puppies learn the best dog/social skills this way. I do have to say that I have some of the best dog social/mannered dogs that I have seen. My dogs and puppies totally know how to read dogs and their signals they give off. I do not have dogs that grovel, but my dogs know when to submit to an elder. My dogs do not run up and throw themselves at other dogs. Why???? Because my pack has told them that it is inappropriate to do that. My puppies do NOT bother the older dogs nor do they run into any dogs while running in the field or dog yard. My puppies learn to "hang out" and not constantly be playing while in the dog yard.

I do crate and x-pen my puppies in the house. This happens when I can not keep an eye on them 100% of the time. My puppies learn to use the doggie door as early as 3 months old, so I do not have accidents in the house.

Some may say that raising a puppy/dog this way may cause a dog to be doggie. I would say no because my dogs know who the pack leader is. I can recall my 3 month old puppy out of a pack of dogs running in the field. When we go on long walks I let my baby dogs drag a long line so that I can prevent them getting in with horses, cows, sheep and the occasional not coming back while running. My puppies and dogs are rewarded with praise and food reward while doing recalls and I can't honestly tell you how many recalls that each dog gets while on a walk. What I can tell you is that they never know when they will get called back to me.

I can take 2 to 3 dogs out with me to go train agility. Each dog is put into a "settle" while I work the other dog. I don't care if they shift positions, get up and move locations slightly. My dogs all know to wait their turns. I do not do the Control Unleashed stuff. I just raise my dogs as dogs and they all learn self control and manners.

My dogs are raised on a ranch where we have sheep, horses and alpacas. They do not go help themselves to "work" when they want to. They are all taught to do chores with us and not work the livestock unless called in. I do NOT have to command "stay" or "wait" to my dogs while going and feeding animals. They just know the boundaries, rules and limitations of life. My dogs are given a lot of freedom in life, but what I expect of them I expect 100% and they know that.

Here is a video of my dogs running together. My oldest is 11 1/2 years old and my youngest is 3 months old. You will see no slamming of bodies, no fighting, no groveling, no rude behavior. What you will see is dogs responding to me and having a great time. If you want to see dogs doing recalls in a group setting, go search my You Tube page for that.

Love Thy Pack Leader

2009-11-06T08:32:00.001-08:00

Warning!!! Very Disturbing

2009-10-30T15:39:00.000-07:00

Rumor X Singe Puppy @ 6 Weeks

2009-10-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

Rumor X Singe Puppy Videos

2009-10-13T08:40:00.000-07:00

Rumor X Singe Puppies @ almost 4 weeks

2009-10-12T20:28:00.001-07:00

I know, I know I have not blogged, but I have been so busy with dogs and family stuff. Plus the puppies were at that not so cute stage. At least for taking pictures.

The puppies are really starting to come alive. They are playing with toys and learning how to use the potty box. They had a very short trip outside to take pictures. It was not the warmest day today and a tad bit of wind.

I got some great video of the puppies today, so instead of updating my website tonight I will go edit video.

It is quiet around here tonight as Skarlet has gone to stay with Karen Child for a bit. This way she will get EVERYDAY work and training. Skarlet has really become part of our family and both Murray and I miss her tonight. We know she is in great hands and will love working everyday. Our sheep were eaten by coyotes and we are still looking for replacement sheep.

Here are pictures of the Rumor x Singe puppies at almost 4 weeks of age.

Bock (male)

Porter (male)

Stout (male)

Ale (female)

Amber (female)

Abbey (female)

Transport from Cynosports to the NW

2009-10-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

I am trying to arrange transport of a Border Collie for a couple of my friends. If there is anyone out there that is going to be coming back to the Northwest from Cynosports that would be willing to transport an almost 2 year old Border Collie, please contact me HillcrestBCs@gmail.com

The dog, Storm, will be right on site and the owners will help with gas money. The new owner would be willing to travel up to Washington to pick the dog up if needed.

This is a dog I bred and is coming back to Oregon to be a herding dog and live with his actual Grandma. :-)

AWESOME Puppy Picture

2009-09-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

Rosa Rolon dud this awesome picture of Lava and Brew.

Double click on the picture to view in a larger format.

A Hiking We Will Go!!!!

2009-09-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy that it has taken me until now to have time to write about our hike at Alder Springs. We had done 1/2 of the hike with Connor and the dogs before, but Murray and I wanted to do the entire 8 mile hike without worrying about a 4 year old. Murray took Monday off and dropped Connor off at daycare early in the morning. He came back and we packed the van up with 9 dogs and then headed to the store to get sandwiches and drinks. I had already packed water, but you have to have something special to drink at lunch on your hike. Mmmmm

The Forest road is about 20 minutes from our house and then you have to do a 5 mile drive on a narrow dirt road going uphill. The dogs in the top crate quickly learned to just lay down and not sit up as they were bouncing back and forth.

This is a map of our hike. The hike that we did before was to the first river crossing. This time we went all the way to the end and got to see where the Deschutes River came in and wow those are some rapids.

(Click on Images to Enlarge Them)

This is our view from the parking area. Our hike takes us tho the north end of the picture and down.

The dogs are patiently waiting to be released for their hike. As Murray let them out of the van, I laid they down. The one lady commented that our 9 dogs were better behaved than most people's one child. YEP!!!!

I loved this picture because if there wasn't a sign here you would not know where the trail went.

One of the many hills we hiked up.

It was right about this time that we "lost" Fusion. We called and called for her and finally she came back.............

The darn dog remembered where the entrance to the river was and took it upon herself to go WAY ahead of us and go for a swim. When she came running back to us she had a HUGE smile on her face and was very proud that she knew where to go swimming at.

My dogs can smell water. This is a good and not so good thing. There are times that we are hiking and it is very steep down the side of the mountains. You can not see the water, but they know it is down there and often try to sneak off.

Everyone pose before you get wet. Oh wait, Fusion is already wet. Little Sh**!

This is at the river crossing. We had lunch here on our last hike and then turned around after playing in the water with Connor and the dogs. This time we are crossing and going on.

Murray and the dogs heading across in a shallow area.

Once we are across I stop for a photo moment. There aren't many pictures with me in them as I am the one who is usually taking the pictures.

Onward we go. Our dogs are very good hikers. Skarlet loves to be the leader and Risk is always on my heels. It is like this whenever we hike.

Uhhhh can't you walk any faster? We are tired of waiting for you 2 legged creatures.

The nice thing about this hike is that there are many places that the dogs can go swimming along the way. It makes it easy as we don't have to bring water for them.

Skar cooling off and getting a drink during the hike.

Going up another hill. Havoc is already at the top and wondering what is taking so long.

We reached the end of the trail (side of a HUGE rock) and turned around as we saw a great place to eat lunch. At this time we had dogs on couplers because we were walking along the Deschutes River and if a dog decided to go swimming that would be the last we saw of them.

