JLM Border Collies
News/blog
Welcome to our new Blog page!
This page will be dedicated to posting the latest information including daily events, trial results, border collie health information, and of course, pictures of our dogs!
February 21st,2012:
Puppy Update: The pups are now 5 weeks old! Wow where has the time gone! It seems like they are growing up way too fast. Time is fast approaching for them to be ready to leave to their new homes!
The pups are doing excellent. They have now graduated to living outside and I have been letting them wander out of their house and begin investigating the world. They are very brave and venture out into the snow to check things out. I love watching them explore and learn about the world. They have also met the other dogs and have been accepted into "the pack". Each is starting to show their little personalities and all are very friendly and social. They are very well behaved and very quiet. Although they now live outside, they come in each evening to have their dinner and still be socialized to the sounds and activities of a busy house. The are played with and handled but then are happy to keep themselves quietly entertained in their box in the living room. Never demanding attention unless they have to go to the washroom. They are just wonderful!
Millie has been such an exceptional mother, especially since this is her very first litter. She is happy, attentive to her pups, and feeling great. She is back to work and is in training preparing for this year's season. She should be ready to attend a few Nursery field trials this year. She will be a great addition to our competitive team!
February 8th,2012:
Puppy Update: The pups are now 3 weeks old! They are so much fun now! They are wobbling around on their stubby little legs, trying out their voices by growling, and starting to bark! They are also starting to really play with each other. The little female, who I call Molly, is such a tough little girl. She may be smaller than the two boys but she makes up for it in attitude! She already has quite a bit of fun tugging on the poor boys' ears and chewing on their faces. They are becoming quite entertaining!
Marvin is also doing well. He is steadily improving. Definitely not ready for work yet, but his leg is able to handle more exercise now and he is weight-bearing quite well. He still has a lot of muscle to build before he will be ready to return to work, but he may pull out of this yet! I am starting to feel more positive about his recovery. Hopefully we will meet our goal of having him ready to return to very light work by April.
January 31st, 2012:
Puppy Update: The pups are now 2 weeks old. It is hard to believe! They are doing extremely well. They are big, fat and healthy, and their eyes are coming open now. They are also getting strong enough to lift their fat little bodies and manage a very wobbly walk. They are also beginning to play with each other. Chewing each others ears and having fun pushing each other over. They are a couple days away from being at my favorite stage. I love pups at this stage...it is so much fun to watch their little doggy behaviors develop, yet they are such infants still that they also remind me of a new born human baby. The way they yawn, and stretch, and curl in a ball in your hands. There is nothing much more sweet than pups at this age! I will take more photos of them tommorow and post them.
It has also been quite interesting to watch how Millie and Marvin socialize with the pups. Marvin, of course due to his injury, has been living as a house dog since October and was in the bedroom with Millie since before the pups were born. Since he has been in the picture the whole time, Millie completely trusts Marvin with her pups and he is welcome to come in and sleep beside them any time he wants. Which is quite unusual. Most mothers with pups would be very aggressive towards another dog near their "den", especially a male! But since Marvin is not only the father but has been present throughout her delivery and motherhood, he is the only dog that she allows in the same room as her puppies. She viciously defends against any other dog who may make the mistake of coming to see the new members of the pack. It is also interesting in the fact that Marvin is even willing to go near the pups anyway. Male dogs just seem to innately know that where there are pups, there is a protective mother and to stay clear away! But Marv seems to not be that worried. He doesn't intrude, but he doesn't mind curling up outside Millie's "puppy pool" either. It is quite interesting watching the behavior. Studying animal behavior has always been a passion of mine...not only in University, but throughout my life in general. It is endlessly interesting!
January 24th, 2012:
Puppy Update: The pups are doing excellent! They are the fastest growing pups I have ever had. They are so fat and very strong for their age. I can't believe that they are already 7 days old today! Millie is also doing very well. She is a happy mother, but also is back enjoying her old shape again. She is finding it much easier to run around without that round belly!
I finally got a chance to get some individual photos of the pups. They are now posted on the "puppies" page of my website. I will take more photos as the pups get a bit older. In about another week their eyes will begin to open so I will get new photos then.
January 20th, 2012:
Millie had her puppies! On Tuesday afternoon, January the 17th, Millie gave birth to 3 stunning pups. She began signs of labor around 11pm Monday night. Since this is Millie's first litter she was quite nervous, so I sat beside her bed and kept her company all night. The morning arrived and still no pups. Feeling a little haggered I got a pot of coffee on and went back to keeping Millie company. Our first puppy arrived at exactly noon on Tuesday. A beautiful male. He gave me a bit of stress as not only was he breech he was also upside down. But with a bit of my help, Millie was able to deliver him. Her second pup, also a male, came only 20 minutes later. Then the waiting began. Millie settled into being an excellent mother for these 2 boys and the hours began to tick by. I was beginning to worry there was only 2 pups! Finally at a little after 4:00pm she had her third and final pup. A beautiful female. I stayed up with Millie well into the night, hoping there was at least one more pup, but no. Unfortunately for several people, 3 pups would be the final number.
On the positive side of only 3 pups, this has been a wonderful experience for Millie. Seeing how attentive she is to just 3, more pups would have likely caused her stress. She is very protective of her new babies and gives them her full attention. She has also bounced back so quickly. She already is back to her old self and was very happy to go on our morning walk with the other dogs yesterday morning. She was back to chasing birds and tumbling around with Diesel playing. She has not skipped a beat!
