During playtime after puppy class, it was fun to see Emma and Will play together for just a short time. They usually are so caught up with the new puppies that they don't usually interact much at the class. But tonight, Emma found a new toy that she quite liked, and she had to share it with Will. She took it over to show him and they had a little tussle with it under the ramp. Fun.

Playtime at puppy class


Emma meets Frank, a chocolate Lab puppy

Last night was Puppy Class #3, and it went considerably better than last week. Will and Emma both did well on most of the things they were to do. They both respond really well to their names now, even though we are to continue practicing this every day so there is no doubt about it. It’s all tied to the recall command. You have to be sure they not only know their name but respond to it each and every time you use it. The key is to not use it in anger or as a reprimand, which is very, very difficult!

They were also both good with the sit-stay and down-stay, even when distracted by Karen, the teacher. However, when it came to walking a straight line beside us, well, this was a different story. Will did not want to walk, look at me or pay any attention to me whatsoever. All he wanted to do was look around the room and watch what the other puppies were doing. It was all I could do to get him to the end of the 10 foot line of cones without dragging him. Emma was better, but not too much better. Most of the pups were about the same, until we got to Otis, the blond labradoodle. We were all impressed with Otis, the blond labradoodle, and his mom, Gina. She had him prancing right along beside her the whole way, with her confident and encouraging voice calling out ‘Walk with me’ the whole way. She didn’t even really need to coax with a treat, but did hold it in her left hand down by her side to attract the usually shy and fluffy Otis. They were so good they really deserved applause!

Needless to say, we will be practicing walking properly this week, and using the command ‘walk with me’, which sounds a lot better than ‘let’s go’. It’s worth a try!

Always watching!

Emma watches skiers in the distance

Will watches his herd (us)!

Will and Emma are 3 months (13 weeks) old today. They are coming along quite nicely with their training, especially considering that they are just 3 months old. We’ve been practicing the things we learned at class last Monday, even though the class was a bit frustrating, especially for Will. Both pups had their first visit to the vet that afternoon, and were definitely not feeling their best afterwards. I wish I had known there would be side effects of the shots, for I would have scheduled their vet visit for a non-class day.

They had a whole series of shots, including their first rabies shot, boosters of leptospira, parvovirus, distemper and a deworming pill. It is interesting to note that the first rabies vaccine is given here at 12 weeks, while in Canada it is not done until 16 weeks of age. Poor little Emma didn’t even make it home before she vomitted up her lunch, and big Will had the unfortunate experience of doing it in the middle of the puppy class. I didn’t even realize it was him at first, thinking it was one of the other pups that was closeby. Poor Will couldn’t keep anything down, and had to suffer through the rest of the class, mostly watching but did try to do a some of the lessons. There were no treats for rewards, though, since he had no interest at all in food, and he would not have kept them down anyway.

They actually quite liked the vet, Dr. Goldman, and his assistant, though. The ride to the office went well, and they didn’t seem to mind the crate quite as much as before. According to the advice we have had, I made separate appointments and took each one separately. We are determined to have these pups become as independent as two sibling pups raised together can be. I think Dr. Goldman thought I was a little eccentric, but I am going to do this since I have the time right now. Maybe when they are older it will be different, but for now, I will make this effort to separate them whenever possible.

Homework exercises for the class have included practicing sit and down, sit-stays, leave it (with food), and even a down-stay. Jim has been working with Emma on a down-stay and she is doing quite well. He walks around the room, leaves the room and returns and she is still waiting in her ‘stay’ position. I have not been practicing this quite as much with Will, but he is really getting the hang of it too.

A little fresh air and play

We took the pups to the golf course again both yesterday and today for a good run outdoors. It was tricky with the two of them, but we practiced the recall with them and they both loved to run to my call ‘come’. It is amazing that the old school of thought was that a puppy could not learn these things until about six months of age, but these two are just like sponges for any new challenge. They love to learn new things, and of course, this breed loves to have a job to do. Right now, their job is to learn.

Jim was testing their ‘herding’ instinct a bit today at the golf course. He would run a little from one side to the other, and they both would run with him. Each time he turned a different way, they would immediately follow, back and forth, and back and forth. No nipping, either!