We put all of the dogs in a settle as we ate lunch and rested.

The dogs finally started to rest themselves.

Yah right, Risk sleep. That is funny! She and Singe were the only ones who did not take a nap.

Kate is 11 1/2 years old and what a great hiker she still is. She acted like she was 6 years old during this hike and the greatest thing is that she had a smile the entire time.

Skarlet fell fast asleep and did not budge the entire break. She was out cold.

Fusion (1 year old) finally took a nap.

We let all of the dogs play as we crossed the river again. Kate loves to fish for "rocks". I should tell you that this water is so cold that your legs are bright red by the time you get out. She had no problem dunking her head in the water over and over and keeping it there until she found a rock.

Lash is cheering Kate on.

Mick gets very excited as the dogs start to bark.

Skarlet looking at the crazy dogs in the river.

On our way back to the car. We are almost there.

Mick says we are at the end of the hike. Thank you for following along.

Rumor x Singe Puppies @ 1 Week Old

2009-09-24T21:33:00.001-07:00

The Rumor x Singe litter is 1 week old now. They are very active puppies that have a voice already. Hmmmmm reminds me of the litter that Rumor came from (terrors from you know where).

Stout (male)

Porter (male)

Bock (male)

Ale (female)

Amber (female)

Abbey (female)

Rumor x Singe Puppies Born 9-16-09

2009-09-17T14:48:00.001-07:00

Rumor decided to have her puppies on Connor's 4th Birthday. She had 3 boys (all blue merles) and 3 girls (2 black and white and 1 blue merle). She had 6 puppies in 2 and 15 minutes and is being an AWESOME mommy.

The theme of this litter is types of beer as Lori (Rumor's main owner) and Murray love beer.

Ale (black and white female)

Abbey (black and white female)

Amber (blue merle female)

Stout (blue merle male)

Porter (blue merle male)

Bock (blue merle male)

A Couple Puppy Videos

2009-09-11T09:32:00.002-07:00

Here are a couple of puppy videos from last night. It is funny because the puppies have such different sleep schedules within them. Sometimes I take video and half of the group is sleeping and the other is making a ruckus.

Random Puppy Pictures

2009-09-10T22:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some random pictures from tonight. I did manage to get some video of the puppies, but I will edit the video tomorrow morning as it is too late.

Puppy Pictures (6 1/2 Weeks Old)

2009-09-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

Lunch Time (Yum Yum)

2009-09-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day that the puppies got a chicken neck for lunch. Before that all of their meals were ground chicken necks and ground turkey. Now they get ground chicken necks for breakfast, chicken neck for lunch and ground chicken neck & ground turkey for dinner. In between they have rib bones and pork neck bones to chew on.

CERF Clear

2009-09-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

7 puppies, one 4 year old and me loaded into the van. 7 puppies scream until our first stop at the bank. Then we start again and more screaming, but not as loud and not as many puppies. 2nd stop made to my normal vet for some things and everyone comes out to look at the puppies. All puppies and kid are quiet because everyone is getting attention. Off we go to the eye specialist and now puppies are a little quieter, but Shale needs it known that she is in the van. How do I know it is her because she is 1 of the 3 puppies in the top crate and she is climbing the cage as she is barking. 20 minutes into trip all is quiet. Stop at McDonald's to get Connor a cheeseburger and puppies start to scream. Off to the specialist and by the time we got there all puppies were sound asleep. Bring 2 crates full of puppies in to vet and some started to whimper, but were too tired to make a fuss. Fill out paper work and load everyone into the exam room. Everyone sleeps and vet has to make silly noises to get the puppies to keep their eyes open during the test. Shale and Brew were the ones who had to lick the vet, her tools etc. All puppies passed their CERF test and load puppies back in van. Make a stop to pick up dog chicken and Connor says P.U. what stinks.? Ah oh, first tootsie roll. Thank goodness I feed raw because it does not stink like kibble fed puppies. Get home and find that one puppy went potty in bottom crate, but not bad only 2 poops out of 7 puppies. One puppy did pee on me as I was carrying them out to the grass.

Is it bed time yet???

Puppy Videos

2009-08-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

The puppies have been outside during the day now. They love being out on the grass and being in the fresh air. I would have done it a little earlier, but it was just too dang hot.

Here are some videos of the puppies playing and wrestling.

Product Review (New Vacuum)

2009-08-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

I have had my new vacuum for about 2 weeks now. I had a Dyson for 5 years and I liked it, but it just didn't hold up to the amount of money it cost. Yes, I use my vacuum everyday and we have a lot of BCs in the house, but still it should have lasted more than 5 years. We already replaced the hose a year ago and it was cracked again. The main reason I was replacing it with a new one is that it just did not have the suction I needed. I cleaned the filters etc all of the time, but there was still BC hair left on the carpet. Most of our house is Pergo and tile, but 2 of our bedrooms are carpet. Our main bedroom just never felt like it was clean.

What did we get???? Eureka Pet Lover Plus.

I love this vacuum and it works awesome. I am feeling like the carpet is clean now. The one thing that this got bad reviews on was that it is heavy. I actually find that a plus as I don't feel like it is going to crack if I hit something by accident. I always felt that the Dyson was too lightweight for me.

I am a clean freak and with 9 Border Collies plus boarding dogs, my vacuums have to work. This one does!!!!

Moe Strenfel Seminar and Group Photo

2009-08-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

Jody, Lori and Vicki came down last week and stayed with us. All 4 of us along with Cheryl (Spark's owner) went to the Moe Strenfel Foundation Seminar. I took Fusion, Vicki had Dax, Cheryl had Spark, Jody had Rocky and Lori had Singe. She was going to use her dog Rumor, but since Rumor is pregnant she is not up for much working lately. Moe's seminar was awesome and I really can't figure out why more people don't want to do foundation work. If it weren't for us this seminar would have only been half full. Moe is great because she believes in foundation and she breaks the behaviors down. So many people just want to work on the end behavior and don't have patience for all of the little steps leading up to the end behavior. This is one of the main reasons I do not teach group classes. I was tired of people asking me how many classes it would take them to be able to trial their dog. When I told them about a year, they gave up. I also found that people just want their dog(s) on the equipment. If you start with all of the foundation stuff (in my area) they are a little upset and say "well I signed up to learn agility". Grrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!

I do not like when people tell me they are entering their dog in a trial as soon as it is of age. Why not say that you are entering your dog in a trial when it is ready. When people tell me that I just laugh and say fine, but I will be the one winning the ribbons in Masters and Excellent. I really don't care much about getting 1st places in Novice and Starters. Of course we all love to get the blue ribbons, but that is not what it is about for me. I am setting my dogs up for years later when we are in the finals.

If Moe is teaching a seminar near you I recommend going to it.

