My two best freinds

  My two Best friends are getting old. I know that they will not be with me forever. Every day I can see the changes happening. Just over the past Month there have been so many changes. Rose spends most of her day Sleeping in her bed under the coffee table. She lies curled up like a rattle snake prepared to strike out and bite any dog that ventures to close. Greta is usually her victim. She's too tall to see her under there and being young she doesn't think before she does things. Hector on the other hand has learned to stay away from the table. She is not trying to be mean she is just trying to maintain her place in the pack. When you are at the top you know the only place to go is down. For right now she is fooling them all.  No one dares call her bluff. If they did they would realize she has no teeth. Her secret is safe for now.

  Shasta has slowed way down. She likes to go to bed early and sleep late in the morning. When she does get up to takes a while to get all her joints workings.  She has always been ball crazy but lately there are days when I throw the ball and she just stands there like she has no clue what it is. She has also been very forgetful lately. She barks to go out and before I can close the door she is already barking go come back in. Same thing when I feed her. She sit there and looks at it like she doesn't know what she's suppose to do with it. But for some reason my Grand Daughter Maddie makes her act like a crazy little puppy.

For now they are having more good days then bad. . So  I will enjoy every day I have with my two best friends.

Cosmo

As a Breeder I have learned to love the puppies while they are with me but don't get too attached. But every once in a while there is that one that steals my heart. The rule of thumb is never give them a name. Once I give them a name, They are mine. He is from a litter of Three. 1 boy and 2 girls. Right from the start he was twice as big as his Sisters. He was so Rolly Polly everyone that saw him thought he was adorable. As they got older  even though he was much bigger, his Sisters would pick on him. I called him Baby Huey. He was always crying and complaining about something. He was one of those puppies that I was really looking forward to going home. Don't get me wrong he got plenty of attention. But for some reason we just didn't hit it off. If I were to pick a puppy to keep it wouldn't be him. Well the big day came, they were ready to go home. As much as I love puppies by 8 weeks I am ready for them to go home. I pick him up to give him his bath and he has a big scrape on his ear. I guess his Sister wanted to beat him up one last time. About 10 minutes before his new owner came to get him I picked him up the Show Paula his ear and he yelped. I wasn't to concerned because they had gotten their shots the day before and sometimes that can make them a little sore. Then I put him down and he was really limping. Needless to say when his new owner came I told her she couldn't take him home until I had him checked . I knew he would be going to a home with 4 young children.  She really wanted to take him but I said NO. All the time in the back of my mind I am thinking  WHY HIM!!! why not one of the nice quiet girls. The Vet suggested crate rest for one week. As much as he complained I tried to keep him quiet. so I would hold him. and that seemed to do the trick. After a week no more limping Called the women. He's good to go. Then he starts limping again. Back to the Vet for more tests. Now they are testing for life threatening things like Cancer and rare blood disorders These test had to be sent out so  my Vet said I needed to name him.  I only thought for a minute and said COSMO. I will name him Cosmo. Test results took 2 long weeks.  Negative, negative all the test were negative. he would stop limping and as soon as I told this new family he could go home he would start limping again.. I finally talked the other family into taking a different puppy. and wouldn't you know, He stopped limping again.. In the mean time We finally figure out what was wrong. I had told my Vet right from the start what it was but he was missing one key symptom Hess the other tests. By now I love this little dog and he very much loves me. He follows me everywhere. He is one of those dogs that you never have to look for. All I have to do is look down and he is there staring up at me. I keep telling myself  No you can not keep him.  I will just keep him long enough to train him and find him the perfect home. . Well that day has come. Cosmo will be going home tomorrow . The tears are rolling down my face as I write this. I cuddle with him and tell him its time to go home. I set him down on the floor as he walks away I notice that he is LIMPING. Are you kidding me. Was this his plan all along. We will have to wait and see.

my foot surgery

me sweeping

me feeding

 I recently had foot surgery. So I am on crutches. Crutches are not really made for people that are active like me. On the other hand I guess they figure if your on crutches your not suppose to BE active. Who ever invented them must not have actually ever had to use them or they would have fixed the flaws. I on the other hand  am using mine for the 3rd time in 2 years. The first flaw is that they should be free standing. The second you stop walking and take your hand off the support they go crashing to the ground. (Westies all running for cover).Me hopping around on one leg trying to pick them up. I know you guys are chuckling picturing me hopping around. The second flaw is they are very slippery. So if I do in fact remember to  pull them from out of my arm pits and lean them against the wall or something the slightest vibration sends them crashing to the floor yet again. With Westies again running for cover. The third and most frustrating  is they need a cup holder. It is in fact impossible (believe me I have tried) to carry a cup of coffee while using crutches. Me being the creative person that I am, have figured out how to get around without using my crutches and still not walk on my foot. I am now able to do just about everything in the house. I am still working on something for outside. Inside I simply use my rolling office chair. I have one for upstairs and one for down stairs. I just kneel on it and away I go. I can even carry my coffee now. The Westies don't seem to mind either way. They never take offence to the crutches but the Shepherd think for sure that they are some sort on evil Demons out to get them and the second they see me reaching for them they run for cover.

The early years

I have finally taken the plunge and Started my Blog. For those that choose to follow my journey you will get a glimpse of my life as a Westie Breeder. The good the bad and the ugly. Every job has them, You just have to make sure the GOOD outweighs the BAD and.UGLY I am going to tell you right off the bat that I have very poor writing skills as far a proper grammar. My sentences like my thoughts seem to go on and on. My spelling is horrific. Thank god for spell check!

  Well let me start out by telling you a little about my childhood. I grew up on a farm in Hooksett NH. Nowadays you wouldn't really call it a farm, it was actually only 2 acres, but to me it was a farm with lots of animals. As many as 2 acres could hold and at times even more then it could hold. Horses, cows, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, turkeys cats, DOGS and even a few monkeys. I had 2 Brothers and 3 Sisters. Back in those days kids had chores. We all were expected to help with the animals. I loved all the animals but the Dogs and the Goats were my favorites. One of my chores was feeding the dogs. Now if I had become a goat farmer chances are I wouldn't know any of you that are reading this. So I am glad I chose to become a Westie Breeder. We had all sorts of different breeds of dogs, big and small. My favorites were (and still are) the Westies and the German Shepherds. I also started my Grooming career when I was a kid. I remember it like it was yesterday. I would take out my Mother's ironing board and put the dogs on it to brush them and give them little haircuts..
 It's funny that even though I didn't give it much thought at the time, I was actually planning my career. Of course I cannot find any pictures of me with my favorite dogs because I also loved taking pictures when I was a kid. So I have lots of pictures of my dogs, but none of me with the my dogs.

"Greta" was our first Westie. I really don't know why my Mother chose to get a Westie. Back then most dogs were mutts. (These days they call them designer dogs). Imagine how rich those people that had all those accidental litters would be if they had just been smart enough to think of a cute name for then like (puggles, labradoodles or Schnoodles). Back then if you wanted an uncommon purebred dog you had to get it from a PET STORE.Funny how things have changed I have no idea how my Mother even found a male to breed her Westie to. There was no internet back then. Back when I was a kid. There were no leash laws and very few people got their dogs spayed/neutered. I can remember packs of dogs hanging around our house whenever there was a female in heat. Some days we were not allowed to go out and play because my Parents feared the pack of dogs would hurt us. We all managed to survive. . I will most likely go from past to present as I write. My dogs have probably taught me far more then I have taught them.