I am still very surprised there was only 3 pups. Being that this is Millie's first litter, I did not really know what to expect from her. I was predicting her litter size by comparing how round her tummy was compared to my other female Sky. If Sky had the belly that Millie had, she would have been carrying 6+ pups. Apparently Millie just carries heavy. She also has gained a lot of chub too! Not all that tummy was baby! She is looking absolutely amazing. She is fat and healthy, bright-eyed and full of energy. I am so glad to see her with that "new mom" glow. The babies also are doing amazing! They are the fastest growing litter I have ever had! They have already over doubled their size and are hugely fat! With only 3, they have no competition at all for milk! I will take individual puppy pictures soon and post them. For those that unfortunately did not get a pup please let me know if you would like to wait for my next litter. Their may be one possibly this spring, and then I will have a litter next fall.
January 11th, 2012:
Millie update! The count down is on! Well, Millie is getting pretty pregnant now! She still goes on all our daily walks around the farm and she even brought the sheep in from out in the pasture to their night paddock yesterday, but she is definitely getting heavy and slower. She woddles along in her happy little world, content with sniffing and hunting mice rather than travelling at 100 miles an hour everywhere she goes! Her belly is huge now and I can feel her puppies moving and kicking frequently. She spends the majority of her day sleeping in the kitchen or following me around the house while I do laundry and other house chores. I think her favorite thing to do is watch me make dinner. She sits behind me thumping her tail, with her giant belly, waiting for me to give her bits of food. How can I resist that face! I would not be surprised if her pups arrived by next Wednesday. Once you can feel pups moving about, usually they are withing a week of being born. My guess is 8 pups. We will soon see!
Just a note on Marvin...thankfully he seems to be making a very slow but steady improvement. He still has his bad days, but in general he has definitely made progress. He is now easily bearing weight on his left front leg (determined by picking up his right front leg). Something he could not do before. We are now increasing the difficulty further by picking both his right front leg and his left hind leg up off the ground at the same time, forcing Marvin to balance all his weight on his left front and right hind leg. He is now managing to do this 3 times in a row three times a day. It is a slow process, but he is gradually gaining strength in his leg. Our plan hopefully, if he keeps steadily improving, to have him be strong enough to begin very short (2-3 minutes) of work on the sheep by April. We will see how it goes!
December 27th, 2011:
Millie update! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I am very excited to announce that Millie is without a doubt having pups. With still nearly 4 weeks to go she already is developing quite the belly! She is enjoying her time sleeping in the house in the evenings, and seems very content and happy with herself. I am only lightly working her on the sheep now and in another week or so I will hold off on her training until after her pups have arrived.
A quick note on Marvin...he seems to be getting a bit better. Progress is painfully slow, but I am noticing tiny improvements in his weight-bearing ability and in his range of motion of his front leg. His therapy continues!
December 14th, 2011:
So I don't want to jinx things...since Chloe has taught me that mother nature can be very deceiving!...but I am thinking that we have pups on the way! Millie has definitely put on some weight. Her streamlined tummy is starting to look a bit bulgy and her mood has definitely changed. Everyone keep their fingers crossed for one more week to be sure, but I think things are looking promising!
Marvin is also looking a bit better! He is a long way off from looking like a sound dog again, but at least there has been some improvement. He was looking quite good about 2 weeks ago..unfortunately a combination of him falling off the couch while he was sleeping plus getting away from me and tearing around the yard in a game of chase with his sister Chloe, had really set him back to zero again. If I could somehow put together 3 months of solid rest and keep him relatively quiet, maybe we can beat this yet! The problem is trying to keep him from hurting himself! If dogs could only talk! Things would be so much easier.
December 8th, 2011:
Sorry for the delay in any news! I seem to have lost 2 weeks like most people lose 2 days! Marvin's re-hab is taking up nearly every minute of my time. Wrapping and re-wrapping his leg, doing his exercises, taking him for leash walks, more exercises, heatpacks applied, laser therapy twice a week... no, I don't have a life really besides taking care of him! Between all that I have been trying to get a bit of training in, teaching a few lessons, and of course....think about Christmas!
As for Millie...hopefully she is pregnant. If she is, this weekend she should be about 3 weeks along. Another week or so and she should start to show some signs. One thing is for sure, her appetite has definitely increased! She is a little piggy when it comes to food and is in the kitchen constantly, staring at me with "hungry eyes"! One way or another, she definitely is going to gain weight in the next few weeks with an appetite like that! Stay tuned for a Millie report by next week.
As for the trial that is being held this weekend....we will be missing this one. It is my husband and I's 5th anniversary and I plan on spending the day with him. We will gear up for the next one in January.
November 20th, 2011:
Millie and Marvin breeding update: Millie was bred to Marvin ovr this weekend. Hopefully it was a successful breeding producing a litter of pups that will be born around the 20th of January. The waiting game begins! In about 4 weeks I should be able to tell if Millie concieved, lets all keep our fingers crossed! I am very excited for this litter!
