Before you can swim, you have to get your paws wet!

If you have ever read Albert Payson Terhune's books, about his Sunnybank collies, you know that HIS collies seemed to enjoy swimming. The Place was comprised of 40 acres, and located on a fire-blue lake. The house was Victorian, with wide porches, covered with Wisteria. The collies would romp and play across the lawns, through the woods, and they would swim in the lake. Now I believed this meant collies enjoyed swimming. But I have discovered that this isn't actually true. Some collies may enjoy plunging into a lake or ocean, they may enjoy the feel of the water as they paddle with all four paws through the cool depths. But most do not like swimming at all. I had a golden retriever, Chloe, who loved the water. She would never turn down an opportunity to jump in for a swim...collies, not so much.

Maybe Terhune's collies enjoyed swimming because back in the 1920's and 30's they didn't have a little something called air conditioning. So the only way for a collie to cool off during the hot summer months was to jump in a lake. But collies have now become spoiled...

 Me: "Hey Abby, want to go down to the beach and go for a swim?"
Abby: "No thanks, I'm just going to lay here on the couch, in front of this air conditioner, and nap. Can you put a Lassie movie on for me? Oh, and could you get me a Frosty Paws while you are up? Thanks-bye"

Still, I think all dogs should be introduced to the concept of swimming. (Who knows, I might yet discover a collie who actually loves to swim!) Since we are working on socializing Scarlett, by introducing her to new people, places and things, it seemed like as good a time as any to take her to the beach. We invited Holly along, but not because we thought Holly might encourage Scarlett to swim, Holly has no interest in swimming. It was just her turn to go for a ride in the car.

My daughter, Scarlett and Holly had fun, running and playing in the sand.

And Scarlett graciously agreed to pose for some pictures.

But then it was time for swimming. And her natural instincts had her paddling immediately…straight for shore. She proved she can swim, but will she every view it as something enjoyable? I don't think so...I think she'd rather chase sheep - on nice solid ground! Guess we can't all be swimmers!

Scarlett, Sunnybank and the cruise!

What a crazy few weeks we have had! I ended up in the hospital, and almost unable to go on our cruise last week. It was my first cruise, and it would have been awful if I had missed it. But I was released from the hospital just in time, and the doctor said he thought there wouldn't be a problem if I went. We had a wonderful time, and now that I am back I am missing the white sand beaches and palm trees!

The ship was huge!

While I was away all three of the boys were placed in homes. I miss them so much, it's so hard letting them go! But two of them are in show homes, so we will get to see them again. Scarlett is back home with us now, we met Cathy at Sunnybank to pick her up. She is so sweet, and so adorable!

Sunnybank is about half way, and just seemed like the perfect place to meet. It was strange being there alone, usually when we visit Sunnybank it's for a puppy match. But this time the park was empty, but in three weeks it will be time for The Gathering, and Sunnybank will once again be full of collies!

Just 19 days until The Gathering at Sunnybank! Time to grab one of my books by Albert Payson Terhune, and read about the Sunnybank collies again! Now which one...Bruce, Lad, Wolf or Gray Dawn?

We were given an award!

We were given an award by another "blogger!" The blog is called "Collies of the Meadow," and it is filled with humor, stories about collies and wonderful pictures. Chuck writes the blog about the day to day lives of his collies and his love of the breed is evident in every post. He gave us this award, which is very special because it features a picture of his collie Trevor, who recently passed on to the Rainbow Bridge.

You can check out his blog here: http://colliesofthemeadow.wordpress.com/ Thank you Collies of the Meadow!

The Avengers litter - Pedigree

(Danny and Abby puppies)
Date of Birth: 05-01-2012
Breed: collie
Owner:

Sire: GCH Travler's Greased-Lightning	Sire: CH Marnus Lucky Strike	Sire: CH Barksdale Beneficiary	Sire: CH Twin City Ambition	Sire: CH Long Acres Bronze Icon
				Dam: CH Twin City Sacred Emotion
			Dam: CH Barksdale Shenstone Sympatico	Sire: CH Shenstone's Bit of Intrigue
				Dam: CH Barksdale Busybody
		Dam: CH Marnus Happy go Lucky	Sire: CH Marnus Gold Sovereign	Sire: CH Marnus Golden Ruler, ROM
				Dam: CH Marnus Leading Lady
			Dam: Marnus Happy Days	Sire: CH Marnus Royal Gold
				Dam: CH Marnus Night And Day
	Dam: CH Travler's Liberty Sport	Sire: CH Signet's Twice Is Nice, ROM	Sire: Marnus Golden Ruler, ROM	Sire: Overland Everlasting II
				Dam: Marnus Golden Rule
			Dam: CH Signet's Hopelessly In Love, ROM	Sire: CH Franchel's Royal Regency
				Dam: CH Signet's Generations
		Dam: CH Travler's Altima	Sire: CH Jocan Dutch Hill Enjoy Th'Ride	Sire: CH Charmant On Th'Wings of Eagles
				Dam: Dutch Hill Travlin Lady
			Dam: CH Dutch Hill Frequent Flyer	Sire: CH Charmant On Th'Wings of Eagles
				Dam: Dutch Hill Travlin Lady
Dam: : CH Marchello's Seraphim Song	Sire: CH Signet's Twice Is Nice, ROM	Sire: CH Marnus Golden Ruler, ROM	Sire: CH Overland Everlasting II	Sire: CH Clouddawn's Grandeur Promise
				Dam: CH Overland Imari
			Dam: Marnus Golden Rule	Sire: CH Twin oaks Lawman
				Dam: Marnus Golden Glow
		Dam: CH Signet's Hopelessly In Love, ROM	Sire: CH Franchel's Royal Regency	Sire: Bandor's Amberside Tribute
				Dam: CH Franchel's Royal Signet
			Dam: CH Signet's Generations	Sire: CH Foxbride's McLaughlin, ROM
				Dam: CH Signet's Family Affair
	Dam: CH Marchello's On Angel's Wings	Sire: CH Marnus Golden Ruler, ROM	Sire: CH Overland Everlasting II	Sire: CH Clouddawn's Grandeur Promise
				Dam: CH Overland Imari
			Dam: Marnus Golden Rule	Sire: CH Twin oaks Lawman
				Dam: Marnus Golden Glow
		Dam: CH Signet's Whispering Wind Song	Sire: CH Row-Bar's Southern Heritage, CD	Sire: CH Countryview's Golden Star
				Dam: CH Row-Bar's Southern Exposure, CD
			Dam: CH Signet's Family Secret	Sire: CH Marnus Golden Ruler, ROM
				Dam: CH Franchel's Royal Signet

