Moses Lake Pups

I am seriously behind in posting the happenings in our lives...because, you know, Life gets in the way sometimes.

Last Wednesday we hopped in the car and drove 388 miles round trip to Moses Lake to meet these two pups.

Emma and Caryl (pronounced Karl). Click on their names to see their Bio's on PNW Border Collie Rescue website.

Emma and Caryl are being fostered by Pat in Moses Lake. Pat fostered Brynn and countless other litters of puppies. Sadly this last litter all came to her house with parvo, one puppy died but the rest survived and have been adopted. Emma is a little fighter, she spent four days at the vet overcoming the infection. Caryl luckily never contracted it.

The differences between these two pups is like night and day. They are in that awkward stage between puppy and adult dog. They are lanky, goofy but oh so cuddly.

Emma is a tiny little thing. I doubt it if she will get above 25 lbs fully grown.



Emma's ears are almost as big as her head.



Can we say FAST? Wow...


Emma is confident, independent with a goofy sense of humor.



She is such an affectionate monkey.


To get an idea just how petite and tiny Emma is...here is a picture (badly lit, sorry) of Emma near Brynn. Look at the difference in the size of Emma's head compared to Brynn who weighs 28 lbs.



Caryl is much larger than Emma. Pat was told this litter came from working parents in southern Oregon. Uhhh, say what?




Perhaps Caryl is a throw back, but he sure looks like mom romanced a Sherman Tank along the way.


Caryl may look tough, but he is all love and affection. He likes to give hugs, kisses & snuggle in your lap.


But his moves are typical border collie puppy... herdy & intense.



Smart little fart



Caryl has an boo boo on his back, that required sutures but is healing nicely now.



He loves to watch the other dogs, race after them and bring them back.



I sure hope someone can see past the goofy ears, simple coloring, and awkward looks. Whoever does will get a wonderful little dog. Pat & her husband Bob do such an amazing job with their litters.


Both of these pups are beautifully socialized, have wonderful manners and are just plain fantastic little pups.



I wish I had 500 acres and the ability to care for more dogs than I have now.

I would be a weird dog lady. You know the one....the strange woman who smells funny, has oodles of dogs, doesn't speak to people but talks to her dogs all the time. Shoots at strangers who come onto her property...treats her dogs like children

Wait...that is me now - without the 500 acres of course.

Kiddo's New Home

Remember Kiddo?

Kiddo went to his new home on July 25th. We wanted to give him a one week trial period with his new mom so she could be completely sure he was going to fit into the household.

I am pleased to announce - he has found his forever home.

Kiddo's new name will be Brill.

This last week we went to see Kiddo/Brill. The girls were so happy to see him. Brill assumed his typical position, right on Beth's butt.

Where Beth went, Brill went.

Brill will be living with Cindy in Yelm, WA on a sheep farm with three other border collies.

Kryll, who is the resident toy-boy. Kryll never really turned on to sheep, but loves his ball.

This lovely lad is Kael. He is Kryll's father.

And finally the old guy, who is retired



Cindy will be training Brill for sheep dog trials and eventually teaching him how to move a flock of 500 + sheep along with Kael.

Cindy has been slowly exposing Brill to sheep and is doing a wonderful job with him.

Cindy is a quiet and gentle trainer. Rarely raising her voice.

Brill is a gem. They make a wonderful team!

We will be seeing Brill often as Cindy is a new friend and has invited us over to work sheep with her.

Cindy gave me a chance to work both Beth and Bonnie.

Being on new sheep is a wonderful thing. The sheep at Fido's are nice, but every time I send Beth on an outrun the sheep start running to me the minute my dog leaves my feet. It encourages the habit of slicing the top of the outrun off and a host of other problems.

Cindy's sheep are not like that. They do not want to be near the dog, or the person. This is exactly what Beth needs..and exactly what I need as an inexperienced handler.

We need practice on lifting sheep calmly and in a controlled manner.

As opposed to chasing the sheep across the field like a bat out of hell in a chaotic manner.

Bonnie hasn't been on sheep like this before. Cindy went out in the field with me to help.

Cindy believes in putting 'stand' on young dogs. We have decided to remove the 'lie down' command from Bonnie for now instead of making it a point of contention - and not progressing in her training. I want to keep training light and positive to prevent Bonnie from shutting down as she has in the past. My goal is to build confidence and ignite her spark.

Right now I want a stop or a stand, then as long as the next step she takes is correct I am not going to stop her. Later when I have had a chance to have her hips evaluated at the vet (rule out pain) and she has built some confidence on stock I will implement a non-negotiable 'lie down'.