Since we had all these Hillcrest dogs at my place I HAD to take a picture. We had 13 dogs in a stay and all of them did great.

Back Row: Rumor, Lash, Risk, Jen, Kate, Singe, Mick and Rocky

Front Row: Skarlet, Havoc, Fusion, Spark and Dax

Then they are off to the races. I love looking at their eyes and expressions.

Pupdate (overdue)

2009-08-22T18:19:00.001-07:00

I am overdue for puppy pictures. We have had a lot going on here. The puppies are 4 1/2 weeks old now. They are really coming into themselves and are at the fun stage. Today was a great day for the puppies' 1st day outside. I set up the puppy pen on the grass and let them run around before putting them in the pen. There was not one puppy that didn't want to explore. This is cool, especially for their 1st time outside.

I love laying on the grass and letting the puppies climb all over me. I think I may even have another piercing in my ear.

Pelite came and curled up with me and fell asleep. Nothing better than sleeping with a wee puppy.

I think Skarlet enjoyed nursing her puppies outside today.

Beryl (female)

Jetta (female)

Pelite (female)

Shale (female)

Lava (male)

Skarn (male)

Gneiss (male)

Puppies, Puppies, Puppies

2009-08-18T18:30:00.001-07:00

I was out of town for about 5 days and I came back and the puppies about doubled their size. They are at the "real" puppy age. They growl, play, bark etc instead of eat, sleep and poop.

I will write about my vacation in another post, but here are some videos to hold you all over until I get puppy pictures up (tomorrow).

Fusion is our female from the Jen x Singe litter. She is almost a year old now. We can not keep her out of the puppy pen as she wants to play with them and even nurse them.

Connor (our son) is the person in the video. He is a great puppy socializer with all of our litters.

The puppies are now eating one meal a day of ground turkey and goats milk (mush). They do not leave much for Skarlet to clean up.

Training Session (Agility)

2009-08-10T15:14:00.002-07:00

My good friend Christie came down from Washington to do some agility training this last weekend. I am so glad that she did because we both pushed each other to train more in 2 days than we have been lately. I mainly concentrated on Lash and Risk, but I did do some with Singe and Fusion. As some of you know Singe had a hamstring injury that made me pull him from any training and running for quite some time. I brought him back with swimming and slowly let him run. I did agility with him this last weekend for the first time in about 2 months. It seems that 15 minutes of training is too much for his hamstring to handle. He can run and swim to his heart's content, but it seems that a lot of jumping and pushing is bothering it. My plan is to do 5 minutes of training with him on each day that I can. I will slowly increase it up and see how he does.

Fusion is a kick in the pants to run and train. She is still a puppy/young dog, but she is very quick twitch and game. She is a true combination of her mom and dad.

Here is a video of Risk and Lash's training from Saturday. I still have video to upload, but I need to go out and mow for now.

If you want to see a bigger version of this video you can go to our You Tube Page www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6HHj7sXJPs&feature=channel_page

You Tube took out our music, so this one on Blogger is the "cool one".

Skarlet x Rock Puppies @ 1 1/2 Weeks Old

2009-08-02T10:05:00.003-07:00

Skarlet's puppies are 1 1/2 weeks old now. They are starting to be more mobile, although looking like drunk puppies on all fours.

Skarn (male)

Gneiss (male)

Lava (male)

Shale (female)

Pelite (female)

Jetta (female)

Beryl (female)

What a Day

2009-08-01T20:35:00.001-07:00

In simple words "Today Sucked". I love heat, but it has been too much lately. It is way too hot to do anything let alone train dogs. Our air conditioner could not keep up with the heat lately and especially today. Today it reached 106 and probably hotter in the direct sun. Our house was up to 86 degrees inside with the AC running. I turned it off as it was just wasting energy.

The puppies were whining and crying and I could not figure out why. Skarlet was in there for them to nurse on, but they wanted none of that. I would put them near her and they would slither away. I finally figured out that they were WAY too hot. I got the snack size ziploc bags and filled them with crushed ice. I then wrapped them in a thin blanket and put a rubber band around them. I place 5 or 6 in the pen and the puppies quickly flocked to them. They were laying on top of the ice bags for quite some time. The instant they cuddled up with the ice they were quiet.

I took these pictures of the puppies this morning. I actually got up and took individual pictures, but I did not like a single one. They were very washed out. I went to the store and got 2 different color fabrics for tomorrows pictures. I either do it in the morning or it doesn't get done at all.

I changed the bedding in the puppy pen, so the puppies got to hang out for a while. I did get these cute pictures of the gang together.

Jetta is already getting some freckles.

I saw that they forcasted for thunder and lightning with rain tonight. I saw the clouds come over, but nothing was looked promising. All of a sudden the skies opened up and the storm let go. We had lightning everywhere and then a major downpour. The temps instantly dropped 20 degrees and the wind picked up. After the rain ended I opened all of the window. YEAHHHH!!

The sunset after the storm.

A Herdin' We Will Go

2009-07-31T22:05:00.000-07:00

Mick and Kate were the chosen ones today. Pat and Cheryl have a goat ranch out in Bend . They needed the recently weaning moms moved into another big pasture away from their kids. My dogs are always willing to work. I just told Murray, the other day, that Mick is officially retired. Well, nope he is not as he was needed for the job.

It was already in the mid eighties by the time we were moving them this morning. Luckily there is plenty of water for the dogs to cool off and swim in. Kate helped herself to the canal as Pat was showing me the path we were going to move the goats.

Kate is waiting IMPATIENTLY for us to start work. She kept trying to move them all from outside of the fence and she would bite them through the fence.

When we got to the ranch Kate and Mick had to survey their work.

Kate having a little pep talk with the goats.

Now stand there until we are ready for you to move

I SAID stand there!

And we are off

Pat and Cheryl have 2 dogs from us, so we thought this would be a great photo opportunity.

Left to Right: Scout (Jen x Mick), Kate, Mick, and Spark (Lash x Sooner)

The dogs are showing there control on the dock

And all control must be unleashed at one point

Mr. Handsome, aka Spark

What fine form Spark has

Scout could not be left behind

Uhhhh, where did everyone go?

I just had to take a picture of the bathroom. Who has a bathroom painted like this down at the barn?

Some of the kids who were left behind.

Great Summer Day

2009-07-24T21:05:00.001-07:00

The weather was actually pleasurable today with being not too hot and not too cold. You could actually be outside with out breaking into a major sweat. As usual the dogs had a blast in the pond. When Rumor came here a couple of weeks ago she had never swam in anything deeper than a little kiddie pool. Now the dog is leaping into the pond after the ball.

We have a new pet here and his name is Fluffy. Connor is responsible for giving him that name since it is his friend.

Come on in, the water is perfect.

OK, so Singe is not that graceful at times.

I can fly!!

