Puppies are one week old today, and they have grown much! Each one is cuter by the day, too. Next week their eyes should open so there will be more photos! Just saying! And because they're so adorable, here's a little gallery of each puppy's photos taken today at their one week mark. We are using Puppy Culture for early neurological stimulation and motor development to best prepare the puppies for their new homes  around the end of June. We are located in southeastern BC, Canada. Parents photos and health results are under the "Our Collies" tab. Click on each parent's photo to view health results. 

Sixty three days goes by so fast! Our puppies arrived on Sunday morning,  We have four girls; one is a Tri Colour, one is a Tri Headed White, and two are Blue Merles. We have three boys; all are Tri Colours. Indi did very well delivering her first litter. It's amazing to see the natural instinct she has! Here are the puppies! All are genetically clear for collie diseases, and since Levi has one copy of the MDR1 gene, some puppies may possible inherit that one copy. DNA testing swabs have already been ordered and shipped from Paw Print Genetics. Results will be posted when we have them along with health results for both parents.You can also view Indi and Levi's DNA test results by clicking on their photos on our webpage under the "OUR COLLIES' tab. Puppies are reserved by waitlist. Applications are available on our website or you can contact us by FB Messenger. Parents are sire Buffalo Creek Levi's Promise at High Country, and dam is Indi - Planet K9 Kind of a Big Deal.

Indi had her puppy count Xray yesterday (April 24) Dr. Marco saw seven puppies, and I could easily make them out too. You look for the skull and trace the spine back from the skull. The photo I'm posting is marked up to show you where the puppies are. We're also giving you a little peak into our whelping preparations. The den/nest is darkened with black out fabric, and the blinds will be closed to eliminate as much light as possible. The fabric is clipped on to stay in place so it doesn't fall down on mamma and babies.
The cats will be banned from the whelping room starting today, as they're pretty mischievous and would love to poke their little paws where they don't belong! We have a warming box set up next to the weigh scale, and plenty of clean white towels ready to dry off the babies. Clamps and scissors along with iodine are ready to go. Calcium paste for mamma, and a few things for babies. Did you notice the bin filled with towels and rags? That's a digging box, so Indi can fulfill her instinctual need to dig. Its purposely set up next to the whelping pen so she can dig there without disrupting the babies. 
The whelping pen isn't set up yet for whelping; we have yet to put in the vet fleece and that stack of eight hospital incontinence pads will be layered underneath Indi, and each time she delivers a puppy, the top pad will be removed, and Indi will be cleaned up and have a fresh pad for each subsequent puppy. May 2 is our expected date, stay tuned!

Its been a busy week! On Thursday, Indi had her ultrasound with Dr Marco, her repro vet specialist. He saw eight puppies, possibly nine! We will confirm the number with an Xray on April 24 when the spines and skulls have mineralized and can be seen and counted. Due date is estimated as May 2. Then we travelled to Red Deer, Alberta, for our first ever dog show and trials. We kept our dogs isolated from the other dogs - we had our own 10' x 10'corner space tucked up against two walls and brought our big metal crates for Indi and Levi to relax in. 

Indi completed two qualifying runs of her Pre Novice Obedience, one on Friday and one on Sunday under the same judge. On Saturday's run, she stopped to sniff the pant leg of one ring steward who was acting as a post in the Figure 8 exercise. CKC uses people for posts: that serves as a distraction the dog must overcome. We need one more qualifying run for her to get the PCN title, and that will be postponed til July when her puppies have gone to their new homes.

Levi was shown in Conformation. There was only one other male collie showing alone in a different class and there were a total of five female collies. And on Sunday, Levi was the only male collie, so he came home with many ribbons but no points. It was a good learning experience for me, and for the collies as well. I've learned that Conformation is not as easy as it looks, but I want to give it a try for awhile, though my heart is actually set on Competition Obedience. 

Happy times are coming to High Country! Indi is showing signs of pregnancy and her ultrasound is booked for March 30th. Soon we will have confirmation of pregnancy, but an actual puppy count will be determined by Xray a few weeks later, when the spines and skulls will be visible, making counting these precious little puppies more reliable. This litter will produce blue merle and tricolour puppies with the possibility of some colour headed whites. All puppies will be low risk for DMS, and genetically clear for CEA, DM, CN, PRA Rod Cone 2, and RIPD. Puppies will be clear or may inherit one copy of MDR1. The whole litter will be tested for MDR1 as soon as possible for those buyers who require clear status for their own kennel.

Our dog's health profiles are posted on our website here. There is a site map that takes you to all our pages. We are located in beautiful British Columbia, Canada, and yes, those are the Rocky Mountains behind us!

We just may have some exciting news coming our way! And yours too, if you've been waiting for a puppy! We've had several successful ties between Indi and Levi, and March 30 we have an ultrasound scheduled with our repro vet in Alberta to confirm pregnancy. If you want to be on our waiting list, there's a form on our site here you can fill out and send to us. We'll keep it on file, and once the puppies are born will contact those who filled out a puppy form and a deposit will be required at that time. Expected due date is April 27. Below are Levi and Indi as puppies! Photo credit: Berta Lilienthal, Buffalo Creek Farms

Our snow is leaving early this year, so that means lots of outdoor training! Indi is registered for her first CKC obedience trial at the end of March, and Levi is entering his first CKC Conformation show. He’s such a magnificent young collie! He carries himself well and has that regal, majestic look that collies are known for.

We’ve been working hard at this, and I expect the first trial/show to be a big learning experience rather than an awards ceremony. We’re also starting scent discrimination training with Indi - that’s different than scent detection. The dog will learn to identify the article that has its owners scent from among other articles it’s grouped in with. Indi will learn to pick that article out of the pile and return it to me holding it without mouthing it. It’s a necessary skill for the higher levels of Obedience trials. 

​And Commanche? The big boy? Well, he’s earned his retirement and he will be watching all the happenings from his perch on the hillside! With one eye open, no doubt! 

Both Levi and Indi have been busy earning their Novice Trick titles from Do More With Your Dog, an international trick dog organization that CKC recognizes. Each Dog had to perform 15 tricks and the videos were sent in for evaluation. We practiced for about a week outside on the deck, and now they are starting on the Intermediate Trick Dog titles. 

Both Indi and Levi are training in CKC competition obedience and rally, and Levi will be shown in Conformation as well. He has a pretty nice natural stack, as most collies do. Conformation sure looks easy, but there's a lot to it for a first time handler! Soon the Canada geese will be returning to the wetlands where we live, and that's going to provide a lot of excitement (and work) for our collies! They love to circle in behind the geese and run them forward into flight off the property. They chase away predator birds as well, and put ravens to flight. If we owned poultry, our flocks would be well guarded!