A Special Request

I have had a special request by my friend Donna to show my ornament collection...they are not super expensive items, but they are all special to me, & of course they all hold some special meaning.....I have also included my cherished teddy collection, as well as my collie collection!

No More Mister Nice Guy!

Don't let that innocent face fool you!......there lurks a devilish side to Tate!
Tate is what I would call "perfect" & by that I mean he has never done anything wrong...ever...even as a puppy. He didn't chew, he didn't mess in the house, well maybe a couple of times!, he doesn't steal food, even if there is a plate left right in front of him...so, you get my drift.
In the last 2 days I have noticed some missing food items.....
Yesterday I gave the dogs one of those hard milk bone-chew a lots...Kort licked all the good stuff off, then I put the rest of it on top of his giant kennel in the living room, thinking he could have the rest when we got home from work.....but, it was missing when I got home. I just thought I put it somewhere else & had forgotten where. This morning I made Tate's breakfast, & had his joint medication on the kitchen table. The joint medication is a liver flavoured soft chew.....anyway, I was taking Kort outside, so I put down Tate's breakfast.....when we came back in Tate had eaten his breakfast, & that soft chew was missing!!! It took me a minute to realize that Tate must have stolen it off of the table!.....then I put 2 & 2 together & figured out he must have stolen the milk bone yesterday too!
I think having Kort in the house has put a little "attitude" into my Tate!
Good for you Tate, now if you would just tell Kort off when he's hanging from your tail!

Oh Happy Day!

After 2 months of waiting & back ordering, Kort's new bowl set arrived! He had been using my old bowls from my very first collie Ben.......yes, I still had them! The stand had to be thrown out as it was so rusty, so his bowls were just at ground level. I prefer my dogs to eat from raised bowls. When Kort arrived at the end of June, he couldn't even reach into Tate's, & now he can! He was very excited to try his own out this morning, & now he feels all grown up, just like big brother Tate!

Tate's Eating Area......

Kort's Eating Area......

He looks like such a big boy now!

What a Great Weekend!

I had so much fun this weekend, yesterday I went the the herding trials, & this afternoon I drove to Fort McLeod to meet up with Marilyn Clayton & her smooth collie Zephyr. Marilyn in on a campaign trail right now & competeing in multiple venues with Zephyr. She gave me a call to say she would be travelling through & suggested we meet up. We have never met before, only chatted through e-mails. She was as wonderful in person as I thought she would be, & Zephyr was just as I had imagined. What an athlete this dog is, he is 5 yrs old, 1 year younger then Tate, & I'll tell you he looks like he's 1. He is in top condition, & the muscles!!!

Zephyr is my doggy hero!!, he is multi titled on both sides of the border, in conformation, as well as performance...this dog does it all, even carting! He is the only collie with a draft dog title.

We got the dogs all together for a meet & greet & they all got along great! We went for a nice long walk, even Kort kept up with the big boys!, & then we stopped for a photo shoot before going off for lunch...here are 3 of my favourites.

Marilyn with the dogs.....Tate co-operated for this one & put his ears up!.....

This is Zephyr & Kort, Kort has his paw across Zephyr's!! I think Zephyr is his hero too!

And of coarse Tate & Zephyr, Tate was back to his usual, ears back, hateing having his picture taken look!!..... By the way, today Kort is 12 weeks old!

It's Good To Be Quirky!!!

Today Amanda & I drove out to Alta-Pete Farm to watch the herding trials. It was fun to see a trial, even though it is not something that I choose to participate in at this time.

I brought Kort with me for some socializing & he was wonderful. He met a baby which he loved the fingers & toes of, & a toddler named Gwen. Interestingly enough, Gwen & Ollie's parents own a smooth collie that they got from the same kennel as Kort!

