Bittersweet…

This post is going to be both happy and sad.  Saturday night we lost our tiny girl, the one with the purple collar.  She was smaller than her sisters, and we tried everything to save her, but we still lost her.  It’s called fading puppy syndrome, and it’s one of the most heartbreaking parts of being a dog breeder.  She was doing so well, until suddenly she wasn’t.  We tried antibiotics, sub-q fluids, tube feedings, a supplement for fading puppies, everything we could think of and more.  With each thing we tried, she would perk up a bit, but it was always temporary.  We are so heartbroken over her loss, my daughter had named her Melanie.

The happy news, which we are focusing on, the other two girls are strong and healthy.  Yesterday I took a bunch of pictures, and today they are 17 days old.  They are steadily gaining weight, and are just beautiful.  Not sure how we are going to choose which one is staying, as they both have qualities we want in our family of collies.  

Morgan

Morgan

This girl had the aqua colored collar.  She was the 3rd puppy born, and the biggest.  We are calling her Morgan, and even though she is a rough collie, she has her Mama’s markings. 

Rory

Rory

This was the puppy with the pink collar, she was the 1st puppy born.  We are calling her Rory, and she started barking yesterday!  

Rory

Morgan

The owner of their Sire came to see the girls last night.  She said they are both beautiful, and she’s not sure who the pick is right now.  So we will just have to watch as they grow up over the next 6 - 7 weeks.  

Rory

Morgan

This was the most recent, and last picture, I have of Melanie. Taken on 7/11/25

We are feeling grateful that these two girls are doing well and turning out to be so beautiful.  But it’s bittersweet, because we miss our tiny Melanie.  Life is so unfair sometimes, and these newborn puppies are so fragile.  So this doesn’t end on a sad note, enjoy this short video of our two adorable girls…

10 days old!

The puppies are doing well.  They are healthy and strong, and gaining weight.  Peyton is such an amazing Mom.  She’s very careful and gentle with her puppies, and watching her with them, you can see how much she loves them.  

I was on vacation for the last 10 days, and didn't get much done.  All I wanted to do each day was sit and watch Peyton and her girls.  There is something so peaceful about watching the puppies nurse and sleep. 

Now that they are 10 days old, their eyes will soon be open.  And once that happens, they soon begin exploring and playing.  We are already beginning to see glimmers of their developing personalities.

They grow so quickly, and seem to change overnight. So we are trying to enjoy every moment with them, and have been using the ENS exercises detailed in previous posts.

These girls are so tiny and so perfect, I can’t wait to see how they develop over the upcoming weeks!

They’re Here!

 Last night our Peyton gave birth to three beautiful girls.  They are all roughs, and they are healthy and feisty.  They are letting us know what they want already.

We love them so much, and Peyton is an amazing Mom.  Once the first girl was born, the one in the pink collar, she instinctively knew just what to do.  Sadly, there was a fourth puppy, a little tri boy, but he didn’t make it.  That’s one of the heartbreaking things about breeding puppies, sometimes you lose one, no matter what you do.  But we are focusing on our three beautiful girls, and their sweet Mom.

We are so excited to welcome these tiny girls into the world and can’t wait to watch how their personalities develop.

It’s almost time!

Tomorrow is the day!  (Or possibly Friday) Yesterday we took Peyton to the vet and he said he thinks she is having four puppies.   We are very excited and can’t wait to see them!

FastCAT pics

 Rosie and Peyton just received their FastCAT pictures from last month. 

It’s funny, the photographer captured something interesting.  Rosie is actually chasing the lure in her picture.  And Addison is just running straight to me.  Addi enjoys FastCAT, but her priority isn’t the lure, it’s getting to me as fast as she can!  It’s just reason #768 why Addi is the sweetest ever! 

Peyton updates!

I’m sure everyone is waiting for an update about Peyton and her puppies.  This past weekend we started to feel the puppies moving!  I’m spending a lot of my free time feeling them bump and stretch, their movements are getting stronger each day.  

