You Know Spring is Around the Corner When . . .

You see squirrels on morning walkies!!!! 

This morning my Dear Hubby (it was his turn for the a.m. run) was walking the pooches and to their great excitement (the dogs, not my spouse) came across a wonderous sight -- a neighborhood cat in hot pursuit of a SQUIRREL!  The cat was just a hair's breadth away from pouncing on the little mammal, when she spotted the dogs and came to a screeching halt.  The dogs went crazy with joy!

The squirrel said a prayer of thanks and bolted up the nearest tree, and the cat took off running the other way.  Rusty stared longingly up into the bare branches hoping for another glimpse of the furry critter and Allie -- well, she tried to climb that tree because she wanted her some sqwer-rell.  Hubby finally had to peel her off so they could finish the walk, but both dogs kept stopping and peering over their shoulders for the rest of the way home.

It was a grand day for walkies at our house.  (Sorry, no pictures of this exciting event, Hubby didn't think to use his camera phone as he was trying to keep hold of the dogs' leashes.)  :D

Puppies!

Meet the "M" Puppies and Tigger, too!  These pups are Western Border Collie Rescue's newest litter of puppies! 

Max, Marble, Marshall, Mimi and May are 5 adorable little 10-12 week old BC/BCx puppies that were rescued after being dumped outside in the freezing cold inside a box.  (Sometime people really suck.)  Some kind soul took them to the shelter and WBCR got involved.

Tigger was picked up as a stray and is probably about 4 months old.  He is KEEUUUUTE!!!! 

These lucky pups are living in Gracie's Fris-Barn with 3 other resident canines and some really cool horses.

I went out to meet them and give them some puppy toys.  They are soooooo cute!  Unfortunately, the weather was crappy -- snowy and muddy -- and we had to hang out in the barn, which is dark.  So, the pictures aren't that great and certainly don't do these puppies justice. 

Anybody need a dose of puppy breath? :D

Farewell 2009!

2009 was a very busy year for us and I didn't get the chance to post much.  Oh well, I will hopefully do a better job in 2010.  Here's just a little "walk" through some of the fun times in 2009.

Great Walkies!

We went on lots and lots of fun walks, hikes and camping trips in 2009.  However, as the dogs say, you can never have too many.  Here are just a few pics.

Volunteer Work

I did a ton of reference checks, home visits and shelter pulls for Western Border Collie Rescue, and even had a couple of guests for a few days.

This is Trina, a 4 yr. old female BC that we pulled from the Tooele County Shelter (she looks a lot like Rusty!).  She stayed with us for about 4 days until we could ship her to her regular foster home in Colorado.  Poor girl had recently had puppies (but there was no sign of them when she was picked up as a stray).  She is a great dog and now has a wonderful forever home.

Soldier Hollow Sheepdog Trial

This year, WBCR was invited to have a booth at the Soldier Hollow Sheepdog Trials in Heber City, Utah.  What an experience!  I go to the trials every year for at least a day or two, but this year was incredible as the dogs and I camped at the venue with the WBCR volunteers and manned a booth.  Attendance was a record breaking 25,000+ spectators over the course of the four days.  WBCR gained some much needed exposure, lots of applications on our dogs, some new volunteers and foster homes and got to instinct test some of our dogs on sheep.  We even did 2 or 3 home visits and a shelter pull of four dogs from the Spanish Fork shelter during that four days  :D

Our booth was located in the IFA Tent Pavillion (so we got some protection from the crazy Labor Day weather - cold, wind, rain and intense sun and heat - all in just four days).

WBCR volunteers from Colorado (Krissy, Mike and Lori).

This is the WBCR Adoption Board - now that they're up to well over 500 successful adoptions, they might need a second board.

Relaxing around the camp.

Our fearless leader, Tonya Cain, as she and Max demonstrate the right way to work those sheep!

And here's Allie -- who really, really just wanted to eat those sheepies. 

Foster dogs wanting to join the action.

Walks with WBCR Foster and Adoptive Families!

We did a couple of WBCR walks with WBCR foster and adoptive families.  It was fun to get together with our dogs and we hope to do quite a few more activities in the upcoming year.  We even had a friend and WBCR supporter from San Diego join the fun (hope you'll come again soon, Jan).

Western Border Collie Rescue Barn Bash

In 2009 WBCR grew it's Utah contingent of volunteers by leaps and bounds!  (Hurray!)  Some of us were able to get together in December in one of the volunteer's large barn (thanks, Karen!) and share some fundraising ideas, get to know each other and snack on bagels and dog biscuits.  It was great to be out of the cold and snow and still be able to let the dogs play. 

Ever wonder what happens when you have 14 Border Collies, their 4 "siblings" and only one frisbee???  :D

As you can see, we were pretty busy, but we are looking forward to many more great "Walkies" in 2010!

Happy New Year!!

(Gratuitous picture of Spike - who couldn't care less about going on walks but wanted to be included in this post.)