Decisions, decisions

 

The dog who doesn't play with toys, cuddling her squeaky pheasant

I have a few decisions I am considering at the moment.

First, should I keep this blog as it is, change its name, or start a new one – though in theory I don’t need to start a new one as I could just move over to my other blog Chris Crossing Britain. There are several for and against arguments for this one, ie, for changing and against changing:

For:

1.      I started this blog to write about all the wonderful things I planned to do with Storm, but obviously that never happened, leading to this page being dormant for several years. That’s actually why I started Chris Crossing Britain in the first place. I could hardly write on this one about walks without Storm; didn’t seem sense.

2.      I could change the name (though I haven’t yet had any inspiration as to what to call it) and then it could be ongoing, with whatever dog or dogs we have.

3.      It reminds me of Storm and also the sadness of not being able to do the things I had planned with her.

Against:

1.      This blog is already up and running and I have continued with it since Sienna joined the family.

2.      Yes, it reminds me of Storm, but actually that’s not a bad thing. She taught me a lot – about reactivity, about dog behaviour, about collies in particular.

3.      I started it with Storm, but I am still on the ‘path’ which she began, so it could be a continuation of life with my dog, whoever that dog is.

4.      Storm was the best dog I ever had – she was also the worst, but that’s another story, which I’ve already told. So keeping the blog as it is would be in her memory as well as showing that life continues even though hers has ended. I’m sure, if she knew about it, she would want me to continue.

So on balance, I’m thinking more of keeping the blog and the current name – what do you think?

Secondly, in an earlier post I said we had decided not to breed from Sienna due to her age. There are so many risks of having a first litter from a dog that is (or will be) five when she gives birth – everything from small litters (which wouldn’t actually be a problem), to more rigid ligaments, leading to more difficult birth, higher risk of needing a caesarean (which brings its own risks), or even death of mum, puppies or both. Then if she died but the puppies survived, how one earth would I cope with a litter that had no mother?? Not sure I’m up to that. It’s not just a matter of feeding them day and night, but mother dogs also lick their babies to stimulate them to go to the toilet – and I’m definitely not up for that!

However, while I’m pretty sure we shouldn’t go that route, it seems OH would actually be prepared to take the risk. Sienna is fit and healthy so he thinks it won’t be a problem. But then there’s the added question of why do we want to breed in the first place? She might have done agility in the past, but she’s not a champion at it and hasn’t competed for a year or two. On the other hand, she has a lovely temperament and a great ‘off switch’ (rare in border collies) and makes a great companion for any activity I choose to do – she runs and walks with me (yet to do a full hike). Is that enough? Or should I reconsider?

Third, Kennel Club registration. With the idea of breeding a dog in mind I decided to register a kennel name with the Kennel Club. Oh, sorry, it’s now the Royal Kennel Club (RKC). Anyway, I have a kennel name. It wasn’t my first choice, or even my second. In fact, I threw in a fourth choice and they decided on that one for some reason. So I am Kiteridge Border Collies. It’s named after the area where I spread Storm’s hair on the moors in Yorkshire. I wanted something related to the red kites I often see up there and something that recalled the features of the moor itself. So my first choice was Stangmoor – it’s an area of moorland to the east of Stang Lane. The RKC obviously didn’t like that one. However, there is an old quarry (now disused) as you walk south east from the road that edges the footpath – well, it’s a field away but it runs along near the edge of the path, so Kiteridge it is. I might write it KiteRidge – you have to have a single word, but there’s no rule about using a capital letter in the middle to separate the two halves of the name.

photo to follow

So, now that I’m pretty sure we are not breeding from Sienna, I have a kennel name that is pretty useless. Which brings me to my next point...

Fourth, having a registered kennel name is no reason to have puppies. If I’m not going to breed Sienna, then why have the name? Good question – unless I buy in a puppy. [Imagine I said that really quickly, so you might miss it J]....

Settling in

Settling in

When we first brought Sienna home, she behaved like no collie I have ever known – she was so good! She did everything I asked her (except walk on a loose lead, lol), travelled silently in the car, and laid quietly on the living room floor between activities. She was so uninterested in everything that my daughter even suggested she was ‘boring’.

She is no longer ‘boring’, if she ever was. About two and a half weeks after she arrived, she suddenly changed and began to show her true character. Instead of lying there mute, she would look up and even get up when we left the room. She began to follow us around the house and seemed to be enjoying her walks more. I’d gone from having a dog I couldn’t take anywhere (Storm) to a dog I could literally take everywhere – so we began to do that.

Local walks on the rec

The weather has been atrocious since the first couple of days. It was icy, then snow, then rain, rain and more rain. So instead of our 4.5 mile walk to the farm, we do circuits of the rec. Once on the field, I ask her to wait, while I remove the lead, then she runs very fast in a straight line when I say ‘go’. There is a poop bin at the far side near the back lane, so I deposit the now full bag there and Sienna then bounces around as if she is expecting something. I’m very slow, because I didn’t understand what she wanted until about ten days later – but more of that below.

