Life is so hard.....

It is a wonder I have the energy to get through the day...

Christmas Tree Hunting!

This past Saturday we went hunting Christmas trees...for those dogs that don't know what this is - it is a silly human tradition that involves bringing a tree into the house just to tell us that we can't pee on it. Seems silly but the humans enjoy it.

Dublin and I got to go with the humans to find the perfect trees. Limerick and Keely had to stay home because they aren't quite as well behaved as we are.

We got to the place and there were lots of people and even some other dogs! The Boss Lady said none of the dogs were as well-behaved as me, though. She was right - some of those dogs were lunging and growling at each other...and me! I just ignored them and spent the time soaking up the pets and snuggles from all of the humans that stopped to say how handsome I was. It is exhausting being the object of so much adoration, but I managed to get through it...

We took a hay ride way out to the back part of the tree farm and began our search. Some of the other peoples (not the Boss Lady's people, though, because they know better) were worried that Dublin and I wouldn't be able to handle the hay ride. Silly humans. We just hopped right up and settled down in a pile of hay. we were the best behaved of everyone on there!

Once we got dropped off, we started walking all over the back fields, looking for the perfect tree. I am not exactly sure what makes a tree "perfect" in the humans' eyes, because all the trees smelled pretty interesting to me. Finally, the humans choose some trees and cut them down. Then we had to haul them back to the pick up point where we loaded them and got another hay ride back to the main parking lot.

I had a lot of fun doing this, though I did start to limp a bit toward the end. The Boss Lady put me back in her van where I got to curl up on my cushy bed and pass out. She said I was snoring like a drunken sailor!


~Sir Casey GoodDog, Christmas Tree Hunter Extraordinaire

Keely is finally blogging!

Hi Everyone! I'm Keely! I've been with the Boss Lady for a few months now and I am ready to find my forever home. I've had a lot of things to learn...like how to play with other dogs and how not to eat the cats.

In my old home, I spent all day outside in a kennel run by myself, so it was a big adjustment living with 3 dogs. I've figured it out now and have even been known to try to play with Limerick! Limerick thought it was a trick at first (I was a bit...ummm, grumpy...when I first met him). But he eventually succumbed to my many charms and we had a good romp session.

I like to hang out with people in the house but outside I am all Go! Go! Go! I am super fast and can jump really high! The Boss Lady calls me her little pogo stick. Not sure what that is exactly, but she laughs when she says it so it must be a good thing. The Boss lady said I'd make a good agility dog if someone wanted to train me. 'Cause I'm super fast, like I said.

I'm also smart - I'm not bragging, the Boss Lady told me I was smart, honest. My old owners said I couldn't be trained but they just weren't doing it right. I pick up on new commands lickety-split. I'm very food motivated, so anything that gets me a treat is something I wanna learn!

I'm a tiny little thing, just 29lbs. I walk under Sir Casey GoodDog without ducking - luckily, he is usually so focused on trying to get the Boss Lady to play fetch, he doesn't even notice when I walk under him.


Hmm...I guess that's all I have to say for now!

Talk to you soon,
Keely the Brave

Finally...pictures!

Here I am the day after my surgery. I am not sure what was worse - the stupid blue cone or my scar.

Here's a close up of my scar. Looks pretty painful, huh?

I'm made tougher stuff though and I was still trying to get the humans to play fetch with me!

But for some reason the humans just shook their heads and called me Petunia.....

Loooooong overdue update

First - apologies for the delay in updates. The Boss Lady has been very busy and hasn't had as much time as I'd like to post updates for me.



So to recap the last few months.....I started going to this special vet office for swimming lessons. The Boss Lady calls it "Physical Therapy" but it usually involves at least some swimming. First I get my massage, complete with heat packs. I loooooove this part. Sometimes I even fall asleep and start snoring! Then they make me do my stretches - I am not as big a fan of that part. I have to stretch my legs way out and then pull them up against my stomach, repeat, repeat, repeat.... Sometimes we even dance with me up on my hind legs. (Truly, you humans are nuts!)

Then I get on the doggie treadmill and walk uphill with weights on my legs for a mile or so. Then I get in another treadmill with a big plastic box around it. Once I am shut in, they start to fill the box with water. I was not happy the first time they did this - I thought they had tricked me into getting a bath! And when the ground started moving I was even more surprised! But since I'm a smart guy, I figured it out pretty quickly. This is the "swimming" part...I even kind of like it now.



