donna frankland (uk)

aw thankies all, he is a little sweetheart isnt he? i cant believe i didnt put his name with the pic, we decided on pilot.... pi for short

squirrel adores him, and is playing with him (she's sooooo going to get it back when he's bigger ) brighid is ignoring him unless he gets too close. i cant repet wht she calls him! she'll come around as soon as he's big enough to chase!

hey hun, he's from a little farm near glastonbury. i have a hippy bc!!

scuse the shoddy dark pic, but who cares really

there are ads round here that state £150 for the black and whites or tri's £450 for the red merles. sad sad sad sad sad

pilot has landed!!!! he is adorable!!!! (remind me i said that in a few weeks time ok? lol!) i would take pics, but he's fast asleep behind the sofa right now ::sigh::

my man to the rescue!! puppers name is ........ Pilot! i'll be setting off in a bit. expect a gazzillion pic this evening!

lpease forgive my apparent lack of ability to write properly today!

hey guys! thanks for all the wonderful suggestions, though i still cant decide! i have a fairly long bus ride with lil pupper on my lap before we get home (i have a thing for dogs and cats having a name before they get home!) anyhoo a little about him..... this year, unless i wanted a top isds registered dog (would be nice, but i dont have £450) it has been a nightmare trying to find a puppy from a person i actually didnt feel bad about handing money to! there are some right pillocks out there this year! i cant get a rescue as they wont home to me as i work and dont vaccinate. i tried private rescue, but the dogs that would have fitted into my household all snapped up before i got there. so the search for a decent litter locally ensued. oh my gods!! i found an add for 'border collie puppies beautifully marked ready 24th october'. i phones around the 11th when i was in the next town. i asked if i could pop over that evening as i was already nearby, the lady said that would be fine, how long would i be? i said i would get the very next bus and perhaps meet her as the directions were complicated and i have the sense or direction of a dead lettuce. all ok meet in around 3/4 of an hour. sometimes its just fate that you catch people out eh? i walked down the high street and get to the bus stop and spy some TINY weeney black and white scraps wobbling and shivering around on the raised lawn there. my guess is 5 weeks old, and i just KNEW they were the pups i was going to see. i guess she missed the bus that would have got her and the pups back home before i started out to meet her? we all get on the bus, and at this point i havent said anything, she has no idea who i am yet. her and 3 friends and an entire staffy type sog and a tiny baby and push chair get on the bus. puppy pass the parcel ensues. all seated, i then get on and sit in the seat behind them all. these puppies were still shivering i asked one of the lad where everyone was getting the collie pups from as i was looking for one, and was told FROM THEIR MUM! frantic glances between the woman and him told me she guessed who i was and then it was all, ' yeah they're fab dogs. no papers but you can tell they are pedigree, you can just tell cos they're so nice, look at them etc etc etc'. i told him i knew good pups when i saw them and i would wait till i was the rest of the litter and mum before i made any opinion. yes that right they brought half the litter out without mum! spot on!!! as we walked home i got chatting to the woman who owned the mother. how come she had 5 week old puppies out? early socialisation? vet appointment????? she wanted to make sure people knew she had them so she could find good homes because the last litter one bloke had a pup and let it run stray and when the kennels picked it up they gave it kennel cough! i asked if the parent worked, and was told dad worked cattle (ok) and mum would be a great worker because she herds the horses up!! wtf??? we got back to the flat, and of course mum wanted nothing to do with me, she was frantic for her pups, the pups i hadnt seen yet wanted nothing to do witn me as they wanted their siblings, and the onse i had seen wanted nothing to do with me as they wanted food and mum! everytime they went to suckle, mum was called off. remember staffy dog, he kept trying to chat up mum, who got told off when she told him she wasnt interested get the hell away from my pups. i asked their age querying the ready on the 24th. oh they could go sooner than that they are eating solids. i asked where dad was and was told he had been sent away for a bit because they didnt want mum getting pregnant again???? i enquired about a tri smoothy boy and was told they were keeping him and one of his sisters. but the price would have been £150 for the dogs £200 for the bitches. (the amount isnt relevant as yet, but remember it k?) i left saying i would pop back when the puppies werent cold and hungry. i saw her last week in town and said hello to mum, and asked how the pups were. they had one left was i interested. i said i had no money, but enquired about the smoothy tri out of interest (fear not there is not a snowball's chance in hell i would have handed over money). they had sold him for £90. the next day she asked me if i would be interested in taking the last pup and just giving her some money towards food etc, about £50. i gave her my phone number and told her when she needed him gone to ring me, but i wouldnt pay. you never know, she may ring... if she does, i'll find him somewhere safe. i feel really mean that it wont be with me, but i need a pup who has a good chance of being a good working dog, as my sheep are arriving next month (oh yeah, i'm getting sheep again) the good news is, i was chatting to the man in the pet food shop and he told me of a farmer not too far away, with a litter that would be ready soon. a phone call a few days later and i learn that he has decades of sheepdog experience, mum and dad are both his and both very good workers. he asked if i had had collies before, and was very pleased that i wanted a pup to train. when i asked about the pups he didnt go for the sell, but asked me if i would like to come and see for myself if the right puppy for me was in that litter. so i went to see, mum is adorable, dad proud and aloof (in the 'i know i'm stunning and i will grace you with a glance, but you're not my dad so dont expect much more than that). but the thing that got to me the most? if dad was blue merle, he would be identical to tikki's dad. i know that is completely the wrong reason for choosing a litter from which to get a pup, but i suck at sensible at times and when little squish sat in front of me and did the kitten wiggle and wagged his lil tail at me so hard his head wagged too..... done for! i paid my deposit and said i would be back hopefully this weekend to pick him up! sorry for the ramble!