This means we are doing some running in the field to keep ahead of her and the sheep. A good tool to help Bonnie and reduce the fat on my butt at the same time.

It is wonderful to find someone you have things in common with. It seems to get harder and harder as an adult to find new friends. You make 'work' related friends, then there are 'neighbors' and or people you meet in passing, but a person with whom you have things in common that you enjoy spending time with is harder to find..and something to be valued.

Thank you Cindy for providing a loving home to Brill & for being a new friend.

Kiddo, Emma Rose, Sheep & Brynn

My life is getting in the way of blogging again.

We have a new foster dog, he arrived on Saturday. Meet Kiddo!



Kiddo came to us via a stock dog breeder in southern Oregon.



Apparently Kiddo showed up at the breeders ranch over the 4th of July. Since the breeder had a few bitches coming into season they wanted to prevent an accidental breeding so they called rescue.



Kiddo is approx 6 months old, absolutely adorable & the spitting image of Beth.



Kiddo may have been mishandled in the past. He is hand shy and VERY submissive. Kiddo is going under the knife to lose his little boy bits on Wednesday.



Tomorrow Kiddo is going to meet the puppy sheep at Fido's Farm. I cant wait. He was already tested on goats while in foster care in Oregon.

Please stop by and check out Kiddo's listing on PNW Border Collie Rescue

Saturday evening Vicki came over with several of her dogs and her new foster for a BBQ along with some neighbors.

View some fun pictures of a whole'lotta border collies in one small back yard here
Border Collie Party on Flickr

Saturday morning we met Emma Rose's family at Vicki's where they were visiting another of Vicki's fosters, Bess. Click here to view Bess's Pictures on Flickr.

Bess and Emma Rose



Emma Rose brought along her big brother Bear. He is a big black lab chunk of love...



They were hoping to adopt Bess but the chemistry between all of the dogs just didn't feel right.



That's okay Emma... the perfect combination is out there somewhere!



Emma Rose sure loves her mom



After our meet and greet with Bess we conned Emma Rose and her parents into following us down the road a few miles to Fido's Farm where I volunteered to test Emma on sheep. What fun we had!



Emma is loaded with natural talent. Obviously she is a Bossie (Border Collie/Aussie)



She was holding the sheep to me, keeping them all together, maintaining a nice distance without one single grip.



She was a very good girl!



Emma Rose wrote about her exiting day meeting Bess and later herding sheep at Fido's Farm on her post titled Dreaming in Black and White.

That brings us to Monday. To start off our busy week Brynn had an appointment at the vet for her spay surgery today.



She knows the vet too well - she spent enough time there recovering from Parvo. When she realized she was there she planted her little paws into the parking lot and wasn't going to move. I had to pick her up and carry her through the doors. I felt terrible.

Send some lovin' thoughts to Brynn...she needs it. My poor baby...

Does Your Tongue Hang Low?

Does your tongue hang low?




Does it wobble to and fro?




Can you tie it in a knot?




Can you tie it in a bow?




Can you throw it o'er your shoulder like a continental soldier?




Does your tongue hang low?

Now that I have that song stuck in my head. Let me ask you a question...

Does this look like the face of evil?



Holli thinks Beth is bat-sh*t crazy.



Holli told me that when I was checking her whole body for bite wounds right after Beth tried to take a chunk out of Holli's nose. Poor old girl.


Beth has a problem. We think she is a ball-rage-aholic




Beth does not play well with others.



Holli doesn't care, she is a happy girl.



Yesterday a lovely retired couple came to visit her and they want to adopt her! They recently lost their 15 y/o border collie and are familiar with the needs of a senior dog. It takes a special family to adopt a senior dog.

I was going to take Holli to her new home today but we need to make a trip to the vet first. Yesterday Holli was stricken by the worse case of bloody diarrhea I have ever seen. She is still eating well, devouring her food like a maniac, however she is squirting large amounts of bloody runny poo out her backside on a regular basis.

Egads I feel like I am marooned on an island in the sea of runny poo.

I told her adoptive family about her changing condition and they said they would take her to the vet - but I cannot place a dog in this condition. I am hoping and praying it is something simple - from the stress of being dumped at the shelter then moved to two foster homes. (Just in case you are wondering...It isn't the cherries, we have them all picked up).

Say a prayer for Holli...that she is healthy enough for her new home very soon.

UPDATE: We went to the vet (thank goodness they are open 24 hours a day). The vet is treating her for stress induced colitis. She should be fine and is going to her new home tomorrow afternoon! YEEEHAW!