The garden centre

We have a garden centre near us that allows dogs, even into the cafe (in a certain area). She lay under the table, not even concerned with other dogs nearby. Storm would never have done that!

The forest

The Stang Forest is a pine forest that was grown as a crop. They are currently cutting down large swathes of it, but there are still many acres of forest. After her excitement at being in the woods across the road, I thought she would enjoy the forest. I was not disappointed and neither, I think, was she. I saw a large deer too, though Sienna missed it and I missed photographing it (note to self: keep the camera in your hand)! We also met a man who had lost his dog – and later, his wife, who had found the missing animal. There was another man with two very reactive dogs (on leads) – I know what that’s like – but Sienna, although wary, wasn’t too bothered.

‘Good girl’

As we entered the park gates for our third parkrun, she sat up in the crate to look around and was quite animated. Does she ‘count’ roundabouts and turns? She certainly seemed to know where we were. I parked as usual and went to get her out of the car. She was pretty excited, looking round at everything with her ears pricked up. I took her once again to the back of the group and she was in a hurry to get going, so I took her for a short walk as the run was not ready to start. Once again, she took to ‘walk;’ and ‘trot on’ very quickly and we seem to be a team as we trot round. Afterwards, we were walking back towards the car and she was walking nicely by my side. I said ‘good girl’ and she rounded in front of me and looked expectantly, first at my pocket and then at my face. Finally, the penny dropped. We had thought that ‘good girl’ had become her ‘release’ command – ie the command that tells her the activity is over. But no, in fact ‘good girl’ = ‘treat’. In other words, it’s the cue for being given a treat, much like a clicker. We’re beginning to understand each other!

Stalking

Collies love to stalk things – it’s bred into them for herding sheep. They lower their heads and kind of crouch, while still moving cautiously forward, in a way that is meant not to frighten the sheep they're stalking. Well, Sienna doesn’t stalk sheep; she stalks seagulls and jackdaws, while ignoring blackbirds as too small to be worthy of her consideration. One morning, we were on the rec and it was very foggy – visibility down to a few yards. So she started stalking as she usually does – but there were no birds! Turned out she was stalking mole hills and clumps of grass, haha. Another morning, there were several gulls on the field, so she stalked them – even the one that was sitting on the top of the goal posts. Of course, she never catches them, but it’s as though they are teasing her. They wait until the very last minute, before rising into the air, making a sound that is remarkably like a laugh – yes, they are laughing at her!

Balls, balls, balls

We took her to the beach – and this was where she really showed her character. Where she had lived previously, the beach was very stony. The beach near us has some stones, but is mostly soft sand. And there were gulls and rooks all over the place. She was having a lovely time, running all over and stalking the birds to her heart’s content. It was a rare sunny afternoon, so there were lots of people, dogs, and children everywhere. Sienna wasn’t bothered by any of them, until.....

A spaniel and its human mum were nearby as we walked along. The spaniel had a small ball which he dropped on the sand. It rolled towards the sea and the spaniel looked at it, making no move to get it. So Sienna decided she would get it instead. Bear in mind that this is a collie that we were told was not interested in balls.  She appeared suddenly from behind us, grabbed the ball and ran towards the water. The spaniel ran after her. As soon as the spaniel caught up with her, Sienna dropped the ball and let the spaniel have it back. The spaniel took it back to his mum and promptly dropped it again. Sienna grabbed it again and tossed it towards the sea. Mum was close by this time, so she picked the ball up. Sienna and I walked on a little way, but Sienna kept looking back at the woman and the ball. Suddenly, Sienna ran back, jumped up at the woman’s hand that was holding the ball, the ball curved into the air and was promptly caught by the spaniel on her other side. It was hilarious and hard not to laugh as we apologised,  but sadly no video or photo as it was so unexpected.

A short distance further on was a man with two labradors. He also had a ball in his hand which he had been throwing for his dogs. Sienna ran over to him and bounced around in front of him as if asking him to ‘throw the ball, please throw the ball, come on THROW it, what are you waiting for!!!!’ She began to jump up at him, so I rushed over, apologising (again) for my dog’s behaviour. I told him she’d only been with us a few weeks (not quite four, to be precise) and I didn’t even know she liked balls! Anyway, we managed to convince her to leave the ball and the man alone and she spent the rest of the afternoon stalking the birds instead.

Next stop, the pet shop to get her a ball!

You have no idea how hard it is to find a ball. A simple hard rubber ball about the size of a tennis ball. None anywhere! Ended up getting a couple that ‘tasted and smelled of beef’ or had rattles, bells, squeaks inside etc, but no ordinary rubber balls. In the end, I got a ‘chuckit’ ball and throw stick – and she absolutely loves them.

Fast forward to this morning – I finally know what it is she is expecting when I dump the poop bag in the bin. She wants me to throw a ball for her. So this morning I took her new ball with us and she spent ages just running about the field chasing the ball – between stalking the odd bird, that is! So much for not being interested in balls then!