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Call me a glutton for punishment, but we decided to get a border collie. Our new baby was born on Friday, August 12, 2005 between 9:00 and 10:30 pm in Sierra Vista, Arizona. A litter of seven – four boys, three girls. Their mother, Tootsie, is very friendly, affectionate and sweet. I decided to get a male. If he shapes up to be a good obedience candidate by the time he reaches adulthood, I’ll consider competing with him. Otherwise, he will be a pet, companion and walking buddy.

 

First baby photo (taken 09/15/2005) – D’Art is the one with his nose in the corner of the pen with his butt going out of view in the middle of the left side of the shot.

09/16/2005– I saw the litter for the first time last night at 4 weeks and 6 days of age. Too young for effective temperament evaluation, but still old enough to observe some basic behavioral tendencies. The one I selected is solid black. Not so much as a white hair anywhere. It should be interesting to see if he remains solid black as he grows. He's pretty laid back, even the way he plays. Not rough and rambunctious, but not staid either. He can take a lot of pushing before he lets the others know they have gone too far, and he will most definitely voice his feelings on the matter. But he doesn't get carried away. He does like Xander - voice his opinion and then go on his merry way. No grudges. And, he loves to cuddle.

 

I’ll see him again in a week, and I’m already looking forward to it. He comes home Friday, October 7^th, if all goes as planned. This boy will be coming to me with NO vaccinations from a good environment where he’s been handled a LOT by kids and adults, so I have high hopes of him being a happy, well-adjusted, healthy baby without vaccine damage. He’s been weaned on Purina Puppy Chow but will be switched to raw after he comes home. New territory for me, and I’m just as nervous as when I first raw fed my adults, but I have a lot of experienced raw feeders and puppy raisers to guide and support me.

 

His name was achieved with the help of his Auntie Shirl, so he has her to thank for helping Mom with that. I came up with D’Artagnan, call name D’Art. She helped me expand on it from there.  J

 

09/24/2005 – I saw D’Artagnan today. He’s growing so fast! He was alert and playful today. He’s the only pup left, so he will be coming home a week earlier than planned. He’s definitely not one to put up with being harassed without speaking up. He let his half-sister know in no uncertain terms that he was SICK of her picking on him. Yelled at her, but good! He’s very confident. A fearless little guy. And he loves to play! He should be a nice addition to our family here.

 

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any decent photographs (working with an unfamiliar, very cheap digital camera since mine is on vacation with my hubby). I did manage to get one it-doesn’t-TOTALLY-suck shot of D’Art’s older half-sister, Sierra. Definitely not an impressive photograph, but she’s a sweetheart.

 

So, D’Art comes home on the evening of Friday, September 30^th.  He will be 7 weeks old that very day.

 

09/27/2005 – Due to a delay in my raw food pick-up, and the fact that it will be a miracle if we make it to the pick-up before running out of food for the existing three furbabies, I had to push back my pickup date for D’Art. So I’ll be picking him up on the evening of Thursday, October 6^th.

 

10/02/2005 – I received a note from Lanna (the dam’s owner). She said D’Art is already starting to bark when he needs to go out to potty. What a smart little boy!

 

10/06/2005 – D’Art came home! Introductions with the girls went fine, but Xander is NOT happy about this. Tomorrow morning, D’Art starts eating raw. No more kibble for this little guy. He whimpered a bit for about 2 miles of the trip home then rode the remaining almost 30 miles flat out on his side snoozing in the crate.

 

10/07/2005 – D’Art slept through the night, so I know he was exhausted from the new home and Xander’s nasty antics. He had his first raw meal this morning – ground raw lamb and veggies with digestive enzymes and probiotics to ease his transition to raw. He fell on it like a starving little carnivore. LOVED it! I have to keep the boys separated as Xander is having very serious issues with the baby, at least until we can figure out what’s going on and how to rectify it. Izzy played with him this morning.

 

10/08/2005 – D’Art’s stools are nice and firm, no runnies from the sudden diet change, so the digestive enzymes are doing their job. He got me up 3 times during the night to go potty. Have to say, I’ll be glad when he outgrows that. *grin*

 

Photo taken 10/09/2005

 

10/10/2005 – D’Art only got me up twice during the night, not 3 times as he has previously.