In other news... I took Diesel, Chloe, and Boomer to the second trial in the Stirling Acres series this Saturday. All three worked very well. Unfortunately Diesel and I must have broken a mirror that we don't know about as it seems our bad luck continues in this series. We were the first competitors up to the post, kicking off the Open class. Diesel was working great, as usual, and we were putting together a very nice run. The third to last obstacle in our run and I dropped the ball. It was a set of drive panels that we had to drive the sheep through on our way to the pen. One of our four sheep stopped, but the other 3 continued on through the obstacle. I assumed that Diesel had the stopped sheep covered and that she would quickly catch up to the other sheep on the same line through the panels. My eyes tricked me and she wasn't on the same line and ended up catching up to the other sheep without passing through the obstacle. Since you are allowed 2 attempts at an obstacle I quickly circled Diesel around to take them back in order to try and drive them all through again. Unfortunately I didn't take them back far enough and one of the sheep passed through the obstacle again. That counted as my second attempt and I had to move on. To get full points you have to get all the sheep through the obstacle. Since I only got one sheep, I only got one point for that obstacle. It was just heart breaking as I knew that I had just trashed our run. We completed the rest of the run perfectly, but that little mistake cost Diesel again. It totally sucked!
At least Chloe and Boomer's runs ended up cheering me up. Chloe ran exceptionally well, completing her second ever Open trial course and receiving full points. It came down to time with her and since I had to make another attempt at one of her obstacles, we lost precious seconds. But even with that she finished 4th out of 12 Open dogs. I was very happy with that. Boomer also had a great run. He is starting to become more confident with the trial atmosphere now and beginning to show what he is capable of. It was me again that started off his run by mixing up my side whistles and giving him the wrong ones. I wanted to smack myself! So I cost him a bit of time, but even with that he put together an excellent run and placed 3rd in the Pro-Novice class out of 10 dogs. I was very happy with him! With a few more trials under his belt and a bit more age, Boomer is going to be a great trial dog!
November 16th, 2011:
Marvin Update: Marvelous Marvin is still suffering from his shoulder injury that he suffered last fall of 2010. At the time of his injury he was coming off of an extremely successful trial season. This was his first year competing as a Pro-Novice dog. That season he won 4 out of 5 arena trials entered in the Stirling Acres series earning him not only the Series Championship, but he also was named BC's Pro-Novice dog of the year for that arena trial season. I had plans of running him in Open with the "big dogs" that fall at the young age of only 3 years old...and then this. It has been so upsetting for me. Not only because it is not known if he will ever recover fully, but it has been emotionally exhausting not letting him work, run, or play. It is amazing that he has been able to keep his mind. A testiment definitely to how stable and strong his mind is! I think he is actually stronger than I am! His visit with the ultrasound specialist last week showed that he still has fluid around ligaments in his shoulder, but I do believe he is looking slightly better. He is still very lame though and barely puts any weight on it, leaving his leg hanging all the time. This has lead to massive muscle atrophy in his shoulder as well. He has a long road ahead of him to rebuild his shoulder. The problem will be when he goes back to having a bit more freedom and begins work again. If it will stay healed this time is the big question. Last winter he was rested for 6 months. By May of 2011 he actually was looking quite good and I started to work him again. Unfortunately I put him back to work too soon and he re-injured his damaged ligaments. Again, we are working with specialists and back to very restricted movements. Hopefully by next season we will be making some headway. Cross your fingers for him!
November 8th,2011:
Well, I have gone from no news to lots of news! Lets start with trial highlights from last weekend. It was the first arena trial in the Stirling Acres Winter Series. Always lots of fun and well hosted with creative and challenging courses! Diesel, Chloe, Boomer, and little Millie attended this trial. It was a large arena trial course with many challenging obstacles. Diesel ran in Open, along with Chloe. I decided to move her up as she is ready for new challenges. Both worked very well. Unfortunately I must have packed my "bad-luck" charm for this trial. The key to winning arena trials is getting sheep through all the obstacles in the fastest time. Of course the set of sheep you get can definitely make or break a winning run. Chloe had a very clever, barbados sheep in her set that was determined to cause us trouble. She kept splitting away from the group and Chloe spent a lot of time putting her group back together. At one point that smart ewe decided she would try to beat Chloe in a foot race. She took off, leaving the other sheep behind and bolted back to the main flock which were being held in the take-pen way up at the top of the field. Chloe looked at me, hesitating for a second, asking me if she should stick with these 3 or take off after the bolting sheep, which was a blur it was running so fast! With a quick command to release Chloe to go get her, she took off! Chloe is the fasted dog I have ever seen. Only she could catch something running so fast with a good head start. In a flat out foot race Chloe actually caught her, spun her around and drove her back to the other 3 sheep. I was so happy with her. Unfortunately she ran out of time to finish the course, but even with that she still came 8th out of 16 in her first Open run. Can't complain about that! Plus, I will take a workhorse over a trial dog any day!
Diesel's run was just bad luck. We were getting through the course quite well, with still a good amount of time left to finish. He drew a flighty set of2ewes and 2 lambs which were not very willing to load into the stock trailer. Everything had gone fairly smoothly up until that point. I was at the mouth of the trailer, Diesel was working very well putting a determined amount of pressure on his sheep to convince them tha the trailer was the only place left for them to go. Finally, they started to jump in...1,2.then the 3rd, just when I thought the fourth and final sheep was going to jump in, she bolted. And bolted for the flock at the far end of the field! Diesel got confused for a moment, he started for her, then came back to me to see if I needed him to hold the 3 left in the trailer. I yelled for him to get the bolting sheep and he took off after her, but it was too late. After about 100 yards I knew that he would never catch her and for the sheep's safety (as I knew a young lamb being persued by a dog could try to run through the fence) I called him off. Because we lost her, we had to retire with no score. For the safety of the sheep it was the best thing to do, but it was very dissapointing. That is the thing with trials...you just never know what is going to happen.
