Puppies are 4 weeks old already!

I can't believe the puppies are already 4 weeks old. Time has flown by with these babies. They have now graduated to a bigger pen in the garage with regular "kitchen" time. These are going to be well socialized pups with our daughter Camryn taking every opportunity to play with them. Kids and dogs/puppies have a fascinating relationship. It really is something to watch.
Puppies personalities are really starting to develop. We have some very "strong headed" puppies in the group and whoever ends up with those characters are going to have to be on their toes!

Please read...........

Very important to the breed standard of the "aussie". Please take the time to read and sign the petition......
Jackie
Breed Standard Petition update
Just an update on how the project to follow the ASCA by-laws and allow the membership to vote on the Breed Standards Review Committee revisions is coming. I also need to answer some of the questions I am getting. For those unaware of this effort, there is information and the downloadable petition here: http://users.htcomp.net/slashv/breedstandard.htm
There is also more information on the Facebook group here: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/profile.php?id=100001755880633
The suggested revisions written by the ASCA Commitee after 7 years of work and membership input are on the first link above. The ASCA Board of Directors stopped the revisions from going to the membership for a section by section vote in 2007. The by-laws allow a revision to go to the membership for vote only with a petition of 20% of the ASCA membership if the Board will not approve it. That is about the percentage who vote in an election where ballots are mailed to each of our homes with an addressed envelope to return them! At this time we have nearly 400 signatures but need close to 1400 to submit the petition. Remember, this petition is NOT a vote to approve the revisions. It is simply a vote to allow membership voting.
Only with a huge effort by the membership will YOU be allowed to vote on these very important revisions that CLARIFY the 1977 Standard.
Some of you have asked:1. Do I have to print this out and mail it or can I do it via the internet? Answer: it must be signed in person and mailed2. Is there a deadline? No, the only deadline is when 1400 signatures are received.3. Must I be an ASCA member to sign? Yes, per the by-laws one must be a member in good standing.4. What else can I do to help with this?a. You can take the petition to shows, trials, and club meetings to get signatures.b. You can write to the ASCA Board of Directors and again ask them to allow the membership to vote. executive.secretary@asca.orgc.
You can send the link to the revisions and petition to all of your friends who are ASCA members.d. If you are on Facebook, join the Group and invite your friends to join.
The letters and notes sent with petitions that I am receiving make me believe even more that Aussie lovers in all venues from conformation to working to obedience to agility to pet owners, believe this is a worthwhile project for this breed we all love.
The Standard now does not, and the revisions do not, favor anyone's dog(s) or bloodline but rather are the written blueprint of the dog that the present 33 year old Standard and annotations was written for.
The revisions CLARIFY the present Standard to ensure that judges and breeders alike totally understand it, because that is NOT happening and some of the fads and trends are alarming.
Thanks to all who will stand up to the Board and tell them that we want the right to vote on this very important document.
Feel free to ask any questions that you might have either privately or on this list.
Terry
permission to cross post and forward
Terry Martin
Slash V Australian Shepherdshttp://users.htcomp.net/slashvhttp://americanssupportinganimalownership.com/

Puppies are HERE!!!

I know I'm 2 weeks behind....... :(

Puppies arrived Nov 3rd. A wonderful litter of 7 puppies, 1 little red boy and his 6 sisters of various colors :)
I am over joyed with this litter!!! Couldn't have "ordered" a better combination. Meg didn't have any trouble with delivery starting with the little boy at 10:30 and finishing up with a blue girl at 5:30.
I am already very attached to them all and it's going to be difficult to give them to their new homes but I have such GREAT homes for these pups I know they are going to do great things and have a very loving homelife.

I will keep everyone updated as often as I can :)

Puppies

We are in the last few weeks of Meg's pregnancy and I am getting very excited!! I have so many great homes lined up for this lot of pups!
Meg is still being very sucky and doesn't have a great appetite.

We are having a wonderful fall with many nice warm days. It is this time of year I so wish I had a nice horse to get out on. The crops are down so it's free range to ride anywhere and we live close to a gully that is beautiful this time of year.
We will have to wait till next year I guess......... as fencing didn't happen this year like it was suppose too.....

Stay tuned for puppy updates!!

