We're four months old - and "perfect in every way"!

Hi everyone! It's me.. Bella!!!!

So we're four months old now and just got back from Sonora where we had our first real examination by a doctor .. "Doctor Julie" at the very nice Mono Way Veterinary Hospital told us that we're "perfect in every way!" We knew that, of course, but Dad and Mom beamed liked parents reviewing a two legged kids first report card.... "Jenn" is real nice at the Hospital too.. she changed the needles to a different size so our final shots wouldn't hurt too bad. We licked her face!!

I do have a small problem with Fiona these days - she likes to barf in the car when we go places.. it's nasty and today she did it on our car bed .. Dad had to stop the car, get out and get the cleaning stuff out to fix the mess... I'm thinking about putting her up for sale on EBay .. I actually got the idea from Dad, 'cause he said he put Stefanie (our two legged sister) up for sale once on Ebay.

Here is a picture of where we train our parents it's called the "parent run" and it keeps them safe from coyotes and bears in the area and allows them to exercise (especially Dad!) - They're still figuring out how to get outa this thing so if you have any suggestions email me and I'll pass it on to Fiona. The folks at L Bar M Ranch Products custom made this run to Dad's specificiations for our family!

PS: Don't tell our parents your ideas on escape - lets just keep it between us, shall we?

Dad and Mom bought us some new toys while we were day boarded at the Mono Way Veterinary Hospital. I managed to rip the "indestructable" fire hose up in about thirty minutes.. I am entertaining several film offers as I write this.... Fiona, however, is still working on the stuffed cow she got.. not a hole in it yet.. whata whimp!

Me and Fiona are doing some "ground work" as Dad calls it lately ..

Here is Fiona "Miss Priss" sitting on the stump - I thought she looked like a Skunk.. (A skunk sat on a stump.. the skunk stunk, the stump stunk .. blah, blah, blah..) Dad and Mom won't let us jump yet because they say we're still too little and our bones need to develope first.. but we are chasing the ball and Frisbee on the ground and bringing them back (mostly), we can "sit", "stay" and "lay down" (for a cookie!) and we are herding everything we can gather up around here.. it's lotsa fun and by the time we go to bed (we let Mom and Dad sleep with us in the big bed) we're pretty tired... Dad says we have "two speeds" - 80 miles per hour and sleeping..

Anyway, we're having a good time here where we live near Yosemite. We are sure glad our folks adopted us and we plan on bloggin' away in the near future to keep ya'll up on the "Adventures"..

We can't wait for spring so we can go boating!!

We love the water!

Enuff for now - Maybe Fiona will write next time... (if she gets her makeup done in time...)

~Bella

"No No Bad Dog" game ...

Fiona here -

Mom and dad got home from work late and the "new kennel" we've been promised still isn't here yet.. Mom and Dad have given us the guest bathroom to stay in when they are at work but we're getting pretty tired of the four walls - so tired in fact that we've decided to chew on one of them to make a little more room.. Dad got pretty mad. We don't understand why we have to stay in this room during the day - we have plenty of food and water, we have toys and a nice bed to lay down on in here and we even go pottie in the bath tub (remember that those of you who want to visit and stay in the main house!!).

We think we should be able to roam the whole house - Mom and Dad both said "Don't think so!" when we suggested it.

So ..... Bella came up with the idea that tonight we would play a game!! We would wait for mom and dad to get home and then see who could get them to say "No! No Bad Dog!" the most.

We knew they were coming 'cause we can hear the Subaru coming down the gravel road and driveway in front of the big house. Mom came into the house first and Dad stayed outside taking off his boots. We timed our run for the door so that when Mom let us out we both ran out the front door and Bella grabbed one of Dad's boots running off into 'Sarah Wood' with it. Dad yelled "No No Bad Dog" - Bella -1 ... Fiona - 0.

On my way out the door I stopped to squat ("No No Bad Dog") and picked up one point from Mom.. Bella - 1 ... Fiona - 1.

Me and Bella ran and ran and ran around the front garden. We messed up the flowers and grape vines real good!! We even got two "No No Bad Dog's" from Mom and Dad. Bella - 2 ... Fiona - 2.

<<-- Here is a picture of the front yard we got to mess up! It was so much fun watching Mom try to sweep up the bark. It's even more fun listening to Dad say "Drop it!" when we grabbed his second boot and headed up the driveway with it. Dad ran after us - he is hilarious when he runs.. the harder he tried to catch us, the faster we ran. We got one "No No Bad Dog" outa him for this - We shared the point. Bella - 2.5 ... Fiona - 2.5 .

Mom said "House" a few times - now we know what this means but we didn't want to go in - we got Mom to say it a few more times and then we ran inside. Bella's feet were muddy so she hooked a left coming in the entryway and ran across Mom's white wool Karastan dining room carpet.. "No No Bad Dog!!" - Bella - 3.5 ... Fiona 2.5 .

