Now 6 wks old - Collie Puppy Pics

[Spiritwind]

Well the pups will be 6 wks old tomorrow. I just got some pictures taken of them this afternoon after I braced their ears up for the first time. I cannot tell you how thrilled the pups were LOL But surprisingly with the exception of the smooth tri boy, all of them have kept their tape in.... gotta redo smooth tri boys, maybe tomorrow...lol

Eye CERF checks are tomorrow afternoon....


http://i33.tinypic.com/346q2pl.jpg
Smooth Tri boy -- now known as "Bryce"

http://i35.tinypic.com/furypw.jpg
Smooth Blue Boy # 1 -- "Ronan"

http://i35.tinypic.com/2dam6g6.jpg
Rough Tri Boy - "Cody"

http://i35.tinypic.com/o76b9c.jpg
Smooth Blue Boy #2 - "Finn"

http://i38.tinypic.com/2hpqalj.jpg
Smooth Tri Girl - "Nexus" (named by the people who are getting her - forget what the name means...lol)

Also... here are some pics of Amy, who is half sister to these pups.. same mother. I took her to a fun match to practice showing today, because she HATES to show... really hates to show, she will not use her ears... and she did just that at the match... stood there with her ears back lol which is really frustrating because she is such a beautiful girl!! Beautiful head and expression, and wonderful cute little body!... moves very well.... oh well, here are a few pics I took of her after we got home this afternoon...

http://i35.tinypic.com/312ti84.jpg

http://i37.tinypic.com/ve3nn.jpg

http://i36.tinypic.com/2ag0r3b.jpg

[critter crazy]

Awwwwww......the puppies are so adorable!!!! :eek::love:

Amy is just gorgeous!!!:eek:

[Shelteez2]

*SQUISH*

You know I am partial to the roughs but I LOVE smooth tri boy!!

I can't believe they are 6 weeks old already!! Good luck with eye checks tomorrow.

Too bad about Amy not liking to show... she is a pretty girl. You should send her to me. ;)

[krazyaboutkatz]

The puppies are all so adorable and Amy is absolutely gorgeous.:D I hope that their eye exams go well tomorrow.

[Spiritwind]

Thanks everyone... they are getting pretty big (and messy!!) they do have a good bit of outside time now, and I try to keep them outside until 11:30pm or so (they are still out right now, getting ready to bring them in)... but if I do that, for the most part they seem to sleep thru most of the night, till around 6am or so anyway... pretty good for little babies... and don't make to much of a mess thru the night, if I get them outside as soon as they wake up in the morning..... Tho when they come in at night and are put in their pen for the night they scream for a while, because they want out to badly LOL I swear one night last week they screamed (not barking, not whinning, this was SCREAMING) for an hour LOL all 5 lol..

My personal favorite is the smooth tri boy (Bryce) followed closely by Ronan, but all are so pretty... and rotten little monsters! Really showing their personalities.... Bryce is gonna be a handful, he is bad! and very up and in your face kinda pup... loves toys and LOVES to tug.... lol isn't afraid of anything..... Rough boy (Cody) is a very dominat, fiesty puppy, he USED to be the mellow on.... Ronan is the reserved, a little softer pup in the litter, hopefully he'll grow out of that.... the female (Nexus) was a lot like Bryce... loves toys, loves to play, isn't afraid of anything... the other smooth blue (Finn) is a very curious, noisey, likes to explore pup.....

[shais_mom]

oh my gosh!
how stinking CUTE!! :D

[jennielynn1970]

The pups are just so gorgeous!! I just want to hug and cuddle them all!!!


What do you mean when you say that Amy "doesn't use her ears" when she shows? I have no idea about showing, lol, so I was just wondering what that meant.

[HoochsMommiee]

they are all adoreable but Bryce is a handsome lil man

[boomersooner]

Love 'em to pieces!!!!!! You need that guy from that boxer video which someone posted to come and sing them to sleep every night.....

[Spiritwind]

The pups are just so gorgeous!! I just want to hug and cuddle them all!!!