Boomer's run was not as good as he is capable of. He was having a "young dog" day. Being sticky on his outrun again and then forgetting a few of his whistles. It was not a bad run though. He ended up running out of time as well, but still managed to come 8h out of 17 dogs. Not bad, but he could have done better. Maybe next time.
Little Millie was actually the star of the show! This was her very first trial run, and only the 2nd time working away from home. She was such a good girl and was really not bothered by the stress of lots of people and dogs and a different work environment. Her class that she competed in was a Novice class designed for experienced handlers to run their young up-and-coming dogs. It was a fairly complicated course, with taking sheep in and out of 3 different paddocks, through obstacles, and had to pen her sheep at the end. Something she has never done! She ran the whole course just perfectly and actually came 2nd out of 8 dogs! Only 10 seconds behind the winning dog. I was so happy with her! Her future as a trial dog is looking very promising! She is so smart and has such great stock-sense. She really thinks about what she is doing and how to handle her sheep. She has really grown up in the last few months. I hope she passes her smarts on to her pups
Which brings me to my other news...Millie has come into heat. Early! Over a month early! So, she will be bred to Marvelous Marvin in about 10 days. I can't wait. These pups are going to be great! They should arrive mid-January. Hopefully it is a nice winter!
More news soon!...
October 27th, 2011:
Here are some photos of Boomer's run at the Paxton Valley trial. I also posted some more photos of the pups on the puppies page. A big thanks to Kathy Williams for taking such gorgeous photos! Please check them out. I have many more so I will rotate photos in about a week or so. She got some gorgeous pictures. Our next trial is on Novemeber 5th. It is the opening arena trial to the Stirling Acres series. Always lots of fun!
October 21st, 2011:
Wow, where did 3 weeks go since my last blog entry! Sorry about that. Well, today Zoey left to her new home. Owain had left on the 12th, so only Zoey had been around for the last 10 days. What an amazing little pup. I am going to really miss her. She was getting to be quite a member of the pack around here and has such a hillarious personality. Now I have an empty nest. But I am looking forward to having a litter of pups with Millie for the first time this winter. That should be very interesting!
October 8th and 9th was the Paxton Valley sheep dog trial. Diesel and Boomer attended this trial. It was a very pretty trial field and graciously hosted by Holly and Len Brunner. Diesel had a couple of excellent runs. Although we didn't get our shed either day which cost us from being in the top of the class., I was still very happy with him, and us placing 12th overall out of 34 in our second Open trial is nothing to complain about. Boomer also did well in Pro-Novice, although he is still struggling with his worry about the setout crew on his outrun. Although there was improvement since his last trial so that is all that mattered. He will get over his nerves. He is only a 2 year old and doing far better than many at his age. I can't complain to much about him being trial nervous, I still feel like I am going to be sick with butterflies in my tummy before each of my runs. Something we both need to work on! My friend Kathy did get some photos of Boomer's run so I will post them soon. I did post her photos of the pups so do take a look at those on my puppies page!
As for farm news, thankfully the turf farm is starting to go dorment for the winter and my extremely busy job of keeping the whole farm green and mowed is coming to an end. I look forward to having days off and training my dogs! I guess in my world there is something nice about cold, wet weather! That spells holiday!
October 1st, 2011:
The Adventures of Owain and Zoey!!... It has been a week now since Honey, Bo and Lily went on to their new families. All are doing very well and their life adventures have begun. Owain and Zoey are still here and now run the same routine as the big dogs. Each morning they come with me and the dogs and do the farm sprinklers. The rambunctious pair tumble along beating each other up as they go, and get to experience a long walk around the farm. They get to be around the loud motors of the wheel-lines starting and rolling over head, see tractors and machinery working in the distance, and meet my brother's German Shepherd from time to time. They tumble through ditches and mud and have now mastered crossing the bridge across the creek. They are real farm dogs now! They come home looking like a pair of muddy little rug-rats! They are also getting used to riding on a golf cart when I am tired of walking. They make me laugh every day! Ironically they are the alpha male and alpha female of the litter so they each can give as good as each gets. They rough-house so hard sometimes that I carry one just to give the other a break. Usually Zoey. She is so tough and drives poor Owain crazy by constantly using her herding "eye" and blocking his every step. Then she pounces on him and they tumble in a scrap with Owain sending her rolling. But she is up and back at it again with double the determination. They are the best of friends, and after they have gotten tired of playfighting, they curl up together in a little furball and fall asleep. It will be a bit more boring around here when thery leave!
I guess I should also give an update on Mr. Marvin. I think we have finally pin-pointed his injury. Thanks to seeing a specialist and then being reffered to just an amazing physiotherapist we have discovered that Marvin has torn his Teres Major muscling in his shoulder, along with developing bicep tendonitis. Poor guy. He has substancial muscle waisting in his shoulder and some shoulder instability due to the torn muscling. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the damage can be healed. It will be a long road of rest combined with physiotherapy and rehabilitation before Marvin may be fit for work again. I hope that it can be successfully healed and he can return finally to the trial field. He was my rising star as a trial dog and I had such high hopes for him. I hope that he can get back there and be the Champ I know he is.
