Whats New

Elsie is about 8 months and three weeks now. Her size and weight have definitely grow - she is now about 43 pounds - perhaps heavier then most 8 month old Border Collies, but she does have a little bit of Lab in her which might make a weight difference. She has gotten a more mature look and is really a very pretty dog.

Elsie can "criss-cross" (figure-eights through my legs), stick 'em up, shake both hands, sit, lie down, and a few other things. She actually is not very difficult to train, but I have to be patient, which I am not the best at. Heel is a sort of trial. She will come back to my side, and even sit at times. The trouble is getting her to stay there. Interestingly enough, while my Mom and I where trail running, she actually ran very well partially off leash (I let it drag behind her) and seemed, for a while, to do somewhat better.

I allowed her to sleep out of her kennel for a couple of nights (even made her a make-shift bed out of pillows, blanket and a towel.......). She did reasonably well.

I started brushing her teeth about once every day or so to keep them in better condition.

Elsie is good friends with my Dad, and loves to get his attention. I think, though, for the most part, that she does better with girls (if they are outside of the family).

One of the issues I need to address is come. She will come most of the time I call her. I reward her almost every time for coming to me when I call into the house. Elsie is doing reasonably well at coming from things that make her bark... sometimes I actually have to go get her.... but a lot of the time she will come to me.

I like to read a watch videos about other Border Collies who are exceptional and can do tricks well. One of my "inspirational" dogs is a dog named Dazzle - who can stand on her head, back up stairs, blows bubbles, (just to name a few) and all sorts of other things. Another dog that got me really interested, was a female purebred named Paige. Paige also did all kinds of cool tricks. Probably the first dog that really got me interested was Star. The first video I saw of her was when she was just a pup --- 3-4 months old. She could bring back toys by name, put herself to bed (open and close her kennel), and bring in the newspaper. That is how I would, LORD willing, like to train Elsie...... we have a ways!

Just a little update on Elsie! Have a GREAT week!

~Western Belle