Mirks Blog

2009-02-28T09:37:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for Crufts and bath time …

We’re all getting ready for Crufts, I’m really looking forward to it ‘cause I’m going to be there as the Well Balanced Pup – which I am of course!

Our friend Helen from Togs for Dogs is making me a very special Well Balanced Pup Press Pack jacket to wear, so everyone will know who I am. Earlier in the week, Sue said I was looking a bit dirty and would need to have a bath because Helen was coming to visit to fit my new jacket. Sue was very busy so I thought I’d go and bath myself. Sue wasn’t very pleased … she said that I’d used the wrong bath!

Helen is going to be one of the Judges at Crufts, she’s going to judge the Italian Greyhounds … they’re a bit cleaner, and smaller, than I am!!

My Dad, Search Dog Beinn, has been busy again and has found another body on the mountains. This was a very sad find though as the person had died. He is a very clever Daddy though and I’m very proud of him. You can find out more about the brave search dogs on the SARDA site.

My little cousin Drift has been having some arty photographs taken … ‘Drift in a drift of snowdrops’! She’s just passed her Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme Bronze Award, she’s really pleased and so is her person ‘cause she’s only young. Her ambition is to catch up her Aunty Coire, she is very clever ‘cause she’s got the Silver and the Gold Awards. You can find out about the Good Citizen Scheme here.

Holidays and Heroes

2009-02-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry folks not to have been in touch, I've been on holiday in Scotland ... no broadband, no heating!! In fact I had to bring the firewood off the shore!

Don't you think I look handsome?

My Dad Beinn is a hero. He found a lady and her companions on Crinkle Crags. The lady was in a bad way, stuck in ice in a gully. His human Dad, Roger, thought he was barking at a rock, until he realised it was this lady who could have easily died if Beinn hadn't been quick off the mark and found her.

Some very good news, my little cousin Cuillin (picture further down the page) has passed his registration assessment to train as a search and rescue dog. He's a very clever lad ... he's only just 7 months old. Well done Cuillin and Robbie.

Uncle Charlie (he's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel so not my real uncle) has been trying out some yummy Yumega stuff. He's funny, he has a dual role. He's a good sort of ordinary dog who likes walks and getting muddy, etc, but he also has to look after his person who is 89 and lives in a very hot house which doesn't do Charlie's coat a lot of good. He leaves a lot of it on the carpet!! He's looking really good now 'cause he's had this oil for a couple of months, so now his coat is on him, not all over his Mum's carpet. He seems to be running down the front field faster as well and must be warmer when he's outside 'cause he's got more coat left on.

Uncle Dave's been on his holidays too, to a house in a town. He's a fast working sheepdog, not used to houses. He's been staying with his son and granddaughter and my sister and my auntie (the one who's going to Crufts). He quiet liked it 'cause everyone said that he was very handsome, but I think that I'm more handsome, but don't tell Dave I said that!

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow, apparently I've got to go for a fitting for a dog coat! How poncy is that? I'm a collie! I've got to go to Crufts as a press dog for Scout, so I've got to have a coat that says 'Press Pack' on it and 'Well Balanced Pup'. I'm no pup, I'm a grown up dog, soon to be a Dad and I hope no one presses my pack, whatever it is.

2008-10-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

Success and hard work all round

We had some very exciting news on Sunday. Auntie Coire had been to Stirling to compete in the Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme Special Pre-Beginner Obedience Stakes Northern Semi-Final. Phew, that was a mouthful! The Southern Semi-Final will be held at Discover Dogs in November. The top 5 collies and non-collies from each semi-final then go to the Finals at Crufts in March. Coire was very good, she not only qualified but she won her semi-final!! We're all looking forward to woofing her on at Crufts. Sue's put a big picture in her Grandma's Brag Book, I pinched a copy to show you.

The Good Citizen Dog Scheme is a very good training scheme that you can take part in at pet training classes. To enter the Special Pre-Beginner obedience competitions you have to have the Bronze Award. I've got the Bronze Award, but Auntie Coire is very clever, she's got the Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. She's older than me! We knew she was clever though, she can carry 4 frisbees in her mouth and still catch more. Even Frisbee Queen Tilly can't do that, though when Coire's around she doesn't get chance to try.

Dad, Search Dog Beinn, was working hard at the weekend as well. He had to go out until 2 o'clock in the morning looking for some people that got lost in Langdale in that dreadful, dreadful weather. He got very wet, even wetter than I do when I'm playing. He's very brave and clever, but then he is a proper search dog. Dad is one of the fastest search dogs, earlier this year when 2 people were lost he found them so fast that he still had 11 1/2 hours left on his 12 hour glow stick on his jacket! I'm proud of my Dad.

I'd better go now, I can hear Sue banging the feed bowls. Better make sure I get my fair share.