Puppy Update: The pups are now 5 weeks old! Wow where has the time gone! It seems like they are growing up way too fast. Time is fast approaching for them to be ready to leave to their new homes!
The pups are doing excellent. They have now graduated to living outside and I have been letting them wander out of their house and begin investigating the world. They are very brave and venture out into the snow to check things out. I love watching them explore and learn about the world. They have also met the other dogs and have been accepted into "the pack". Each is starting to show their little personalities and all are very friendly and social. They are very well behaved and very quiet. Although they now live outside, they come in each evening to have their dinner and still be socialized to the sounds and activities of a busy house. The are played with and handled but then are happy to keep themselves quietly entertained in their box in the living room. Never demanding attention unless they have to go to the washroom. They are just wonderful!
Millie has been such an exceptional mother, especially since this is her very first litter. She is happy, attentive to her pups, and feeling great. She is back to work and is in training preparing for this year's season. She should be ready to attend a few Nursery field trials this year. She will be a great addition to our competitive team!
February 8th,2012:
Puppy Update: The pups are now 3 weeks old! They are so much fun now! They are wobbling around on their stubby little legs, trying out their voices by growling, and starting to bark! They are also starting to really play with each other. The little female, who I call Molly, is such a tough little girl. She may be smaller than the two boys but she makes up for it in attitude! She already has quite a bit of fun tugging on the poor boys' ears and chewing on their faces. They are becoming quite entertaining!
Marvin is also doing well. He is steadily improving. Definitely not ready for work yet, but his leg is able to handle more exercise now and he is weight-bearing quite well. He still has a lot of muscle to build before he will be ready to return to work, but he may pull out of this yet! I am starting to feel more positive about his recovery. Hopefully we will meet our goal of having him ready to return to very light work by April.
January 31st, 2012:
Puppy Update: The pups are now 2 weeks old. It is hard to believe! They are doing extremely well. They are big, fat and healthy, and their eyes are coming open now. They are also getting strong enough to lift their fat little bodies and manage a very wobbly walk. They are also beginning to play with each other. Chewing each others ears and having fun pushing each other over. They are a couple days away from being at my favorite stage. I love pups at this stage...it is so much fun to watch their little doggy behaviors develop, yet they are such infants still that they also remind me of a new born human baby. The way they yawn, and stretch, and curl in a ball in your hands. There is nothing much more sweet than pups at this age! I will take more photos of them tommorow and post them.
It has also been quite interesting to watch how Millie and Marvin socialize with the pups. Marvin, of course due to his injury, has been living as a house dog since October and was in the bedroom with Millie since before the pups were born. Since he has been in the picture the whole time, Millie completely trusts Marvin with her pups and he is welcome to come in and sleep beside them any time he wants. Which is quite unusual. Most mothers with pups would be very aggressive towards another dog near their "den", especially a male! But since Marvin is not only the father but has been present throughout her delivery and motherhood, he is the only dog that she allows in the same room as her puppies. She viciously defends against any other dog who may make the mistake of coming to see the new members of the pack. It is also interesting in the fact that Marvin is even willing to go near the pups anyway. Male dogs just seem to innately know that where there are pups, there is a protective mother and to stay clear away! But Marv seems to not be that worried. He doesn't intrude, but he doesn't mind curling up outside Millie's "puppy pool" either. It is quite interesting watching the behavior. Studying animal behavior has always been a passion of mine...not only in University, but throughout my life in general. It is endlessly interesting!
January 24th, 2012:
Puppy Update: The pups are doing excellent! They are the fastest growing pups I have ever had. They are so fat and very strong for their age. I can't believe that they are already 7 days old today! Millie is also doing very well. She is a happy mother, but also is back enjoying her old shape again. She is finding it much easier to run around without that round belly!
I finally got a chance to get some individual photos of the pups. They are now posted on the "puppies" page of my website. I will take more photos as the pups get a bit older. In about another week their eyes will begin to open so I will get new photos then.
January 20th, 2012:
Millie had her puppies! On Tuesday afternoon, January the 17th, Millie gave birth to 3 stunning pups. She began signs of labor around 11pm Monday night. Since this is Millie's first litter she was quite nervous, so I sat beside her bed and kept her company all night. The morning arrived and still no pups. Feeling a little haggered I got a pot of coffee on and went back to keeping Millie company. Our first puppy arrived at exactly noon on Tuesday. A beautiful male. He gave me a bit of stress as not only was he breech he was also upside down. But with a bit of my help, Millie was able to deliver him. Her second pup, also a male, came only 20 minutes later. Then the waiting began. Millie settled into being an excellent mother for these 2 boys and the hours began to tick by. I was beginning to worry there was only 2 pups! Finally at a little after 4:00pm she had her third and final pup. A beautiful female. I stayed up with Millie well into the night, hoping there was at least one more pup, but no. Unfortunately for several people, 3 pups would be the final number.
On the positive side of only 3 pups, this has been a wonderful experience for Millie. Seeing how attentive she is to just 3, more pups would have likely caused her stress. She is very protective of her new babies and gives them her full attention. She has also bounced back so quickly. She already is back to her old self and was very happy to go on our morning walk with the other dogs yesterday morning. She was back to chasing birds and tumbling around with Diesel playing. She has not skipped a beat!
