About half the females here are in or approaching or exiting their estrus cycle –that is to say ‘in season’. Nature synchronizes the female’s reproduction cycles. 2026 is a no-breeding-year. And yet, we are already dealing with ‘accidents’, seen and presumed. The urge to renew in dogs is strong –much stronger than in humans. Dogs will do just about anything to procreate.

One young female did THIS while I was away doing errands. Happily, the males were locked up in steel crates. That is 5/8 in plywood she tore and ate through!

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When renewal is successful (and planned), it brings forth beauties like this…

16 week old Trey (Nel x Blu) joins Erin, Mark and their border collie, Rue, on their farm in Upstate New York. Erin is a former horse trainer. Mark is a medical doctor. They have owned border collies since 1993. Erin prepares fresh healthy meals for her collies. No more kibble for this pup. I’ll miss Trey, but he is going to have a great life! Trey was one of the four run-aways on Groundhog Day.

8 month old Jet coming into his own. This is what my #1 dog, Peter, produces! Better than his sire, thanks to James McCloskey’s Nel.

When you’re a Jet,
You’re the top cat in town,
You’re the gold-medal kid
With the heavyweight crown!

[West Side Story]

16-week-old Skye has been promoted to the adult kennel. She will join littermates Jac, Mindi and Nova, remaining on the farm. She was jumping all over me with excitement to have her own kennel, a heater and blankets.

Skye is the reason I keep my pups longer. She went from scattered to focused in week 16. She is showing ‘all the right stuff’. Some show early. However, it pays to wait to see who the pups were and are likely to become.

I have never retained so many pups, but this litter (Nel x Blu) is full of riches. Pups I would normally keep will go to new working homes.

Full up with super pups, I have no plans to breed more in 2026.

I support James…

See him with Stephen Colbert on YouTube …censored by CBS to appease #1.

17-Feb-2026
From James Talarico

Washington Post

13-Feb-2026

Since the 1970s, the Earth — fueled by greenhouse gas emissions — has been warming at a fairly steady rate.

But 2023, 2024 and 2025 were far warmer than previous trends. A Post analysis shows the warming rate over the past decade increased by 42 percent. https://wapo.st/4qv6eHn

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/climate-tipping-point-hothouse-earth-global-heating-b2918752.html

Between 10 and 16 weeks, puppies start to show their temperamental and working aptitude distinctiveness. Mindi, Nova and Jac, now 14 weeks old, are finalists for retention on the farm. They are the pups with the combination of temperament and working aptitude I look for in breeding. While I focus on them, the remaining pups in the litter will be available for new homes.

Someday, those who voted for / supported Trump and his party will realize what Marjorie Taylor Greene has recently said, “MAGA was a big lie.“

This photo is symbolic of the Trump legacy: Chaos, Madness, Selfishness, Destruction. A mess left for others to clean up. It was the same with all his fail business ventures: creditors, little people left and the public at large holding the bag for Trump’s ego, greed, rashness and ineptitude.

This photo sums up MAGA: empty promises, destruction and corruption. Whether Mussolini’s Italy, Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, or Imperial Japan, fascist totalitarianism ends in failure and mass misery. It was never about ‘the people’, it was about the leader.

Four 13-week-old puppies went trotting down my driveway on Groundhog Day, hoping to find Punxsutawney Phil or the like. Two were found late afternoon about a mile from my house by painters working at my house –who actually got their car stuck trying to find the puppies on snowy Vermont rural roads. Two pups stayed out all night in sub-zero degree temps. The town animal control officer and I spent until after midnight tracking the missing two to no avail. Social media and Listserve posts went up immediately. The animal control officer and I were ready to canvass and alert the town, knocking doors this morning …and then, about 7:30 a.m., up walked these two missing pups, looking not too much worse for having spent the night out in the cold.

And a bell was ringing in the village square
For the puppies on the run
Band on the run
Band on the run

A very happy ending!

Puppies being retrieved by Jacob and David.

The other two pups who returned the next morning may have spent part of the night indoors. Not clear just where they went or how they managed to find the driveway again.

Puppies understand better than humans the notion of ‘mutuality’.

Lisa and Gregg wrote this morning with an update on 7 month-old Finn (Sue x Ormond Mirk) in ski country. When the right pup goes to the right home… this is what happens.