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Monday, September 30, 2024

Autumn days are swiftly passing…

 Another busy Autumn weekend has come and gone.  We tried to enjoy every moment, and it was a definite success!

On Saturday I took my Mom to a local fair.  She was very happy, as she just celebrated her 88th birthday and she didn’t think she would get to see another fair.  But I had bought her a transport wheelchair, and convinced her to give it a try.  We had a nice time, and were able to enjoy some delicious fair food while we were there!




On Sunday we were entered at another Fast CAT trial.  This time my daughter also brought Sorsha and Rosie, to let them give it a try.  And it was not really a surprise, they both loved it!  They did very well, and earned lots of points for their first try at Fast CAT.  Peyton earned some additional points, and we finally figured out how to help her succeed.  As long as a stranger releases her, she runs right after the lure, straight to me.  It is only when my daughter or I release her that she turns around, and returns to us.  I wish we had figured it out sooner!  



And we have exciting news, both Addison and ZuZu earned their first Fast CAT titles!   Both girls had great runs, ZuZu even beat her best time.  And they now have the “BCAT” title after their names!


Then on late Sunday afternoon I took Winter and my mother’s collie, Phoebe to Petco.  We had them take the Canine Good Citizen test, and both passed with ease.  So they get to add the CGC title to their names.  This is Phoebe’s first title ever, and I think she was feeling very proud of herself.  I will post pictures when their certificates come from AKC.  That makes six new titles earned by our collies yesterday!  Is the math not mathing?  With their new BCAT titles, Addi and ZuZu also qualify for the Fit dog title, FITB!  What a great weekend!



Thursday, September 26, 2024

My Autumn Collie

 


In the brisk Autumn air,

The collie bounds,

Into the forest of red and gold,

A Fall palette of color surrounds.

Dancing through the falling leaves,

His steps are swift and light,

Chasing squirrels through the trees,

His playful spirit takes flight.

His burnished coat of red and brown,

His paws so snowy white,

His beauty steals my breath away,

In my Autumn collie I delight.

~ Kat Pirro




These pictures were from many years ago, when my Ryder was a young collie.  But they are some of my favorites so I wanted to share them once again.

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Rowdy, the Hero Collie

In previous posts I wrote about hero collies, and their devotion and loyalty to their families. And this past week another heroic collie has been in the news for his act of bravery and love. A four year old child named Tommy, wandered away from his family’s Kentucky home and was lost. Though lost and separated from his family, the child was not alone. The family’s four dogs stayed by Tommy’s side throughout the night. One of the dogs, a collie named Rowdy, had sustained life threatening injuries when he fought off an unknown animal during the ordeal. Upon discovering the child and his four guardians, the rescuers believed that Rowdy had stopped breathing. Believing the dog had passed away from his injuries and severe blood loss, they decided to focus on getting the child to safety, and planned to return for Rowdy’s body. 

Photo from Rowdy’s owner

Before anyone could go back and retrieve Rowdy, the family noticed the injured collie, battered and limping, slowly making his way up their driveway. He had found his way home, back to the family he loved! Rowdy was rushed to the local animal hospital where he is expected to make a full recovery. Hopkins County Humane Society is covering all of Rowdy’s medical expenses, to honor the collie’s brave and loyal heart.

Photo from Rowdy’s owner

Rowdy the collie’s heartwarming story is yet another example of why I love this dog breed so much! Good boy Rowdy, good boy…

Monday, September 23, 2024

All Things Autumn…

With the advent of Autumn, I am always inspired to grab my camera and a collie and head outside to try and capture the beauty of the season.  The Fall colors seem created to complement the sable and white collie in particular, providing a perfect backdrop to display their lovely coats.  This weekend we were gifted with sunshine and mild temperatures, so Addison and I headed to my favorite pumpkin patch. 


“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.” — Lauren DeStefano


“I loved autumn, the one season of the year that God seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it.” — Lee Maynard


“She looked like autumn, when leaves turned and fruit ripened.” — Sarah Addison Allen


“No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.” — John Donne


We are joining the blog hop hosted by our friends at Comedy Plus. Click the link to discover more fun blogs!