I am still very surprised there was only 3 pups. Being that this is Millie's first litter, I did not really know what to expect from her. I was predicting her litter size by comparing how round her tummy was compared to my other female Sky. If Sky had the belly that Millie had, she would have been carrying 6+ pups. Apparently Millie just carries heavy. She also has gained a lot of chub too! Not all that tummy was baby! She is looking absolutely amazing. She is fat and healthy, bright-eyed and full of energy. I am so glad to see her with that "new mom" glow. The babies also are doing amazing! They are the fastest growing litter I have ever had! They have already over doubled their size and are hugely fat! With only 3, they have no competition at all for milk! I will take individual puppy pictures soon and post them. For those that unfortunately did not get a pup please let me know if you would like to wait for my next litter. Their may be one possibly this spring, and then I will have a litter next fall.
January 11th, 2012:
Millie update! The count down is on! Well, Millie is getting pretty pregnant now! She still goes on all our daily walks around the farm and she even brought the sheep in from out in the pasture to their night paddock yesterday, but she is definitely getting heavy and slower. She woddles along in her happy little world, content with sniffing and hunting mice rather than travelling at 100 miles an hour everywhere she goes! Her belly is huge now and I can feel her puppies moving and kicking frequently. She spends the majority of her day sleeping in the kitchen or following me around the house while I do laundry and other house chores. I think her favorite thing to do is watch me make dinner. She sits behind me thumping her tail, with her giant belly, waiting for me to give her bits of food. How can I resist that face! I would not be surprised if her pups arrived by next Wednesday. Once you can feel pups moving about, usually they are withing a week of being born. My guess is 8 pups. We will soon see!
Just a note on Marvin...thankfully he seems to be making a very slow but steady improvement. He still has his bad days, but in general he has definitely made progress. He is now easily bearing weight on his left front leg (determined by picking up his right front leg). Something he could not do before. We are now increasing the difficulty further by picking both his right front leg and his left hind leg up off the ground at the same time, forcing Marvin to balance all his weight on his left front and right hind leg. He is now managing to do this 3 times in a row three times a day. It is a slow process, but he is gradually gaining strength in his leg. Our plan hopefully, if he keeps steadily improving, to have him be strong enough to begin very short (2-3 minutes) of work on the sheep by April. We will see how it goes!
December 27th, 2011:
Millie update! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I am very excited to announce that Millie is without a doubt having pups. With still nearly 4 weeks to go she already is developing quite the belly! She is enjoying her time sleeping in the house in the evenings, and seems very content and happy with herself. I am only lightly working her on the sheep now and in another week or so I will hold off on her training until after her pups have arrived.
A quick note on Marvin...he seems to be getting a bit better. Progress is painfully slow, but I am noticing tiny improvements in his weight-bearing ability and in his range of motion of his front leg. His therapy continues!
December 14th, 2011:
So I don't want to jinx things...since Chloe has taught me that mother nature can be very deceiving!...but I am thinking that we have pups on the way! Millie has definitely put on some weight. Her streamlined tummy is starting to look a bit bulgy and her mood has definitely changed. Everyone keep their fingers crossed for one more week to be sure, but I think things are looking promising!
Marvin is also looking a bit better! He is a long way off from looking like a sound dog again, but at least there has been some improvement. He was looking quite good about 2 weeks ago..unfortunately a combination of him falling off the couch while he was sleeping plus getting away from me and tearing around the yard in a game of chase with his sister Chloe, had really set him back to zero again. If I could somehow put together 3 months of solid rest and keep him relatively quiet, maybe we can beat this yet! The problem is trying to keep him from hurting himself! If dogs could only talk! Things would be so much easier.
December 8th, 2011:
Sorry for the delay in any news! I seem to have lost 2 weeks like most people lose 2 days! Marvin's re-hab is taking up nearly every minute of my time. Wrapping and re-wrapping his leg, doing his exercises, taking him for leash walks, more exercises, heatpacks applied, laser therapy twice a week... no, I don't have a life really besides taking care of him! Between all that I have been trying to get a bit of training in, teaching a few lessons, and of course....think about Christmas!
As for Millie...hopefully she is pregnant. If she is, this weekend she should be about 3 weeks along. Another week or so and she should start to show some signs. One thing is for sure, her appetite has definitely increased! She is a little piggy when it comes to food and is in the kitchen constantly, staring at me with "hungry eyes"! One way or another, she definitely is going to gain weight in the next few weeks with an appetite like that! Stay tuned for a Millie report by next week.
As for the trial that is being held this weekend....we will be missing this one. It is my husband and I's 5th anniversary and I plan on spending the day with him. We will gear up for the next one in January.
November 20th, 2011:
Millie and Marvin breeding update: Millie was bred to Marvin ovr this weekend. Hopefully it was a successful breeding producing a litter of pups that will be born around the 20th of January. The waiting game begins! In about 4 weeks I should be able to tell if Millie concieved, lets all keep our fingers crossed! I am very excited for this litter!