After all that is done, I get to have ice packs applied on my legs which feels really good at that point. All of this is supposed to help me get stronger in my back legs.



Evidently it worked, because just when I was finally running around really well on my right leg, the Boss Lady took me back to the surgeon and had them operate on my left leg. I was not happy about this - but the Boss Lady told me it would be for the best in the long run. So I had to start the whole silly process all over again. I had my second surgery in the beginning of October. I was stuck wearing a stupid floppy blue cone for waaaay too long. The humans kept calling me Petunia for some crazy reason. I didn't care what they called me as long as they would play fetch with me....which they did eventually, rolling the ball a few inches at a time. (I'd have liked to post a couple of pictures of me looking pathetic in my blue floppy cone so I could get your sympathy, but for some reason, Blogger isn't allowing me to upload any pictures....)


Anyway, back to the update...
I've been getting daily physical therapy from the Boss Lady and twice weekly physical therapy at the vets, so I've been doing really well. I might even be able to go to my new home in a month or two. I'm gonna miss the Boss Lady, but I am looking forward to having a "Forever Home". I know the Boss Lady will pick a good home for me. I sure hope they know how to play fetch though.....that's the only thing I am worried about.

What a way with words....

This poem was written by the 16 year old daughter of one of NEBCR's volunteers. This young lady has an amazing talent and was able to perfectly capture the living hell that these puppy mill dogs go through. NEBCR's "Lucky Seven" are truly the lucky ones...they have a lot of rehab time ahead of them still but they managed to escape their hell. My heart cries for the millions of dogs that aren't so lucky...


His Tomb
Alexandria Malfitano

In the dark and dreary room,
he sat in his personal tomb.
Stack upon stacks of crates,
cutting tiny paws
that have never felt the cool grass beneath them.

The dark blanket covers his dwelling,
hiding his face from mine,
and I feel weak.
The foreboding air tells a story of horror.
Be loved,
or be nothing.

His small life has only begun,
and yet he has been slated for death.
I look under the cover, and he looks at me.
A face so full of fear and desire,
a body emaciated from lack of food,
fur that has never been brushed,
eyes that have never been met with love,
and it breaks my heart in two.

He is but a product to sell,
and nothing more to those who own him.
I snap the photo, and whisper,
“I’ll come back for you.”
His eyes light up with hope,
then turn dull again.
He hides back inside himself,
the only safe place left.

I will break open this puppy mill,
and save his life.
No longer will he and the others,
live in their own tomb,
but with real families,
who will love them and care for them.

I will help him.

I will help them.

We can save them.

If you would like to donate toward the care of the "alledged" puppy mill dogs that New England Border Collie Rescue recently took in, please visit http://www.nebcr.org/

Can you help?

I have lots to update you on my progress and I'll get to that in the next post...

Things have been hopping in NEBCR-land these past few days. Some of you may have heard that an awful puppymill got raided in Tennessee this past week. 108 border collies were pulled from their very own version of hell...approximately 50 or so were allowed to be rehomed immediately. Hopefully the others will be released soon.

Border collie rescues from all over banded together to help these poor dogs. Seven of these dogs have already made it to New England Border Collie Rescue (NEBCR) and are on their way to a happier, healthier life. Volunteers are working hard to get them cleaned up - they were all matted, and had fleas and lice. They are going to need a lot of care (both physical and emotional) before they are ready for adoption.

Please view the website and if possible make a donation. If you can't make a donation right now, please read how you can help NEBCR win a grant by voting daily in a petfinder contest.


Thank you for all your help,

Sir Casey GoodDog, grateful he never had to live through what those poor dogs did....

Admitting it is the first step...

Hi. I'm Casey...and I'm a fetchaholic. I don't think this is a bad thing, necessarily. I get laughed at by the humans a lot and it did cause me to be stuck to that post (pictured above) for sometime at NEBCR's Dog Dayz of Summer event. I was determined to get that jolly ball off the stupid post, but as much as I tried, I was still foiled.




