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!

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!

Today has been a big day for both litters.  Honey’s litter went for their second worming today at the vet’s.  They weren’t too sure about traveling in the big crate at first, but soon settled in for the ride.  They are all growing well.  They will get their big vet check, first shots and eye exams with a animal eye doctor in two weeks.  This will mean they will get to travel to the big city of Austin to visit the eye doctor.  This will help get them used to trips in the car so they will be good travellers once they are ready to join their new families!  After that, people that have paid deposits will get to pick their puppy in the order I had received the deposits.

Wrap’s litter made their move from the area where Wrap whelped into our family room today.  This gives them a little more room, more sights when their eyes open and more sounds when their ears open.  This ensures that they are well adjusted to family life from the beginning!  Now that Wrap is starting to spend short times outside content away from them, we will be holding each one every day to get them acclimated to human touch and affection.