Any hoo....today as you know was super dooper hot.....when we got out out to the trial site Amanda laughed at me as I had brought out not only my chair, but one of those dog show matts to put on the ground for Kort to lay on....the grass was really hard & prickly!!! I wanted to bring out my umbrella but Amanda insisted we wouldn't need it, & she was already embarrassed by her quirky friend that had brought out the matt for her puppy to lay on!! Even though I was baking hot , I thought, ok, if no one else needs an umbrella, I can be an Albertan & tough it out too.......10 min later I hear, "maybe you should get that umbrella!" HA! I love when I'm right!!, quirky, but right!! Once I set up the umbrella it was such a relief to be out the sun, Kort laid down under it right away, & little Gwen & her baby brother Ollie had a cool place to hang out too......

So, I just had to rub it in, but I am glad I'm quirky & I think Amanda was glad today too!

These pictures are not of today's trial , but pictures from Donna's blog, Spiritdance Tracking, I thought they would be appropriate to add to the post, & I hope Donna doesn't mind that I have added them here. That is Donna's Jet working sheep in the first 2 pictures, in the first one she is just a puppy. The last picture is of Alasdair MacRae & Star, he is one of the top handlers. They won this trial, & a few weeks later, won the US National trial!

Puppies

I can't get enough of taking pictures of my dogs.....especially when they are puppies...they grow so fast I want to remember everything!

I think that is really why I started this blog, so I could show other people all my pictures!!!

This picture of Kort was just taken a few minutes ago, I snuck onto the computer for a moment, but then realized it was too quiet....thinking the worst, like where is that booger peeing now!, I went looking, & here's where I found my little angel, fast asleep in his kennel...awwww!! Here's a picture of Tate in July 02....1 week older then Kort is right now.....another awwwww!

It's a Plane, It's a Bird, ....Nope, It's Just Chewy!!

Chewy is our resident cat at Paws On The Run...she is the greatest cat I have ever met!

Wendy captured this picture of her about to pounce on Kort, it's a little blurry but I love it!!.....she was laying waiting for him behind the packsack, then struck at the first opportunity!

Kort & Chewy play together everyday for a bit when I get to work, Kort loves her!

Kort, 3 weeks later!

When I first posted the picture of Kort in his favourite sleeping spot , it was exactly 3 weeks ago.....at that time my friend Donna suggested that I continue to take pictures there so I can see how fast Kort is growing...I didn't realize how much he has grown until I compared the picture from 3 weeks ago, at 8 weeks, and the one I took tonight, at 11 weeks!

July 2nd 08.........

July 22 08........

Do you think I'll have to buy a new tv. stand for him soon?? !!!

So I know I haven't posted about Tate much lately, but rest assured he is still the spoiled & very much loved top dog the house. The problem is, Tate hates having his picture taken!! I don't even have a nice one of the two of us , & he's 6 yrs old!! I am hoping that at some point Wendy & I will get together to take a couple.

Tate still avoids Kort, but when Kort is asleep, I have seen Tate sneak over to sniff Kort, so I know he's interested in this little brown bundle, however, I think that Tate would have rather that I brought home Dave's chickens!! Tate loves chickens! & as you can see by the pictures, the chickens took a fancy to Tate too!

I'm Back!

Hey there!! , it's hard to believe 4 days have gone by since I last blogged.....my how one little puppy can keep you so busy!!

I still don't have his ears done....can't seem to find anything to stick, hopefully soon!

We're still potty training, slow but sure.....

These pictures are from Fri. after work, Kort had a little play session with Wendy's dog Lacey, they had a great time......he's growing fast & looking good!

Kort at 11 weeks........

This picture I took today, after he made sure all his prized posessions were around him(a stick, a glove, & a paper towel roll), he had a little nap!

Ears!!!

Well, today was the day that I finally had to remove the brace & moleskin from Kort's ears. They were original from when I picked him up from the breeders & they were starting to fall out. It is the only thing about having a collie that I dislike....dealing with those ears for 6 months or so. It is scary because if you do them improperly , you can wreck your show puppies ears! Yikes!