I eventually gave up and found a jolly ball that had already escaped the clutches of the post. I walked around shoving it into people's legs. I have found that this is quite an effective way to get their attention. Then I bat my handsome eyes at them and they cave every time. Humans are pretty easy to train. :)



Limerick saw the trouble I was having getting the jolly ball off the post. Once he found a free one, he was making sure no one took it from him! He didn't get to play fetch with it by doing that, but he always had one in his mouth and that seemed to make him happy.


I mentioned the Dog Dayz of Summer event that the good folks at NEBCR put on - they also did up a really cool poster letting people know what type of surgery I was going through and how they could help by donating.

If you are interested in helping NEBCR raise the money to pay for my second surgery and associated vet costs, please click here.


And guess who came to Dog Dayz? Breckin! Doesn't he look great? He told me he's a REAL sheep dog now as he gets to work the sheep on his new family's farm. I was happy for him but I could tell Dublin and Limerick were jealous.
[picture courtesy of Cold Nose Photo]



And finally, in case you thought I was the only one obsessed with the jolly ball, here's a picture of my friend Lizzie. She was even more determined than me to free the jolly ball from the evil post.

She stayed there all day....


...and into the night. She might still be there, I'm not sure. {shrugs}


~Sir Casey GoodDog, fetchaholic

I'm baaaack!

Hello All! Sir Casey GoodDog here again. First, I would like to apologize on behalf of the Boss Lady for the long spell between posts. She's had a few things keeping her really busy - the most important one being NEBCR's Annual Dog Dayz of Summer. You should come - the money NEBCR raises goes to helping dogs like me get the care they need. I know I certainly appreciate it!

The Boss Lady also misplaced her camera...again. But she found it today (finally!) and took some pictures and a really bad video of me. But more about that later. She said she had a hard time getting a picture of me because I kept coming up to her to give her a ball. Silly Boss Lady - doesn't she know fetch is much more important than pictures?

Let's see, I have lots to catch you up on...I'm still recovering from my first surgery. I've been back to the surgeon two times now to see if I am ready for my second surgery but both times they decided against it. Evidently, I am not using my right leg (the one that had the surgery) as much as they would like yet. I have to be able to fully support my weight on it before they can do the second surgery on my left hip. The surgeon said it is tough to get dogs to start using their back leg after surgery because they can get along so well on just three legs. I agree - you should see me zoom around on just three legs! I am super fast!

The Boss Lady has tried all sorts of crazy things to get me to start using my right rear leg again. She's put a sock on my left foot to make me shift my weight to the right one - silly human. I just kept walking on my left foot anyway. Then she tried to get me to swim - I am not a fan of swimming, so that didn't work. (I do use my right leg for walking and standing, I just don't use it quite as much as they'd like me to yet.)

I can't wait to see what the crazy Boss Lady comes up with next! She mentioned I might need to go to Physical Therapy. I don't know what it is, but if it means going to a vet again, I'm all for it. I like going to the vet - lots of nice dogs there and I chat with them while we are waiting to see the people in the white coats. All the other humans are amazed at how calm I am and how I help to calm down their dogs.

I went to the vet recently and had a thyroid test done. The results weren't conclusive, but I might be hypothyriod. The Boss Lady said I would have to take a pill 2 times a day. The medication isn't expensive so that's a good thing. And I take pills really well - I sit and wait for the Boss Lady to pop them into my mouth and then I immediately swallow them. She said she wished Dublin was half as easy as me to pill - it is almost impossible to pill him!

In other news, we have a new addition on the foster dog front. The Boss Lady came home with the newest NEBCR foster dog on Friday.



Her name is Keely. She is a teeny little thing (that is me standing next to her) that doesn't have a lot of experience with other dogs but she is learning quickly. The saddest thing is that she doesn't know how to play fetch - I can't even imagine a life without fetch! It is my most favorite thing in the world!

Okay, running out of time...I'll post my video and maybe some more pictures later.

Sincerely,

Sir Casey GoodDog

Sir Casey GoodDog has arrived

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen! Sir Casey GoodDog here. I joined the Boss Lady's household as her newest foster dog. (I actually joined on the same day that Breckin was adopted, but the Boss Lady has been a little behind in getting me access to the internet.)

Allow me to introduce myself...I am a 5 year old, handsome, male border collie. I am a well-behaved gentleman and I have my Canine Good Citizen certificate. My favorite activities include fetch, fetch and did I mention fetch? I really do love that. When fetching is all done (though honestly, is fetching ever really done?) I can be found snuggling with my human. I also enjoy walks and I walk well on a leash. In my spare time, I enjoy discovering new objects to fetch...I've found quite a few toys that the Boss Lady thought had been lost forever in her backyard.