A few good runs ...

2008-10-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

There's been some good weather this week and I've had a few good runs with my mates, but now it's gone grotty again and I'm soaking wet, as usual. Here's a picture of me today after my run. Sue says she's running out of dog towels.

Sue's been putting things in her Grandma's brag book. Apparently my Uncle Brodie has qualified for the finals in agility at Olympia, before Christmas. Sue's most impressed and rather pleased.

Prof Crispin came this week and did eye tests for my little cousins, Cuillin and Drift. She said they were very beautiful, and the pups were quite good looking too! Apparently, I heard the humans talking about how they weren't as good as me 'cause they wriggled all the time and made the job quite difficult. The rest of us dogs had our injections bought up to date. We were all very good.

Sue disappeared off on Thursday for the whole day. Her friend Jenny, who's also a friend of mine, came to look after us, it was great 'cause she plays frisbee all day. Tilly, the frisbee queen, is getting a bit cross with me 'cause I'm getting better at the game and get it more often than she does now. I always give it back to her when she looks cross which seems to please her quite a bit. She feels important, but really Nell is the most important in our pack, after Sue.

I'd better finish now as I've got to write to Scout the News Hound http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/leisure/pets/pets_scoutblog/ and give the updates and help with the blog this week. Speak to you soon.

It’s been a really, really, really wet week.

2008-10-06T11:14:00.001-07:00

Everyone’s been very glum and some of the other dogs have been complaining that they’re bored … but not me! I love water … I’ve had chance to splosh around in lots of muddy puddles and buckets, it’s been great fun!

I’ve had quite a few visitors this week. There’s been Paddy, a nice black lab, he’s a bit younger than me. Paddy really likes to play with sheep but his owners don’t think it’s a good idea, so he’s been over to learn some ‘sheepy’ manners. He’s done brilliantly and now would much prefer to play with his owners than the sheep.

My slinky sister Etive (aka ‘the cover girl’) came over on Sunday, I was really looking forward to running around and playing with her, but she was being a bit boring. All the other dogs were out with us so she just went into work mode … lying down and giving everyone the eye! I pounced on her at least 5 times, but she just wouldn’t play with me. Two very young cousins came with her too, Drift and Cuillin. I was helping to teach them their doggy manners, though they are really very well mannered already. I thought that Cuillin was going to play with me but when I pounced on him he did a runner! They were a little bit rude though, they pinched my favourite seat in the yard. I’m the only one who ever sits there so I was a bit miffed to see they’d clambered onto it too.

There was much excitement this morning. A man came to buy some of Sue’s sheep, and I watched Jess do a brilliant job of bringing all the sheep up the field into the pens. I’d like to be able to do that one day. Jess hasn’t lived with us for too long, it was a bit sad really as her Mum died and left 4 dogs behind. Jess is a bit glum at times but seems to have settled in well. She’s 9 years old which Sue says is great as she’s about the same age as Sue now, in human years, and they’re both as slow as each other when working sheep! Not like Dippy Dave who is learning sheep work and is rather fast at the moment.

We’ve now got to be on our best behaviour for the rest of the day as we’ve got some very special 2-legged visitors coming all the way from Oz, especially to see me I think. I hope Bliss doesn’t rush out to greet them though, she’s covered in sheep poo (she’s a very naughty girl). Bliss likes to roll in sheep poo, she seems to think she smells really lovely …

Visitors, news and our Healthy & Happy Competition

2008-09-25T03:09:00.000-07:00

Well its been an exciting week with all sorts going on here. I had a lovely card from my cousin Mossie who is on holiday in Devon with Carol his pack leader. He's now calling himself Two Moors Moss and is getting very big headed because Carol is so proud of his good behaviour on his very first holiday. He's done the Coast to Coast walk , 106 miles over Dartmoor and Exmoor in eight days. Other than rolling in badger poo and learning that not all farm dogs are friendly he has had a really good time.

Ash has also been to visit this week and we had a play in the paddock together. His mum is a Beardie and his dad is Beinn just like mine. It seems his family is very pleased with him, he's really their blue eyed boy. He lives with a retired police dog and two cats and seems to be having a great time. He has lots of grand children to play dressing up with, he's really gentle with them and he says they are great fun.

Sue and the others at Well Balanced Pup are really happy this week because our DVD has been accepted by Made In Cumbria so we can put a sticker on it - I am supplying the licks .There have been lots of letters even some to me about how much people have enjoyed it.

Apparently I've got to do a signing at Waterstones before Christmas - don't know quite what that means. Hope I don't get too inky on my paws.

This week we've also started our new competition called "healthy and happy" just like me. Sue and co have put it on the website. You can sniff it out on the competition page.