For a change, Jim took a turn with Will and I walked with Emma today. Will is very possessive of me already, so it’s a good idea for us to trade-off once in a while. He doesn’t like it if I am too close to Emma, so we will have to work on this before it gets out of control.

Going for a Walk

We have added a walk to our daily routine now that the pups are old enough. Since they are still getting used to the whole idea of a walk, I am taking them one at a time around the neighbourhood. Will gets to go first, at least so far, since he is the one that I need to take out for 'duties' most often. On that note, Emma is pretty well house trained now, but Will still has a long way to go. Maybe one day he'll just 'get it' but for now, it's necessary to take him out every hour and a half or so. It's always a surprise if I get home after running errands and his pen is dry. One day they will both be trained, but we're not sure how long it will take.

They both absolutely love the walk, even after only a couple so far. Will loves to look and sniff at everything and Emma is so alert to every little noise in the air. Today the sirens rang to call the firemen to the fire station and she was fascinated with all the noise, but not scared. She was so excited to be walking that she wanted to rush ahead, and pulled too much on the leash. We had to do the 'red light, green light' training and after about 8 attempts, she began to walk with the leash loose. And today she walked nicely without pulling at the leash the whole way. She does learn quickly.

Will doesn't seem to pull like Emma. He is just so enthralled with everything that he sees and hears. Yesterday, Will and I walked down to the end of the street where there are two little dogs that bark to warn us not to come too close. Tobie always just ignored them when they were out. But Will was startled and didn't know what was happening. He just wanted to get away! I don't think he's used to the sound of dogs barking other than his own and Emma's!

Peaceful playtime with Will and Emma

The pups have now discovered how wonderful the soil in my potted plants tastes! I have just a few houseplants, most of them are very large and are on the floor, in plain view and easy access. I’ve been pushing my luck, I guess, since they have not paid attention until now. We had said only the day before that the plants need to be moved upstairs out of sight, but I had not done it yet. I guess we should have done it when we thought about it! It would have saved me a little upset.

I had both pups out of their playpens, and was playing with them happily in the family room. As she sometimes does, Emma ran off to the living room, but didn’t come back right away like she usually does. They were both on their leashes, and I should have grabbed hers before she took off, but didn’t think she would be long, since they both love their together-time. Suspicious, I took Will by the leash to investigate. I found Emma happily helping herself to the soil in the big pot of coleus cuttings I had set on the floor - her favorite new snack! I told her "Leave it" but to no avail. She would have nothing of it, and kept feasting. When I got close enough, I put my foot on her leash so she wouldn’t run off again, but she turned and ran anyway.

Then all hell broke loose! Her fourteen pounds of body weight was enough to flip me up off my feet, and before I knew it, I was trying to save myself from landing on the pups as they both scrambled at the sound of my scream. With my feet flailing, I landed on my side on the stool that was beside the plant, and luckily not on the pups. They both climbed all over me as I tried to rescue myself from further injury by tooth and claw, and got myself to my feet again. The poor pups didn't really know what happened, and must have thought it was all part of the game. Needless to say, that ended the play session, and now all the potted plants that were on the floor have been moved to one of the bedrooms upstairs, safely out of sight and temptation. I now have a nice bruise on my ribs to remind that puppy-proofing the house is something I need to do as soon as I realized they are tempted by something, not after a disaster happens!

Wide open spaces at Old Farms Golf Course

Jim throws the ball-on-a-rope

Look at them go!

Will loves to run

Emma loves the snow

First Trip to the Park

Will and Emma are 12 weeks old this weekend, and had their first trip to the public park. We have kept them at home until now, since their immunity is not fully developed until 12 weeks of age. To be safe, we didn't want to take any chances on exposing them to anything they shouldn't be in touch with, such as other dog feces.