I get so excited when I know I am going to play fetch that sometimes I turn into a vampire dog:



I have actually been in rescue for a while now, but my previous foster home noticed that I was having a bit of trouble getting up after playing and I would limp after a few fetches of the ball. After some x-rays were taken, the true picture came out. My hips were just horrible. :( I was transferred to the Boss Lady's household because she has a good surgeon near her that could perform the operations needed to make me all better. I have to have a double Femoral Head Ostectomy. It sounds pretty scary but the Boss Lady said we are using the same surgeon that worked on Finnegan and that surgery turned out just great, so I am very hopeful that mine will as well.

For those of you interested, I pasted some info on the surgery below. I was particularly happy to see the words "pain-free" used in the description of the results! I can't wait until I can fetch again. As much as I love fetching, right now it is just too painful for me.

The folks at NEBCR have been kind enough to take on this surgery for me, but they really need your help in paying for it. Anyone interested in donating toward the cost of my surgeries should go here. I really appreciate all the help I can get!

******************************
Femoral Head Osteotomy (FHO)

This surgery is also called femoral head arthroplasty, ostectomy or femoral head excision.



The modified x-ray shown above, represents before and after views of FHO. Every veterinarian performs this technique slightly differently. An incision is made over the hip and the tissues are carefully parted to expose the head (ball) of the femur. This portion of the leg bone is removed and the remaining shaft is smoothed. Then tissue that surrounded the joint is positioned so that a strong band of connective tissue forms to attach the leg bone (femur) to the pelvis. As this consolidates with additional new scar and cartilaginous tissue, a pseudo-joint forms that is pain free and allows almost natural motion. Some veterinarians also reinforce the area with a very strong flexible surgical sutures anchored to both the femur and pelvis that last the life of the pet.

It is amazing how well the pets body adapts to this surgery. Joint pain, due to the grinding together of the bones of the hip is completely eliminated. After surgery, the animal maintains its knee a bit straighter to compensate for the slight shortening of the femur.

For the first few weeks after surgery, many veterinarians suggest that the pet be confine to a small cage and have the owner frequently massage the muscles of the leg. By the 4th to 6th week after surgery, they may encourage as much light activity as possible to prevent atrophy (withering) of the muscles of the leg.

Many veterinarians have the owners passively flex and extend the leg and continue massages several times a day. Dogs and cats do quite well on three legs so it is difficult to start them using the repaired leg. Within six months of surgery almost all dogs lope about as if nothing had happened.

******************************


Sincerely,

Sir Casey GoodDog

I adopted a new family!

Hi All! Breckin the Brave here, postin' my last update on the Boss Lady's blog...I have wonderful news - I adopted a new family!!! My new family has a farm and - get this - SHEEP!!! I'm so excited that I get to be a real sheep dawg.

And, it gets even better...my new people play frisbee with me, too! I no longer have to herd Limerick while he fetches the frisbee. I get to fetch a frisbee of my very own.



I want to thank all my fans for cheerin' me on in my progress from punk to well-behaved canine citizen. I especially want to thank Dublin for explainin' the rules of correct doggie etiquette and for puttin' up with my silly puppy behavior. And Limerick for allowin' me to herd him for the last four months.

Hopefully my new family will bring me back to visit all my NEBCR pals at the next Adopter's Reunion.

But for now, I'm lookin' forward to the future...



~Breckin, Sheepdog-in-training

Water, water, everywhere....

Turns out, I'm a water dog.

We went to the Farm this weekend and got to play in the big pond. I did my usual bit of followin' Limerick around to try to get his toy and he went into the water and I followed right in after him! Boy, was he surprised! He didn't know I could swim, so he was a bit shocked to see me there.

Come to think of it, I didn't know I could swim. I was just a little speck of a pup last summer and I don't remember swimmin' as a wee tyke of only a few weeks. And all my other memories include the water being hard enough to walk on. So I must just be a natural at this whole swimmin' thing.

The Boss Lady said that Limerick might have actually been trying to get away from me when he went into the water, but I don't believe that. We're Best Buds! Limerick just doesn't know that yet.