BACK TO OUR SITE

Scout has been given her own Blog on the Westmorland Gazette site

2008-09-18T13:21:00.000-07:00

Scout, the newest news hound on the block, has been asked to write a blog for the Westmorland Gazette - you heard it here first. Well, its becoming a bit of a family tradition, look out Jeremy Paxman, the Pups are coming!

"Pegs Pups" - my family's first web video

2008-09-10T05:20:00.000-07:00

We've now got a You Tube Channel and we can show our web-clips on my blog! The first one is a two minute piece of my Mum, Peg, playing with me and my brothers and sisters. It shows how she plays with us in a rough, play acting sort of way. Looks a bit scary sometimes but she wouldn't really hurt us, even though she does show her teeth a lot! She says she needs to teach each of us in turn, that she is the boss and that we need to show respect to older dogs.

In our DVD, Sue talks about her experiences with re-homing rescue dogs and that if a pup leaves its mum before 8 weeks it is less likely to have learnt these important early messages which can lead to it becoming fearful and aggressive to other dogs, simply because it doesn't understand what other dogs are saying -if they are warning you to keep out of the way or play and just want to be friends. And it can all go downhill from there. We had a great time filming the video and there are lots of tips on ways to give pups like us a good start. Its really like our family video 'cos most of the dogs are my relations! But its not just for Border Collies like me and many of the things we did work well with older dogs or dogs that have just got a forever home, you just need more patience!
The competition entrants and my blog readers will be the first to know when new clips are posted and get a chance to download them from YouTube.

If you know of other people or their dogs, interested in the health and well being of all dogs, please forward the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11JcnXNxeyg to spread the word. The more we all spread the word and talk to people about how important these early weeks are in a pups life , the more people new to dog owning will get to hear and the harder it will be for careless or unscrupulous dog breeders to make a living out of the suffering of dogs.
We hope that with the Well Balanced Pup DVD we can explain the importance of the health of a pup's parents and what it experiences in the first weeks in its life, so that we can all play a part in "helping dogs get a great start in life."

There will be a new competition opening very soon. If you want to be added to our email list, email: updates@wellbalancedpup.co.uk

Thanks to Lakeland Sheepdog Experience and Weanafeeder for the prizes for our competition to name the logo . To have a look at their websites go to:

http://www.lakedistrictsheepdogexperience.co.uk/ and http://weanafeeda.com/

"Scout" is the name we have chosen for the pup in our logo

2008-09-10T05:07:00.000-07:00

We have had a great response and have now closed the competition & chosen the winners.

The winning name "Scout" was chosen by Janet Fox ,who is the Practice Manager at Oakhill Vets in Windermere and entered the competition at our stand at Crufts. Janet, who is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, owns golden retrievers, Amber & Willow and runs the puppy parties at Oakhill as well as her own training classes.She wins the Sheepdog Handling Fun Day for Two at the Lake District Sheepdog Experience. We went on it last summer and had a really good day out , so I am sure she will really enjoy it.

The second prize of a Cleana Feeder from Weana Feeder goes to Jane Partridge, who suggested the name "Doodle". After two years training at college, Jane is a newly established Dog Groomer - her business is called "Wipe Your Paws "Dog Grooming in Tattenhoe, Milton Keynes.

The runners up each get a copy of the DVD "Well Balanced Pup".The names they suggested are: Maybel from Nan Buiysel;Bumble from John Whelan; and Puzzle from Clare Fitzjohn.
More about the winners and why they chose their names in later blogs
As a thank you to people taking part in our competitions, we will email a link to some web video, taken from the DVD or previously unseen footage of our dogs in action that we are putting on You Tube.

Thanks to Lake District Sheepdog Experience and Weanafeeder for the prizes. To have a look at their websites go to:

http://www.lakedistrictsheepdogexperience.co.uk/ and http://weanafeeda.com/

They’ve arrived!

2008-08-23T14:54:00.000-07:00

The first DVD’s are here, hot off the press.We are in the process of setting up the PayPal account so that people can buy them on our website. But for now we can take orders on the site if you email sales@wellbalancedpup.co.uk

The competition to choose the name of the pup in our logo will be closed on the 1st September.There have been lots of great suggestions and we will be announcing the winners very soon after.We will email everyone who took part with the winning name and also announce it on the site.So any one who hasn’t taken part or anyone who wants to add an extra entry get onto the site and have another go. Mention it to any friends who might be interested. The odds of winning are much better than the lottery!

Thanks to Lakeland Sheepdog Experience and Weanafeeder for the prizes and remember we are also giving out a Well Balanced Pup, DVD to the runners up.

To have a look at their websites go to:

http://www.lakedistrictsheepdogexperience.co.uk/ and http://weanafeeda.com/

Competition Update

2008-08-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

There is still time to enter into the name the puppy competition