Sunday, September 22, 2024

Autumn’s Arrival

This weekend we were at an outdoor dog show, and the weather was beautiful.  It was a perfect Fall weekend, with temps in the 70s, a slight breeze and lots of sunshine.  The leaves are just beginning to change color, and pumpkins are beginning to appear everywhere.  This show was held at the fairgrounds of the prettiest little New England town.  And at the dog show our Peyton did some winning, which made us very proud.


Peyton is second in line
On Saturday, Peyton won Winners, Best of Winners and Best of Opposite Sex, which gave her two more points.  It was a special win for us, as the judge is a collie speciality judge and a well known collie breeder.  And Peyton won Best Opposite over two finished champions, which was very exciting!

Today Peyton won Winners again, which gave her another point towards her championship.  She just needs one more point and she will be a champion!


Today is the official first day of Fall, so I did get out and take some new Autumn pictures, but I’m going to save them for tomorrow.  Peyton deserves to be the star of this post.

Friday, September 20, 2024

Fall is here! (Well, almost, officially it will be here on Sunday)

It’s no secret that we love Fall.  With the fairs, and fair food, Halloween and Thanksgiving, apple picking and hiking, what’s not to love?  It also happens to be our favorite time of year to photograph the collies amid the Autumnal splendor.  There will be many Fall collie pictures on the blog over the next few weeks, but I haven’t taken any pictures yet.  The leaves are just beginning to change here in our corner of New England.  So in the spirit of the Autumn season, I wanted to share one of my favorite Fall pictures.  This picture is of our first champions, Holly and Abby.  Abby, CH Marchello’s Seraphim Song, was our foundation bitch.  And all our collies are related to both her and Holly, CH Accent Marchello Holiday. These two girls, along with our first collie, Lad, are the reason we are obsessed with all things collie…


We hope everyone is enjoying the wonderful Fall weather, and getting outside to get a peep at the beautiful foliage.  Please be sure to return soon, so you don’t miss any of our upcoming picture spam posts!  Happy Fall Y’all!


Nature's first green is gold,


Her hardest hue to hold.


Her early leaf's a flower;


But only so an hour.


Then leaf subsides to leaf.


So Eden sank to grief,


So dawn goes down to day.


Nothing gold can stay.


— Robert Frost





Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Communicating with your dog

For most people, our homes are close to our neighbors, often closer than we would like.  Our homes are our sanctuaries and we want to keep the peace and limit conflict in and around our personal space.  One area of concern is noise, and most will try to reduce loud sounds to avoid disturbing the neighbors closest to us.  And one cause of loud, repetitive noise, can be our dogs.  We try to prevent nuisance barking, and some go to extreme lengths to keep our best friends from annoying the neighbors.  But the first step in quieting your canine is often overlooked.  Instead of focusing on silencing your dog, try to determine what your dog is trying to verbally communicate to you.

It’s hard not to feel embarrassed, or responsible, when your dog is loudly barking. But we often forget that a dog’s barking can indicate something is wrong, either with the dog or in it’s environment.  Barking is usually the most effective way they can communicate.  Dogs bark when they are bored.  Dogs bark when they are lonely.  Dogs bark when they see  a stranger or another animal in or around the property.  Some dogs bark when there is a change in their environment, or when they detect danger, like smoke.  Many forget the fact that we have bred our dogs to bark for hundreds of years. It was their job to alert us when they’ve found a missing person, when there’s an intruder or when our livestock are under threat by a human or another animal.

We do not expect horses, cows, goats, birds or even cats to be silent.  For every other animal, vocalizations are expected and accepted.  But dogs are expected to be silent, perhaps it’s because they are one of the loudest animals, and their voices carry further away. But wanting them to be silent makes little sense, when they are the one animal we’ve always asked to speak up and communicate with us.  Of course, explaining this to an irate neighbor at 6 AM can be rather difficult. 