Here I am swimmin' out to meet him:



And here I am takin' the toy from him:



And here's a picture of just my foster brothers, Dublin and Limerick. They spent most of their time in the water, too:


The Boss Lady said it was nice to have a car full of tired, wet dogs for the ride home!

Breckin, Dog of Hidden Talents

Spring cleaning

This weekend I helped the Boss Lady do some Spring Cleanin' as it was the big city-wide "let's throw everythin' out" weekend. We spent a lot of time in the garage (ie the place where the magic white food dispensin' box lives). I've never been in the garage before - it has lots and lots of stuff that I've never seen or sniffed. And while it all looked different, surprisingly, most of it seemed to be named "heythatisnotadogtoy".

Dublin and Limerick spent a good part of the day chillin' under the shade tree - not me though, I am a good helper and I hung out with the Boss Lady the whole time. I was determined to help her empty the garage. She kept sayin' that we were supposed to be cleaning out the garage, not emptying out the garage.

Eh. You say tomato, I say..

I didn't see much of a distinction between the two, so I happily helped the Boss Lady by draggin' stuff out into the yard for her to go through. I must have made a really good helper 'cause the Boss Lady said she was going to change my name to "Clepto".

Um, that's a compliment, right?

Breckin, Emptier-Outer Extraordinaire

Psssst...

I have a few secrets to tell....turns out, I actually *do* like to play fetch. I've been playin' fetch for weeks now with the Boss Lady's dad whenever he and I hang out...but don't tell the Boss Lady - I don't want to hurt her feelings. See, I only like to play fetch when there are no other dogs around. When other dogs join in the game, I would much rather herd them.... Poor Boss Lady, she's been tryin' for months now to get me interested in fetch...silly human.

And the other big thing I have to tell you is the sky 'sploded tonight! The Boss Lady said they were "fye-er-werks" or something like that. I thought they were just plain annoyin' at first...but then I realized they were a GOOD thing. See, the Boss Lady had just given us our meals a little bit before the sky 'sploded and we hadn't gotten a chance to finish them yet. Once the sky started 'splodin' Dublin and Limerick got scared and ran up onto the porch to beg the Boss Lady to let them in.

*snort*

Silly dogs! The Boss Lady quickly let them in and then she called for me. Ha! I wasn't scared at ALL. I was using my head and took the opportunity to run over and finish off Dublin and Limerick's food. So the sky was 'sploding...no big deal. I had much more important things on my mind.

~Breckin the Brilliant

Lessons Learned

The Boss Lady recently had a birf-day and her family came over to help her celebrate. Part of her family includes little kids.

(First lesson learned: Unlike what I originally thought, these kids are NOT baby goats. I was a little bummed by that.)

I decided to give these kids a chance. After everyone was in, settled and Dublin had already greeted everyone, the Boss Lady let me out of my crate. I went runnin' right up to the first little kid...and sat. This seemed to startle her a bit and she just stared at me. Evidently she didn't know that when I sit, she's supposed to give me a treat. So I stood up and very dramatically sat again.

Still nothin'.

I was not deterred, however, and moved on the the next kid. I ran up and sat in front of her and got a "oh, how handsome" and a pat on the head. That was nice and all, but I would have preferred the treat.

(Second lesson learned: Kids have not been fully trained in the art of treat-givin' and need more trainin'. Maybe a clicker would help.)

So I took my show on the road and went through all of the other people there, one by one. I got lots more compliments and a few chest rubs (I like those much better than pats on the head). I circled around in front of the first little kid again and thought I would give her another shot. To my delight, she produced a treat for me this time. We spent a bunch more time together and the little kid seemed to be gettin' the whole treat concept now. I hope the Boss Lady appreciates the time I took to train the little kid!

(Third lesson learned: Little kids aren't all that coordinated at handlin' treats and often drop extras on the floor. Bonus!)

~Breckin, Kid-trainer Extraordinaire

Anyone looking for a sheep dog?

