Bowing at the feet of the masters.

Long lines of giddy fans, a deluxe rock star tour bus, an advance team of media handlers, and an entourage of savvy business professionals descended on Denver this week, and I’m not talking about the long delayed U2 concert.  The Pet Connection crew was out promoting their new book, Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual and they did it in style.

The Denver weather did not cooperate at all bringing long awaited rain showers, lightning, and even hail, but when I stopped in to the book signing there was a healthy crowd waiting to meet Dr. Becker et alii and share their dog stories with the PC crew.  The couple in front of us were into Chows and had a custom “BIS CHOW” license plate that I noticed on the way in.  The woman behind had accidentally gone to the wrong PetCo first but didn’t leave empty handed, she adopted a charming Chihuaha on death row on her way out the door and spent her time in line bonding with him.  Dog people do love to talk about our dogs.

Despite my growing fame (all 130 readers and counting!) in the blog world, I have yet to accept one of those deluxe (prepaid postcard) invitations to the gigantic dog conventions that usually happen on the coasts, so this was my first opportunity to meet Gina Spadafori and Dr. Becker.  Being an eternal skeptic, bomb thrower, and compulsive debater  on the internet, I didn’t know if I should expect a hand shake, a hug, or a swift kick in the ass from Gina; luckily it was a giant hug and much love given to both Mercury and Celeste who came along as well.

We had a lot of fun talking shop and admiring how Ranger turned out on the book cover.  Gina and Marty signed a free copy of the book for me for being Ranger’s talent agent, and I’d have put it up for a reader reward after I read it, but their inscriptions are awesome and personalized, so you readers (all 120 something of you now, I’m sure) will have to do without or get your own.

Part of the entourage of experts were Colorado vets Robin Downing, DVM of the Downing Center for Animal Pain Management and James Gaynor DVM MS of Peak Performance Veterinary Group whom Gina introduced as “top in the World in their fields” and they demonstrated their talent when they spotted Celeste favoring her rear knee from across the room.  When I told Gina about Celeste’s partial CL tear that I’ve been weighing options on before plunking down a fortune for surgery she marched me right over and corralled the combined efforts of all the Vets present and we worked out some options for Celeste.  I felt like it was an episode of House with  a team of doctors at my disposal.  Thanks Gina, that was awesome.

This photo doesn't help the perception that I'm a raving lunatic.

I was really awestruck by all the attention and their desire to get Celeste back into fighting shape.  Dr. Gaynor explained that TPLO isn’t the only game in town and that less invasive options might be available; he also discussed a new mobile testing suite that he’s rolling out that will allow for cheap and fast  on-site gate analysis that can pinpoint how a dog is shifting their weight during motion: I hope it’s ready for his practice to bring out to one of our Frisbee tournaments this year.  Dr. Downing’s analysis also hit all the right notes, and we discussed the benefits of a data driven approach (the plural of anecdote is not data!) in medicine and I’m really pleased to see that attitudes toward pain management in dogs is changing, in no small part to Vets like Dr. Downing.  In only a few minutes the Vets ran through a really circumspect plan of attack for Celeste, from pre-operation weight management to dealing with post-op pain and reconditioning back to Agility fitness.

Dealing with Celeste’s injury has been more dread than clarity, and this was the first time I’ve really felt positive about a more proactive treatment plan.  Pretty good karma for a lousy wet Thursday afternoon.

Celeste killed the Easter Bunny

Sorry folks, Celeste killed Jesus the Easter Bunny, so there will be no magical resurrections from chocolate eggs this year.

Border Collies aren’t really known for their ability to course game, but they are quite fast and Celeste has proven an able huntress.  Above is the first rabbit she ran down in the back yard, but it’s not her most memorable.  While my father was in the hospital for weeks on end, my mother and I would bring Celeste to visit him several times per week.  She had grown to be quite an apt therapy dog during similar visits to my Grandmother.  She has a very motherly and giving temperament and will lick the inside of your wrist as you pet her.  She is very patient and will lie quietly on a hospital bed giving and receiving affection.

Because of the dozens of visits Celeste made to the hospital, she was the most in-tune with what was going on with my father and visits where we didn’t bring her were never as successful as the ones when she came.  So when dad finally came home, the other dogs excitedly greeted him at the door and wondered why he smelled funny, Celeste beat tracks out the back door.  In a few minutes she returned and placed a freshly killed rabbit at dad’s feet, then nuzzled his calf as if to say, “welcome home, here’s some food to make you feel better.”  The border collie version of chicken soup.

Here I’ve collected some photos and videos of the border collie puppies’ first attempts to herd sheep.

Dublin making friends at White Fence Farm, 8 weeks old

I picked up Dubin on St. Patrick’s Day and here we are just a few days later at my birthday dinner at White Fence Farm.   Apparently this sheep was unimpressed with Dublin’s predator stare, and I can’t blame her, he was so damn cute I’d run toward him instead of away from him too!  He’d have to wait another two months before his real first time “working” sheep (because you have to call it work even when it’s play, them’s the rules!).