Even old ladies need to take a plunge sometimes.

Fusion is just like her dad Singe and Grandma Risk. She loves the water.

I actually got a picture of Risk jumping normal. Usually when she jumps her legs are running in the air.

Connor is in the pond just as much as the dogs now a days.

Rumor on the move.

Please don't make me go inside now.

Puppy Names

2009-07-23T21:29:00.001-07:00

Something happened to the names of the puppies. I clicked Publish Post and it did, but no names appeared with the pictures.

Boys in order: Lava, Gneiss, and Skarn

Girls in order: Pelite, Jetta, Beryl, and Shale

Skarlet x Rock Puppies (1 day old)

2009-07-23T20:56:00.001-07:00

Skarlet is doing awesome with her puppies. She left them a couple times today to come out and exercise. I always let the moms decide when they want to come out and run with the other dogs. Skar made it apparent that she was wanting out with us. Who could miss her barking/screaming at the front window.

The puppies are all doing good. All of them are nursing and sleeping. They even started to crawl/slither today. Skarlet is a very primal mother and will move her puppies by picking them up her mouth. I even got it in a picture.

The sire of this litter is named Rock, so we thought it would be great to have the litter them of different rocks. I did not want ordinary rock names, so I did some searching on the web.

Skarlet x Rock Puppies Born

2009-07-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

Obviously Skarlet did not hear the vet say that we should expect puppies next week. Skar started having a change in behavior, wouldn't eat and then her temp dropped. Uhhhh moment of panic as I was not in any rush, before that time, to set up her whelping area. Well, I started cleaning the floor, laying the tarp out, putting up the pen, filling it with sheets etc. Skarlet was showing signs that she was uncomfortable, but no labor signs. We sat down to eat dinner and she would come see us and then go back to my closet, where she had chosen to spend the day relaxing. I put Connor to sleep around 8:00 and then let the other dogs in the house. The immediately ran over to the closet. I went to tell them to get out when to my SHOCK there was Skarlet with 2 puppies. That girl is quiet as a church mouse when it comes to giving birth. I moved her to the whelping pen along with her puppies and Murray pulled every piece of loose clothing out to check for more puppies.

A couple hours later she had another one and then they came at a pretty even pace with the "last" one (so I thought) coming at 1:00 am. I gave her a shot of Oxytocin to make sure there wasn't a last one and she never had a contraction after that. I took her potty and put her back with her puppies where she fell asleep with them. It was now 2:30 am and she was sleeping and I was tired, so off to bed I went.

I went to show Connor the puppies this morning at 6:30 am. To my surprise Skarlet was just starting to clean the sack off of another puppy. WTF!!!!

Our final count is 3 boys (2 red and white and 1 red merle) and 4 girls (2 red and white and 2 black and white). I will take pictures of all of the puppies, but here are some from last night. I know that I am missing the 4 girl in the picture, but she looks very similar to her sister.

Skarlet being a good mommy

The Boys

The Girls

Skarlet and Her Puppies

2009-07-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Skarlet's vet appointment where we x-rayed her belly to count for puppies. When I went in I was hoping for 5 or 6 puppies to be seen on x-ray. Well, we got better news than that. We could count 6 FOR SURE skulls and spines, 1 MOST LIKELY skull and spine and 1 MAYBE skull. My vet puts her at having puppies next week or weekend.

I am so excited and can't wait to see what she gives us.

A Boy and His Dog

2009-07-17T22:59:00.001-07:00

I took this picture at the Sheep Thrillz trial the other weekend. I absolutely love this picture of Connor and Fusion. Connor is 3 1/2 years old and Fusion is 10 months old.

Hot hot hot

2009-07-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

Well not much training going on here. It has been so hot here (between 95 and 110). We get some exercise in the morning and a quick swim in the afternoon and then a major exercise in the evening. Basically the dogs are swimming 3 times a day. Thank goodness for the pond or we would be sitting inside.

10 points if you can hit the kid with the ball.? Hey she's done it before!

I'll protect you kid.

I dare you to hit me with the ball mom.

Haaaa haaaa she missed and I got it

Mom sucks at trying to hit the kid, but heck I keep getting the ball.

The Loch Ness Monster does exist.

Skarlet has really been hanging in the pond lately. She will go sit in there for time on end. It must feel cool on her belly and also take the weight off of her. She goes in on Monday for her

x-ray. I am crossing my fingers that we have at least 6 puppies.

Off to go wash the mosquito spray off of my body. Better to have mosquito spray on than mosquito bites.

The Weekend Happenings

2009-07-12T17:18:00.000-07:00

I had a pretty good weekend overall. Murray was out of town on business, but my friend Lori came down, so I wasn't lonely.

It was super hot on Saturday and we ended up spending quite a bit of time in the pond with the dogs and Connor and our Mike's Harder Lemonade. :-) We worked Havoc and Wyatt on the sheep in the morning and I helped Lori with some training stuff for Rumor.

Lori, Karen and I dropped Connor off at the sitters last night and had a girl's night out in Sisters. It was actually really nice to hang out with some friends as I don't do it that often.

Lori left this morning and Murray is now almost home from his business trip.

So, what do you do on a hot day? You play in the water. Skarlet is fun to take pictures of because she and Connor love to play in the pool together. Connor splashes water and she tries to get it. Connor cracks up the entire time. Skarlet is about 2 weeks away from having puppies. She is pregnant with Rock's puppies and I am SUPER excited for the pups to come.

You can see her belly a little in the pictures. She is such a fit dog and held great form while being pregnant. I am hoping for at least 6 puppies to be born. Some boys and some girls would be great.

Rumor is here for a stay with us while she is bred to Singe. She and Connor have hit it off and she is now his special dog and he has special rules with her that the other dogs don't get to have. Connor and I were cuddling up on the recliner this afternoon and Rumor hopped up with us. This is about the time that Connor gets P.O.d and tells the dogs to get off. He turned to me when Rumor got up and said "Mommy, it is ok, she can lay with us". He then cuddled with her and made sure she was comfortable. Boy is he living up to his name. Connor means Dog Lover.

I actually caught a picture of Rumor standing still for a short period of time.

The next series of pictures are "typical" Rumor.

Great Cleaning Tip

2009-07-09T21:11:00.001-07:00

I hate dog hair on carpet. Ok, I hate dog hair on floors, but this pertains to dog hair on carpet. We still have one room in our house (bedroom) that has carpet. The day we rip that out is not soon enough. 7/8 of the house used to be carpet when we bought it. Now it is Pergo and Tile.

So, if you hate dog hair on carpet like I do here is a great tip to get almost all of it up. Get a spray bottle (buy it at a hardware store) and fill it with about 1/8 to 1/4 fabric softener. Fill the rest of the bottle with water and shake lightly. Spray that mixture on your carpet and let dry (about 15 minutes). Once it has dried then vacuum it up like normal. The fabric softener releases the static charge of the dog hair and it comes up much easier. We have a Dyson and this gets even more hair up than the Dyson alone. Not to mention my room smells soooooo clean after. I also do this on the recliners where some of the dogs like to catch a nap.

