WORKING BORDER COLLIE SHEEP DOGS
4-April-2025
I am proud to have spent days and days knocking doors for this candidate in 2016. She really did ‘tell it like it is’ …even if people were not ready to hear it.
“You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.” ~ Hillary Rodham Clinton, 2016
30-Mar-2025
Three pups (1M/2F), Gail x Max, doing very well 1 week on. Nice and big. Gail is feeding them generously. …and yes, I believe Max is the perpetrator. Telltale markings (faint tan highlights on cheeks and butt) are from the Aled Owen lines. DNA parentage test will confirm this before registration. Because Max is big, I expect the pups to be med-large. Pups genetically clear by parentage.
I have strong reason to believe that my initial chief suspect, Max, is the perpetrator of the litter. Distinctive markings on the pups are that are present in Max and his Aled Owen lines are not present in the other two possible sires from Dewi Jenkins and James McCloskey lines. I am 75% sure Max is the sire of the pups. A DNA test on a pup in a few weeks will confirm the parentage.
23-Mar-2025
When I went to the kennel this AM, there was general excitement in the kennel and some strange noises. A male pup had been born to Gail in her kennel. A quick shift indoors and several hours later, two females followed. All pups nursing and looking very healthy. It was an easy whelping for Gail –and for me.
These will be the first pups registered with the ISDS prefix ‘Strafford‘.
Males can be late maturers. At 8 months, Coal is looking like a different dog. The 2023 pups have matured nicely over the winter. I’m VERY pleased to think that I can offer Coal to working homes as well as mixed working/pet homes. More on his profile page.
I discovered Gail was pregnant today. I knew she was in season weeks ago and was careful about separating males and females. So, I’m not sure when and with whom this happened, but I will find out once the pups arrive and I can do a parentage / paternity test. Since I have DNA profiles on all the suspects, I can just submit a puppy’s DNA and find out whodunnit.
Who is the perp? My bet is on Max, then Mirk. Though it really could have been any of them.
Around 5 AM while I was watching the European Nursery Sheepdog Championships, Gail gave birth to a healthy male pup. Appears to be a singleton. And could belong to any of the perps, but most likely Max or Mirk.
A must-watch for those of you worried about what is happening in the United States. I was not aware how ‘authoritarian temperaments’ correlate(d) with support for Trump. 30% of the population is a big number. I understand better the answer to the question, “Ffs, do Americans want to live in a dictatorship??”. And it makes me despair for the future here (and elsewhere).
11 mo. old Lotti has grown into a proper young bitch over the winter
This little blue-eyed devil of a pup, named Blu (Martin Feeney’s Meg x Dean McAuley’s Joe), is coming back to my breeding lines courtesy of Brian, who took him as a pup. Blu was a bull of a pup, mad for sheep (hard to hold back), full of hell, BIG and TOUGH, and very smart. Too much for me to handle at the time, but just right for Brian, in Upstate New York, who likes strong dogs.
Brian was kind enough to let me collect and freeze Blu this spring so I will have him to breed with later on. THANK YOU BRIAN!!!
Gwen (Nel x Rob Ellis’ Bran) left for her new life with Lora on a goat farm in Massachusetts today. Lora is a pharmaceuticals engineer, with a passion for animals and traditional husbandry, working from home so she can do what she cares about most –farming! Yay!
Delightful talking with Lora while he dogs frolicked this afternoon. She is just the kind of person I want to have my dogs. Easy to say ‘yes’ on the spot. If I’m going to let a premium dog go, it has to be to a premium person …like Lora.
I violated my own rule today and said from the outset, I think this is dog for you. Gwen kept coming back to us and circling round, so I think she agreed.
Halfway home and Lora reports Gwen already has her nose on her arm as she drives …and giving her kisses!!!
Makes my eyes well up thinking how happy these two are going to be together!! Pairings like this make the tough parts of dog breeding feel like it is worth it.
ADDENDUM: And this is what Lora saw in Gwen’s eyes the next morning when they went out to the barn to see the goats. Just look at that SMILE!!!
Moments later, supremely confident Gwen took charge of the goats! No grabbiness, just taking control at 7 months old. All this her first morning off the farm. A very talented young pup!
Yes, that is a border collie pup (Gwen) competing with baby goats for the milk. Loving her new life on the goat farm. Always a job to be done that requires working dog ‘assistance’.