long time no type hello all, its been forever since i was on here last, and only have a few moments now but will catch up later. this weekend a lil black and white pupper is coming to live with me he's black and white and enormous for an 8 week old pup. but i cannot think of a name for him! the few i have come up with are; coda (i have no idea if it means anything but it sounds good!) drummer, cos i like piper but we know lots of pipers and it will be too confusing! does anyone know of a good sight for celtic or gaelic names? thankees in advance! hope all is good with everyone. catch up later xx

i used to religiously spay and neuter all my dogs, and panic at the idea of in season bitches but.....after doing many many MANY hours of reading and research, i have decided that for myself and my dogs, that whilst i am in the position of being able to responsibly care for entire dogs, i will no longer have them neutered. but i have never recommended this to any dog owner i have met. most people i meet whilst walking cant even be bothered to pick up their own dogs mess, i'm sure as heck certain that they wont be walking their in season bitch at 2 in the morning on a long line! i am very lucky with my 2 bitches, brighid only has one season a year each february. squirrel does have 2 seasons, one in august and the other in february, the same time (give or take a week) as brighid. i spend 2 months of each year with sleep deprivation from stupid o'clock walks, and ban anyone except me from walking the girls/letting them out in the garden at all whilst they are in season. i dont care how trust worthy people are, if it is only me walking them in the middle of the night and doing potty breaks and games in the garden, then i know 100% that no dog came near. but am lucky in as much as no one and i do mean NO ONE walks there dog around here after dark, my garden cannot be accessed from anywhere except my back door. i cant give any one particular reason as to why it leaves me so uneasy, after all things like incontinence can be treated. but i cant get over the feeling that cutting bits out in case of disease isnt quite right. i was once taught to listen to gut instinct, and that is what i am doing from the rescue side of things however, i do understand entirely that it is the best way for stopping the problem. i know i sound like a hypocrite, but i firmly believe that whilst i am not adding to the problem of unwanted dogs then i can keep my dogs the way i feel is best for them.

hun i cant remember if you raw feed or not, but if you do... in my experience raw fed pups grow slower, mine and my friend's puppers seemed to slowly slowly get taller till they were about 2ish. tikki didnt reach his full grown height till 2 and then filled out till he was about 3. i think brighid is done now and she will be 3 next month.

happy birthday solo!!!

replied in the livestock section hun

i LOVE LOVE LOVE soays!!! however, no they dont flock. they can be very aggressive when they have their lambs (though i think that is a good thing). they climb worse than goats, jump like deer. they have no fleece to speak of and their carcasse is tiny so no value commercially. on the upside, the meat is the best i have ever tasted, they are beautiful, graceful animals, especially if you have cliff faces or rocky out crops on your land. they are easy as pie if nothing goes wrong, but if something does finding and catching the wee buggers is a game and a half! they pop their lambs like peas, and there is nothing cuter than a soay lamb. stock netting wont hold a lamb though, they just walk through it! they released soays into cheddar gorge to live wild to manage the ancient landscape, an they are a breath taking sight. my friend had a few running with her shetlands, but most of the time when bringing the flock in, they wouldnt budge so stayed where they were. one was quite tame though, so it may be possible..... i think the best reason to have soays is for the love of the breed or ancient land management, and keep just soays so you can appreciate their ethereal beauty. for sheepdog training, i think it would be easier using cats