We’re getting ready!

 What a busy week we’ve had!  Our co-breeder came to see the puppies, and while nothing is definite, we have begun the incredibly difficult task of choosing who is staying.  At this point, it looks like two puppies might be staying, as they are turning into beautiful collies.  And we might be looking for a show home for a 3rd puppy, as she is turning out to be just as beautiful, but we absolutely cannot keep 3 puppies.  But they are still very young, and are changing constantly, so we will know more after their eye checks on February 4th.

Pretty Morgan has been spending time with me, and I’m so in love with this puppy!  Now that she is 6 months old we entered her in some upcoming shows.  She still looks like a puppy, as she’s still in her puppy coat, but it’s growing fast with all the cold weather here in New England.  We hope to enter her at the Collie National, so she can use the practice at these shows.  (And hopefully she’ll pick up a few points at the shows.)

Tonight and tomorrow are going to be busy, as we are getting ready for a huge snowstorm.  They are predicting at least 12 inches, but possibly up to 18 inches of snow coming on Sunday - Monday.  Looks like I’ll have Monday off from work, if the meteorologists are correct.  I’m going to squeeze in a visit with the puppies tomorrow, as it looks like I won’t be driving once the snow starts.  To everyone in the path of this storm, stay safe and warm!

Just a puppy update!

 

Sleepy Sam and his pink puppy beans!

Not much news to share….so sharing the littlest collies!

Puppies in the Transitional Stage of development

3 sisters - Danika (purple collar) Bryce (pink collar) and Shannon (blue merle)

I thought it might be fun to discuss puppy development, as our puppies have transitioned from one stage to the next.  They were in the “neonatal stage,” but are now in the “transitional stage.”

0-2 Weeks: Neonatal Stage (Dependence)

• Completely reliant on mother for warmth, cleaning, and food (colostrum is vital). 
• Senses of touch and taste are present; sight and hearing are undeveloped. 

2-4 Weeks: Transitional Stage (senses awaken)

• Sensory Growth: Eyes open (around 2 weeks) for blurry vision, ears start working, and smell becomes more refined.
• Physical Milestones: They gain leg strength, begin to stand, and by week 4, can usually walk, run, and play.
• Socialization: They start interacting with siblings, learning bite inhibition from play, and get used to being handled gently.
• Teeth: Baby teeth (deciduous teeth) begin to emerge.
• Early Weaning: Around 3 weeks, start introducing a gruel of milk replacer mixed with softened puppy food. 

They can see and hear now, and they have started to communicate with us and each other.  I love this stage, as their personalities really start to develop and they begin exploring and learning.  They’ve begun climbing, barking and even play growling.  

Their development in this stage is so rapid, they change from day to day.  Yesterday this little blue girl and both boys, kept climbing in my lap.  So they are already seeking out comfort and attention!

 

This was the green collar smooth boy, now called Sam

This was the red collar rough boy, now called Dean

Sweet Danika, she was the first puppy born, the rough who with the purple collar

This transitional period is crucial for building foundational social skills and sensory processing, setting the stage for future learning and confidence. 

Pretty Bryce, the rough girl with the pink collar

As we always try to follow helpful guidelines created by Puppy Culture, these are their recommendations for 2 - 4 week old puppies:

Puppy Culture for 2-4 week old puppies focuses on stimulating their developing senses (touch, smell, sound) and introducing novel experiences like different textures, sounds (classical music, mild noises), and early handling (Early Neurological Stimulation - ENS/ESI) to build stress tolerance, alongside littermate socialization, litter training, and beginning "manding" (sitting for rewards) as they start to walk and eat gruel/soft food, preparing them for the world and building confidence. 

Key Activities (Weeks 2-4):

• Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) & Scent (ESI): Gentle exercises like holding puppies in different orientations (head up, head down, supine) and introducing scents (orange, rosemary, banana) helps wire stronger nervous systems.
• Sensory Exposure: Introducing new objects, sounds (classical music, thunder/fireworks recordings), and different surfaces (mats, toys) to build "bomb-proofing" and curiosity, not fear.
• Physical Development: Pups start walking, pawing, and mock-fighting; they begin to move away from the mother for short periods.
• Early Weaning: Introducing softened gruel or meat, often served on different textured surfaces (dishes, frisbees) to get them used to varied feeding environments.
• Manding: Teaching them to sit politely to ask for something, starting with taking treats from hands, building self-control.
• Litter Training: Introducing a litter box within the whelping area.
• Handler Interactions: Daily individual cuddles and positive touch, introducing new people. 

Goals for this Stage:

• Build a stronger, more resilient nervous system (via ENS/ESI).
• Develop problem-solving skills by encountering new things.
• Condition them to novel sights, sounds, and textures.
• Foster independence from the mother and littermates.
• Teach basic manners (manding). 

