Nothing "butt" collies!

One of these things is not like the others!

 



 

There we go - everycollie in line!

Somecollie was caught using his mother as a pillow snuggling with his mother!

Make mine a collie!

Whenever we take the collies for a walk, people stop us to talk about them.  Ryder, in particular, brings a smile to people's faces and his happy nature invites people to stop and chat for a while.  I'm sure it's because Ryder is a rough collie, and he reminds people of Lassie or of their own childhood collie, or both.  We have even had people stop their cars in the middle of the street to tell us how beautiful Ryder looks. 

The girls, being smooth collies, are less recognizable.  But their sweet personalities, pretty markings, and beautiful faces also have people stopping us to ask about them.  We have been asked if they were shepherd mixes or grey hound mixes.  Some people even ask us "why did we shave our collies?"  We then explain about the smooth coat, and many are amazed because they never knew the smooth coated variety of collie existed.

Children flock to collies, like bees to flowers, and the admiration is mutual. Not only are our collies careful and gentle with small children, they are fascinated by them. I can't count how many times they have spotted a child and dragged us over to say "hello." The children we have encountered seem to know that the collies love them, often wrapping their little arms around a collie neck to share a hug. (Which sets our collies' entire bodies to wagging in delight!)

Older adults often reminisce with us about their childhoods, and how they grew up with collies.  And many tell us about how they watched the Lassie TV show every week.  We have also heard many times that "you never see collies anymore."  It's so strange, with so many people loving this breed so deeply, that collies aren't more popular.

Some days, during our walks, it feels like we are accompanying celebrities on a goodwill tour!  They never seem to tire of making new friends.  Which is why we have begun attending AKC "Meet the Breeds" events with our collies.  It is a great way to educate people about this wonderful breed, that has captured hearts for generations.

Here are some fun facts about collies:

• The collie originated in Scotland.
• The role of Lassie, the most famous collie, was always played by a male collie.

• Most collies dislike getting dirty, and they will even avoid mud puddles!

• Collies are one of the most intelligent breeds, which makes them easy to train.  But they are also sensitive, so only positive training methods should be used.

• Collies are talented and eager to please, which means they can compete in a variety of competitions – herding, agility, obedience, Rally, dance.  And they can also serve as search and rescue, therapy or guide dogs.

• Collies are “nosey,” and are always checking on their humans.  If they can’t be by your side, they can be seen peeking around doors, shower curtains or windows, to see what you are doing or if you need their “help.”  They need to be with their families, so if you want an “outside” dog, this is not the breed for you.

• Male collies typically weigh around 60 to 75 pounds, females are usually smaller and weigh 50 to 65 pounds.

• Collies come in four coat colors – tri-color, white, blue merle, or sable and white

You can learn more about the collie by visiting:

Scarlett to the rescue!

The other day our little Scarlett must have been inspired when we watched a Lassie movie together, because she tried to follow in Lassie's heroic pawsteps!  When my daughter went outside yesterday, Scarlett told her that something wasn't right.  She ran to my daughter, ran over to the tree in our yard, and then back to my daughter again.  She repeated this a couple times, because humans can be slow to catch on.  Finally, my daughter realized Scarlett was trying to show her something.

There she found this little guy.  He had fallen out of his nest, or jumped, we aren't sure which.  My daughter picked him up, gently dried him off, while Scarlett supervised.  During this process, the scared baby heard his parents calling for him, and started fluttering and moving in excitement.  So my daughter put him down, and his parents quickly joined him.  They all hopped off together under the fence, and that was the last we saw of the little family.

But I have to say, I'm impressed with Scarlett's "rescue" skills.  What a good collie!

Rounding up the usual suspects...

This past weekend we took Holly and Kori to a herding trial.  The event was run by our collie club, and was open to all herding breeds.  We also had a herding instinct test, for collies only.  The instinct test is an AKC test, which determines if the collies still have an instinct for herding sheep, and if they know how to round them up and bunch them together.  To earn the herding instinct "title", which is HIT, the collies have to have "two legs."  Which means they have to pass the test twice, under two different judges.  Holly and Kori have both passed the test in the past, and just needed their second leg to earn the HIT.