The face of innocence 

One of my youngest collies, Addison, has annoyed our own neighbors a time or two.  I always try to end the barking before it can become a nuisance level disturbance.  But watching her bark, understanding why she is barking, I do occasionally wish I could just let her continue.  Because I’ve seen her bark for just the sheer joy of being alive.  She runs outside with her tail wagging, just happy to greet the day and feel the sunshine on her fur.  I’ve also seen her run outside, barking like crazy, because a foolish squirrel has dared to enter her yard.  The problem with this, she sets the other collies off, and they join in the barkfest.  So for us, the key has been to limit the time she spends barking, and to halt it before she gets everyone barking.

Here are some great tips for reducing a dog’s barking, and these may work for you too.   But I hope all dog owners will first focus on reducing, not eliminating the barking completely.  We don’t want to halt our best friends from communicating with us altogether!

1) teach your dog the “quiet” command.  If they know when you want them to be quiet, it can help to limit the barking.  When they begin barking, respond in a happy voice, telling them “quiet” and reward them with lavish praise or treats when they stop barking and look at you.  This won’t happen overnight, it will take consistent training, but if you are patient, it may work.

2) distract your dog.  When they begin barking, quickly ask them to do something else.  This won’t always work, especially if they are very excited about the reason they began barking in the first place. A squirrel obsessed dog isn’t likely to be easily distracted when they spot a squirrel in the yard.  You need to distract them with something even more high value, like treats or their favorite toy.

3) don’t yell at them for barking.  For some dogs the reaction of your yelling, actually encourages their barking.  They think you are also concerned about that person, noise or animal.


4) for dogs barking out of boredom, trying getting them some interactive toys.  Snuffle mats are great at entertaining a bored dog, so are stuffed Kongs and dog puzzle games.  You can also exercise them, as a tired dog is less likely to bark out of boredom.


5) manage their environment. If they enjoy barking at squirrels or people walking by the house, limit their access to the windows where they will see the things they like to bark at the most.  Close the curtains on the windows, or close off those rooms.  You can also leave a radio or television on, to comfort them when they are alone.  

6) if your dog barks to go outside, teach them to ring a bell instead.  We have bells hanging on the door, and the collies quickly learned to ring the bells if they needed to go outside.  Of course our super smart collie, Sophie, learned to ring the bells whenever she wants to patrol the yard, go for a walk, or just sit outside in the sunshine.  So be prepared for a dog who rings the bell frequently, as well. 


Here are some bells available from Chewy.com

Just remember that you won’t correct the unwanted behavior right away, it will take time and patience and consistency on your end.  And don’t forget to look for other reasons they may be barking, it could be their way of communicating danger, that they are in pain, or even that their needs are not being met.  

Sunday, September 15, 2024

It’s officially Fair Season!

Yesterday we attended the Chester Dog Fair.  We love to do AKC Meet the Breeds events, to help promote the rough and smooth collie.  But this time we had a booth to promote and educate the public about therapy dogs.  Our friends, Kenny & Judy, brought their therapy collie too.  As our therapy dogs are collies, we had three smooth collies with us, and about half of the people stopping by our booth wanted to learn more about them, and many said they were going to research the smooth collie as a future family dog.  We also had another therapy dog team volunteer to join us.  Pattie and her golden retriever, Shamrock, were both wonderful.  (And I fell in love with her beautiful boy, he was so sweet!) It was a long, hot day, but I think it was very successful in promoting therapy dogs and the great work they do.  The dog fair had some great vendors, and some great dog rescue booths too.  They had a variety of food trucks, including a doggy ice cream truck!  They were doing CGC testing, had live music, and even a beer and wine tent.  It was such a fun Fair, since the public was invited to bring their own dogs with them.  The fair is being held today too, if anyone in CT is looking for something fun to do! (We won’t be there today, we only signed up for one day)



Addi enjoyed the pie eating contest…a lot!


Scarlett participating in the doggie pie eating contest!




Scarlett was “painting” me a picture!

Three very good girls!


This golden retriever puppy, Finn, fell in love with the smooth girls.  He was adorable!