 

10/11/2005 – D’Art had his first toenail trimming, and quite the lesson it was for him, too. He's got a bit of a dominant streak, so I knew he would likely put up some fuss about being flipped upside down for it, and I was right. He doesn't hesitate to try to bite if he doesn't like what you're doing to him. He almost broke the skin on my finger. So he got toenails trimmed and a full body workover, during all of which he had to lie quietly. When he tried to bite, I calmly corrected him and started over. He finally did manage to lie still through it all.  Oh, the trials of being a midget.....  LOL

 

10/14/2005 – Just put D'Art's new collar on him - it arrived with today’s mail. I had to buy a cat collar – the only one I could find small enough to fit his little neck. It has a bell on it, which I couldn't be more thrilled about. He's chasing himself in circles and rolling around on the floor trying to get hold of it, but this one actually fits, so he can't even grab hold of the bell. *VBG*

 

Photo taken 10/18/2005

 

10/18/2005 – D’Art lost his very first baby tooth. Upper left canine. J

 

D'Art is just too funny. Annie is laying on the floor chewing on a bone. D'Artagnan keeps edging over toward her on his belly, chin resting on the floor between his front paws, tail wagging sweetly, trying to convince her to share her bone. He just flopped over on his side, exposing his belly and has his nose on one of her paws. Now he's waving his paws in her face, lying almost upside down. Tail wagging merrily away all the time. LOL Annie is not giving in, though. ...... I don't know whether he's very brave or very stupid. He's nose to nose with her now...... Ew... Pushing the threshold now..... He mouthed the side of her mouth and she actually gave him a light growl. He's backed up a bit and she's back to happily chewing away. These two are just too fun to watch! *VBG* …… Oops! He pushed too far. She just snapped at him. No teeth came close to him, but of course he yelped like she tried to kill him and took off running. She went back to chewing the bone. He’s not deterred though. He’s back to the belly crawling, chin between the paws, tail wagging slow approach…. LOL

 

10/19/2005 – D’Artagnan is doing great with the raw diet. So far he’s had ground turkey, ground lamb mix, ground vegetables of various kinds, chopped emu, ground beef organs (heart, kidney, liver together), chicken liver, whole chicken necks, beef marrow bones and whole turkey necks as well as yogurt and raw honey. He also likes chewing on the beef feet his new brother and sisters eat. Nothing is too big or too much for him to handle. He definitely knows he’s a carnivore, dives right into anything edible.

 

10/28/2005 – With lots of work, Xander’s prey drive is under control and he has decided that D’Art is a wonderful playmate and addition to the pack. They’ve been spending a lot of time playing this week, and D’Art spends very little time in his crate now. They are keeping each other exhausted. J So things are going MUCH more smoothly. We’ve gone from Xander’s prey drive being so high that his teeth were chattering from the frustration to being even better than Annie with the puppy. (New photo with the two of them together is below.)

 

We’ve tried a few more things with D’Art in his diet. He loves raw eggs, but he has decided that he doesn’t like pork kidney. Wouldn’t touch it! He loves leftovers, which I give him in very small quantities, and thought cheese and peanut butter were God’s gifts to the canine world.

Best of Buddies – Photo taken 10/27/2005

 

Playing with a tennis ball (yes, that’s a regular size tennis ball) – Photo taken 11/29/2005

 

12/13/2005 – Measured and weighed the little rugrat today. He weighs a whopping 11.5 pounds and is 13” at the shoulder. At 4 months of age, he’s smaller than Xander was at 9.5 weeks of age (14” & 18.9 lbs). Definitely going to be a small boy when he’s full grown. He’s growing well, his structure seems sound, but only time will tell if he’s a healthy guy. He adores his big brother. They have bonded very closely, and he emulates Xander in so many things. He is doing great with his house manners as well as in puppy class, and he’s learning to “dance” for the talent portion of puppy graduation. He thinks that is great fun! His favorite game is BALL!!!!

 

01/25/2006 – As this little boy grows (sort of), I have come to realize that the likelihood that this boy is purebred border collie is about as great as me being part kangaroo. There is definitely something else lurking in the genetic woodpile. His siblings are most definitely purebred. I saw two of his litter sisters over the weekend. We adore him (and he has no papers), so his breeding is irrelevant to us. But we STRONGLY suspect a canine terrorist managed to get to Tootsie in addition to the Border collie that sired D’Artagnan’s siblings. (For those who don’t know, many of us call TERRIERS “terrorists.” Suits them quite well. LOL)

 

The day he turned 5 months old, I measured and weighed D’Artagnan for his records. He came in at a whole 14¼” and 17 pounds, meaning in a month’s time he gained 1¼” and 5.5 pounds. He’s 4-5” smaller than his siblings. At least now we know that is most likely NOT because he’s a classic “runt” in the litter as first assumed – he’s actually a different BREED than his siblings. His coat is soft, about 3” long in places, and wavy like some Border collies. His head structure is NOT correct for a BC, and his growth certainly isn’t. Ear set is higher up on the head, but he does have those perky BC ears (when BC ears stand up, that is). He is also barrel-chested. It will be very interesting to watch him grow up and see what might be lurking in there besides his BC mother’s genes.

