Happy Howlidays!

This was our first Christmas card with Rosie.  She was very young so wasn't trained to sit and pose yet.  She just knew to look into the camera!  (2004)

The three wise dogs.  My friend and I were able to get all three dogs to sit and stay for this rare shot.  I of course dressed the photo up to make it more of a Christmas picture and we made a local doggy newspaper with this picture.

I posted a lot of puppy holiday photos because Rosie was a Christmas present.  My  mother and I picked Rosie up at the breeders when she was 9 weeks old!  It was a really cold snowy winter that year so it was not the easiest time to potty train a puppy with hardly any fur and no fat on her.  Especially since we screwed up the training early on by "I don't want MY puppy to have to stay in a crate!"  Many of those "I don't want MY puppy to..." ended up going right out the window.  You have to be flexible!

In her second Christmas season I promptly went out and got her a frilly collar with the matching Santa hat.  She was wonderful and posed nicely for all of my photo sessions.

In this picture she was still at 8 weeks.  She was at the breeders and my husband and I went in to see the pups.  She had personality plus where as her brothers wanted nothing to do with the real world.  She was an easy choice.  It was actually November when I took this picture, but she was a Christmas present!

New puppy comes home!  She was totally terrorized by the 8 cats.  I had her leash under my knee so that I could properly introduce her to the cats, but she slipped away with out my knowing it.  Next thing I hear is a sharp YELP! from the living room.  Then we see her come tearing into the kitchen where we had just set up her styling new metal bowls into the holder.  She crashed into those and there was a huge clanking noise.  So right off we had to deal with a puppy that was afraid to go to her own food dish!

Rosie was potty trained by Christmas but she didn't quite understand that the rules applied in other places and not just at home.  She made a few messes at Gramma's house at Christmas.  I was trying to appease my cat loving sister by having Rosie be perfect, but Rosie just wasn't.  She was only a four month old puppy and she would stay a puppy a while longer!  I was doing all I could do to make sure she was well-trained.  I don't think I did that badly either!

"Are they all for me??"

At ten weeks old she broke a toe.  A cub scout accidently stepped on her foot (she wasn't yet trained not to go after feet and pantlegs yet) and  her outside toe was broken.  I dressed her splint and bandage up for the holidays.

This is a "Yes I am freezing my belly off for this picture!" moment.

The rule is not to get puppies or other animals as Christmas presents.  A puppy is something that requires time and money and attention and training.  If you are not prepared to take in a puppy, this would be a poor gift choice.  Also, often many pets end up in shelters  because they are unwanted.  Also you don't want an impulse buy when you are buying a live creature. Wait until after the holidays and then include the person in on the gift.  Rosie came early for me as a gift.  I had been approved to have a puppy in my apartment (especially since she was going to be trained to become my service dog).  I had received my doctor's script prescribing a puppy to train as a service dog (laws in this state give service dogs in training the same rights as service dogs).  I had already been hunting for a border collie breeder (and I had been researching about service dogs for several years as well as border collies) talking to people who have border collies to see what kind of pets they are.  Those who actually had them as household pets only had great things to say.  Those that didn't have one but knew someone who had a border collie could only say that they are hyper and need sheep to herd.  My girl had a job.  She got plenty of stimulation to keep her happy and a tired puppy towards day's end.  She would fall asleep on my lap in the bus.  I would hold her in my shirt, holding my shirt like a little hammock.  Once daddy came home though she turned into a little hellion!  My husband would request her presence in the bedroom where he rested when he came home for work and minutes later he is yelling "Come get the puppy!  She keeps attacking me!"  She wanted to play when he got home as she hadn't seen him all day.  My husband would come home to a sleeping puppy and thought that she might come cuddle with him and sleep too.

WE WISH EVERYONE A VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!

WE WISH EVERYONE A VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!