In other news... I took Diesel, Chloe, and Boomer to the second trial in the Stirling Acres series this Saturday. All three worked very well. Unfortunately Diesel and I must have broken a mirror that we don't know about as it seems our bad luck continues in this series. We were the first competitors up to the post, kicking off the Open class. Diesel was working great, as usual, and we were putting together a very nice run. The third to last obstacle in our run and I dropped the ball. It was a set of drive panels that we had to drive the sheep through on our way to the pen. One of our four sheep stopped, but the other 3 continued on through the obstacle. I assumed that Diesel had the stopped sheep covered and that she would quickly catch up to the other sheep on the same line through the panels. My eyes tricked me and she wasn't on the same line and ended up catching up to the other sheep without passing through the obstacle. Since you are allowed 2 attempts at an obstacle I quickly circled Diesel around to take them back in order to try and drive them all through again. Unfortunately I didn't take them back far enough and one of the sheep passed through the obstacle again. That counted as my second attempt and I had to move on. To get full points you have to get all the sheep through the obstacle. Since I only got one sheep, I only got one point for that obstacle. It was just heart breaking as I knew that I had just trashed our run. We completed the rest of the run perfectly, but that little mistake cost Diesel again. It totally sucked!
At least Chloe and Boomer's runs ended up cheering me up. Chloe ran exceptionally well, completing her second ever Open trial course and receiving full points. It came down to time with her and since I had to make another attempt at one of her obstacles, we lost precious seconds. But even with that she finished 4th out of 12 Open dogs. I was very happy with that. Boomer also had a great run. He is starting to become more confident with the trial atmosphere now and beginning to show what he is capable of. It was me again that started off his run by mixing up my side whistles and giving him the wrong ones. I wanted to smack myself! So I cost him a bit of time, but even with that he put together an excellent run and placed 3rd in the Pro-Novice class out of 10 dogs. I was very happy with him! With a few more trials under his belt and a bit more age, Boomer is going to be a great trial dog!
November 16th, 2011:
Marvin Update: Marvelous Marvin is still suffering from his shoulder injury that he suffered last fall of 2010. At the time of his injury he was coming off of an extremely successful trial season. This was his first year competing as a Pro-Novice dog. That season he won 4 out of 5 arena trials entered in the Stirling Acres series earning him not only the Series Championship, but he also was named BC's Pro-Novice dog of the year for that arena trial season. I had plans of running him in Open with the "big dogs" that fall at the young age of only 3 years old...and then this. It has been so upsetting for me. Not only because it is not known if he will ever recover fully, but it has been emotionally exhausting not letting him work, run, or play. It is amazing that he has been able to keep his mind. A testiment definitely to how stable and strong his mind is! I think he is actually stronger than I am! His visit with the ultrasound specialist last week showed that he still has fluid around ligaments in his shoulder, but I do believe he is looking slightly better. He is still very lame though and barely puts any weight on it, leaving his leg hanging all the time. This has lead to massive muscle atrophy in his shoulder as well. He has a long road ahead of him to rebuild his shoulder. The problem will be when he goes back to having a bit more freedom and begins work again. If it will stay healed this time is the big question. Last winter he was rested for 6 months. By May of 2011 he actually was looking quite good and I started to work him again. Unfortunately I put him back to work too soon and he re-injured his damaged ligaments. Again, we are working with specialists and back to very restricted movements. Hopefully by next season we will be making some headway. Cross your fingers for him!
November 8th,2011:
Well, I have gone from no news to lots of news! Lets start with trial highlights from last weekend. It was the first arena trial in the Stirling Acres Winter Series. Always lots of fun and well hosted with creative and challenging courses! Diesel, Chloe, Boomer, and little Millie attended this trial. It was a large arena trial course with many challenging obstacles. Diesel ran in Open, along with Chloe. I decided to move her up as she is ready for new challenges. Both worked very well. Unfortunately I must have packed my "bad-luck" charm for this trial. The key to winning arena trials is getting sheep through all the obstacles in the fastest time. Of course the set of sheep you get can definitely make or break a winning run. Chloe had a very clever, barbados sheep in her set that was determined to cause us trouble. She kept splitting away from the group and Chloe spent a lot of time putting her group back together. At one point that smart ewe decided she would try to beat Chloe in a foot race. She took off, leaving the other sheep behind and bolted back to the main flock which were being held in the take-pen way up at the top of the field. Chloe looked at me, hesitating for a second, asking me if she should stick with these 3 or take off after the bolting sheep, which was a blur it was running so fast! With a quick command to release Chloe to go get her, she took off! Chloe is the fasted dog I have ever seen. Only she could catch something running so fast with a good head start. In a flat out foot race Chloe actually caught her, spun her around and drove her back to the other 3 sheep. I was so happy with her. Unfortunately she ran out of time to finish the course, but even with that she still came 8th out of 16 in her first Open run. Can't complain about that! Plus, I will take a workhorse over a trial dog any day!
Diesel's run was just bad luck. We were getting through the course quite well, with still a good amount of time left to finish. He drew a flighty set of2ewes and 2 lambs which were not very willing to load into the stock trailer. Everything had gone fairly smoothly up until that point. I was at the mouth of the trailer, Diesel was working very well putting a determined amount of pressure on his sheep to convince them tha the trailer was the only place left for them to go. Finally, they started to jump in...1,2.then the 3rd, just when I thought the fourth and final sheep was going to jump in, she bolted. And bolted for the flock at the far end of the field! Diesel got confused for a moment, he started for her, then came back to me to see if I needed him to hold the 3 left in the trailer. I yelled for him to get the bolting sheep and he took off after her, but it was too late. After about 100 yards I knew that he would never catch her and for the sheep's safety (as I knew a young lamb being persued by a dog could try to run through the fence) I called him off. Because we lost her, we had to retire with no score. For the safety of the sheep it was the best thing to do, but it was very dissapointing. That is the thing with trials...you just never know what is going to happen.