I have also discovered the Pledge Pet Hair "thing". It is the one where you move it back and forth on your couch and it picks up the hair. It really does work and I use it almost everyday.

Happy Cleaning

Single Mom

2009-07-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

I am a single mom until Sunday. I would never want to be a single mom permanently. It is always nice to have an adult that comes home to you for an adult conversation. It is funny because when the entire family is here, along with the dogs, I fell like I am always going, going, going. Tonight Murray had to head out of town for business and I am home with Connor (3 1/2 years old) and the dogs. Ok, so I have our dogs, boarding dogs, rabbit, sheep and horses to care for, but it is too quiet here.

Luckily my friend Lori is coming here tomorrow and will be here for the weekend. She is bringing Rumor and Wyatt with her and Rumor will stay here for a bit to be bred. I set up the exercise from CR Back Yard Dogs and will be doing some training this weekend. We will also train Havoc and Wyatt (littermates) on sheep.

Saturday night should be fun because Lori, Karen and I (maybe Angie?) are having a girl's night out at the Horse Races. No kid and no dogs, just fun!!!

As I was setting up an agility exercise in the field tonight Connor and the dogs were running around. I laid down after and just watched them. I was cracking up at their (dog and kid) antics. My dogs are sooooooo tolerant of Connor it is not even funny. The funniest relationship to watch is Connor and Singe. I do NOT humanize my dogs, but the relationship Connor and Singe have is a love hate relationship, like a brotherly relationship. They both antagonize each other. They like to be with each other, but then it turns into a "fight". I just laugh at them when they are together. Fusion is kind of like that with Connor, but she is much sweeter about it. She doesn't antagonize him as much, but they do both bother each other. And then there is Kate. Kate just ADORES Connor to no end. She looks at him with her goo goo eyes and they have a very special relationship. Kate can do things to Connor that no other dog can. It is very funny because she is my heart dog. I love watching the interactions between dogs and kids.

Off to do my motherly duties now.

Sheep Thrillz (First and Last)

2009-07-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

The Sheep Thrillz trial was Havoc's first USBCHA trial and Mick's last USBCHA trial. After taking about a 5 year break from trialing I am back and so happy to be trialing again. Mick is over 9 years old now and I wanted to trial him one more time.

The sheep at this trial were quite tough. No one was able to get a pen all day on Thursday (Pro-Novice, Ranch, Nursery and Novice). These sheep would run in any direction they felt like, string out and go in opposite directions, and challenge the dogs. The dogs that did best were the ones who would stay off their stock, but also cover at the same time.

We had 2 runs on Thursday for both Mick and Havoc. Mick ended up in 7th, just out of the money, on the first go around. I retired him on the 2nd run as it was in the mid 90s and he was having a hard time keeping up with the fleeing sheep. I wasn't going to gain anything from it, so I called it good.

Havoc got 1st in her first go around. These sheep were tough for the young dogs as they were the same sheep being used for all of the other classes. On her 2nd run I ended up leaving the post as she did not spot her sheep. They set them right next to a panel and she could not see them for the life of her. Poor girlie!

They did not give out awards until today and we left this morning. Havoc's awards should be coming home with Karen tomorrow.

Speaking of Karen Child, she got in the double lift with both of her dogs, Jim and Rock. (side not, Skarlet is bred to Rock and due in a few weeks). They are taking the top 4 dogs from each day and then 12 more with the top combined scores for the double lift on Sunday. Derek Fisher laid down a hell of a run and was 1st. Karen's Jim was 2nd, Brian Riccard was 3rd and Karen and Rock were 4th. I can't wait to hear how it goes.

We had a lot of fun being at the trial and seeing some faces from the past. Laura Withnell made Connor's day by giving him a stuffed Border Collie. Connor has named it Fly and would not let it off of the leash (bailing twine) all Friday. He carried that dog everywhere he went and even slept with it. Thanks Laura!!

The really nice thing about being at a herding trial vs an agility trial is the way people act with their dogs. There is no "get your dog away from my dog" etc. We had about 30 BCs running int he field the other night and not a one had a problem. We had dogs from 8 months old on up to 14 years old. Nice to be able to have dogs act like dogs and not treated like 4 legged humans.

I will upload my pictures and post them later.

Off to clean out the motorhome now.

Off to Sheep Thrillz

2009-07-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

I am packing up the motorhome and then we are off to Scio for the Sheep Thrillz trial. This will be Havoc's first herding trial and Mick's last USBCHA trial. He is 9 years old and the bigger outruns are taking a toll on his body.

I have heard that we will have free WiFi there, so I will try and update on the runs.

Happy Herding!

Fun Weekend

2009-06-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

We had a local AKC trial this last weekend. It was so nice to be done and able to come home and play with the dogs everyday.

I went into the trial with no great expectations for the girls (Lash and Risk). We have not been practicing steady and I just wanted to have fun. It was our first trial back since November. I am also in the midst of retraining Risk's contacts, so I could not uphold any criteria in the ring yet. With Risk, I just wanted to work on handling stuff and running balls to the walls. I think I accomplished that and I had a blast running her. Our Saturday EX Standard run was blazing. She did not Q because of missed contact, but she did not step one foot out of place in her run. She ran that course in 37 seconds. In EX JWW I blew chunks and put a front cross in somewhere I had not walked it nor planned to put on in. I just found myself in front and I think my body automatically put one in. Because I did not walk it, I was not in the correct place and got out of sorts. On Sunday in EX Standard, Risk knocked the 2nd bar and was before the WP. I did not know she knocked it until I finished the poles and came back around. I saw it on the ground then. I pushed her on her on her running DW and she got it. By the time she ran in JWW on Sunday the grass was very slippery and she was sliding everywhere. She even slid half way through the poles. No Q on that one. I do have to say that I was very pleased with what she gave me and I know where I am in her contact retraining.

Lash, well she is just such a good girl. She has not done much AKC, so she was still in Open. She got 3 out of 4 Q's and all of them were first places. She knocked a bar before the weave poles in Saturday's JWW. Her contacts were great and I will stay with 2o2o with her. She is now in EX A Standard.

I did not enter Singe because he came up lame a little while ago. I rehabbed him a little with rest and swimming, but he came up lame again. After being looked at, it is determined that he has injured his hamstring. I found some stretches I can do with him from www.fourleg.com

So, I would say he is off of any agility training for a month. I think I will do some obedience stuff with him so that I can keep his mind from going crazy.

We are off to a USBCHA herding trial this week. I am running Havoc and Mick and I am very excited. I put the crates in the motorhome and now I have to figure out the other stuff (kid and dog).

