Breeding and raising and showing Collies is such an emotional roller coaster. I love this beautiful breed and this hobby, but it does take an emotional toll.

I apologize that I have not been able to respond to emails, etc. much the last couple of weeks. I have been tied up almost every waking minute.

Grace and her 8 puppies have done great. Joni and her puppies are another story.

At birth, Joni’s puppies were roughly all the same size, but that began to change right away. Four of Joni’s puppies began to grow and thrive, while four of them fell behind, and did not thrive at all. I have tube and bottle fed Joni’s 4 weaker puppies every 2-3 hours for two weeks around the clock, with some help from my daughter and brother. It has been exhausting. One by one Joni’s 4 weaker puppies began to die. The last one died last night. It has been heartbreaking. I’ve never had something like this happen before. I’m guessing the weak ones were in the birth canal too long. I’m really not sure.

I guess little Asta, Birdie, Hoover, and Jani just came to visit– not stay. My daughter Caitlin came over and helped me with the puppies as much as she could. They weren’t with us very long, but we will never forget those sweet babies.

The good news is that I do have 12 beautiful, strong puppies left from Grace and Joni sired by the very fun and handsome Can & Am Ch VanIsle Prariepine Afirmation.

Here are some quick cell phone pix of Grace and Joni’s puppies at two weeks of age. As they get a little older I will try to get some better pictures.

The puppies are scheduled for eye checks on Feb. 2 & 3, 2020 with Dr Robert Munger. Since some of Joni’s puppies were lost, we will have to go through our puppy list and recheck what everyone was looking for. Probably some of the male pups will be more readily available than the girls. I will be trying to contact everyone that has contacted me about these litters as I have time. So many people want a sable girl, and I only have three of them. No definite decisions will be made until after eye checks have been completed.

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Some other happy news:

Maxi whelped her puppies a couple of days early at my house. She had 8 cute sable babies- 4 girls/ 4 boys. It was wild to have 24 puppies at my house temporarily. Lea and her husband Wayne came for Maxi and her babies the afternoon after they were born. Maxi’s puppies will be growing up in Spicewood, TX under Lea’s care.