Boomer's run was not as good as he is capable of. He was having a "young dog" day. Being sticky on his outrun again and then forgetting a few of his whistles. It was not a bad run though. He ended up running out of time as well, but still managed to come 8h out of 17 dogs. Not bad, but he could have done better. Maybe next time.
Little Millie was actually the star of the show! This was her very first trial run, and only the 2nd time working away from home. She was such a good girl and was really not bothered by the stress of lots of people and dogs and a different work environment. Her class that she competed in was a Novice class designed for experienced handlers to run their young up-and-coming dogs. It was a fairly complicated course, with taking sheep in and out of 3 different paddocks, through obstacles, and had to pen her sheep at the end. Something she has never done! She ran the whole course just perfectly and actually came 2nd out of 8 dogs! Only 10 seconds behind the winning dog. I was so happy with her! Her future as a trial dog is looking very promising! She is so smart and has such great stock-sense. She really thinks about what she is doing and how to handle her sheep. She has really grown up in the last few months. I hope she passes her smarts on to her pups
Which brings me to my other news...Millie has come into heat. Early! Over a month early! So, she will be bred to Marvelous Marvin in about 10 days. I can't wait. These pups are going to be great! They should arrive mid-January. Hopefully it is a nice winter!
More news soon!...
October 27th, 2011:
Here are some photos of Boomer's run at the Paxton Valley trial. I also posted some more photos of the pups on the puppies page. A big thanks to Kathy Williams for taking such gorgeous photos! Please check them out. I have many more so I will rotate photos in about a week or so. She got some gorgeous pictures. Our next trial is on Novemeber 5th. It is the opening arena trial to the Stirling Acres series. Always lots of fun!
October 21st, 2011:
Wow, where did 3 weeks go since my last blog entry! Sorry about that. Well, today Zoey left to her new home. Owain had left on the 12th, so only Zoey had been around for the last 10 days. What an amazing little pup. I am going to really miss her. She was getting to be quite a member of the pack around here and has such a hillarious personality. Now I have an empty nest. But I am looking forward to having a litter of pups with Millie for the first time this winter. That should be very interesting!
October 8th and 9th was the Paxton Valley sheep dog trial. Diesel and Boomer attended this trial. It was a very pretty trial field and graciously hosted by Holly and Len Brunner. Diesel had a couple of excellent runs. Although we didn't get our shed either day which cost us from being in the top of the class., I was still very happy with him, and us placing 12th overall out of 34 in our second Open trial is nothing to complain about. Boomer also did well in Pro-Novice, although he is still struggling with his worry about the setout crew on his outrun. Although there was improvement since his last trial so that is all that mattered. He will get over his nerves. He is only a 2 year old and doing far better than many at his age. I can't complain to much about him being trial nervous, I still feel like I am going to be sick with butterflies in my tummy before each of my runs. Something we both need to work on! My friend Kathy did get some photos of Boomer's run so I will post them soon. I did post her photos of the pups so do take a look at those on my puppies page!
As for farm news, thankfully the turf farm is starting to go dorment for the winter and my extremely busy job of keeping the whole farm green and mowed is coming to an end. I look forward to having days off and training my dogs! I guess in my world there is something nice about cold, wet weather! That spells holiday!
October 1st, 2011:
The Adventures of Owain and Zoey!!... It has been a week now since Honey, Bo and Lily went on to their new families. All are doing very well and their life adventures have begun. Owain and Zoey are still here and now run the same routine as the big dogs. Each morning they come with me and the dogs and do the farm sprinklers. The rambunctious pair tumble along beating each other up as they go, and get to experience a long walk around the farm. They get to be around the loud motors of the wheel-lines starting and rolling over head, see tractors and machinery working in the distance, and meet my brother's German Shepherd from time to time. They tumble through ditches and mud and have now mastered crossing the bridge across the creek. They are real farm dogs now! They come home looking like a pair of muddy little rug-rats! They are also getting used to riding on a golf cart when I am tired of walking. They make me laugh every day! Ironically they are the alpha male and alpha female of the litter so they each can give as good as each gets. They rough-house so hard sometimes that I carry one just to give the other a break. Usually Zoey. She is so tough and drives poor Owain crazy by constantly using her herding "eye" and blocking his every step. Then she pounces on him and they tumble in a scrap with Owain sending her rolling. But she is up and back at it again with double the determination. They are the best of friends, and after they have gotten tired of playfighting, they curl up together in a little furball and fall asleep. It will be a bit more boring around here when thery leave!
I guess I should also give an update on Mr. Marvin. I think we have finally pin-pointed his injury. Thanks to seeing a specialist and then being reffered to just an amazing physiotherapist we have discovered that Marvin has torn his Teres Major muscling in his shoulder, along with developing bicep tendonitis. Poor guy. He has substancial muscle waisting in his shoulder and some shoulder instability due to the torn muscling. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the damage can be healed. It will be a long road of rest combined with physiotherapy and rehabilitation before Marvin may be fit for work again. I hope that it can be successfully healed and he can return finally to the trial field. He was my rising star as a trial dog and I had such high hopes for him. I hope that he can get back there and be the Champ I know he is.
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