The very handsome Shamrock!

Shamrock participated in the pie eating contest too!  I think it was a big hit with all the dogs!

Kelsea thought the pie was yummy!

Kelsea and her art!


It was such a fun event, I hope to participate again next year!

Friday, September 13, 2024

Fast CAT? No, it should be called Fast Collie!

We had another busy weekend, and the collies made it to another Fast CAT trial.  ZuZu, “Lightning Legs McCollie”, had two great runs.  On her second run she had her fastest time yet!  She only needs 15 more points for the first Fast CAT title.  With her speed, she is already in the top 40 fastest runs for collies.



Addi, my sweet, happy-go-lucky girl, did her best.  But with her calm, laidback personality, she is unlikely to set any records.  She has decent times and has so much fun chasing the plastic bag, and that's all that really matters.  She will hopefully get enough points at the next trial, on the 29th, to also earn her first Fast CAT title, BCAT.



And then there is Peyton.  Her first run went really well, with Peyton finally earning a respectable time.  And looking at her face in the picture, she seemed to be really enjoying it.  But on her second run, she changed her mind halfway down the track, and gave up the chase.  In her collie mind, it just wasn’t worth it.  I’m not quite ready to give up yet, because I think she’s having fun, it’s hard to tell with my stoic girl.

All these amazing pictures were taken by Wild Sage Photography
All these amazing pictures were taken by Wild Sage Photography

I’m so thankful we discovered this fun dog sport! The collies are really enjoying getting the chance to hang out with us at the events, the fresh air and sunshine, and the excitement of everyone cheering for them.  The collies 10/10 recommend giving Fast CAT a try!

Saturday, September 7, 2024

Collies in film

When you think of film stars of the canine persuasion, the first that is likely to come to mind is Lassie.  For the newer generations of canine cinephiles, they may think of golden retrievers, beagles, Dalmatians or even the malinois.  But for the classic canine film connoisseur, it would be either a collie or a German shepherd that tops the list.  As this is first and foremost a collie blog, we wanted to share two of our favorite films that feature a collie.


Of course we can’t talk about collie movies without Lassie, so the first film has to be Lassie Come Home.  This movie is based on the book written by Eric Knight.  The story is about the collie heroine, Lassie, who is separated from her boy, Joe.  Her love and devotion has Lassie traveling from Scotland to England in a perilous journey to reunite with her beloved family.  The movie is a classic, and many families got their first collie because of their love of the Lassie movies and television shows.



The next is a lesser known film, called Lad: A Dog.  Long time readers of our blog may be familiar with this title, as it was based on the Albert Payson Terhune book, of the same name.  This movie is about a collie named Lad.  This collie also has epic adventures, he saves the life of a child, wins a dog show, and rescues his family.  The books about Lad, and this film, were favorites of mine growing up.  In honor of this heroic collie, I had to name my very first collie Lad.  

Our Lad


Do you have a favorite movie about a dog? Let us know in the comments!


Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Run Collies, Run!

The collies enjoyed another weekend of FastCAT, and were able to earn more points towards their first FastCAT titles, BCAT.  They still have a way to go to get the needed 150 points, but they are having a lot fun at the trials.  Well, Addison and ZuZu are having fun, Peyton still hasn’t decided if she likes it yet.  They are entered in another trial this coming Saturday, so I’m hoping Peyton decides it’s fun after all.  She seems to enjoy going with me, and is happy to be included, but chasing the lure…just doesn’t seem to excite her.  She saunters after the lure, just taking her time, going at her own pace.  And maybe, that’s just how it will be with Peyton, and that’s okay.  I will continue to try to find something she enjoys, but right now, Peyton’s passion seems to be snuggling on the couch.  


As for ZuZu, she did amazing, it was her first trial, and she ran so fast!  She is already in the top 40 for FastCAT times in collies.  My daughter gave her a new nickname, ZuZu Lightning Legs! And Addison beat her own personal times from two weeks ago, and seems to be having fun, so I’m glad she’s enjoying herself.