more to follow...
To all the prospective puppy owners, I thought that you would like to see the photographs, videos, and updates of the Mackland puppies while they are still with me. These Border Collie & Shetland Sheepdog puppies are lovingly bred and raised in my home. This blog lets me show you step by step how your baby is raised. It highlights each step from mating to 8 weeks old. I hope that you all enjoy reading about them as much as I enjoy having them in my house!
Monday, August 10, 2015
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Saturday, August 8, 2015
A new pen
The Ex's had the opportunity of testing out a new playpen in the front yard today...
They also had lunch out there!
The Moons today
Poor little souls had a rough day. The vet nurse came over this morning and took their dew claws off...
But they all seem AOK again this afternoon!
Friday, August 7, 2015
Day 1 to Day 2
Mermaid +30g
Blot +41g
Mask +33g
Nero +30g
Quilt +30g
Darke +29g
Flash +39g
West +35g
Daily routine...
Thank goodness its weekend!
Thougt u might like to see why I age 10 years with each litter...
Get up at whatever time a sheltie jumps on my chest... (it's too early!) ..and check on Finn and Red and the babies (very closely as my contacts haven't been put in yet). Switch off infra red lamp. Cook eggs. Prepare pups breakfast. Give Finn a full cup of Royal Canin Junior and Red a full cup of Hills Ideal Balance Puppy. They each get a scrambled egg on top! Get dressed and feed all my other dogs. Prepare the outside pen with toys and water and make 4 trips with Exclamations, closing them in the pen with their breakfast. Back to the room and pick up all the dirty newspaper from the night from The Ex's area, and also round up the night time toys. Put their bedding in the washing machine. Back to the room and put all Moons into a carrier and rip up Finns bedding, which gets washed with the other bedding. Lay new bedding and put Finn and the Moons back in the box. Sweep the puppy rm floor. Give Red 2 chicken necks and put her in the pen outside with pups (low barrier between her and puppy section). Prepare pups lunch, set nanny cam and go to work...
At work, irritate boss and check nanny cam all morning... :)
12.45, come home, check on Moons, and take pups lunch to the pen and let Red out. The water always needs to be changed because they run thru it... feed Red a cup of food and Finn also. Give them each a carrot to munch on too.
Take the washing (bedding) out of the machine and hang it up. Newspaper the room and sit with Finn and the Moons for a bit. Go throw ball for other dogs. Go play with pups in the pen and collect the lunch dish.
Change pants because there is mud and puppy poo on them...
Back to work to answer questions about my pants... also watch nanny cam...
At 16.45 back home and check on Moons, play with puppies in the pen and then put Red back in the pen. Bring puppy bedding in from the line and put away some and line the Ex's area with some. Add their toys and a water dish and collect them in 4 trips and put them back in the room. Give a small meal in the room. Clean outside pen.
Take other dogs for a run, or train, and back home to feed Red and Finn a 3rd cup of food with either liver or fish on it. Feed other dogs and sit down to eat... hehe
Heater stays on all day and night but I put the infra red lamp on too at night (over the younger ones). Feed the 2 moms again and go to bed by 12...
Alarm goes off at 4am and up to check on babies and fill the mom's water dish. Back to bed to wait for the sheltie pounce alarm....
Wait for Saturday when I can go to bed again and sleep then do all my other chores hehe
Inbetween that, we do photos, I do blog posts, and I work on the pc... after once-a-year puppies, I count my grey hairs and there are millions more!
Border collies
OK... phew hectic times!
The Exclamations are WILD... definitely keeping me on my toes! This week they have been outside at least once a day. They are now used to the small pen, and from today they have the big pen too.
When they hear my voice, they all bound over to me.
There are 2 "igloos" in the pens with puffy bedding in them. When I arrived in there yesterday, there were NO pups in sight... panic... then I looked in the igloo. WHAT a cute sight, I wish I had my camera on me! They were all huddled inside, all fast asleep and cosy! I will try and catch them there today.
The Moons are just so precious.. and seemingly teeny compared to the gigantic whales that are the Ex's... Finn continues to be a great mommy, hardly leaving the black & whites for a second!!
The Exclamations are WILD... definitely keeping me on my toes! This week they have been outside at least once a day. They are now used to the small pen, and from today they have the big pen too.
When they hear my voice, they all bound over to me.
There are 2 "igloos" in the pens with puffy bedding in them. When I arrived in there yesterday, there were NO pups in sight... panic... then I looked in the igloo. WHAT a cute sight, I wish I had my camera on me! They were all huddled inside, all fast asleep and cosy! I will try and catch them there today.
The Moons are just so precious.. and seemingly teeny compared to the gigantic whales that are the Ex's... Finn continues to be a great mommy, hardly leaving the black & whites for a second!!
Good morning, everyone!
OK... so without a helper, all by myself.. I played with some settings, found a puppy, and played a bit:
hehehe getting better....