Puppies at Vispera

Well, after 2 years I can say that we will once again have puppies at Vispera. Meg is halfway through her pregnancy and I am so excited to finally have puppies from this amazing little girl. She is such a neat dog to ahve around and spend time with. She has been lucky enough to be spending her time at Hound Junkie with me for the past few days...... She is very good company. She is also getting some special attention at home, sneaking into our bedroom at night ;)

I rub her belly everyday seeing if maybe it grew over night. I'm looking forward to seeing what little bundles we end up with and watching them grow. Camryn is now 3 and I'm sure will be mommys little helper when the puppies come :)

Trying to get the yard all cleaned up before the snow flies, we have so much oats/alfalfa growing wildly around our place it's hard to get a handle on it. We have managed to get quite a bit of grass planted this year considering how wet and cold it was this summer.........

Will keep you updated on Meg's progress!

Summer is slipping away

I am taking a few moments to upload a few pics from today. I haven't had a chance to take any pictures this summer. Things have been so busy. It always bothers me when things get to hectic because life is too short not to be doing things you absolutely love. I'm at a pretty good place right now, have a family I love, dogs I love, a store I love, a business partner I love and many many friends. It's just hard to sometimes find the time to fit everything in.....
Today I spent the day at home with Camryn and we had a wonderful day together, cleaning/playing and getting into mischief :)

I am looking forward to hitting the road with Rayne in a few weeks to the CNASA Nationals in Saskatoon. I'm going to catch up with aussie folks and family. I hope that Rayne & I do well but I'm going to be thrilled just to be there :)

Remember to always enjoy the day.............

Latest News

Where has the summer gone??? It seems like only yesterday the kids were getting out of school and now they are already getting ready to go back!!
Things with me and my family are great. We have been so busy with the acreage/new store and general life that I haven't had much time to sit and reflect.

We are still impatiently waiting for Meg to come into season so she can go visit her boyfriend Tray. Not sure what she is waiting for........

The new store "Hound Junkie" is going very well. It is so satisfying coming into work knowing its yours and not having to answer to anyone. It's a lot of work and stress but I know it's going to be worth it. We are developing some great relationships with some of our regular customers........

I am also gearing up for the CNASA Nationals this Sept 1-5 in Saskatoon. It's going to be a blast to meet up with so many aussie people and see all the great dogs. I am only taking Rayne with me. I was hoping to have Meg ready to compete in the arena trials but with only 1 clinic under our belt and no training time since then we are no where near ready to compete. So, Rayne and I will head up there and play in the confirmation ring.

I am also planning on getting my 2 girls back into agility training. Both girls are going to be great ~ I just have to make the time to train.

Will hopefully get some new pics of the crew in the next few weeks :)

WOW

what a busy few months. I'm sure nobody will even read this as they are sick of coming to this blog only to find the same old rant. But I will post what has been happening anywyay.....
It's been a looonnnngggggg 3 months but I can finally say that my project is finally up and running!! A friend of mine and I opened up a new store in Lloydminster called "Hound Junkie". It's an upscale Horse & Hound Boutique store, that we are in love with!! It's a joy to come to work everyday and know that you built this wonderful space.

I did happen to sneak away the May Long weekend and attend a herding clinic with Meg. It was with Dave & Trudy Vicklund and although I'm sure Dave is a wonderful instructor Meg & I spend all 3 days with Trudy. I am so impressed with both Meg & Trudy!! Not once did I scream or yell at my dog and by day 3 she was covering her stock nicely and was even thoughtfull and responsive. Meg is very one sided so we have to work on that.........
here is a link to Meg working. Thanks to Billie for taking the video.
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DQYhvJDBD9LA&h=96f55

I will be posting updated pics of our store as I can.........

Bye for now.