This period is crucial for neurological development, teaching puppies to explore and process the world in a controlled, positive way.   

We are so thankful our puppies are all doing well, and can’t wait to share more of their growth and development with you in the upcoming weeks!

My happy place…

 The puppies are doing great, steadily gaining weight and getting big.  We are enjoying watching them grow, and they are changing from day to day!

I had to work yesterday and today, so I’m missing them and can’t wait to see them tomorrow.  

It will be a while until we decide who is staying, but they are all so tiny and perfect.  I wish we could keep them all!

Their eyes are open, and they are getting around much better.  I’ll get some new videos tomorrow.  But even with hearing and seeing now, they still spend most of their time eating, sleeping and snuggling with their Mom.

I wish they could stay tiny for a little longer, but now is the period when we really start to see their personalities develop.

They are bringing some much needed sunshine into our lives, during this cold, gray Winter!  Seeing their sweet faces makes me so happy!  

Happy Birthday Rosie!

 A little late, but we wanted to wish our little Rose a Happy Birthday!  Today our Rosie is celebrating her 3rd birthday!  

Hard to believe our little New Year’s Eve puppy is 3 already!

The puppies are doing well.  They should be opening their eyes soon, then the real fun begins.  It’s too soon to know which puppy we are keeping, but we love them all.  We have so many families wanting these puppies, we have begun the difficult job of narrowing down the list.  

We are hoping the blue girl ends up our pick puppy, as we’ve never had a blue.  But we need to focus on only keeping the right puppy, and that might mean hard decisions, as we can’t keep them all.

Today the little tri smooth puppy is looking like the pick.  But we already have his 1/2 brother, Nolan, so it wouldn’t make sense to keep him…but he’s so handsome!  (They change so much right now, that tomorrow another puppy will look like the pick.)

But we have some great families interested in these puppies, so that lessons the worry over their futures.

I’m not sure I’m going to make it until midnight, so Happy New Year to all our readers!  Can’t wait to see what 2026 brings!

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas!  I’ve loaded up my car sleigh, and I’m heading over the river and through the woods, to my Grandchildren’s house I go!

But before I go, I wanted to share why this Christmas is a little more joyful for us…

Christmas came a little bit early for us!  On December 22nd our ZuZu had her puppies!

ZuZu had an easy time, she whelped her puppies pretty quickly, and she had five beautiful and healthy puppies!

The first puppy was a tri girl, and then an hour later, another tri girl was born.  Then came a tri boy, followed by another tri boy!  As ZuZu was bred to Noah, a rough, blue Merle, we were expecting to see at least a few blue puppies in the litter.  We were told to expect five puppies in this litter, and she had just had four tri color puppies.  We were starting to worry, but then she was born…

After 20 years, our first blue Merle collie was born!  While we were hoping for more, we couldn’t be happier, as they are all beautiful.  And I’ve also been wanting a pretty, tri color rough girl for a while, and it looks like both or our tri girls are rough coated.  

The puppies with the pink and purple collars, are most likely roughs.

The puppy with the red collar, who was much bigger than his littermates, is likely a rough.

The last boy born (whelped) with a green collar, is probably a smooth.  If you look closely, you can see how the first three tri colors have more of a silky shine to their fur.  That usually predicts the puppy will be rough.

And then last, the blue girl is a smooth too.  We thought she might be rough when she was first born, but when she dried off she looks more like a smooth.

We are so excited about this litter!  We were hoping it would be bigger, as we have a large waitlist of people wanting one if our puppies.  But fuve is nice because ZuZu has plenty of milk for everyone.  Typically, like human babies, puppies lose a little wait the first day after they are whelped.  But ZuZu has so much milk, and us doing such a great job taking care of her babies, they all gained weight the first day!

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday, I’ll update with more pictures soon!

The Christmas Collie by Ted Paul

I have a copy of this book, that was given to me by my Uncle Fran.   The story and illustrations are simply beautiful.  Each Christmas I listen to the reading of this story, and it always makes me a little misty-eyed.  So, in the spirit of Christmas, I wanted to share it with all of you.

Happy Birthday to you!

Today our sweet, handsome puppy boy turns 1 year old!  Which means in the Spring, when FastCAT starts back up, Nolan gets to see how fast he is and if he can beat ZuZu’s times.  

Nolan is almost a champion, he has both majors and 12 of the 15 points needed.  We stopped showing him, as he was winning every time he stepped paw into the ring, and we want to try to finish his championship at the National.  Winning the coveted “Winner’s Dog” at the National is an honor, and finishing at the National would be a dream come true.  But if he doesn’t finish there, we are certain he will get those last points fairly quickly.  Then he will begin working towards his Grand Championship, I can’t wait to see this special boy get back into the show ring, he’s a joy to watch.