New Head Bitch

Bitch fights can be frightening things. Females fight longer and harder than males. Males pretty quickly know who is dominant and the lesser male backs off –for fear of mortal damage. Bitches just keep going.

22 month old Susie did not back down from the head bitch today, 4 year-old. It was getting way too dangerous. I had to whack Sue over the head with a shovel to stop her attack on nursing Meg.

Sue is a very powerful female, often mistaken for a male: Clwyd Bob x McCloskey’s Nel. Even as a puppy, I told people that she reminded me of a Detroit ‘muscle car’. She now has only one senior dog in the pack, littermate Peter.

Peter is a the jaw-dropping phenomenon of good breeding. I have never seen a dog better than Peter –not anywhere, in any trial, in any video.

Sue today, the new head bitch

Dogs for Democracy make the newspaper

A photo of me and the dogs –well, 5 of them anyway– was featured in the coverage of the local No Kings protest on 14-July-2025.

It was indeed a struggle for me keeping up with the dogs with all the noise and distractions: horns (of all sorts), sirens, drums, shouts. And then, there were the fits of domination from senior dogs of the same sex to younger dogs. I thought the dogs did very well, considering.

Peter was in his glory! Strutting around like a peacock, nothing fazes him. He picked on poor Mirk. Becca pick on Lotti. Gail stoically endured it, as she does everything. I forget what a stable dog she is.

After 2 hours of noise and people coming up to touch them, the dogs got their reward: a walk at the Dartmouth woods. No people, just nature and trails.

BIG THANKS to Mimi at GiveADogAHome on Etsy for supplying the vests!


…I couldn’t resist this one

Schadenfreude: the ‘Dictator Parade’ was a bust. But then, what should we have expected from the crew of thugs that has seized our government and a man who has succeeded at nothing but bullying and lies??

The US Army deserved better than to have its 250th anniversary appropriated by a shameless, narcissistic and crazy would-be dictator who called our veterans ‘suckers’ and ‘losers’.

The Dictator Parade HUMILIATED our armed services. Trump politicized our military to satisfy his own ego …and did a very bad job of it. We should ALL be disgusted!

Image of the Day

Trump deserves his own catchphrase: “You’re fired!

From Jeff Tiedrich’s daily blog

It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to
Cry if I want to
You would cry too if it happened to you

Illegal Tariffs

Today, I was forced to pay an illegal tariff on two imported pups!

Unilateral executive powers for tariff are for matters of ‘national security’. Otherwise, tariffs require Congressional action.

Importing border collies because we have such horrible breeding stock in the USA has NOTHING to do with national security. Federal courts have said it is an illegal use of executive authority. However, as is his way, Trump and his gang, will appeal and appeal, exploiting and manipulating the justice process, dipping and diving and abusing the court system due process.

The Trump Party in Congress that could do something is servile and submissive. Trump has them enthralled or in fear.

Everything about Trump is WRONG.

In the past, we relied upon enough people bucking party and personal interest and fear to stand up for what is right. Tragically, for America and the world, that is no longer the case.

Trump has filed for bankruptcy 6 times according to Politifact. How do we square that with business and executive acumen? In each case, the business kept going but the creditors were stiffed. Notorious for not paying or honoring deals and bullying his way out of it using the legal system, Trump is adopting the very same approach to governance. He dips, dives, evades and deceives …calling it business talent. Meanwhile, he ruins American advantage and undermines America’s future.

Trump is the ugly face of capitalism with no soul or conscience.

His tariffs, which I paid today on dogs that enhance the USA breeding stock, are a farce, illegal economic buffoonery by an elected and tolerated autocrat.

Democracy functions when have a shared spirit and reverence for the constitution, laws, institutions and norms. For 70 years, those in opposition to the spirit of Franklin Roosevelts New Deal have been working to undermine it. Their extraction, grown to nearly half the population, filled with resentment, greed, ignorance and deceits found fascination, shared grievance and form in Trump. For the life of me, I cannot understand how it could be so …except on some intellectual level.

Someday, ‘the chickens will come home to roost’, as they say. The consequences of Trump and his Trumped-Up MAGA will be present, and they will not be shaken off with a new election.

When it comes time to taking responsibility for Trump, MAGAts, MAGA voters and enablers will -out of ignorance (often willful), greed, and guilt- say something akin to what the residents of Bergen and Belsen did when the Allies discovered the horrors of the concentration camp, “But vee didn’t noh!” …if they say anything at all. Lies and bullshit. We ALL knew what Trump was about. He had history, he had a first term. He told us.

Clare

10 month old Clare is a striking pup out of James McCloskey’s Nel and Rob Ellis’ Welsh Champion, Bran. With her long strides with natural flanks, she shows lots of potential. I was going to sell her …but I think I am going to hang onto her and see how she develops.

Meg Pups: 1 Week Old

8-June-2025

The 5 pups from Meg’s surprise litter look healthy and content at one week old, maybe a little smaller than usual, because I didn’t know Meg was pregnant until the last week. They should catch up. Meg is probably my best mothering female. She looks after her pups dutifully until they are nearly 8 weeks old.

Puppies are completely uninteresting for the first 2 weeks when they are blind and deaf. That time is really just a group extension of the uterus. They just nurse and sleep. Once they open their eyes and they can hear (2 weeks), when they can walk not paddle (3 weeks), they are discovering their world and become adorable.

All the pups have classic black and white markings like their parents, Meg & Pete. Two of the males look quite large and bully-built –like Meg!

Tynygraig Meg

10 month old Tynygraig Meg arrived from Wales on 10-June. She is the daughter of Aran Fly and Llanfarian Mirk. Here she is showing me she’s off to a good start before she leaves Wales.

Tynygraig Meg
Tynygraig Meg
There is joy in that face …happy to be in Vermont

Arriving with Meg, 11-month old female Brynoer Lass. She is by Dewi’s Clwyd Bob, the #1 sheep dog stud in the world, the same sire as my #1 dog, Peter.

Byrnoer Lass