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Yes, you did hear that right. My father puts down Dublin and says “Now listen, I’m hungry, so go get me a sandwich” and later, “Chris, why don’t you try this at the singles bar.” Heh.

This was also young Celeste’s first time seeing sheep, mere days after we got her. She had just turned 9 weeks old. This was also the first time she had a new heavy collar on so she spent a lot of time trying to scratch at it, much to our amusement. The cuts are where she ran out of frame into the shade to work on getting her collar off.

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I also took my camera to Mercury and Gemma’s first exposure to sheep but since I was no longer a complete idiot around sheep, my instructor had me take the pups into the ring instead of me watching her do it. Thus my humble little camera was left perched on a chair.

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It’s amazing to watch that light go on when they first realize that they have power over the sheep.  You can see it, they are rather carefree and oblivious, looking around like this is any other dog park except with smaller pieces of poop on the ground, and in an instant it’s BAM, the instinct kicks in and it’s a different life from then on.

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I didn’t think the current crop of dogs liked apples, they certainly don’t Bogart the Honeycrisp cores or raid the fruit bowl like Jack did. But I caught them this afternoon picking their own crabapples off of our tree in the backyard.  I think they got the idea from my dad who spent the afternoon a few days ago cleaning up the fallen apples.  The dogs always take an interest when there’s work going on.  It looks like they got a taste for them while helping clean them up and now they have to pick their own off of the low hanging branches.

Luckily, they haven’t yet joined the Farm Workers Union to protest their low pay or having to urinate and defecate in the same place they work picking fruit.

I tolerate their subscription, despite the magazine being published by the dirty bears in Berkley … sssssssssss … and the rather granola overtones of some of the articles.  And I have to admit that since I first discovered the magazine in the bathroom at the after-party of my first Frisbee dog tournament, I’ve always wanted my mutts to grace the centerfold with their smiling faces.

What a great concept, two full pages of loved and spoiled dogs captured in those moments that stay with us long after the dogs themselves are gone; the moments we miss when we can’t have them anymore.

So at dusk the night Celeste was due to give birth I snapped some photos of her outside on the hill in the backyard.  It was fortuitous that she was in pre-labor and panting, as my previous attempts to catch her with her mouth open and smiling were unsuccessful.  Neither of us slept that night and twenty four hours and a snow storm later we were back at home with six new puppies.  Two of them have never left.

Celeste on the lawn by AstraeanBorderCollies

Exactly five weeks later, I mocked up an impromptu photo studio in the corner of the den: made from repurposed desk lamps, a bed sheet, and some high gloss (but not pee proof) card stock.  Hold the shutter down long enough and even squirrely little puppies who think they’re getting abducted by aliens will give you a great shot.

Mercury has a sense of humor by AstraeanBorderCollies

In a quiet moment I dashed off a quick e-mail to The Bark with the above photos attached and when each new magazine came, I immediately flipped to the centerfold and scanned every line for my little cuties to be smiling back.  I even checked the smiling dogs gallery on the website.  It never happened.

Then, months later I got a letter from Claudia Kawczynska saying that my photos were finalists for publication in an upcoming Smiling Dog book, pending editor approval. Well, approval came and Mercury and Celeste are both featured in DogJoy: The Happiest Dogs in the Universe.

Don’t worry, if you missed out on having your pooch in the book, you can buy one customized with your dog on the cover. How great is that?  Here’s a preview that includes Mercury’s full page portrait. Buy one! or twenty.

The Easter EGGEs, originally uploaded by AstraeanBorderCollies.

In these tough times, it’s hard to keep up with the supposedly recession proof (read: you’re still going to spend a fortune, broke or not) pet toy industry. But I have a great tip for the best 5 cents you’ll ever spend on a dog toy.

A few years ago I picked up an EGGE at a local dog show for $30, and it’s proven to be a great investment. It’s lasted longer than almost all the dogs’ other toys and they are so obsessed with it, I have to put it away when they’re done playing.

You can find the EGGE online selling for $20 now (plus shipping) and if your dogs like it as much as mine, that’s probably worth it. But why spend $30 if it turns out your dog couldn’t care less?

Solution: Visit Hobby Lobby right after Easter. They sell a plastic lawn ornament that is a near-perfect substitute for the real EGGE. They sell for a couple bucks before Easter, but the price quickly drops to nothing after the holiday is over.

Last year, my Mom bought an entire Jeep full of the things for $2 and we gave them out to all our Border Collie friends. Last year’s model had an embossed Bunny on it that is actually the perfect place for the dogs to dig their teeth into the toy, which makes them rather worthless since the dogs can pick it up instead of herding it around the yard, but this year the hobby eggs have no embossed figures.

The thinner plastic of the cheapo eggs means that they aren’t going to last as long as the $20+ model, but at a fraction of the price, they are well worth picking up to share the Easter spirit with your dogs.