Back to work I go.

Not Really A Quiet Friday

2009-06-19T15:52:00.000-07:00

Now that it is summer and Connor is out of school things get hectic here during the week. Mondays and Fridays are my days without him. I use these days for house cleaning, working dogs, grooming dogs and just to get my sanity back.

I have been dealing with a problem with Havoc the past 6 months. She was well on her way of training and had an awesome outrun, fetch etc. I had started her on driving until the dam fence bit her. This did not happen while working sheep. We have electric fence for the horses, alpacas and sheep. I turn the fences off when I work dogs. On a few occasions I was out doing chores and/or going for a walk with the dogs. Sometimes the dogs run under the electric tape and know how to not get shocked. Well apparently Havoc is not smart enough to figure this out. She was shocked not once but 2 or 3 times as she was running the property. This turned into her not even wanting to come in that area and guess what??.... That is where we work sheep. We have 2 - 5 acre parcels that we work sheep on. Havoc wanted NOTHING to do with this. She was associating the sheep with the fence. Even if I took her on a leash she would not look at the sheep. I thought I had totally broke her until I brought her to Karen's place and she worked beautifully. Thank goodness that she still loved her sheepies. I have just been going to Karen's to work her and Murray has also now taken her over and she will be his trial dog. I took Havoc out today and started walking her, on leash, in the field where the sheep are. After a bit I gave her a flank command and guess what? She took it. I did have to re-command her, but after that she had her confidence back. Yeeee Haaaaa Havie can now work at home. I am soooo excited about this.

I then went in to clean house as it has been neglected this past week. If you want a cool trick to get dog hair off of carpet here it is. Get a big spray bottle and put about 1/4 fabric softener in it and then fill the rest with water. Spray this mixture on your carpets and let dry for 15 minutes. This will release the hair from the carpet and you can then vacuum it up with ease. It also makes your house smell good.

8 dogs got what I call ranch baths today. I have a couple BCs that I bred here with me and they are going home tomorrow. My dogs are also dusty and dirty, so they needed a bath. I take groups of 2 or 3 down to the irrigation pond and play ball with them there. While doing this I lather them up and then play ball some more. Dogs + Pond + Ball +Shampoo = clean and shiny dogs. I have 3 more to do tomorrow and everyone will be squeaky clean.

I am excited for tomorrow because we are supposed to haul sheep and work dogs. We all have a trial in a few weeks, so this will be great work. We are then coming back to my place for our monthly party. We have now named all of our parties and it is great to get together with friends. I will bring my camera with me and if I get any good shots of the dogs I will post them. I can't post any videos because my computer is failing me. I should have a new one in a few weeks, hopefully. I can then get back to editing video of the dogs.

Off to clean house some more.

Evaluating Your Dog's Weight

2009-06-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

Alright, here is a chart that shows a dog's proper weight. I am seeing more and more FAT dogs and some of them are ones that people are expecting to do agility, frisbee and herding with. It is so sad because the dogs do not have a choice. We control our dog's weight by the amount of food we give them. A dog is not programmed to get a set amount of food each day. If a dog is more active then it needs more food. If a dog is not getting worked/exercised a lot then it needs less food. Geeez it is that simple!

How many overweight marathon runners do you see out there? How many fat high jumpers do you see out there? Our dogs are athletes and need to be kept fit like athletes.

By this chart I would say my dogs are a 4 to 4 1/2. You have to remember that this chart is made for pet people, so a 4 to 4 1/2 is perfect for a dog that is expected to perform tasks.

Evaluating your dog's weight

How skinny is "pretty skinny"? How heavy is "not as thin as he should be"? The Purina body condition system provides a uniform way to describe a pet's weight, from "emaciated" to "grossly obese"

EMACIATED
Ribs, lumbar vertebrae, pelvic bones and all bony prominences evident form a distance. No discernable body fat. Obvious loss of muscle mass.
VERY THIN
Ribs, lumbar vertebrae and pelvic bones easily visible. No palpable fat. Some evidence of other bony prominence. Minimal loss of muscle mass
THIN
Ribs easily palpated and may be visible with no palpable fat. Tops of lumbar vertebrae visible. Pelvic bones becoming prominent. Obvious waist and abdominal tuck
UNDERWEIGHT
Ribs easily palpable, with minimal fat covering. Waist easily noted, viewed form above. Abdominal tuck evident.
IDEAL
Ribs palpable without excess fat covering. Waist observed behind ribs when viewed from above. Abdomen tucked when viewed from the side.
OVERWEIGHT
Ribs palpable with slight excess fat covering. Waist is discernable viewed from above but is not prominent. Abdominal tuck apparent.
HEAVY
Ribs palpable with difficulty, heavy fat cover. Noticeable fat deposits over lumbar area and base of tail. Waist absent or barely visible. Abdominal tuck may be absent.
OBESE
Ribs not palpable under heavy fat cover, or palpable only with significant pressure. Heavy fat deposits over lumbar area and base of tail. Waist absent. No abdominal tuck. Obvious abdominal distension may be present.
GROSSLY OBESE

Skarlet the Princess

2009-06-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

Apparently Skarlet thinks that since she is pregnant that she is now the food princess. She about had be paranoid this past weekend when she decided that she was not eating chicken backs. I then tried some of our dry food, Taste Of The Wild, and she was for sure not eating that. I, of course, then went and bought her Fresh Pet, a slightly cooked meat and vegetable mixture for dogs. Any dog that has gone off of their food has always loved this. Ohhhhh nooooo, Skarlet would pick at it. Grrrrr! So, today I defrosted some chicken necks and fed them to the dogs for dinner. I started Skarlet out on 4 because I just knew she wasn't going to eat. Yah right, the princess inhaled the necks. 4 more went in her bowl and she scarfed those down. So, I think she is on a chicken neck diet "for now".

I now feel a lot better knowing that she at least ate something. After the hole thing with Risk, I am a little on the paranoid side with my girls who get bred. Skar's temp was always normal, but still she wasn't eating.

I have a couple more cases of necks in the freezer along with backs. I will have to place another order of necks, so that I don't run out for Princess Skarlet.

Sleeping a lot better tonight knowing prego has eaten.

Fat Dogs

2009-06-08T14:12:00.001-07:00

I have no idea how or why people let their dogs get fat. We control their food, so one would think that this would control the dog's weight. Why oh why do people think it is ok to let their Border Collies get fat? To me there is nothing worse than seeing a working or performance Border Collie fat.

I saw a dog that I bred yesterday and she was not just overweight, but WAAAAYYYY overweight. She is probably 18 1/2" (once you take the fat off) and I would say she weighs at least 45 lbs. I was in a setting that I honestly could not say anything. Believe me, I will the next time I talk to the owner. The dog had a table top for a back. It was very sad to see this no necked dog waddle around. I own her sister and Lash is 19 1/2" tall and weighs between 33 and 35 lbs (max).