This was a big day for them, and hopefully is the first of many more to come. Hopefully, they will get to like the car ride when they know that there is something fun afterwards! Emma is getting better in the crate, and since it is tricky to get them both into the crate at one time, I just held onto Will while Jim drove the half mile to the Old Farms Golf Course. I had discovered this was a good place to let the dogs play when I was there the other day to take a few photos of the midwinter sunset. Lots of people were walking the links with their dogs. It's wide open, on the hilltops looking over the Farmington Valley and a perfect spot for two wild and wooly little puppies to play.

It was a lot of fun for them and us. Jim threw the rope toy for them to chase and they loved running free. The snow was cold and crunched as we walked. It was frozen so hard that they flew across the surface, not leaving any footprints at all. We didn't stay out too long because of the cold, but they had some pretty good exercise and lots of fresh air. It was a real treat for all of us to get out of the house!

Homework

Yesterday was the first day of my Master Gardener class and also the first day that I did not spend almost the entire day taking care of puppies since we got them. Jim works about five minutes away from home, so he came home at lunch for puppy duty. If this wasn’t possible, I would have withdrawn from the program, I think. It isn’t fair to the small pups to leave them for such a long time, but I guess many people do. I am fortunate that I am not working right now so that I can raise these little guys.
Jim tried something at lunch that I would not recommend. He took both puppies outside at the same time! All they wanted to do was their usual: play fight and rumble the entire time. He said he had to walk with his arms out wide to keep them apart, but they still just wanted to play. He did say though, that when one finally did it’s duties, the other one held off and just waited till it was done. That’s consideration for you.
Today, I am trying to get into a good routine with Will and Emma. It’s pretty ad hoc normally, but I am determined to get some training time with each of them in the morning, afternoon and the evening (hopefully with Jim’s help in the evening). We practiced the homework assignment from the class on Monday (name recognition, sit, down and stand). We even did some ‘leave it’ and ‘take it’ practice, which I read in our puppy training book. This is easier than I thought to train, but will require lots of reinforcement.
Start by giving a treat, then saying take it at the same time. Do this 3 times. The next task is to hold a treat firmly in your hand, let the puppy sniff it and go after it, but keep it firmly in your hand. He eventually will settle down and move away from your hand, and at that moment, open your hand and say ‘take it’ and give him the treat. Repeat this sequence over and over, progressively increasing the amount of time of no contact before giving him the treat. After he is able to wait about 10 seconds without touching your hand, hold the treat between your thumb and finger and say ‘leave it’. When he is still then allow him to ‘take it’. Then try laying the treat on the floor, and say ‘leave it’. Eventually, try placing it on his front leg while he is lying down, and say ‘leave it’. Learning this command could save the dog in many a risky situation! We are definitely going to practice this one.