(Created on Dogsites.com.au)

Sadness is the absence of a pink ball...

Dogs are our best friends, our beloved companions, and our protectors.  But sometimes they are also unintentionally funny.

Lad loved bouncy balls.  Whenever we bought him one he would be full of joy - for about 30 seconds.  Because that was about the length of time it would take him to pop them.  At some point he must have popped one close to Abby, because she became afraid of bouncy balls.

Well, we bought a new one for the puppies, figuring Abby was safe now that Lad isn't here to pop them any longer.  We hoped that we could get Abby to play with the pretty pink ball, and learn that they weren't something to be feared.  But if we couldn't convince her, we would keep it away from her.

Two days ago I was sitting at the computer, playing a game on Facebook.  Suddenly I felt Abby squeezing herself in between my legs and the computer desk. This has always been her hiding place whenever Lad played with a ball.  She feels safer with me.  I looked up, and sure enough Kia and the Avengers were playing with the pink ball in the other room.  So no luck with getting Abby to learn to tolerate the ball, if not actually play with it.

Yesterday, Kori found the ball and was playing with it.  She also loves to play with the ball, and usually joins the Avengers when they play.  But this time she was happily playing with it all by herself....

And it popped!  She looked at the remnants of her ball with great sadness.  I looked at Kori and said to her, "oh no, is your ball gone?"  Kori just looked so heartbroken, it was pitiful and made me want to laugh at the same time.  And Abby, just having walked into the room, started wagging her tail with the happiest look on her face.  It really looked like Abby was happy that the dreaded pink ball was dead!  Silly collies!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Avengers are growing like crazy!  They went for their eye checks last week, and then for their vaccines this past weekend.  Thor is already 13 lbs, at 8 weeks old!  The others were all over 12 lbs, so they are all big puppies.  The vet said they all looked great, healthy and huge! Captain and Thor are still available, their original families didn't work out.  The family who wanted Thor changed their minds, because the husband had to be admitted for emergency heart surgery.  The family who wanted Captain is now going through a divorce.  It's too bad, because both families sounded perfect for my puppies!

Gentle Captain

Sweet Thor

Pretty Scarlett

Handsome Stark

and Scarlett and Stark

Smooths are awesome too!

I love both rough and smooth collies.  My love for collies began much the same as any collie lover - I fell in love with the Sunnybank collies in Albert Payson Terhune's books, and with the Lassie movies.  There was no mention of smooth collies in either the books or the movies.  When I caught a glimpse of my uncle's first smooth collie, years ago, I thought she looked all kinds of wrong.  But my opinion has changed, as the smooths here have greatly improved over the years, they are now beautiful examples of the collie breed. 

My first collie, lad, was actually a smooth.  So were my second and third collies, Abby and Holly.  But then Ryder was born, and I just couldn't part with my sweet, fuzzy boy.  So we kept both our little smooth girl, Kori and our big rough boy, Ryder. 

I still find it funny that so few people even know about the smooth collie.  They have the same wonderful collie temperaments, and they are MUCH easier to groom.  And getting them ready to enter in the show ring takes about half the time as a rough.  But when we walk both Ryder and Kori, everyone immediately call out to Ryder, "look it's Lassie!"  And they immediately smile and ask to pet him, while little Kori stands waiting, wagging her tail.  I can't tell you how many times we have been asked if our smooths are collie mixes, or why did we shave our collie?  In the UK, Smooth collies are actually on the UKC's endangered/vulnerable breeds list. http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/item/808  But I'm happy to say the smooth collie seems to be gaining popularity here in the USA.

I think you might appreciate this conversation between Kori and Ryder today...

Kori: I'm tired of everyone petting Ryder first...(sad face)

Ryder: Is it any wonder the people love me?  I AM a superstar!

Kori: You're nothing but a brother!

Ryder: Brother, super star, stud muffin...take your pick!

Kori: Oh pleeease!

Ryder: I'm going to bed, being this awesome is exhausting...