I just can not get this off of my mind, especially since I just got done working Lash and I can't imagine her sister trying to jump up for something.

Back out to train my skinny dogs.

Truck + Trailer + Mick= Sheep

2009-06-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

I made friends with a guy who has Aussies and he gave me 4 new sheep. They are hair sheep and smaller than my wool sheep. That means less feed. :-) I have been looking and looking and looking for new sheep because I hated my last group. Karen and I swapped sheep a while back because we both hated our own groups. After a while she took my old group to auction and we butchered 2 of the group she gave me and we are going to butcher the other 2. We use the meat for dog food. The group I have were not doggie, but they would come towards me and run me over. I had gone ass over tea kettle one too many times.

It will be fun to work a fresh group of sheep that have barely been worked.

On another note, I am really sad that Mick is getting old and this is probably his last year of working stock full time. I do not have a dog that parallels Mick "yet". He is the type of dog that you can grab and never worry about anything. He will work whatever is put in front of him and I never fear of him not being able to do the job. I have not had a dog come along that has the power that he does and the total natural ability, not even his daughter Havoc. I think I have been spoiled with him as I have such high standards for a true working dog now. Maybe one of my Rock kids will turn out like Mick. I am tending to really gravitate to the cowdog lines now. Some of the "sheepdog" bred BCs are too soft and don't have enough forward for me. I have just learned over the years what I like and look for in a dog. That kind of dog does not always make a great trial dog because of their presence. I remember walking in the field with Mick's dad and the sheep would just bolt to the other side as we walked in the gate. I have had a hard time shedding with Mick, until I learned some tricks, because I could not get him close to the sheep without them feeling his presence. I once had a great shedding lesson with Suzy McCallister and she taught me a lot on how to work Mick in the shedding ring.

I "Think" I Have Gone Crazy

2009-06-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

OK, there are some things that you just can not pass up on, but some of these things make me think I am going crazy.

Karen, a friend of mine, called me yesterday to chat and of course she just had to plant a seed in my head. I will back up a few months ago to where it all began. I went over to Karen's place to take pictures of her dogs for her. She brought out this one female, Mollie, and I was blown away by her from the start. She has power, style and class. I usually am not drawn to smooth coats, but I am seeing more and more that I like. Karen told me that Mollie was bred to Rock at the time. So, Mollie has her puppies, but I never really ask about them. That is until a couple of weeks ago. I asked what she had etc. Well, Murray, Connor and I were over there to work dogs and do some other stuff and I let the pups come out so that Connor could play with them. There was this one male, black and whit with tons of ticking, that kept catching my eye. OK, so this is totally not the "type" of look I usually am drawn to, but this one boy kept making me look at him. Come to find out that is the one she likes too. Now, back to current the present and the idea Karen planted in my head. She said that she would like me to take him. There is something special about this boy and I didn't say NO, but I didn't say yes. I was sweeping the dog room today and thinking about this little seed in my head. Somehow it got some water on it and it has started to sprout. I called Karen back and talked to her about it. I have already bred Skarlet to Rock and was really planning on keeping a puppy from that litter as I have officially turned Havoc over to Murray. So, right now Karen is going to take the pup with her on the road this weekend and if she comes back with him then I may try him out. My ultimate decision will be made after Skarlet has her puppies.

Mollie is the tri smooth coat and Rock is the rough black and white. Mollie is winning in Pro-Novice and Rock is placing in the top of Open with some wins under his belt.

Now on to the other crazy thing that we are doing. We have started raising ducks here on the ranch. I started out with 6 ducklings, but a hawk took one away during the day. I found a gal about 30 minutes from me that raises lovely ducks. I went to her place yesterday and picked up 3 more. I got a new female that is about a year old. I got her because she is already laying and I don't think mine will lay until more into the summer. She is a fawn color with a white collar around her neck. I also got 2 Cayuga/Runner crosses. The male is already starting to get his green feathers on his head and both of them have really nice black bodies.

I also took a picture of the duck coop that Murray built. We have x-pens connected to it now, but we should have the fencing done this weekend.

As I was taking pictures of the ducks today we had a storm rolling in. It turned into one of the craziest storms I have seen. HUGE winds came in and everything was blowing, then the skies opened up and this massive rain started. It was like someone literally took a bucket and poured it down on us. Along with the rain came the pea size hale. When everything was combined you could not hear a thing. The funny thing is that Connor slept right through it and never woke up.

Here are some pictures from the front of our house. This is when the clouds were moving in. Once they were here it was black. The sound of the thunder along with the lightning was outstanding. I love to stand on our "covered" deck and watch the storm.

Murray's Herding Lesson

2009-05-28T07:14:00.000-07:00

Well, Murray went out for his first real herding lesson. It works better if someone else teaches him about herding. :-) Havoc has had training on her, so it made it nice that Murray didn't have to work on outruns etc. He was able to learn the things he needed to have for himself. At first Havoc wasn't wanting to listen to Murray as she is used to my voice and inflection in her commands. I also think it had to do with Murray learning what to do and she was kind of taking advantage of the situation. After about 30 minutes I think it really started to click in his head as things were going much smoother. He will keep practicing as he is entered in Novice at Sheep Thrillz.

Murray and Karen went to fix her mower and I worked Mick (Havoc's dad) and Skarlet. I am entering Sheep Thrillz, so I need to fine tune some work, like hitting panels straight on. With Skarlet I am always working on her bending and giving to pressure.

Here are some pictures of Havoc during Murray's lesson.

I kept thinking Murray's head was going to explode because he was trying to process all of the information that was given to him.

This is a lovely view from Karen's place.

Great 3 Day Weekend

2009-05-26T06:38:00.000-07:00

I have to say that this past Memorial Day weekend has been probably the best one that we have had in MANY years. Nope, we did not go anywhere and stayed home doing things. We hate to travel on this weekend as I got in a major car accident on Memorial Day many years ago.

Skarlet came in heat and it just happened that it was breeding time right over the weekend. I started the weekend by taking Skar over to Karen's on Friday and got a successful tie with Rock.

Murray, Connor and I got up on Saturday and started working on the ranch. He has been very busy building the Tahj Duckhall for our ducks. He had gotten it to a point where they could move in during the night, but were in a temporary area during the day. They now have in and out access during the day and are locked up at night. We are using 3 x-pens connected to the coop for their run area. We will permanently fence it in maybe this weekend.

I did tons of weeding this weekend. Boy was that tiring, but well worth it as the ranch is coming together and looking very nice. Of course the dogs got to do tons of running throughout the day as we were working outside. Connor is great at entertaining them in the field. He loves to stand on top of the A-frame (young dog height) and throw the ball with the Chuck-It for the dogs. I never have to worry about where Connor is because I just look for the swarm of dogs. I did catch Connor riding down the A-frame in a very small (just big enough for his butt) wagon. He is for sure all boy!