Last weekend the Boss Lady took me and my foster brothers to a sheep farm for herdin' lessons! Well, Dublin and Limerick were there for lessons, the Boss Lady just brought me along to see if I had any interest in sheep - and boy, did I ever! I loved it and I even heard the Boss Lady mumble somethin' about me bein' better on sheep my first time out than Dub and Lim were after tons of lessons! Here I am goin' out to the sheep with the Trainer Man: The Boss Lady said I was really good for my first time out - especially since I am still a puppy - because I didn't run at the sheep and scatter them like most young dogs will. I slowed down as a I approached them and swung out and around to find the perfect spot to balance and then..... ...I would lie down and wait to help take some of the pressure off of the sheep. Sometimes I would get "sticky" and wanted to keep the sheep in one spot...I figured if the sheep didn't move, then I wouldn't have to go run them down. Made sense to me, but the Trainer Man seemed to want me to move them around some so I started runnin' around the sheep in whatever direction he seemed to want me to go. It was really easy!

Here's a video of me being sticky:


Here's a video of me runnin' around the sheep - you can't tell all that well from the video, but I was workin' off of the Trainer Man's body language:


The Trainer Man said I had "good instincts" and I did really well for a young'un! I don't know what all the fuss was about, I just did what came naturally to me... Here I am waiting for another turn on sheep.

Sorry it took me so long to update the blog - I needed the Boss Lady's help uploadin' the videos...those opposable thumbs come in handy sometimes!


In other news, I am doin' really well with the kittens. I have been allowed to hang out for a few hours every night and I don't even care that they've been runnin' around. The Boss Lady says I am finally 'gettin' my head on straight'.


Breckin, Sheepdog Extraordinaire

kittenz

So the Boss Lady says I've made a lot of "progress". Not sure exactly what "progress" is, but she seemed happy with me when she said it, so I am gonna assume that it is a good thing.

We've been playin' the clicker game every mornin' and evenin' and I think I have it down pat. So far I've learned how to sit at the Boss Lady's side, down, and we are still workin' on walkin' and the newest one "Leave It". The Boss Lady was especially proud of me when I did a "Leave It" when the kittenz came running through our training session. I got extra treats for that!

Speaking of kitties, I've been getting much better about not obsessin' over them anymore. I can even be loose in the house with them runnin' around. Still, I would probably do best with older cats that don't want to run all the time as I will try and chase the kitties when they run - but I am gettin' much better at that, too!

In other news, the kitties went to the vet this week to get "fixed". I didn't even know they were broken! (And I swear to you, dear readers, that I didn't break them!) They came back and Darwin seemed just fine, so I don't know what he had fixed. He was running around just like usual so it couldn't have been too bad.

Whatever Fossil had to get fixed must have been more involved though, because she came home wearin' one of these:


She was N.O.T. P.L.E.A.S.E.D.

She kept bangin' into things and was generally not in a good mood for the 4 days she had to wear it. I stayed far out of her way!

~Breckin the not-so-brave

Piece of Cake!

Well, I had my first class on Monday night and it was easy-peasy. I was the best in the class! I even got used as a demo dog a few times! And I got praised bunches of times for my tuggin' skills - I like playing tug with the Boss Lady.

There are 5 other dogs in the class. One was a tiny little dog with a big bark. He kept barking the whole time. The Boss Lady said she was very proud of me because I didn't bark at all - even when she had to leave me in the training room while she helped one of the other students out. I just chilled and watched the other students and dogs acting silly. I'm pretty good at people watchin'.

We worked on "sit" - I already have that down. Same with "wait" before we come out of our crates. Then we worked on "By Me" which I am pretty good at. We did some walking in heel position - I can do that, but it isn't my favorite thing - I'd much rather run and play. And then we worked on tuggin' - that was my favorite part of the class!

I can't wait to go back next week!

Guess what happens tomorrow?

Hiya! Guess what? School starts tomorrow! I'm so excited, I finally get to go to my own dog class, just like my foster brothers do. I hope I do well....the Boss lady has been practicin' with me. She clicks this clicker thing and then I get a treat. I can't always make her click the clicker thing though...I am not sure, but I think it has somethin' to do with what I am doin' at the time I get the click.

The Boss Lady says I concentrate so hard on trainin' that she can almost see smoke coming outta my ears!...uh, that's a good thing, right?

Breckin the Brave

Big News!!!

Hiya! I have some excitin' news to share....I met a bunch of men with beards this weekend and I wasn't scared at all! Turns out, men with beards are just as good at givin' treats and scritches as everyone else! Who knew?


