Funny how things work out.... In my last newsletter I mentioned that I was looking for a Border Collie. Last tuesday a friend told me that he knew of a collie pup that needed a good home.... well I now have a 5 month old energetic fluffy pup called Nell. This is going to be an interesting few weeks for both of us, especially as she is not house trained and I do not have a kennel - yet !. We went shopping on friday to get food, doggy bowl, worming tablets etc (no the tablets are not for me). At least she travels well.
I have the materials for building a kennel but the weather has just turned bad and we have gales from the north-east. Not good building weather. Nell will have to live in the house for a while and I will have to watch her like a hawk - especially after meals !.
The above picture was taken with a low res camera connected to the pc. Trying to get Nell to stay still and pose while I press the camera button is no easy task so apologies for them being out of focus. 1 April...... I should have known better than to assume that winter had finished. I heard Nell moving around the hall at 6.30 on saturday morning so I thought I would let her out for a run in the garden. I opened the front door and we both looked out into a blizzard of Antarctic proportions. Nell turned round and went straight back to her bed. This left me with a slight problem. I knew that, despite several walks, she had not "been" for at least a day and was probably a tad uncomfortable. So I had to chose between a "loaded" dog and a blizzard...... The blizzard won !
I have started to train her with the basics such as sit, stay lie down etc but Nell seems to translate these commands as "do whatever you want to ". I guess it will take time 8 April I have sheep !. No it's not a personal problem. The bad weather took us all by surprise last week so my flock have arrived today. I have just returned from a walk along Oldshoremore beach with Nell. It's her first experience of the sea but she will be ok. I am still building the kennel & run for her but I may have to make it from wrought iron - she chews & eats everything.
