A Dixie Movie!

Our Smooth Girls

Jewel "became smooth" over the week-end! She was obstinate, hard headed, had her own agenda! After ignoring commands to eat her breakfast, come here, and the exasperated "Jewel!! You're trying my patience!!!" she stayed by my side, watching me with her sweet face. Of course, I melted, and she took advantage of getting back into my good graces by racing into the play yard where I usually have Dixie, her mom and aunt spend the day. I figured today was as good as any for my smooth girls to bond and they did! Both Jewel and Dixie enjoy the same game--hide in a dog house--and they tumbled about inside so hard that the entire thing almost fell over! Their play looks very fierce but they actually got along quite well. I experimented with a different camera setting which caught every change in movement. Dixie does need her ears glued back over, but they are not actually prick as it looks in some of the pictures and Jewel can hold her ears better than it seems during this wild play session.

Ferocious Dixie
Jewel says "bring it on, little girl"


Turn-a-bout's fair play!
Dixie doesn't like not having the upper hand!
Aunt Claire's not sure she wants to join in this game!
New best friends off for a snooze!

Sorry About That...

The visitor count that I attached from blog patrol can give me lots of information--not that I understand or care about a lot of it. I not only see how many people have looked at Lauren's blog, but what time, which post was viewed and what country the viewer is from. It also tells me how a person finds the blog, through a bookmark or a search, which search engine and search terms. The funny thing about tags and titles is that I post something (let's say smooth boys) which in my context has a totally different meaning than to someone in say South Africa or various European countries. I wondered why this puppy blog was getting hits from outside the U.S. then saw what search terms were used and which posts were being viewed--oh my! I'm afraid I've disappointed many a person when they click on the blog and see it's about smooth collies! I'm sure it's not what they expected! Although there was one Norwegian who read all my posts after finding the pictures of our smooth boys--perhaps someone became a collie fan...?

Puppies!!!

  In January, we had the opportunity to co-own CH Jag-View Reflections of Faith (Lauren) with our handler, Ellen Russell.  It was love at first sight!  Lauren's everything we've been trying to achieve with our breeding program.  We brought her home and she immediately settled in and took over!  We call Lauren our "full-tilt gal" as she does everything with enthusiasm and boundless energy.

  Within a month, Lauren came into season and Ellen had already chosen her suitor, CH Lochwynde Jag-View Xing Jordan, a beautiful smooth collie with the same fun loving personality as Lauren.  A friend and I took Lauren to NC and got to spend a day visiting with many beautiful collies, plus get a preview of spring!  Two weeks later, David and I picked Lauren up and crossed our fingers.

  Almost immediately, our pretty girl started showing signs of pregnancy.  We were hopeful, but didn't want to get too excited as many of our girls have disappointed us in the past.  As the weeks went on though, I was becoming confident that Lauren was indeed pregnant and took her to the vet for confirmation last week.  A quick ultra sound showed that Lauren is pregnant!!  We saw four puppies within seconds, but everyone thinks Lauren will have a much larger litter.  This blog will record her final couple weeks of pregnancy, delivery and progress of this much anticipated litter!