I went back to Karen's place on Saturday evening and had a beer as Skar and Rock did their thing. I then did a little training with Havoc and put Fusion on sheep for the first time. Oh yes, she has been on sheep before, but that was her letting herself into our sheep. I wanted to put her on more puppy sheep, so it was perfect at Karen's. Fusion was keen and her tail was down. She circled them some. singled some off did a very small fetch and then we quit after she circled again. Not to bad for an 8 month old squirt. We then went out and got a bite to eat and a drink.

Sunday was work all day. Ok the dogs played all day by running and swimming, but the humans worked. I was very tired by the time Sunday night rolled around, but feeling very accomplished.

Monday was spent doing stuff around the house. The problem with working outside all of the time and also having a 3 year old is the house will get neglected. Murray started the morning off by ripping out my office carpet (YUCK)!!!!! When we got the house it was 7/8 carpet. The house also had white, flat paint on all of the walls. We have been steadily taking carpet out and laying Pergo and tile along with painting the walls. If you live on a ranch with dogs and then tear your carpet out, you will never go back to carpet again. No matter how much you steam clean, you never get all of the dirt up and it settles below the pad. I am not talking about a little dirt, but tons of fine silt that the dogs track in. I feel so much cleaner without carpet in the house. I love knowing that once I clean the floors that they are completely clean.

As Murray was ripping the carpet out, I was preparing food, 7 layer salad and marinating chicken, for our BBQ that night. Karen brought Rock over again and he and Skar went on their date in the backyard. We drank and then ate some great food for dinner and then had awesome strawberries for dessert along with ice cream.

I went to bed last night knowing that we got tons of stuff done on the ranch and also having fun.

Tonight we are headed to Karen's because we have talked Murray into running Havoc in herding. I am entering the team at the Sheep Thrillz trial in July. I will run Mick in Pro-Novice there. Even thought he is capable of running in Open, his body is getting old and I think it would be asking too much of him at this age. So, Murray will have a lesson with Karen tonight. It is better for someone else to teach besides wife, especially in the beginning stages of his training. Havoc is trained and now needs to learn to work with Murray. Oh how fun this will be. I will for sure get pictures.

I will also take some pictures of the duck coop (Tahj Duckhall) today.

RR Skarlet x CBK Rock

2009-05-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, Skarlet finally came into heat. I will head over to Karen Child's place tomorrow and throughout the weekend to breed Skar to Karen's CBK Rock. I am very lucky that I only live about 15 or 20 minutes from Karen, so I will just drive back and forth.

I can not wait for these puppies to arrive. This cross should produce some very powerful and stylish offspring with outstanding temperaments.

I also get to see the litter that Rock sired with Karen's Mollie. They are around 7 weeks old now. That is the fun age.

I will update everyone on the litter to come.

Emotional Week

2009-05-15T19:14:00.001-07:00

I went down to California with my son and 2 dogs (Kate and Singe) to visit family. It was a nice week down there, despite the weather.

Risk went on and off of her food towards the end of me being gone. Murray was home taking care of all of the dogs and I told him that it was probably because she had morning sickness. She had been bred and was almost half way until her due date. Some of our girls get some morning sickness about that time. Well it was not morning sickness as I found out when I got home.

I got home on Friday and started mowing our agility field as it had not been mowed in over a week. I always let the dogs run with me, so everyone was out. I noticed that Risk was not her normal self and again chalked it up to her being pregnant. She was showing no other signs, at the moment. After I was done the dogs came up on the deck and I let Risk in the house where she went and laid on a dog bed in the corner of the family room. Totally not like Risk. A little later I fed the dogs and Risk picked at her food. Still no major signs of anything going on.

The next morning I noticed some spots on Risk's dog bed and by then she put herself in her crate for breakfast. I called her out and as she jumped down she was leaking "stuff" out of her vulva (first time this happened). We got the thermometer out and I held her as Murray took her temp. Murray instantly said "this is not good". She had spiked a fever of 104.5. The vet office was open in 10 minutes, so I called as soon as they opened. Made an appointment and went in right away. My vet looked at her and then we took her to ultrasound where it was deemed she had open Pyometra. Open Pyometra is way better than closed Pyo because in Open the puss and fluid drains out and in closed Pyo it stays in the uterus and that needs emergency spay asap.

We treated Risk with antibiotics, pain pills, and anti inflammatory meds along with Sub Q fluids. She seemed as she was getting better and when it was time to give her her evening fluids

I put her out to go potty first. She was stumbling around and had a hard time getting up the stairs. When I laid her down on the dog bed she was shaking and I called my vet, who was now on call. I rushed her in to the vet office as my vet was meeting me there. I took her temp before I left and it was 94.4 degrees. She was in septic shock. We ran another CBC and her levels had improved a "little" since the morning. My vet put in an IV catheter and I took her home with me and the tons of stuff. She was put into a crate on a warming blanket and blankets on top of her. She was on IV fluids all weekend and then on Monday I took her back into the vet to be checked. She was improving a little, but not enough to take the catheter out. We kept her on it until Wednesday and we decreased her fluids from Monday to Wednesday. She was now eating and drinking on her own. The catheter was removed on Wednesday and she continued on her meds. It seemed as if she were improving little by little and it was a slow process. That was until yesterday. She seemed quiet, but when Murray got home she cuddled with him, so I just thought she was a little depressed from not hanging out with the other dogs. I took her temp as she was still on a temp check schedule. She had spiked another fever, but not as bad as before. I put her on Sub Q fluids before bed and put her in a crate next to my bed (again). She was leaking a little fluid from her vulva, but we knew this would happen as she healed. Well I got up MANY times during the night to take her potty and check her temps. Her temp went down, but the fluid kept coming out. I called my vet in this morning and told her what was going on. She had me continue with Sub Q fluids and now I had to put her on 1 more antibiotic because her culture came back positive with e-coli.

I am happy to say that tonight Risk is doing good and she ate everything. I took her out on a leash while I fed horses and sheep and she was super happy. I know from the past not to let my guard down, but it is great to seem by Risky Bisky feeling better and have the sparkle back in her eyes.

I have not posted any of this because I have been totally drained and also no time to write as I have had to take care of Risk, Connor and the other dogs.

Here is a picture of Risk at her worst. She is laying on a heating pad with blankets on top of her. She is also hooked up to an IV.

The next 2 pictures are of Risk on Wednesday, right before we went to the vet to get her catheter out. She was feeling good then.

Risk snuggling with Murray last night when she did not feel good. Oh poor girly, but good husband!

Now I keep my fingers crossed that she keeps on improving and doesn't do any more crashes.