Will and Emma share a toy

We survived our first Puppy Kindergarten class with our two wild and crazy puppies! There were at least 10 other puppies there, all in the 10 to 16 week age group. Three chocolate labs, 2 standard poodles, 2 labradoodles, a vishla, .... and at least two humans for each puppy. There was also an adult dog, Maddie, the trainer’s ‘assistant’ and model for good behaviour. It was a room full of fun and puppiness.
Even before getting to the class, though, it was a real challenge to get the two of them into the crate in the back of the van. We didn’t realize that they were so afraid of it. They have not been in the van since we drove home to Connecticut from Burlington, Ontario, Canada, (where our families are and where we have a second home) shortly after Christmas. The all-day drive was probably more traumatic for them than we were aware. In the end, we managed to get Emma inside the crate, and I held Will in my arms to do the half-mile drive to the class. We realize that this means that car rides will now be added to our training agenda. They really need to be comfortable in a vehicle since we plan lots of short trips for hiking, training and visiting, as well as long trips to our second home.
The class began with puppy playtime. Will and Emma were happy to meet other puppies, and we were glad to see that they played with their new friends rather than each other. They were excited but did not play as aggressively with the new pups as they do with each other, which was a relief to see. After a few minutes of this playtime, we all sat in a circle to listen and watch the demonstrations. This might sound easy, but this was the biggest challenge of the whole evening! After a few minutes sitting side by side, I moved away from Jim and Emma to see if they would sit quietly to listen. Then began the second challenge, when all Will wanted to do was bark at the pups close by. Karen, the trainer, suggested using food to distract him, so I did this and it seemed to work somewhat. It was still a constant challenge and he eventually lost interest in the food. Thank goodness it was finally time to try some of the things she’d been demonstrating.
Karen used pups from the group to demonstrate the tasks for the evening. First,she showed how to teach the pups their name. It’s a simple process. You say the pup’s name, then when he looks at you in the eye, exclaim "yes" or "good boy" and reward immediately with a small tasty treat. It may take a few times to get him to look the first time, but then it is pretty reliable. I worked with Will to do this, and it took a few times to get his attention away from another pup, but I finally knew he had learned his name when he whipped his head around each time I said his name. More practice at home will help reinforce this.
The next thing we did was to learn how to teach sit and down with verbal commands as well as hand signals. Our puppies both know how to sit by verbal command, and to lie down with a treat, so this was something that we were anxious to learn more about. Again, using small treats as a reward, say sit and raise your hand straight up in front of them to get the pup to sit. This was easy. To get the pup to lie down, say down while moving your hand straight down in front of them. It was easier to do when I was down low to the ground, but I tried it with Will while standing up. This needs lots more practice.
There was also a guest speaker, a local veterinarian, who spoke about crate training for housetraining and to prevent destruction of the house even as they get older, what to use as treats to avoid weight problems and also how to teach the pups to be used to being handled by the vet or groomer. He recommended to hold the pup’s paws one at a time, spreading the toes in your fingers and handling each toe individually. This prepares them for grooming and also clipping their claws, which is something that each owner should be able to handle. Also, he showed how to open the mouth and rub the teeth so they are accustomed to getting their teeth brushed and checked at the vet. These things should be done daily until they are calm with it.
The class ended with more playtime. This time, Will and Emma seemed happy to watch what the other pups were doing, rather than getting really involved in playing. We tried to engage them in some of the play equipment. By throwing a ball through the long tunnel used in agility, I got Will to run through it a few times. He even walked up a long ramp, but was helped down carefully. Emma, who at home is the one that likes to explore small places, didn’t seem interested in the tunnel but really liked meeting new people. The puppies slowly filtered out with their owners, leaving the room much quieter than when we arrived. We have lots of homework to do before next week. On the top of the list: Take each puppy for a car ride!

Emma at 10 1/2 weeks

Will at 9 1/2 weeks

Memories of our dear Tobie

Saturday, January 10, 2009

I feel like I can’t go on about our treasured new puppies without saying a word about our beloved first border collie, Tobie. She meant the world to us, and was our forever friend. She passed away in the early hours of September 25, 2008 after a two year long battle with kidney disease. She was our dear companion for 14 and a half years, and it seemed our lives were planned to accomodate her needs as well as ours. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t take her for a walk in the morning, and sometimes in the evening too. She was always by my side, and became my constant companion when I was home. My husband worked out of the house for several years, and traveled extensively during that time. When he was home at work in his office, she would lay by his desk and keep him company as well. As the years went by, she became hard of hearing, had cataracts but could still see, and struggled with a bit of arthritis in her hips, but she still managed to live a very full and otherwise healthy and happy life. I will include a poem that I wrote shortly after her death. I will remember her smile and her unconditional love forever in my heart.

Constant Companion

She was always there to help us cope with changes in our lives,
When we moved to a new town, a new state, a new country,
When loneliness and homesickness could overwhelm,
She was a constant companion, our best friend.

When a job was lost, an old friendship helped to sort it all out,
A new routine took hold, running or walking in the park.
Every day became a new day, a new hope,
With an old friend always present to share the light.

The daily routine was never a bore with the best of friends alongside,
Even the walk to the end of the drive,
To get the mail or the paper became an adventure to share.
Never alone, always a friend in good times and bad.

Awakening in the morning, to say good morning to our friend at the foot of the bed,
Opening the door on return from the day, always there waiting to say hello,
Taking time for coffee and reading,
She was a constant companion forever present.

Now forever to live in our hearts and our dreams,
The memories will fade over time when things change and new memories are made,
But the never-ending love and the smile and the trust
Will remain with us forever in our hearts.

