Chapter 8 - August 2009

August was a month of ups and down for Bronte.
Firstly an up, she was promoted to Class 2.
Then a down...Bronte went to her second Kepala social event and slipped in the dog lagoon area. The result being a fractured growth plate. She had been due to be desexed, instead she had x-rays and then the very next day went into surgery for a pin to be inserted into her hind leg and a splint put on. This meant four weeks of confinement:(
She didn't have to be confined to her crate, but did need to have her movement restricted. For the first two weeks she was in her splint, then it was removed and she just wore a bandage. I constructed various pens inside and outside so she could be controlled and kept calm. I have to say Bronte took all of this in her stride, well so to speak. The pens I made were not the most sturdy of structures, but she was such a good girl and is such a soft dog that she never ever tried to get out or knock them down. I took a week off with her at the beginning when she was still quite knocked around by the accident and the surgery. Then had to go back to work and she and Lara had to manage on their own. They managed just fine!
Poor Bronte was bored, but rarely put up much fuss. During this time I taught her to shake, hi-fi and reverse trained retrieve using clicker training. This meant I could still train her without her actually having to move. Of course she picked it all up before I realised what was happening.

Chapter 7 - July 2009

We started obedience this month. After much to-ing and fro-ing by myself about which club to join, in the end we joined Werribee Dog Obedience, which was the club I was a member of when I had my Dobermann, Sasha. It felt good going back and Bronte was pretty impressed too.
Bronte was just over four months when we joined and technically supposed to stay in puppy class until she was six months. However after two weeks in puppy class she was officially bored, she could do all that stuff, she had been doing it for weeks and weeks. We made the bold decision to join Class 1 when she turned five months. It was a good decision, she relished the extra challenge.
After two weeks in Class 1 we had an internal fun day where the dogs compete against their class mates and my special, quick as a whip girl came second, yep check out the ribbon. She doesn't look too excited about it because it was a long day for a five month old dog, but she definitely enjoyed herself. I was chuffed because my intention for Bronte has always to compete in obedience and agility.

Chapter 6 - June 2009

She was still growing!!! During June Bronte had her final injections and we started walks outside and some more adult training. She learnt to sit, drop and wait to be fed within the first week of coming home, in fact she understood sit after the first morning. So now training was more about being a big dog and her first challenge was to learn to sit at EVERY curb, traffic or no traffic, no matter how big the street. Ok, so it took about three days before she was auto sitting. Damn she's a smart cookie.
We also started puppy school at the local vets, where she proved that when she doesn't get her own way she can be very local and doesn't hold back interrupting the speaker. This is also were I discovered that Bronte is very much a food motivated dog and not too interested in toys. For that matter, if there is food involved she could be easily persuaded to work for me rather than play with the other pups. While some of them were just learning to sit and drop, she was well beyond them in training and got quickly bored. We practiced baby length stays instead!
Bronte was still car sick and by this stage, trying a crate, trying harness, trying a ring bed, trying food, trying no food, etc etc etc, the vet had prescribed a low dose anti nausea tablet for her. Mind you - warning this gets ugly - it still didn't stop her from throwing up partially digesting cat poo in my poor poor car. I can honestly say I have never smelled anything that putrid in my whole life, even she looked green just from the smell. Well we persisted and managed to extend her travelling capability to about 30 minutes at a time. Sometimes she was ill, sometimes she just drooled like there was no tomorrow.
As a result of her sometimes positive reaction to the drugs, I managed to get her to her first doggy social outing, a trip to Kepala Dog Resort with other DOL members. She loved it. Finally her dream came true, dogs she could wear out and run with in a safe environment. We didn't have a long outing, but she certainly enjoyed herself.

Chapter 5 - May 2009

Bronte's main activity for May was to grow! And grow and grow and grow. This was characterised mainly by her constantly changing ears and her weekly change in muzzle shape. One thing I never did with Bronte was weight her ears to promote the typical Collie fall over tip, consequently she now has erect ears like a Kelpie - a no no in the Collie world. Well I would have gooped her ears, but I was never advised to and never having a Collie before, I didn't know I should. Her ears changed direction anywhere up to three or four times a day, it was quite exciting to watch them develop. Now her muzzle changing shape was something I never expected. About weekly her face shape would change from quite short and wedge like to long and Collie like. Every time I looked at my little girl she was slightly different.
As much as I could I took her out and about and socialised her, getting her used to new sounds, sights and smells. She met my Dad, my best friend and other friends. It was a bit tricky socialising her as she got so very ill in the car. We only ever went five minute drives but invariably it still resulted in pukey puppy.
One thing that Bronte did do during May was to solidify her friendship with Lara. Now Lara is a tiny cat. She is barely 3kgs and only stands about 23cm high, but when Bronte first came home she was the big one of the two. Very quickly Bronte caught up and then over took Lara. In the meantime they developed a very close bond which included a lot of play. They wrestled and played chasey. When I called Bronte off thinking she was being too rough Lara would use this as an opportunity to launch herself at Bronte's neck and get her in a kitty stranglehold. And who would think a cat would deliberately goad a puppy to chase them, trust me Lara has the game all figured out, Bronte was merely a willing participant.

Chapter 4 - April 2009

I saw Bronte again at when she was five weeks old. This time she was interative, curious and quite a bit more active that the rest of the litter, little lazy bones some of them.
We spent some time together, her sussing me out and playing with her litter mates.
It was getting closer to the time I could bring her home and I had to get everthing ready at home. The backyard was being revamped for her, I was having the house painted so it was done and finished and I didn't have to disrupt her settling in, it was all action stations.
Well finally it was time to bring my little princess home. Her breeder brought the whole litter down to Melbourne for there Collie Eye Anomaly test. Thankfully Bronte passed as normal with flying colours. Unfortunately the whole litter got quite car sick on the two hour journey to Melbourne, so poor little Bronte was very weary, a bit sickly feeling and a bit puked on by the time I picked her up.
Luckily she just needed a gentle wipe with a damp face washer to clean her up and a good long sleep. Poor Lara my cat had a bit of a freak out and I eventually found her inside a pillow case, with the pillow, on my bed.
Bronte settled very quickly into her new routine, not really showing too much pining for her brothers and sister. Lara picked up in a couple of days that the new puppy while a little boisterous really just wanted to be her friend and was prepared to back down when Lara wanted peace and quiet.

Chapter 3 - March 2009

I first visited Bronte when she was about two weeks old and her wee little eyes were only just starting to open. At this stage I couldn't hold her as she was still buiding up her immune system and of course we didn't want to expose her to the big wide world of germs. She was not too happy with the initial meeting wanting to get back to her brothers and sister, who could blame her at that age.

Her breeder sent me some photos of her at four weeks and was just so cute. Check out the photo. She is the one on the left with the tiny stripe of white on her face, the other pup is her Smooth brother Sean.

Chapter 2 - February 2009

Bronte is born! Registered Nauglamir Bronte N Gold, she was born on the 28th Feb. Bronte was one of two smooth Collies in an entirely sable and white litter. The other pups were rough coats.

Her sire Nauglamir Gold N Copper is a sable and white rough and her dam, Nauglamire Ny Trixi is a tricolour smooth.

For the uninitiated in Collie coats I'll give you a point of reference. The very famous Collie depicted in film, Lassie, was a sable and white rough (long) coat Collie. Bronte is the same colour, but being a Smooth she has a short coat. Both variations have a double coat, the undercoat being quite dense and the top guard coat being finer.