We had a very excitin' day this weekend. We went to Sugar Bush Farm and met a bunch of other dogs and kind people. They had lots of treats and they all wanted to give me pets and chest rubs. I was in heaven. I even got to play with other dogs and the Boss Lady said I did "great"!

I got to practice all my dog herdin' moves - though mostly I just lie down and watch them while pretendin' I am a great sheep dog of old...(it keeps me outta trouble that way).
I've got style, if I do say so myself!

Catch ya later,
Breckin

Zoomies!

So, after a few weeks hangin' with the Boss Lady and her crew, Limerick and I finally reached some sort of understandin': I must never, ever, EVER touch his coveted, torn-in-half-and-hanging-together-by-a-thread, barely-able-to-fly, green frisbee and he will deign to acknowledge my existence every once in a while. We even went so far as to play a game of wresting/bitey-face/zoomies yesterday! It was fun! And Dublin was okay with it, too, even though he didn't play with us. I know he was okay with it because he carried on doing his own thing while we were wrestlin'. Normally, if he thinks we are fightin', Dublin breaks it up 'cause he doesn't like such shenanigans. He's a good big brother to Limerick (and honestly, sometimes I think Dublin is the only reason Limerick is still alive - sometimes Lim has less dog sense than me!)




After running around and playing outside for a few hours, the Boss Lady brought us inside and decided to drown me. I dunno why. She called it "taking a bath" and said I had to have one because I rolled on something really "vile" smellin' but I'm pretty sure she was tryin' to kill me. I stayed very still and she attacked me with water and soap but eventually she got tired of it and let me get back out of the tub. The only casualty of the attempted drownin' was my beautiful smell; now I smell just awful and "minty fresh". Humans sure do like disgustin' smells! I much prefer my previous odor of dead squirrel. Limerick and Dublin agreed with me, but they were laying low and just happy that they didn't have to get a bath.

Freckles!

Hiya! I'm Breckin and I am the Boss Lady's new foster dog. I'm what ya call a rough-coated, tri-colored border collie with lots of FRECKLES! Matter of fact, my name even means freckled!

Anyway, I've been doin' a lot of learnin' these last few weeks. First, I had to learn to play nice with other dogs - I was used to being a bit of a punk because that's what worked in my old pack, but my new foster brothers (Dublin and Limerick) said that kind of stuff wasn't gonna fly here. Limerick informed me that HE was the only punk allowed at the Boss Lady's place.

Then I had to learn that everythin' doesn't belong to me, includin' the Boss Lady. That kinda went along with not being a punk. So I've got that figured out now and I only grumble if another dog (aka Limerick) tries to take my food right out of my mouth. Other than that I don't mind if they are near me when I am eatin'.

I also got "new-turred" though I don't remember it so I am not sure what exactly it was. The Boss Lady said it sure helped me to learn how not to be a punk though, so I guess it is a good thing....

I'm still workin' on learnin' some new skills, like how to walk well on a leash and how to not eat the the Boss Lady's cats.

Okay, gotta go

Breckin

Here we go a-visitin'

Hi All! This past weekend I went a-visitn' to some friends' house. I got to see my buddy Sam:


And Pippin (is it me or does he look kinda scary in this picture?):


We also got to hang out with Dune and his ever present Frisbee:


We met some other dogs too! This is Tucker and he is the newest NEBCR rescue dog. He's just a little tyke and he doesn't know much yet. You might have noticed him in the picture I posted of me earlier. That's because I am good with puppies so I was allowed to play with him. Dublin was allowed to play with him too, but Limerick had to pass because he isn't very patient with lil' puppers. Dublin said that is kind of "I-RON-ICK" considering how much patience Limerick required as a puppy...




Finally we got to meet this guy:



His name is Breckin (Gaelic for freckled) and despite his size, he is only 7 months old. He is the Boss Lady's new foster dog. Why does the Boss Lady have two foster dogs you ask? Well, she doesn't. I also got to meet my forever family on this trip! They drove a really long way (in a snowstorm to boot!) to come get me. They were very excited to be taking me to live with them. The Boss Lady said I would get my very own calf to herd and lots of room to run and play once I'm all healed up!

So, once again, I want to thank everyone who donated to NEBCR so I could have my surgeries. Thanks to you, I can look forward to many more years of pain-free running and playing like every other border collie my age.

Take care,
Finnegan, Finally Beginning Again....