So, after 45 min . of a listening to a screaming wiggly puppy, (he's just a brat, not in pain!) I got them removed!! Yippee for me! Then, I got on the phone with Dave , Kort's breeder to give him my thoughts on how "well" he put them in!! Dave was his usual happy self, & in the middle of whelping a litter too!......he calmed me down & told me what to buy to remove the adhesive with ease! Thank you Dave!!! You would think I have never had a show collie before, I did both Drake & Tate's ears, & they turned out pretty good, don't know what my problem is this time, yeesh!

I have included a few pictures of Kort with his ears out, I will be putting them back in tommorrow, so I thought everyone would like to see how different he looks without his little "nubs"......hopefully putting them in will be easier then taking them out!

Never Under Estimate Your Puppy!

Since Kort came home 2 weeks ago I have been working on the basic obedience commands with him. We do sit, down, & come. We have also started basic "tug" work for reward & I've started attempting (LOL!) to stack him for show.

I thought I was doing alot until Amanda showed me a video of a border collie puppy & what he is doing at such a young age!

So, last night & this morning I have begun getting him to touch my hand on command, I have pulled out his baby dumbell & he is now touching it will his nose. We have moved 2 or 3 steps with him in heel position & then a right turn.....all is going well! It's not anything formal, I'm not even using words, just getting him to follow my hand/leg when I move, while luring him with treats at this point. I'm having a blast trying to think up some new things to try, tonight I will be introducing him to a glove so I can begin the basics of indicating for tracking......don't worry, sessions only last no more then 5 minutes, so he is not being over worked or getting bored!!

Kort tugging.......First attempt at stacking!.....

Blessings

With the arrival of Kort 2 weeks ago, my life has now been blessed with 4 wonderful collies. It is hard to believe that 33 years have gone by since I got my first one.....I have been lucky to have been trusted by wonderful breeders, enough to sell me really wonderful dogs. In these pictures I look back on the beginning of it all, when they first came into my life.

Each collie has brought something new to my life & taught me different things.....

Ben....he was my beginner collie, in him I had my first obedience dog & we received our Am Can CD & 2 CDX legs......here I am at 15!!!!, my sister is 10, & Ben is 8 weeks!

Drake....my first show dog, in him I had my first champion & herding group winner, as well as an AmCan CD...this is me picking him up at the airport in Minneapolis....he was 16 weeks old.....

Tate...what can I say about Tate, he's a show dog, my first/only tri colour collie!!, my first tracking, agility, & rally dog!...we've had alot of fun together!! This is Tate 2 days after bring him home at 12 weeks....

And now, Kort......I wonder what he has in store for me? An OT.CH.(obedience trial champion) perhaps!!! Stay tuned! Isn't it great to have dogs in our lives!

The many sleeping positions of Kort!

Kort makes me laugh in some way everyday, it is soooo fun to have a puppy again(except for the potty training!) This was Kort this morning trying to get comfortable in his favorite spot , but just not realizing that he is growing, & he won't fit there forever!
He actually slept in that position for at least a half hr., I could not stop laughing!

Photo Shoot

I sure love having a talented photographer at my finger tips!! Wendy came by on Tues. night & took approx. 180 pictures of Tate & Kort!!
These are a few.....

I like these pictures of Tate & Kort as they look like they are playing together.....but actually Tate is running for the toy, & Kort is chasing him...I know they will play together someday, just not right now!

Tate & I steal a quiet moment.......Tate, before "hair & makeup" !!.....

Tate, after "hair & makeup" !!.....

Kort poses for Wendy.....
Wendy told me my favourite picture would be the one with the piece of grass hanging out of Kort's mouth, she was right!!

Don't Tell Tate!!!

While Tate was sleeping last night, Kort got ahold of clammy!!! Boy oh Boy, I'm glad Tate didn't know!!! I was able to take a couple of shots of him playing with it before he headed off to his favourite sleeping spot!, & Tate was none the wiser...whew!