Sunday, April 26, 2009

Happy 11th Birthday Kate

Kate turned 11 years old today. Wow, look at where Kate has gotten me to.
I remember searching for a certain type of Border Collie and I found a guy named Jeff Larkin up in Oregon. This was before internet, so many phone calls were made. Once I decided that the Lyn x Wisp cross was for me, I then had to wait about 8 months for the breeding to take place and then as you know wait for the puppies to arrive. I have saved the original pictures I was sent of the litter (via snail mail) when the puppies were 5 weeks old. I was teaching Elementary School back then and it just happened to turn out that the puppies were ready for their new homes the day school got out. I headed up to Oregon with a friend and her husband as they too were getting a puppy.
I remember going into the barn where the puppies were. Jeff let the puppies out and I immediately was drawn to Kate. She was the one puppy that would find small objects to toss up in the air and she did this over and over again. I had first pick of the litter, so I made sure that I looked at all of the puppies. I kept being drawn back to Kate as she just had this lovely personality. Kate it was and I have never regretted that choice as she is my "Heart Dog".
Kate brought me into the world of herding and has taught me so much about agility. Not to mention that she is the foundation for our Border Collie line. She is also responsible for me moving up to Oregon as I ended up moving onto the ranch where I got Kate and managed the ranch and their Border Collies. This is also where I got Mick from.
Kate is still Queen of the pack, but she has softened (for the good) over the years. She still throws her toys up in the air and loves to play with litter objects, which she has passed on to some of her kids etc.
Kate has accomplished a lot in her 11 years. She brought me through the beginning of ISDS type of herding and started in Novice and ended her career in Pro-Novice. If I knew then what I know now about herding she would have easily made an Open dog. She has earned her ADCH and MACH and her Bronze Lifetime Achievement Award in USDAA. She has been in many finals of both AKC and USDAA Agility and was 5th place at the 2003 AKC Nationals. She has had Animal Planet fly out to do a special on her (video below). She has many generations of kids, grandkids, and great grandkids living on through her. She had 3 litters of puppies, 1st by Imp. Mirk, 2nd by Brighteye Foreign Exchange (Quid) and her last litter by Ignited OffOn Sooner Or Later (Sooner).
Most of all Kate is the love of my life (in the dog world) and I would go to earth's end for her.


This is Kate and her sisters when they were 5 weeks old.


Kate looking so adorable at 10 weeks old


Kate's special that Animal Planet did on her




Kate at 11 years old. A little grey in the face, but still acts like a young'n



Kate still gives all of the dogs a run (dive) for their money when it comes to swimming

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Happy Birthday Spark and Frosty Paws


Today we celebrated Spark's 1st Birthday. Spark is from the 2nd Lash x Sooner litter and is here with us for training. We had to celebrate his birthday and what better way to do that, but with a round of Frosty Paws. Each dog had their own way of eating it. Some went to a quiet corner, some went to a crate or some just chewed the entire thing (Mick and Singe) right on the spot.Here are some recipes for home made Frosty Paws.


#1
1 banana
4 ounces of yogurt
2 oz of water

Mix ingredients in food processor or blender until smooth. Poor into paper cups or ice cube
trays and freeze.

#2
32 oz of vanilla yogurt
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 large banana or 1 large jar of banana baby food

Follow mixing and freezing directions from above.

#3
1 quart vanilla yogurt
1 large banana
2 tbsp peanut butter
3 tbsp honey or molasses

You can also hide a cookie, bacon bits or even a carrot in the cup before you freeze it.





Saturday, April 11, 2009

Filming a Commercial

As I was doing chores outside yesterday I heard a hovering helicopter. Our property is on the gorge of the Crooked River and we own part of the gorge and then our property continues onto the other side. I looked over there and saw 2 Jeeps racing back and forth and the helicopter flying really low. I finally saw that the helicopter had a HD camera mounted on the front and figured out that they were filming a Jeep commercial.
I decided to go on a hunt to find out if it was true as I knew where they were filming from. Sure enough there were signs for the filming company and I looked them up on line. This company does a lot of the commercials for Toyota, Nissan etc.
So, now I will have to keep my eyes on the t.v. for a new Jeep commercial filmed right on the back side of our property.
Our property was used to film the movie The Postman years back.








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Sunday, April 5, 2009

Symbol For Pet Friendly

Apparently there is now a Highway sign that will tell us about pet friendly areas. Here is the link that tells all about it.
www.hiwaydog.com

Friday, April 3, 2009

Yum, Yum Yum!!!!

We are so lucky to have a butcher near us that allows us to take the remains after they process animals. I have a freezer full of beef carcass and the dogs are loving it. We have ribs, hip bones, femurs, tendons etc. I put the dogs out in the backyard with enough bones for everyone. No one had a problem and each one found their own bone. Even Trouble (12 weeks old) found his bone and settled in by himself. Trouble goes to his new home next week.
Here are some pictures of the dogs going to town on their treat.











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Thursday, April 2, 2009

Ducks, Ducks and More Ducks

Well, we are the proud new owners of 6 Indian Runner ducklings. They are inside one of our outbuildings. They are in one of our stock tanks with pine shavings and a heat lamp. They will remain here for the next 4 to 5 weeks, until they get their feathers in. By then Murray should have the duck coop built. :-)
I have read that you should wait until the ducks are about 4 or 5 months of age before you work dogs on them.
It will be a fun project. They are layers and will lay around 300 eggs per year per duck.