Thursday, August 6, 2015
In 1 day...
The Moons have gained some weight in 1 day. Here's what they added to their birth weights:
Girls:
Mermaid 39g
Nero 15g
Quilt 36g
Boys:
Blot 27g
Mask 31g
Darke 19g
Flash 23g
West 11g
Difficult decisions
With the time drawing closer to choices and allocations, I am having a tough time :(
I hate to disappoint people, but with limited bitches, it is inevitable :(
Let me please explain my predicament...
Following on from my dream regarding the ee-reds post a little while ago... my aim is to get the red dogs up to the same standard as the more developed black & white dog in SA for showing. At the moment a few are dotted around SA, and they are not really being seen in the show rings much as of yet. As a result, when judges see our red dogs, a lot are a) confused with the colour, b) don't like the colour, or c) cannot compare apples with apples as the red dogs have not been as flashy or finished as the usual dogs. My aim is to give them something to compare the black dogs to - the same substance and flashiness etc. So from this Exclamations litter, I need to select the bitch that is best suited to the next phase of my plan, to take us to the final goal.
So, I am required to place a suitable bitch in a co-ownership with a trusted friend in order to keep the line (this will be Red's only litter as she is being spayed at the end of the year). The bitches that I am looking at are: Yellow, Pink & Black (in no specific order).
Then with the Moon litter, a similar scenario, where I am placing a bitch in a co-ownership with a trusted friend, so there will be 2 bitches to place (and people already waiting).
If ANYONE from the Moon litter waiting list is alright with a boy instead - there is a wide selection to choose from, and you would be guaranteed a puppy....
This is very stressful for me, especially since I have so many people begging for their favourites. And most importantly, as the personalities are emerging, I really do need to see which temperament suits which family!
I hate to disappoint people, but with limited bitches, it is inevitable :(
Let me please explain my predicament...
Following on from my dream regarding the ee-reds post a little while ago... my aim is to get the red dogs up to the same standard as the more developed black & white dog in SA for showing. At the moment a few are dotted around SA, and they are not really being seen in the show rings much as of yet. As a result, when judges see our red dogs, a lot are a) confused with the colour, b) don't like the colour, or c) cannot compare apples with apples as the red dogs have not been as flashy or finished as the usual dogs. My aim is to give them something to compare the black dogs to - the same substance and flashiness etc. So from this Exclamations litter, I need to select the bitch that is best suited to the next phase of my plan, to take us to the final goal.
So, I am required to place a suitable bitch in a co-ownership with a trusted friend in order to keep the line (this will be Red's only litter as she is being spayed at the end of the year). The bitches that I am looking at are: Yellow, Pink & Black (in no specific order).
Then with the Moon litter, a similar scenario, where I am placing a bitch in a co-ownership with a trusted friend, so there will be 2 bitches to place (and people already waiting).
If ANYONE from the Moon litter waiting list is alright with a boy instead - there is a wide selection to choose from, and you would be guaranteed a puppy....
- And to those not "in the dogworld" that do not know about co-ownerships - it is merely a way of sharing a dog. With me, however, I do not ask anything of the owner except the possibility of 1 litter at a later stage in order to continue my line. I just feel that instead of keeping too many dogs and not being able to give each one their individual attention, it is far better to let the dog have a better life with someone else, while still being able to have peace of mind that my line can continue.
This is very stressful for me, especially since I have so many people begging for their favourites. And most importantly, as the personalities are emerging, I really do need to see which temperament suits which family!
Exclamations - 4 week snapshots
Apologies... these REALLY are just snapshots. I will endeavour not to wash out the pups with light next time.......... These reds are SO difficult to take pics of!
YELLOW
BLACK
B&W GIRL
GREEN
BLUE
B&W BOY
ORANGE
PINK
I am going to practice on these reds this weekend!
Exclamation weights at 4 weeks
Good morning all! The Exclamations are 4 weeks old today! Here are their current weights:
Yellow 1596g
Black 1430g
B&w girl 1285g
Green 1506g
Blue 1550g
B&w boy 1265g
Orange 1165g
Pink 1470g
Black 1430g
B&w girl 1285g
Green 1506g
Blue 1550g
B&w boy 1265g
Orange 1165g
Pink 1470g
My photographic helpers have gone to Bloemfontein, so the full set of prop-pics will be posted next week. But never fear... we DID do some quick headshots last night that I will post a little later this morning.... (so pls refrain from sending me hate mail just yet hehe)
Today also marks the second deworming day... so the little buggers aren't going to be happy chappies later!
Red and the babies are in the dogroom today as it was too cold to go fully outside this morning, but they will spend the afternoon in the pen in the garden. So for now they have access to shelties for company thru their fencing (I hope they don't learn the art of yapping from them).