What do you mean when you say that Amy "doesn't use her ears" when she shows? I have no idea about showing, lol, so I was just wondering what that meant.


Amy hates to show.. what I mean about not using her ears.. In the pictures I posted of her, you can see her ears are up and forward, she is alert and it shows great expression, which is VERY important for Collies. That is how her ears should be when she is in the ring showing.... however, Amy I guess just hates to show. The whole time she is in the ring her ears are thrown back against her head and she will NOT put them up... nothing will get them up... not food, noise, anyway.... its so frustrating... LOL

[4 Dog Mother]

What sweet cute little pups! It has been so nice to watch them grow. I always thought I wanted a "Lassie" type dog but now just have three medium haired dogs tells me I better be thinking of a smooth coated one if I ever get one. All that brushing!!!! Amy is so beautiful - it is too bad she doesn't enjoy doing it. I absolutely love the smooth blue boys!!

[Spiritwind]

I posted this on another forum I go to, where the people asked how I taped/braced the puppies ears... so thought I'd post it here too...

Here are step by step pictures of taping ears... sorry about the poor quality of pictures, its hard to tape ears, hold the puppy and take pictures at the sametime... but it should basicly show how I tape ears..

First.. you need your supplies... here is what I use.
http://i36.tinypic.com/nh16jp.jpg

Elastikon tape, starter fluid, rubbing alcohol, cotton cleaning pads to clean the ears.. and after I get the ears taped up, I usually stray something on the ears, to try to keep pups from pulling on eachothers braces..

Step 1:

unroll the amount of tape you will need.. this depends on the size of the puppy and the age of the puppy. If you are just bracing ears on a young puppy for the first time (6-7-8 wks old), you want the ears to be fairly close together on top of the head... otherwise you may end up with wide set ears.

http://i36.tinypic.com/2ilzxuw.jpg

Step 2:

Cut the tape in half.. if you use elastikon tape, I usually cut along the line that runs down the middle of the tape (for the 3 inch x 2.5 yards roll)

http://i38.tinypic.com/dzcj9g.jpg

Step 3:

After you have cut the tape in half, you take one half of the tape and cute out the brace that will go from ear to ear. Then you take the other half of the tape and cut it in 2 long strips which will eventually be used to tape the tips of the ears down.

http://i35.tinypic.com/kedmc4.jpg

Step 4:

After you have cut the ear brace and the strips to later tape down the ear tips you can spray the back, sticky side of the tape with the engine starter fluid.. and let it sit for a few minutes. I would highly recommend spraying the engine starter fluid outside. After you sprayed the braces, you can go back to the puppy and clean out his ears really good with the rubbing alcohol. Make sure you get all the oil off the ears and then let the ears dry really good before you start the taping process...

Taping...

Step 1:

By now the tape should be very sticky and the engine starter fluid should be dry. You put one end of the ear brace in the first ear..... as shown in the picture below.. I personally like to stick the tape low in the ear, and toward the inside edge of the ear.. which you can see from the pictures..

http://i38.tinypic.com/34rez4h.jpg

Step 2:

Then you put the other sticky side of the brace in the other ear... so it looks like this.. here are 3 pictures to show you what it should look like after bracing both ears together...

http://i34.tinypic.com/2955ye8.jpg

http://i35.tinypic.com/2i7sk89.jpg

http://i35.tinypic.com/ztvipi.jpg

Step 3:

Now this is where those other 2 strips of tape you cut into play.... you take one strip of tape and place in long ways, up and down the ear.. starting with one end right on top of the brace you just put in the ear.... and placing it all the way up the ear.. so the end of the tape sticks out above the tip of the ear... as seen below in the picture..

http://i36.tinypic.com/anlyd3.jpg

http://i36.tinypic.com/2enrfcm.jpg

[Spiritwind]

Step4:

Then you take the tape that is sticking out past the tip of the ear and roll it so that its rolled with the sticky side of the tape facing out... so it looks like this:

http://i35.tinypic.com/28gqmpx.jpg

Then you fold the ear over, so its folded over in half and stick the tape on the tip of the ear, to the tape on the brace at the base of the ear.. this will hold the tip over at a correct place, and if you keep on top of it, once the ear is set and you do not have to brace/tape anymore, it will give you a nice curve/tip to the ear..