Holly did pretty good!  Hard to believe she will be 9 years old this year!



My sister's collie, Penny, gave it a try too. 

Then it was finally Kori's turn... 

Kori has a very strong herding instinct!  I wish there was somewhere local that we could train her to compete in herding!

This sweet puppy attended the event, and was a little doll!

Kori, enjoyed the sunshine and the beautiful scenic, farm!

It was a fun day, and both Holly and Kori passed their tests!  My sister's collie, Penny, also passed.  The collies love attending these events, and I love seeing that my family of collies still have their herding instinct!



Happy Mother's Day!

To all the moms of both two-footed, and four-footed kids - Happy Mother's Day!

May flowers...

Bring Collie Flowers!  We have been so busy!  We have been taking advantage of the warm Spring weather and getting lots of yard work done!

 

 

 

And On May 1st, a certain young champion, celebrated her 2nd birthday!

 

 

 

Yum!

We celebrated Scarlett's birthday with cupcakes, presents and a walk on the beach with her collie cousin, Chase.

 

 

 

 



We hope everyone is enjoying this warm weather!

Exciting news!

It was a beautiful Spring weekend, and we had perfect weather for an outdoor collie specialty show on Saturday.  This show is one of our favorites, as it is held on a horse farm!  The view in every direction was just stunning.  The weather was perfect, with the temperature about 66 degrees, it was a lovely day. 

But want to know the best part of the day?  Our youngest collie, Scarlett, won Winner's Bitch and Best of Winners, which finished her championship!  I'm so proud of Scarlett and my daughter! Scarlett isn't the first champion in our family, my sister has bred many others over the years.  And my daughter and I have two champions that we raised, Abby and Holly. But Scarlett is the first champion that my daughter and I bred, so she is extra special to us.

And I'm also proud of my daughter for another reason, she is the 4th generation in our family to raise, and show, collies. It's so wonderful to see her carry on this tradition!

Scarlett

Kori was entered in the show too, and she won Reserve Winner's Bitch.  It was very exciting to have both our girls win Winner's Bitch and Reserve Winner's Bitch!

Kori in the front, Scarlett in the back.

Kori and Scarlett

Kori

Kori

When we took the collies for a short walk, we noticed that in one of the pastures a young horse was watching us. 

We walked over to the edge of his pasture, and he immediately trotted over to say hello and get a look at the collies.

He was so curious about them, and Kori was equally curious about him.  They both leaned down to get a good sniff!

He must have liked her, because when my daughter took Kori for a walk, the horse followed along, on his side of the fence!  It was very cute, and he was such a sweet, gentle giant!  After my daughter and Kori walked out of sight, he came running back over to me, and then started running around his paddock.  He really seemed to be enjoying the warm weather and sunshine. (and maybe showing off a little too)

It was such an exciting day, and I am so proud of my daughter and our collies!

We're back!

We had to take a little blogging break, we were on vacation.  We were at the Collie Club of America National specialty show last week.  What a wonderful way to spend the week!  We caught up with friends, competed at the show, and spent the week surrounded by 900+ collies! 

The Girls!

Holly, Abby and Scarlett

Holly competed in the veterans class, and she was so excited to be back in the ring!

 

 

Abby competed in the Best of Variety group, with all the other finished champions.  She looked so beautiful, and it was so great to see her back in the show ring after taking a 3 year break. (to raise her family)

They were offering a free CGC test for all the collies at the National, so both Abby and Holly gave it a try.  And they both passed, so they now have the CGC title after their names!

Scarlett was shown in the smooth bred by exhibitor class, and she looked so great with my daughter.  The judge thought so too, she gave Scarlett 1st place in the Bred By class!  This was quite an honor, and we are so proud of both Scarlett and my daughter!  We recevied a lot of compliments on Scarlett both before her class and after.

 

 

 

The National ended on Saturday, and yesterday we spent the day relaxing.  Last night we took the dogs for a walk on the beach, and the colors in the sky were gorgeous!  It was the perfect ending to my vacation!

Kori, pretty girl!



Ryder