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Moon weights at birth
Mermaid (f) 346g
Blot (m) 386g
Mask (m) 346g
Nero (f) 316g
Quilt (f) 336g
Darke (m) 405g
Flash (m) 375g
West (m) 300g
Welcome MOONS!
After 28.5 hours of labour, the moons finally started arriving! Both Finn & I are exhausted! She delivered 8 healthy, beautiful black & white babies from 11am this morning. I was a little surprised at the markings of some of this lot (as it was a repeat mating, I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary) - but what a surprise - quite a few body splashes!
More photos to follow later tonight.
Exclamations: this is how we roll...
I thought the pups wouold be a bit cranky today - what with no outside visit because of the bad weather... but they made the most of it! They snoozed (in typical Mackland fashion) and played all day long!
Monday, August 3, 2015
MESSY lunch
The pups had lunch outside today.. WHAT a mess!!! They started on their solids that I mashed... eish
I now have 8 brownish puppies......... Thank goodness it's not photo day!
Their area has been amended.. it's now half newspaper and half bedding. They are quite playful now... between making the area up (with toys) and putting the pups in to take this vid.. mom disappeared with half the toys! Will get another video of them playing soon.
(pls excuse the dirty pups... they will get the hang of eating soon)
Puppies
The pups are spending a few hours outside in a little pen... I have the nanny cam on them!
They are all getting VERY active and some are already quite feisty, so I cannot stress enough to new owners - about training your pup, the basics at least. Without strict rules, the border collie can take huge advantage of you and become quite unruly, and sometimes destructive!
For early training in your area, please ask me if you don't know of someone, and we can find a suitable trainer/ school near you.
We will be starting them all on clicker at about 5 weeks, so that they become accustomed to it.
The next thing I just wanted to mention, is exercise... please... puppies need very little actual running - it is VERY bad for them to over exercise! Their joints and growth plates need time before real exercise takes place! Short leash walks and outings will suffice until they are adults. Only after they are 12 months old can they go on hikes, long runs and beach runs. If you want to take your puppy to the beach, that's fine, but pls see that he/ she doesn't run a lot! So much damage can be done in the first 6 months!
What do I do with my puppy then??
LOTS of playing, focus training, crate training, clicker training, tricks, bonding, name recognition - get your pup 100% fixated on you and begging to do things... again, for help here, pls just ASK!
Mental stimulation is very important to your puppy! As a youngster he/ she actually needs this way more than straight exercise!
I like to teach my pups the basics:
Look at me for a reward
Touch my hand for a reward
Look at me when I say your name, reward
Come to me when I call for a reward
Lie down for a reward
Sit for a reward
Give paw for a reward
Bring me a toy for a reward
Go into a crate for a reward
Roll over for a reward
etc.....
They are all getting VERY active and some are already quite feisty, so I cannot stress enough to new owners - about training your pup, the basics at least. Without strict rules, the border collie can take huge advantage of you and become quite unruly, and sometimes destructive!
For early training in your area, please ask me if you don't know of someone, and we can find a suitable trainer/ school near you.
We will be starting them all on clicker at about 5 weeks, so that they become accustomed to it.
The next thing I just wanted to mention, is exercise... please... puppies need very little actual running - it is VERY bad for them to over exercise! Their joints and growth plates need time before real exercise takes place! Short leash walks and outings will suffice until they are adults. Only after they are 12 months old can they go on hikes, long runs and beach runs. If you want to take your puppy to the beach, that's fine, but pls see that he/ she doesn't run a lot! So much damage can be done in the first 6 months!
What do I do with my puppy then??
LOTS of playing, focus training, crate training, clicker training, tricks, bonding, name recognition - get your pup 100% fixated on you and begging to do things... again, for help here, pls just ASK!
Mental stimulation is very important to your puppy! As a youngster he/ she actually needs this way more than straight exercise!
I like to teach my pups the basics:
Look at me for a reward
Touch my hand for a reward
Look at me when I say your name, reward
Come to me when I call for a reward
Lie down for a reward
Sit for a reward
Give paw for a reward
Bring me a toy for a reward
Go into a crate for a reward
Roll over for a reward
etc.....
Sunday, August 2, 2015
3.5 week observations
Yellow - fattest pup
Black - quietest pup
B&w girl- mountain climber pup
Green - moaner
B&w boy - most adventurous pup
Blue - sweetest pup
Orange - cuddliest pup
Pink - growliest pup
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Pups first outdoor experience
I put a pen up in the yard today so that I could clean out their room a bit better. This was their first time on grass (not happy chappies!). They squeaked and moaned for a while until they realised that the warm sun was quite pleasant!
Then they had half an hour on the deck too!
Pups first snack
I decided to give the pups a little snack - some tinned Hills mixed with water (eeuw)... but they LOVED it. Initially only 1 or 2 pups started lapping it up and pretty soon the bowl was totally covered by pups!
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