dawnhill

I was just there myself, and was remembering and crying all over again not 20 minutes ago. I know how much it hurts. I wish you peace and comfort though it seems either is impossible now. And I am here to tell you that although the pain does last, it gets better. You cry less often, your breath catches in your throat less often, and the truly happy memories begin to surface in a way that makes you smile again. Bless you in this time of grief.

Adorable puppy!! Enjoy the heck out of every moment. Puppyhood is short and precious. You'll be glad if you spend this time focused on building trusting relationship as a basis for everything else. Once you have that, the rest follows. Happy puppy days!!

Wow! This is from the surgery to get spayed? What an amazing and wonderful unexpected consequence! Maybe there was some nerve caught that got released during the process of, as you say, being anesthetized and stretched out that way. I am so happy for you and Grace, both! :-)

Great bio of Ethel Conrad -- and right here on this site! Thanks! I'm going to have to see if I can find video at Youtube -- especially including the duck herding on Letterman. :-)

What I see here in all the posts really warms my heart. Everyone is talking about it being a two-way relationship instead of one-way. It's about taking the dog's feelings and needs as seriously as our own, whether the result is that we keep a dog that might not be easy to train or even workable but that we love, or we let a dog go through our hands to a home where its needs will be met by a human looking for exactly that kind of dog. I love the "aha" moment of the first story, where the light goes on that the dog was not wanting to be sent away again -- the awareness that the dog has a take on what happens to it, that it's not just the human who has preferences or feelings. And all the other stories, no matter the outcome, seem to be about the same kind of respect for the dog's side of the equation. In addition, everyone has written about their experiences so movingly that it's literally beautiful to read. I also really appreciate that nowhere here was the issue of financial expediency raised as a "bottom line" reason for making decisions -- one that replaces compassion and relationship. In no post was a dog a commodity. I know this adds nothing new to the conversation. I just felt moved by your posts and wanted to say so, and say why, and say "thank you."

Thanks for posting this, Jeanne Joy. I am always surprised to learn how much women born since the late 60s don't realize the degree to which things have changed for the better for women. They think women have always participated in the activities and professions where we've made such recent inroads (not only in acceptance but in getting literal permission). They are amazed to learn that girls were not permitted to play in Little League or wear pants to school (only skirts), or that I was personally and specifically not permitted to take shop class in high school because of being a girl, and was the first girl there ever to be allowed to take physics. I think it's good to remember where we've come from and who made the first big steps that changed things for us all. I sure don't know the women who helped make it possible for women to trial and I'm very happy to have this information. I loved the blog post about Viv Billingham Parks you shared. Thank you!

Hi moderators and webmaster. I thought I should point out that most of the links for items on the page of "BC Products/Equipment" (http://www.bordercollie.org/products/equipment.html) are broken because either the items' pages at the host site have changed or the site has a problem of some sort. BorderCollics Anonymous seems to be the only site whose links work, but that site has a notice that it's currently down for maintenance for a time. So as of the moment, none of the links for crooks, collars, leads, whistles and so on are functional. As a webmaster on a different site, I appreciate it when people let me know about broken links. I hope you see this as an attempt to be useful rather than as a complaint. I assure you it's the former. :-)

Would you be interested in sharing some pictures of them? I'd love to see. :-)

Thanks, Ludi! I looked them up and it doesn't seem they are ever used to provide fleece despite that lovely color. Who knew? (Clearly: not me! LOL)

I would love to learn more about Icelandic sheep. I have only had goats until now (three different breeds) and as I have contemplated sheep Icelandics are one of the ones that appealed to me. What has your experience been? Also, looking up the breeds mentioned here, none of them seems to be the brown sheep in the first picture with Meg above. Might someone care to enlighten this sheep-ignorant person about what breed that is? (I am quite taken by the thought of fleece with that natural color.)

Amen. I see that in herding and even general obedience. It's like something magic "clicks" at three.

Thank you for posting this. The pictures are great, and your descriptions are very engaging -- sheep flying at your head, a hedge that vacuums sheep right out of the working area, and all of it! Meg looks really beautiful, especially the way she's moving in the first picture that has her with the two sheep.

I'm with Gentle Lake.

It's really wonderful to see how you and Tuxedo are coming along. Your post about what you had planned to do with him and how that's been impacted by his reactivity was heart-breaking. I'm sorry I suggested you throw in the towel. Clearly that was a mistake, because you are doing phenomenally with him. Bless you both.

This is so sad and difficult for you that it's just heart-breaking. Please let us know what happens with the vet.