Puppy Playtime

Emma and Will with their pulltoy

Friday, January 9, 2008

Just what do you do with puppies in the winter? We’re right in the midst of a January freeze and it’s pretty tough to stay outside very long with them. The first week at home was a little milder so it was easier to take them for a walk around our wooded acre property, but now the snow has frozen over with an icy layer on top that makes walking our hilly backyard quite hazardous, not just for us, but for the not-so-sure footed puppies. There’s no point injuring any of us to get some fresh air, so I stay on the flat portion of the property, mainly on the front and two sides of the house. This is still interesting for the pups, since all they want to do outside is snack on each and every stick that they come across, and with so many trees on our property there’s real smorgasbord of sticks!
I took this chewing fetish to heart and on Jim’s suggestion, bought some stick-like rawhide chews for them. I bought a peanut butter flavor basted type, since Tobie’s favorite was peanut butter. They both love them. The first one occupied Will for an hour, until he had chewed it to a mushy mess and then it disappeared! He is now working on another one this morning, and is having fun with it, but tosses it out of his playpen periodically, as does Emma. They let out a little yelp for me to retrieve it for them, and when I do, they continue to chew happily. I hope these are the kind of thing that will save our sofa, rug, curtains, wooden furniture, and anything else when they get a little bigger and into teething time.
I am also trying to give them some playtime together a couple of times a day. They just love this together time, rolling about and grabbing each other by the fur, ear or tail. As I said, I will break it up when it starts to sound a little too vicious. I notice now that Emma will run to hide behind me to get a break from big brother Will. They seem to go at it a little less wild, even a few days into this playtime.
Yesterday, I gave them a rubber pull toy to play with together. They were glad to have something else to play with other than themselves, I think. Each took one end and pulled like crazy. With Will’s weight behind him, he can just drag Emma across the floor, which is pretty funny. Emma never gives up, though. She still tugs and tugs. It’s a much better way for them to use their energy. I have tried to get them to play with a rope toy together, but this isn’t as interesting to them. I’ll have to keep trying things to keep them interested, at least while we’re housebound during these cold winter days. I’m glad that we’re well into January already.
We are also looking forward to starting the Puppy Kindergarten classes with them on Monday. They will be ready by then to get out and meet new puppies and people. And they are ready to learn some new things. Or should I say that I’m ready for some training on how to teach them some new things. We’ve been working on sit and down since day one and I do reinforce this every day for a few minutes. I’ve started to try ‘sit up’ and ‘shake a paw’ and stay, but am not really sure how to teach the stay. They are familiar with the leash, since we use it every time we go outside. I guess we need to know how to get them to walk on it nicely. Jim tried the Red light, Green light technique with Will since he was such a puller on the leash. He would take a step and when Will pulled, he would stop and wait until he settled down or sat down. Then he would take another step, stopping again each time Will pulled. It does seem to help. It would make for a very slow walk, but hopefully with repetition this will prevent that pulling behavior.

Why two puppies?