Step 5:

Then you repeat step 4, with the other ear...

http://i34.tinypic.com/2gw9638.jpg

Once finished, you should have this.....

http://i36.tinypic.com/118gmyx.jpg

I USED to use Skinbond to hold the tape in better, which meant I didn't have to use starter fluid to make the tape sticky, but apparently they have stopped making skin bond so until I find a similar product that works as well...this is how I gotta do it... so far I haven't had much luck....

[lute]

Great demonstration! You tape their ears a lot different then we do the Aussies. Is glue ever used with Collies? A lot of people use glue with Aussies and Border Collies. I won't use glue. When you take down the ears the glue pulls out all the fur.

[jennielynn1970]

Does the starter fluid lose all it's smell and the nasty stuff that people inhale to get high once it's dried and sprayed??

I read this on Wikipedia about starter fluid, just hope there aren't any effects after it's dried when you use it.

From Wiki:
Starter fluid is sometimes used as an inhalant. Sometimes referred to as "passing the shirt," the starting fluid is sprayed on a piece of cloth and held up to one's face for inhalation. The effects of inhalation vary, but have been known to include lightheadedness, loss of coordination, paranoia, and sometimes hallucinations.

[Spiritwind]

I do use glue to do ears on occasion, but I don't really like the glue because its harder to get out of the ears... When I do use glue, I use Val-A Tear Mender.

For roughs (and I know sheltie people who do this) you can just put some glue on the inside edge one one ear, and glue it to the inside edge of the other ear.. instead of using braces.... and then glue the tips down, instead of taping.... Obviously with smooths you can't glue ear to ear.. but you can use glue to glue the tips down.... I personally don't like to use glue when they are this young because it stays in MUCH longer, and they are growing so much and so quickly at this age I don't want anything staying glued down or together for 2 or more wks straight...

With taping, as long as the pups don't decide to play tug-o-war with eachothers ear braces, they will often stay in for 5-7 days.. and as long as the ears look good (not prick or not to low) I'll let them rest a day or two before retaping.

[Spiritwind]

Does the starter fluid lose all it's smell and the nasty stuff that people inhale to get high once it's dried and sprayed??



Yes.. as long as you let it dry, its fine.. and doesn't have the smell. This is why I spray it outside, and leave the ear braces sit outside for 2-3 minutes before putting them in the puppies ears...

This is the way I was shown how to do ears 7-8 yrs ago... I perfer using skinbond, but since they stopped making it, I have to find something else to use that works just as well....

[CathyBogart]

Thank you for keeping us posted on these gorgeous pups. I was showing them to my SIL yesterday too. :) We're both smitten with the smooth blue boys.

[cassiesmom]

Dear Puppies,
Mmwah! Mmwah! Mmwah, Mmwah, Mmwah! You are all so adorable and oh, my how you have grown!

Dear Amy,
You are magnificently gorgeously beautiful. I'm sorry about your ears but they look perfect to me! You look so regal - would you allow your person to hug you for me? HUG!

[Spiritwind]

I can't believe they are 6 weeks old already!! Good luck with eye checks tomorrow.


Just thought I'd post to say that the puppies had their eyes CERF checked yesterday afternoon.. and eye checks came back excellent on everyone!! So they are good to go as far as eye checks go...

The place I take them for the eye checks is about 45 minutes from my house (at Carolina Vet Specialist in Greensboro, NC).... anyway, they all handled their first car ride very well... didn't make any messes in their crates on the way up or on the way back... no one even got car sick and for maybe the first minute in the car a couple cried alittle, but then they just laid down and went to sleep....

Now, while at eye check place they were little monsters.. trying to get into EVERYTHING... until they had the drops put in their eyes to dialate the eyes, then got put up on a table and had bright lights shined in their eyes... after each of them had that done, they went and laid down in the corner LOL