Peyton doing FastCAT last year, as there won’t be any FastCAT for her this Summer!

On Monday Peyton has an appointment with her vet, so we can get an accurate puppy count.  Which is good, as we suddenly have a lot of people interested in the puppies.  I’ve been spending time communicating with the families, getting to know what they are looking for, and they all seem so nice.

And Wednesday is (most likely) the day the puppies will arrive!  It’s been hard waiting, but it also feels like the weeks have passed by in the blink of an eye.  Fingers crossed that Peyton has a quick and easy delivery of her puppies.

I thought it might be fun to share some “Peyton Facts.”

• Peyton’s pedigree includes some of the top collie kennels, and some of the top collies.  In her pedigree are collies from Marchello, Creekwood, Countryview, Kirkhaven, Pleasant Acre, Fantasy, Signet, Devinwood and Marnus.
• Peyton’s sire, Damit, GCHP Creekwood Lochlomun I’ll Be D’amned, ROM, FDC, was the 2025 CCA Best of Variety and Best of Opposite Sex to Best of Breed winner, and Best Veteran.  He was also the #1 collie in the country in 2020.  
• Peyton’s Great Granddam, Angel, CH Marchello’s On Angel’s Wings, was Winners Bitch/Best of Winners/Best Puppy at the 2000 CCA National.  And she was the #3 smooth in 2002, as well as winning Smooth Best of Variety and Best of Opposite Sex to Best of Breed at the 2002 CCA National.  And interestingly, Best of Breed at the 2002 CCA was CH Southland’s Bowen Island.  He is in Beckham’s pedigree, so Peyton’s puppies will have both the smooth and rough 2002 CCA winners in their pedigree. (Beckham is the sire of Peyton’s litter)
• Peyton, unlike most collies, enjoys the water.  Her littermates did as well, when they were puppies, not sure if this is still true.
• Peyton is very observant.  She recently noticed that her Aunt Sophie would ring the bells on the door to go outside.  Without any prompting from me, she started ringing the bells to go outside too!
• Peyton, like Scarlett, has a white spot on her nose.  This isn’t common in our line of collies, only two others had that white spot, and they were many generations back.  We love when the collies have that white spot, and can’t wait to see if any of her puppies will inherit it!
• When competing in FastCAT Peyton would chase the lure then stop part way and return to me or my daughter. We finally learned that she would only chase the lure if we asked a stranger to release her, and she knew we were waiting at the other end of the track.  She’s nothing, if not loyal to us!

We have 4 days until her due date, please check back for more updates!

Just wanted to share…

 We have shared our recent Ads for Colliesonline.  And I wanted to share them again, so they were all in one post…

And I wanted to include our newest Ad, also created by our friends at Colliesonline.  This advertisement is going to be in the Summer edition of the Collie Club of America Bulletin.  We have never done an Ad in the CCA Bulletin before, so we are very excited.  We wanted to share it here first, with our blog readers.  

I think they did a beautiful job creating this for us!  We just love it!

My Best Friend…

Summer is almost here, and the collies are shedding their Winter coats like crazy!  I’ve been brushing out their coats, trying to speed things along.  Ryder is my senior, rough collie.  As he will be turning 14 in August, he can’t stand for long grooming sessions.  Since it was a rare nice day, as it’s been a very rainy season, I took him out in the yard to brush out his coat.  He loves to stretch out in the grass while I brush through his fur.  

After we were done, I decided to take some pictures of the old man, he looked so handsome next to my collie garden.  

I feel so grateful to still have him with me, especially after losing Kori last year.  Puppies are adorable, and so much fun, but seniors are my favorite.  They bring so much comfort and are perfect companions.  

The prettiest flower in my garden is my collie flower!

Ryder is slowing down, he has a bit of trouble getting up, and walks with a limp even with his pain meds.  This boy has been my best friend for nearly 14 years, and I desperately hope I will get to celebrate his 14th birthday with him.  So I treasure every day with him, and each night I worry about what tomorrow might bring.  But for now, I still have my best boy by my side.