Meg

I just wanted to write a little bit about Meg. I didn't plan on getting Meg from Cathy when the litter was born but some things happened in my life and I felt like I needed a little puppy. So, from the moment I saw the little sausage with the full copper face I knew I wanted her. Poor Shane (my husband) didn't even really have a choice. I just showed him a picture and said that this was our new puppy. He wasn't pleased but he knew better than to argue......
One lovely summer day I headed down to pick up my new pup from Cathy with Shane & my good friend Shelley and it was love at first site. She was the cutest little thing.........until we started home.......... She was in a crate and SCREAMED the whole hour home. It was a horrible sound LOL. I was still in love though.
Meg has been a treat since she came home, she has a passion for drywall, especially when she can fit her feet through the smallest hole in her crate to pick away at it. She also had a choice as a puppy to chew up my very expensive CHI hair straightener or my $10.00 hair dryer and guess which one she chose? All from within her crate mind you........
The really great things about Meg are that she loves everyone. She especially loves Camryn (our daughter) and will put up with anything. She will also try anything! She is honestly a great little agility dog and if I had more time to get to a few trials she would have a ton of letters behind her name.
I am taking her to a herding clinic in a few weekends and I can't wait. The few times she has been on stock she has been a star. She is a fabulous little worker.
My favorite memory of Meg right now is a few weeks ago we were in Camrose at the spring dog show and we had an ASCA show on the sunday night. We needed 1 more bitch to make it a major so I threw the little blue dynamo Meg in to make enough bitches. I wasn't feeling so well so my good friend Terry was handling Rayne and I asked her daughter Taylor to handle Meg.
Meg was thrilled to be with this great young handler!!! She spend most of the time going around the ring jumping up and down and when Taylor tried to stack her it was like trying to corral a monkey!! Meg was flipping on her back and spinning around because she was so thrilled that she was with Taylor.
It was a huge hit with the audience and I was thinking "Taylor, if you can handle this little weasel in there, you can handle anything!!"
Taylor went on to win her class with the little monkey!! It was unbelievable and I will always cherish that moment :)
Thanks Taylor :)

And thanks to Cathy for my little blue girl. She is a favorite around here :)

updates

Wow, it's been forever since I updated this!!!
Here goes.......
In case anyone is reading that doesn't know, Meg is not pregnant. I'm not sure what happened, all I know is how dissapointed I was when we had the ultrasound. We will be trying again with Tray and look forward to the puppies when they finally come.
We travelled with Rayne & Meg down to Camrose for BRCA spring show and 2 ASCA shows put on by the ASF club of Alberta. It was a very fun weekend that was capped off by my little girl Rayne winning BOB in the Sunday night ASCA show. The entry was about 26 aussies and some beautiful dogs were there ~ we were thrilled with the win and I want to thank my good friend Terry Stickle for her expert handling of Rayne!! It was wonderful to watch my little girl in the ring :)
Some other highlights was Ice's son Ralf (owned by Terry) winning the BOB in the ASCA show Saturday night.
ALSO ~ Breeze a girl from my Ice x Hillary litter earned her CKC Championship going Best of Winners and winners bitch twice. So proud of Sandy & Breeze

Spring is around the corner so we are very busy getting the yard going. We will be constructing my sheep fence and hope to have sheep soon to start training on for the CNASA national show this fall in Saskatoon.

that's all for now :)

pregnancy progressing.........

Meg is on day 31 today (approx.) and seems to be gaining her appetite back. I have started her on some puppy food with cottage cheese mixed in and she seems to like it. She hasn't grown very much this past week so I hope she will start filling out soon. She definately has a "different" body shape but she's not as big as I thought she would be at this stage of the game. She is loving being the only dog in the house on the nice comfy cushion, the others are banished outside right now just because it's soooo muddy and with our home only being 6mths old I want to keep it looking as nice as I can for as long as I can :)

We weren't able to get much grass seeded before winter set in so we are virtually in a mudhole except for our driveway which thank heavens we decided to get professionally done. It was 3 HUGE loads of gravel and alot of shaping but it has made a world of difference........

Will keep updating as Meg progresses.

Megs up to 20"

Meg is on her second day of not eating very much. I hope she starts feeling better soon ~ but I am so excited about this litter!! She is starting to get a little belly on her and it looks funny on her cute little usually trim frame. Camryn was a big help today with Meg. She was hand feeding Meg for a good chunk of the afternoon, she is going to be a big help when the puppies come!! It shows what a great temperment Meg has. She will put up with anything from Camryn.......

Here are a few pics of Meg & Camryn and one of Meg already with a "pregnancy" sit. If she only knew how uncomfortable it's really going to get for her..........

