We took Honey’s pups to the vet this morning for their first shots and full check ups.  All their hearts sounded good, ears and teeth looked good!  There are still 3 from this litter looking for homes.  I will post new pictures today or tomorrow!

Honey’s puppies made the 3 1/2 hour trip to Austin on Friday to visit the animal eye doctor.  They all had good reports and the eye doctor confirmed there was no evidence of CEA – which we knew would be the case since King is a non-carrier and Honey is normal-eyed and this means none of their puppies can ever have CEA!

We left 4 puppies with their new owner.  They will be evaluated and possibly have show careers!  It seems strange just counting to 5 now instead of 9!

Have any of you out there ever had frustrations with your vet?  I love our regular vet and think the world of him.  He is easy to talk to and answers questions and concerns as if I am the only person that needs his attention at the time.

Today, however, I went in to take Honey’s for their 6 week shots and he was in a surgery and had a vet in that “travels” between clinics in our area to help out when needed.  This fill-in would not give the pups their shots because the computer said they weren’t 6 weeks old.  I was there when they were born, have taken them in at 2 weeks, 4 weeks and now 6 weeks and she would not believe me over the computer.  She had a different schedule that she liked to give shots and things on rather than the one my regular vet said and I had to abide by her schedule rather than his.  Well, needless to say, I came away very frustrated!  How can you believe a computer above a person?

My first response was that I would never go back, but then I remembered how wonderful my regular vet is and how helpful and caring his staff are and I changed my reaction a little.  I will just not go in whenever this vet is there and make sure I see my regular vet that I have confidence in and at least knows me well enough to know that I know when my puppies were born!

Am I the only one that has had this experience?  I would love to see some comments to know that I am not alone….

It has been so fun the last few days to watch Honey and her puppies playing together.  Honey will crouch and jump and nuzzle their necks.  I love to watch them playing, but most of all, I like knowing they are learning from Honey what is appropriate play and how to interact with her and each other.  This is giving them a great start to being ready to fit into their new families!  They also have started running to us whenever one of us goes outside and they are romping.  It is so cute to see them flock to our 5 year old and 2 year old daughters.  They are so excited to see them and the feeling is entirely mutual!

I have removed the pages of the pups that already have new homes.  Honey’s pups will be going for their 6 week check up tomorrow with the vet and will get their first shots.  Then they will take the big trip to Austin for their animal eye doctor visit.  After that, they will be ready for people to start choosing their puppies and which one they would like to have join their family.

 Please feel free to email me at dixie@dixierose.info or call us at (903) 584-0364 and talk to me (Dixie) or my husband, Greg, with any questions you might have about collies in general or our collies specifically.  We would love to hear from you!

A lot has happened since my last daily news.  We are having so much fun staying busy with our two litters that I haven’t taken the time to update things. 

On Tuesday of this week, Wrap’s litter went for their first vet visit and deworming.  They all weighed in over a pound with a couple of them weighing over 2 pounds!  They made the trip well, but were sure anxious to see Mama again!

Honey’s litter is enjoying trips outside each day.  They love having a bigger space that they can wrestle and run in.  We keep at least one of the momma dogs outside with them when we can’t be to make sure no hawks or anything decide they might make a good meal!

We have also put in puppy pads on one end of their enclosure to get them to start thinking about housebreaking.  We are not pushing anything as they are so young, but just want to give them a chance to get used to things before they need to learn (plus it is much easier to clean up!).  On Wednesday, we started taking all of Honey’s litter out about 15 minutes after they eat to take care of their bathroom needs outside.  This is working well and they are anxious to relieve themselves as soon as they hit the ground.  By Friday (yesterday), none of the 9 will go in their enclosure.  They stand at the gate and whine until we get them and take them outside.  So, as of this morning, we have gone 24 hours without the puppy pad being used.  It has been wonderful to not have to do any cleaning, but it was a little hard at 3 a.m. this morning when one of them decided they had to go!  They then woke everyone else up and 20 minutes later, they were all settled again and sleeping soundly.

Wrap’s litter is growing fast.  Their eyes are opening and they are moving around really well.  They have even figured out how to get milk while Wrap is standing up to eat – they definitely got their Daddy’s (King) long necks!