 

BTW, we’ve added lamb necks, pork necks, skinned duck necks, pigtails and beef gullets to his list of raw foods. All a hit!

 

 

Photos taken 01/03/2006

 

11/28/2006 – Good Lord and butter! I knew I was behind on D’Artagnan’s page updates, but I didn’t realize until this moment just HOW far behind I was.  Let’s see….

 

Well, the little weed has grown. Not much, granted, but he’s grown. He’s a whopping 17” and 25 pounds in size (that was as of his first birthday in August, so I need to recheck him to see if it’s changed at all). Photo taken of him on his first birthday is below for your viewing pleasure. He’s such a cute little runt. He’s most definitely a runt in a household accustomed to having dogs over 22” and 60 pounds. But he sure is loveable and hilarious to have around. He has a wonderful sense of humor, loves toys and hugs, and thinks everyone who comes to visit came just to see him. He and Izzy clash now and then because she knows all our company comes just to see HER. LOL Also, he loves other dogs. Whether they are his size, smaller or larger, he just thinks they’re great. No desire to fight or cause problems. No desire to roam (except when he gets past my hubby or one of his friends when he makes a beeline for the yard next door to play with their male Pomeranian/pug mix). He gets a little “uppity” now and then with Xander, which Xander corrects and end of problem. He adores his big brother and loves his big sister. His motto? “Anytime is playtime!”

 

Photo taken 08/12/2006 (FIRST BIRTHDAY!)

 

He retracted a testicle at about 6 months of age, so we feared he would have to be castrated to remove the risk of testicular cancer from such an abnormality. However, the vet said we could wait until he was older because the testicle was within easy palpation reach (ergo, we could keep an eye out for changes that might indicate a problem). Thankfully, that troublesome testicle came back down when he had a sacral adjustment shortly after he turned 9 months old. So all is normal in that regard now.

 

His rabies shot was administered at 9 months of age. Unfortunately, even waiting that long didn’t protect him from having an adverse reaction to the shot. This previously healthy little guy now has inhalant allergies, which started suddenly approximately 2 weeks post-vaccination. There have been a couple of occasions where he has had what resemble asthmatic episodes. So far, I’ve been able to treat those infrequent occurrences with eucalyptus EO aromatherapy with great success (one drop on a cotton round in the room). In the meantime, I’m working on helping his immune system rebound from the rabies shot. We don’t keep toxins like air fresheners and other harmful chemicals in the house anymore, so at least I don’t have to worry about eliminating those. (We don’t even use chemical-laden laundry soap anymore, much less the other contaminants lurking in most households these days.)  But I can’t do much to remove pollens and such, and I’d prefer to strengthen his immune system than sterilize his environment from natural things anyway.

 

Photo taken 11/02/2006

 

D’Artagnan still does what my hubby calls “Puppy Pounds” where he sucks on and kneads his stuffed toys, especially his favorite brown teddy bear. If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about, take a look at the following video clips of him in action.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqsFVPwWr4E “Puppy Pounds #1”, shot October 17, 2006

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pdLxnT_QUU “Puppy Pounds #2”, shot October 17, 2006

 

And my personal favorite, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsXSdvd8ALA, simply entitled “Puppy Pounds”, shot on November 20, 2006.

 

06/26/2008 – Nothing new to report with D’Artagnan. He continues to have intermittent problems with asthma, but it and his allergies have been easily controlled through the use of homeopathy. When he does have attacks, infrequent now, they are very mild.

 

D’Artagnan adjusted well to Xander’s death. I believe he knew Xander’s time with us was short in those last days. Where he was usually bouncing all over the place trying to get everyone to play with him, those last couple of days of Xander’s life, he would lay quietly with him and clean Xander’s face. Uncharacteristically quiet and gentle for him.

 

He is a very bouncy, happy little guy. He LOVES to play and still lugs around that brown, no-longer-stuffed teddy bear that he’s had since he was a wee pup. Needless to say, it’s a bit ratty and more than a little gross (smells hideous when wet). I keep threatening to wash it, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to follow through yet.  If you don’t believe me… well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

 

Taken 05/29/2008

 

 

“Throw the bear…. See, it’s right THERE.” – Taken 06/02/2008

 

 

 

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