Megs pregnancy

My little girl Meg is coping well so far with her pregnancy. She looks very different than a few weeks ago, she has noticeably filled out and yesterday she must have been feeling a bit sickly as she wouldn't finish her breakfast.....
I am so excited for this litter ~ I have some really great homes lined up for these pups. They are very lucky little Aussies and they aren't even born yet :)
a few more short weeks and we will see her brood.

Winter Fun

With the Olympics on right now it gives a person an overwhelming feeling to get outside and be active (at least me) so I have been taking the dogs for long walks when I can squeeze them in. I'm not working right now so you would think that I would have lots of free time but I am keeping myself busy with a few projects. Yesterday we had some family out and had a fun day of sledding and firing up a few skidoo's to have some fun. It was a great day capped off by Alex winning Canada's FIRST Gold in the Men's moguls. It brought me to tears considering his families story and if anyone hasn't seen what this young man did for his country & family please tune in and watch. With that here are a few pics of the crew here at Vispera playing.

Yesterday was a very exciting day, after a week without Meg it was time to go get her. She was visiting her new boyfriend Tray at the Swede-Lee farm and I want to thank Lill & Jerry for taking such great care of her ~ I'm sure she would have stayed without missing us one bit!
So, we will know in a few short weeks if her vacation was worth it :)
I am so excited for this litter of pups, it will be my second litter and like all mothers who are expecting their second child I am going to remember all my previous mistakes and make sure I don't do that again!!
My previous litter turned out very nice (I think) they are all in loving homes and I get regular updates on everybody (keep em coming!!) but there are still some things I would like to improve on. I was diligent the first 3 days with record keeping and then I just didn't find the time/energy to keep it up so that is first on my list to "do better". Another thing I want to improve on is to get them up on the table quicker and more frequently so picture taking won't be as frustrating :)
I was able to take the dogs out for a stroll this afternoon and snap a few pics of the crew here. Ice was the most accomodating ~ and the one dog I really wanted updated pics of "Meg" was very uncooperative! figures eh??
Will keep you updated on Meg's progress!!
Feb 6th ~ stomach is 17 inches round.

Vegas!!!

We are home and had the most wonderful time in Vegas. It was extremely hard leaving Camryn ~ I cried a little bit but when we left Lloyd I started to get excited. I always thought I was afraid to fly, I'm not sure why but after zipping across the country a few times last year I realized that I LOVE it, and I told Shane he could surprise me sometime with flying lessons :) (subtle eh??)
So we took off and I was thrilled ~ it was a very smooth flight with us landing in Vegas at approx 10pm. We checked in quickly then headed out to the "strip". It was amazing ~ because it was the eve of Martin Luther King day the place was buzzing. We had the greatest time. Nothing really exciting to report, except we had a wonderful time, came home safe and I am so glad to be home.

I start agility classes tomorrow night with Rayne and am looking forward to working with her. She is a very smart little pup and should catch on easily.

We are still waiting "impatiently" for Ms.Meg to come into season so she can go visit Tray. I am so excited about this litter of working pups.

But I must run ~ Shane is upstairs making our traditional sunday morning breakfast and it smells just about ready...........

This past weekend was finally a warm one. With less than a week before Shane & I leave for sunny Vegas this silly country decides to warm up! Well, we will take the warm weather whenever it comes! Like any true Canadian when the weather turns warm we bundled up and headed outdoors. One of the hobbies of my family is to collect sheds, not a wooden structure that you put your garden tools in but the pointy hard cartlidge headgear that fall off male deer. If your reading this and your not from the prairies you are probably thinking how silly this may seem, but to us out here it's a great past time that provides family bonding and great exercise.

So, off the 3 of us went with the dogs "up north" to put some grain out for the deer and look for sheds. Deer sheds aren't normally dropped this early but once in a while you can find 1 or 2. There is something so special about being in the wilderness with hardly a noise, just your thoughts and the occasional bird chirping.......that is until you have 3 aussie's blow past you!! The dogs had a great time running in the bush. So many new sights & smells. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures........

I am looking forward to Vegas next week and can't believe my Mom agreed to take care of the place here! She is the best mom ever!!! and she has no idea what she's in for........:)
I will write after I get back with pics from VEGAS!!!