Emma and Will at eight weeks

Thurs. Jan. 8, 2008

When we were a one-dog family, we were always thinking that it would be good to have another dog to be a companion for Tobie, our long-loved border collie. We also thought it would be nice for each of us to have a dog with us on our frequent walks and forays into the countryside. When we had our son’s dog with us for a time, it was not difficult to handle, and was actually fun to go for walks with both of them. I could even handle the two together myself with no issues. These were both adult dogs at the time, however.
We went looking for a pup not planning to get two of them. We had set our hearts on getting a female, mostly because that is what we had before, and we loved her immensely. It was when we saw the litter of fluffy little black and whites that my husband looked at me and said "Should we get two?" I guess the idea stuck and from that moment on we were fixated on which of the boys in the litter should we get. Since there was only one little girl, and since she seemed to pick us, we knew we were set with Emma. But there were two little boys that weren’t spoken for yet, and it was a tough choice between the two of them. Neither one of them was overly energetic, and both settled into my arms comfortably. The choice was made by me, with Jim actually stating it out loud, of the little boy that looked like he would resemble his father, Joe, who I had fallen for the moment I laid eyes on him. He was a beautiful, full-coated black and white border collie, with the softest eyes and most gentle face. I saw this in Will, and still do.
The puppies were only five weeks old when we chose them, so we had to wait till they were seven weeks, at the minimum. December 14 was the earliest date they could leave their mother, being fully weaned by then, and able to leave for the comfort of their new home. We weren’t actaully able to pick them up until eight days later than that, since it was a seven hour drive to the farm where they were born, and we had to plan around time-off and Christmas travel back to Canada.
In the meantime, we had oodles of time to explore the internet and books at the library on all kinds of puppy issues. One of those issues involved the raising of two puppies at the same time. Upon googling that term, I came across a website that proclaimed that all who attempt to do this must be near crazy, or stupid, or even insane. All comments on this website made us feel like we were the dumbest of the dumb to expect that this could be done. It was disaster from the word go, according to this supposed expert. There was more of the same on a couple of other websites, but there was also some reassurance and words of advice on how it could be done. Primarily, like the breeder had told us, it was most important to keep the puppies separate in separate crates, fed separately, go to training classes separately, and just about everything else they do should be independent of one another. Of course, this seems like it contadicts what we want - that is, two dogs that can be together and keep each other company. But now we realize, that will come later, once they are trained and have established themselves independently.
After reading all this doom and gloom, we both had second thoughts on what we had decided, and I emailed the breeder, who wrote back reassuring me that it is highly possible. She also said she had just discussed this very issue with someone who had purchased two siblings from her and said she would never do it any other way, since it has been such a good experience for her. She also reassured us that she would be there for us, if we had any problems or issues. So, we decided to stick with our plan to get the two puppies, and to do our best to follow all the recommended procedures to raise these pups as strong and independent dogs.
The Challenge of raising two puppies
So far, so good, but I do have say it is like raising twins, which I guess they are. The difficulty is that every trip outdoors to do ‘duties’ is done twice, every meal is prepared for two, every playtime must be split between two. It is easy enough when two of us are home, but when it is just one of us, which so far has been mostly me since I am the chief caretaker while Jim is at work, it is a fine balancing act.
It’s a matter of getting into a routine. The biggest time consumer is the duty walk. At this age, (ten and a half weeks) a puppie’s bladder can only hold urine for about two and a half hours, according to the books. On average, a pup can hold it for the number of hours equivalent to his number of months of age. Well, I might agree with this for our little girl Emma, but for our big boy Will, I would say that he hasn’t read the book. He goes when and almost anywhere he feels like. I think it’s the instinct that males have to mark their territory, and he started this even at eight weeks when we first brought him home. So, as the book says, we need to take them out every hour, on the hour. It is almost this often, but we don’t actually wake them if they are sleeping. We take them out as soon as we wake up in the morning, even if they’ve done their business in their pen. They are getting used to going outside to go, and are even getting better at going almost as soon we take them out. We were in the habit of standing or walking with them until they went, but have decided the cold winter days don’t allow for this. If they don’t go within five or even ten minutes, in the house they go, to come out again in a few minutes. Yes, this means many trips, but it is starting to give them the idea. Emma, as I said, is getting the hang of it and has had more good days than Will. As I said before, Will has longer to go, but it gives me hope to remember that one day they both will be trained, and they will be able to go out together. These weeks (or perhaps months) which seem endless now, will pass before our eyes. There is something to be said, however, about getting a pup in the springtime when you don’t have to bundle up and put your snowboots on every time you go out!
The next biggest challenge for us now is their playtime together. We really noticed that after about a week they would playfight in more and more of a vicious sounding way. We thought that we should not let them play with each other for awhile so we kept them apart for about five or six days. We re-introduced them to each other, and of course the playfighting continued with a loud sounding growling, and lots of pulling at each other and biting fur and shaking heads like they wanted to twist off the fur. We used some treats and tried to teach them to ‘settle’ when they got too loud. This seemed to work to slow them down, and to get their breath long enough to come up for air. We feel like we have a little control over them with this command. Now we let them be together about two or three times a day, and under supervision, they playfight to their hearts content, or until it starts to get a little too violent. We’ve been told that they need this time to ‘work it out’, but we want to let them know that we are there to monitor and to protect if it does get too rough.
We are trying to determine who is the alpha dog, and from the start it seemed that the little girl is really the one who’s aggressive and less submissive. She has the loudest growl, and grabs the tightest. Will seems to get into a submissive posture more often, and when he is on top, he uses his size and body mass to just hold her down. He is only a few pounds heavier, but seems a lot longer and wider than Emma. He is more gentle, but still has a tight grip and knows that he can garner a yelp if he grabs a wiggly tail as it tries to escape. Emma knows that her teeth are her best defence, second to her growl. She also is the more wiry and wily one, and will find a place to hide to escape her big brother. It does seem that the thing they love most is to play with each other, even if to us it seems like they are trying to kill each other.