At one point I took her out back to relieve her bladder and she booked it across the yard in the pitch black and dove under the 16 foot high, 100 ft long evergreen hedge that runs along the boundary of the yard. I stumbled after the black streak who moved surprisingly fast for having a belly full of puppies, and listened for digging and grunting sounds emanating from yet another nest construction site.

After a hurried trip back inside to get a leash and rolling around in the cold dirt and dropped needles, I extricated Celeste from the hedge and patted down the ground to make sure she hadn’t dropped a puppy in there while I was away getting the leash. Back inside for another 8 hours of unrest and no puppies.

I spent the time re-reading the puppy intensive care manual and birthing books (which will convince you that everything is going to go horribly wrong even in the best scenario) and re-sterilizing the kitchen while Celeste continually re-nested. Dogs have been giving birth quite successfully in the wild for thousands of years, but after digesting the literature I was envisioning a scene from E.R. or maybe House.

By about 11 in the morning I was exhausted and there were still no puppies. The vet said give it two hours and if Celeste wasn’t birthing by then, bring her in.

Since it was bitter cold outside, Mom rushed off to Radio Shack to pick up a converter that would allow us to plug in a heating pad to a cigarette lighter (which the Jeep has placed strategically in the back cabin) so we could keep the puppies warm on the drive home.

An hour and a fifty minutes later the car was all loaded with the bottom of Celeste’s kennel, the gigantic tub of puppy towels, a heat lamp, a heating pad and car converter, a digital hang scale, gloves, thermometer, disposable thermometer tips, lube, blunt nosed scissors, cotton swabs, dental floss, rubbing alcohol, iodine, camera, extra batteries, and other must have supplies.

I made the call to the vet to let them know that we didn’t have “puppy sign” and would be making the long trip through lunch hour traffic to their office. I hung up the phone and Celeste’s water broke. The light green tinge suggested that the first puppy was imminent. Go or stay, go or stay? GO!

Mom drove the Jeep while I stayed with Celeste in the back, hoping that the last 14 hours of wanting this to go faster could be counteracted with hushed pleadings to wait just a little bit longer. We were “almost there” for the entire trip, and when it was finally true we were still without puppies. After we rushed Celeste, the kennel, and the box of supplies inside to the exam room that was waiting for us, Mom took off to get some food (we had skipped breakfast and lunch nervously waiting for puppies) and by the time she got back with some drivethru, Celeste had delivered three puppies.

For all the waiting and anticipation, I didn’t even notice that Celeste had delivered the first puppy until she already had it cleaned and nursing, and I was staring intently at her the entire time. She had been cleaning herself pretty regularly, and when she kept her head buried under her leg for a little longer I decided to take a look and voilà!

The demure silence of the moment was broken by me dancing around the room broadcasting the arrival of the first born, so when I popped my head out into the waiting room to announce the puppy, the receptionists feigned surprise and the vet techs came in to clean the puppy and tie off the umbilical cord.

Over the next few hours I made good use of the hang scale and the puppy rags and one by one we welcomed Zeke, Mercury, Stella Rose, Max, Bella, and Gemma into the world.

Everything went well and there were no complications, just six beautiful Border Collie puppies and some tired but relieved humans.

We packed up the puppies in the preheated tub and said our gracious thank yous to my wonderful vet and his doting staff, and made our way back home at a snail’s pace through the start of a snow storm that dumped several inches and made our investment in heating pads and car adapters well worth the effort.

Seeing that I’m right in the middle of a crusade against corruption, I’m really in the wrong state of mind to write something feel-good and uplifting for inclusion in the book; although if my efforts and the efforts of those I’m working for and with are successful, more than 30 people will have a chance at rebuilding their lives. If that day comes, it sure will be uplifting and feel-good, but the road there involves a lot of hard work, legal strategy, and a good dose of luck.

So I submitted a few photos instead.

I’ve had a lot of luck with photo contests, winning the John Fielder out door photography contest with a photo I took of Red Rocks, Colorado and First Place Architectural and Best In Show in a national competition for an image I took of the Temple of Neptune in Paestum, Italy. Recently, my work was featured on the cover of the International Disc Dog calendar.

Unfortunately, photography is really the rich-man-poor-artist’s art form. Sure, it takes an artist’s eye, but much of photography is simply capturing another artist’s work, be that artist an architect, a gardener, or Mother Nature. It’s not so much a creative process as much as it is a capturing process.

Whereas my previously appreciated photos have all been of someone else’s work, or even someone else’s dog (it’s really hard taking good action shots when it’s you who’s throwing the Frisbee or guiding the dog through the Agility course), the photos I submitted for the book are all of my own pups, most of them of the puppies I just bred since that’s the closest thing to original artwork you’re going to find in the dog world. Maybe one of them will make it in, although the odds are pretty stiff, there are over 1,500 uploads to the submission gallery and that doesn’t count any pix that were e-mailed or mailed in.

Here are the shots that I submitted for your enjoyment, it just might be the only place you’ll ever see them: