Milo - Border Collie

Relief!  The turf is down, the fence is up and all is looking good! :o)

 

Just in time, as the pups are 6 and half weeks and Milo comes home next Friday. My daughter's really annoyed as she wanted to pick him up and her A-Level Art Exam is on that day!

 

I went to see him this morning and his nature is already shining through.  He loves both tuggies and ball chasing.  He also very much loves his cuddles, coming up to give numerous kisses :)

 

I couldn't resist and raided the toy shop yesterday.  We have kongs, balls, tuggies, balls on ropes, cuddly toys, rubber chew bones and my favourite - a string of rubber sausages!

Yesterday Milo and his litter sisters went for their Eye and BAER- hearing tests.  All the pups passed :)

Apparently they really enjoyed their first trip out and slept really well after the big adventure.

 

Meanwhile back here we are fighting ANTS!  Pesky little things are everywhere driven into hiding with our barebones dirt garden canvas and thriving in this hot weather.

 

Not sure when the guys are coming to lay turf...

I've just changed my avatar to that of Milo.

Can't wait until he comes home in a few weeks. 

Hopefully, that turf will be successfully down and embedded by then!

Yesterday I attended a Canine First Aid Course organised by the Redgates Agility Club.  This lasted for 3 hours and was excellent.  The speaker, top agility vet Peter Van Dongen, was exceptional... really entertaining with a wealth of information and expertise. 

Details:

http://www.redgatesagility.co.uk/caninefirstaid.html

So exciting....

Went to see the pups who are 5 and a half weeks old yesterday and made my final choice.  The litter were all bright, lively and playful puppies... not one shy or retiring one in sight.  What adorable cuties they all were.  However, I'd specified a male tri from the start if one was available.  I've had to wait whilst the breeder made her final decision over which of the litter she was keeping and it was a close call :)  As you can see from an earlier post, Haze only produced the one male and he was a tri!   :o)

I wasn't obliged to have him though and had a choice of the girls who were all lovely, but after meeting him, watching him, and looking him over, I decided that he definitely was the one for me!





Meet MILO

I've been checking out the local area training classes and clubs for a little while and last night spent a few hours watching all the classes at Newmarket and District Canine Society.  This is the one for me! :)

Training and advice was excellent and they use reward based methods.  It was really interesting to see all the classes and watch the progression of the dogs through general obedience to more advanced stages.

What is more, the club members were very welcoming and so friendly.  I'd checked out other places where you were basically ignored, one where it was run more as a business and one where the puppy class had far too many in it and things did not improve for the next class... but Newmarket and District was lovely and you have the chance to take the Good Citizen Awards if you wish.  I'd really like to do this as we progress through.  The dogs themselves were having a whale of a time,  a real doggie social time.  Advice was readily given by members and I just know we'll be really happy there!

I'm also joining the Redgates Agility Club which we hope to do in the future.  This is based around 10 miles from me and is also a very friendly, active club for all levels and whether pursued for fun or competition.  They are more than happy for me to go with a younger pup to socialise, get used to equipment and do various gentle ground based things like tunnels and weaves while he's forming.

This past couple of weeks have been crazy!  The garden people have been in to remove the awful Hawthorn Hedging (who chose to have this as a border hedge - it defies me.  It's naked in Winter, so you have a good view of the neighbours and has 2 inch savage thorns!).  Lots of places an active pup could push through, or the possibility of injury if it tried, so it had to go.  A new solid high gate is being fitted and the whole rear laid to turf... well, that's the plan anyway.

The fence is up, the garden levelled, top soil removed and totally ready for the turf... but where's the rain?  I never thought I'd be really waiting for some wet weather to wet the ground and to really embed it once down!  Doesn't appear to be any in sight though. 

Hopefully!





This is the book that I have purchased and am dipping into often.  It has sound, clear advice and I love refreshing my technique.

You can search inside to get a feel of the book at amazon.

From the Back Cover:

The Perfect Puppy is for puppy owners, or would-be owners, who want to know how to bring their puppy up to be a happy, well-behaved and friendly adult dog. Anti-social behaviour in dogs is often blamed on owners, but many are not irresponsible or uncaring, they simply have insufficient knowledge. This book provides that knowledge.

Containing the most up-to-date behavioural information, the emphasis of this fascinating book is on prevention rather than cure. Follow Gwen Bailey's advice and you should have no trouble with problems such as chewed shoes, pulling on the lead and aggression when your dog is fully grown.

Full-colour photographs illustrate subjects such as socialisation, house-training, preventing biting and aggression, training and many more.

About the Author
Gwen Bailey is the Blue Cross Animal Welfare Society's Animal Behaviourist and a member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors.

After a search far and wide I have found the perfect mum and dad for my puppy!  And what is more, they are based just a few miles from my village home - I couldn't believe it!

Here are Haze:-

And Leo:-


They are wonderful, highly agile working collies from the Kaeleon Collie Line and are just what I was looking for as I aim to do competition agility and some obedience levels.  Most importantly they have such lovely natures which is very essential to the breeder as well as to me.  My dogs are my best pals and much loved additional family members.  Kaeleon pups are raised in a loving home environment from the very beginning which was also extremely important to me.

After an anxious wait, Haze successfully became pregnant and on March 21 2007 gave birth to six adorable pups.  There is one tri boy, one tri girl and four black and white girls.

A few hours old



My one is there somewhere! :)

Hi Everyone,

I'm Karen and am located in Cambridgeshire, England. The aim of this journal is to record the life and adventures of my lovely border puppy-to-be.

My avatar is of my proposed puppy's mum when she was a few weeks old.