Emma at 5 weeks

Will at 5 weeks

Our household has changed forever. Two weeks ago (December 22, 2008) my husband and I adopted two eight week old border collie puppies. In the two short weeks that we have shared our home with these two adorable and fluffy babies, we have both gone through our ups and downs. We’ve questionned our sanity and asked ourselves ‘what were we thinking’? Border collies (again)? TWO of them? Didn’t we learn our lesson with the first one we raised? We lost our dear, sweet Tobie after 14 and a half years of love, fun and companionship. I think we forgot about the first few demanding months, even years, of constant attention and training.

Again, I ask, what were we thinking? We are but two humans, and we should be at least four to handle just one pup, I am starting to think. Today is a particularly bad day for me. I have just spent my second day alone at home with the pups, and even though I was out for most of the morning doing my volunteer work, I think it’s hit home that this will be my life for the next few weeks or months. Puppies, puppies and more puppies. I am feeling the frustration of not being sure how to continue the training with these dear little beings.I need some training now. The Puppy Kindergarten classes can’t start soon enough. We have registered for classes that start next week, but I feel like I should be in them right now to ease my mind and give me a little instruction on how to proceed. We have mastered (more or less) sit, down and stand. Now we need some manners on the leash, and to know how to stop the incessant chewing on every little twig or stick or leaf that pops up through the snow.

Puppies and Personality

Let me introduce our new little loved ones, Will and Emma. Will is our bold and brash little boy border collie. He weighed 12 and a half pounds when we first brought him home, and has already grown to a hefty 15 pounds. He has the cutest, most endearing expression on his face, especially when he first wakes up. He is slow to wake fully, and loves to cuddle and roll around on the floor while he awakens. He is more of a chaser, and wants to bark at or chase anything that moves around him. This makes it quite difficult to wipe up his messes in his pen, but we are working on it. We are really concerned about getting this under control, since we don’t want to allow any obsessive compulsive behavior that we had with our Tobie.

Emma is our sweet and wiry little baby girl puppy. She is noticably smaller than her brother and weighed just 10 pounds when we first got her, and is now a feather-weight 12 pounds. She has more black on her face, and we nick-named her Emma LaPew when my sister claimed she looked like a skunk! She is trying not to live up to her name-sake, but what we found when we woke up this morning might confirm that the name fits her well! Emma loves to run and hide in small places. She has what we think is more of a herding instinct than her brother Will has. Rather than wanting to chase everything she sees, she runs around it, keeping her eye on the moving object, usually one of us. She is much more sensitive to sounds and loud noises than Will. This morning when we were outside waiting for the designated ‘duty’, the neighbor pulled out of her driveway, and honked her horn to say good-by, and startled poor little Emma almost our of her skin! I am not looking forward to the spring that will bring it’s booming thunder and lightening. We will have to deal with that when it comes.

Like Will, she is marked with the traditional black and white colors of the border collie, with a white ring around her neckline, while Will has more of a big white patch on the back of his neck. Their mother had a lot of tan on her face, but there is no indication of this on either of them, at least not yet. We were told by the breeder that both parents must have tan genes to pass on to the pups, and the father was just black and white, so unless he carries the gene, we will not see any tan on our pups.