Mom headed off to the shower and grumpy Dad tossed a cassorole into the microwave for dinner - while he was doing that I managed a pee in the kitchen ("No No Bad Dog!!") and then walked in it to the dining room ("No No Bad Dog!!") - remember that white carpet..?
Bella - 3.5 ... Fiona 4.5

By the time Mom got outa the shower Bella and I had managed to rack up another four points each.. Dad said it was the 'ruffest' evening yet with us.

We'll be good tomorrow ....

~ fiona

Off to Oma's house

This is Bella talking.. well ... barking. Here is a picture of me on the furniture at "Oma's House"!!

Last weekend me and my sister Fiona and mom and dad drove off the mountain and left the big house for a few days. We were afraid we were going back to the shelter 'cause we pee'd in the big house so we went right to sleep in the back of our car. Mom said, "Good puppies".. we know she loves us.

Mom and dad bought us new car toys to chew on while we ride - we think they don't want us to chew on the car so we're going along with the program.

I heard mom and dad talking about "Oma's House" and dad was griping about having to spend time with someone called "The Slug" - don't know who the "Slug" is but I know he isn't at the shelter so we relaxed a little and played with our new toys!

We drove for about three hours and got to a place where there is a really big water bowl - mom called it the ocean but we don't know what that is 'cause we are mountain puppies.

After awhile we got to "Oma's House" - there are lotsa other houses around her house - not like at home.. Oma has a yard too!

We really like "Oma" and her house - we get to do whatever we want here!! It's like play time all the time and Oma has three dogs too! Oma lets us jump and play on her furniture - Dad and Mom had a fit but Oma told them to "chill out" - we are learning to say that too "Chill out dad!!"....

We stayed for the weekend and had a real good time - I learned how to dig in the garden and chase Oma's dogs for sport! I learned how to "lay down" and I got cookies as a reward! I even met the "Slug" - he smells funny but he's ok - he even ate two of my cookies. I don't know why dad was laughing so hard when the "Slug" ate the cookies.. dad is strange.

bella

Coming home

I am Fiona! My sister Bella and I got in the car (our parents have a Subaru wagon with a backseat that folded down for us!) and they drove us to PetSmart for a shopping spree!!

We got new beds, blankets, toys and leashes and collars too.. Our Dad with the tail under his nose said we cost more the first day then Stefanie did..? Who is Stefanie? Is that another puppie they have? I don't know....

Anyway, we drove to the big mountains and went up real high almost to the clouds!

We got to a big house and mom and dad took us inside saying "house" all the time (We think they are trying to train us already) - little do they know that we know what a house is..) Anyway we went inside and looked around - it's a nice house! It's REALLY big!! We found soft carpets and things to chew on! We even pee pee'd on a few carpets - Mom wasn't happy about that at all and did what we call the 'pee-pee' dance yelling at dad to get paper towles and the spray! What fun!!

We get to sleep in the big bed with Mom and Dad - Bella chewed Mom's feather comforter and blamed it on me - I pointed out the feathers on Bella's mouth to Mom - Bella got in trouble and I got a new Nylabone!!

Mom and Dad took us to our new doctor on Friday, October 23 after a week of learning things like "outside", "no-no bad dog" and "sit" .. we get treats and everything unless we do a "no-no".. anyway, the doctor gave us a shot and squirted stuff in our mouths.. Belle didn't like it at all.

I heard Dad tell Mom that he ordered a special 'kennel' for us for "outside" - and he said he ordered a "40x20" foot dog run - wonder what that is? We know how to run. Anyway, the kennel and dog run will be on the ranch by November 7 according to what Dad said.

Next weekend we're going to "Oma's House" - wonder what that is?

fiona

ok .. We are puppies.. so what?

Hi. I am Bella and my sister Fiona and me are Border Collies. Fiona will post a pic of herself before her intro post.

Today we are 13 weeks old. We are sisters and if you haven't figured it out by now we are puppies.. you know 'four legged, irresitable, loving, cute, soft anf furry bundles of joy' Got the visual? .. ok.. we're dogs. - and yes, dogs can't type.. but we can talk a little so our step-parents said they would do the typing.

This blog is gonna be the story of our lives as told by us to our step-parents Dave and Sarah.

So.. to catch you, the gentle reader, up to date here is the short version of our history so far;

We were born sometime in early July to a family in Modesto that didn't want us - we don't know why they didn't want us but they didn't. The family took the two of us and our sister to the animal shelter and dropped us off on October 6, 2009. At least they did that much for us.

The people at the shelter were nice - they gave us food and water and a bath (yuck!!). They gave us a little cage to live in and checked on us a few times each day.

We both had operations on the same day so we can't have babies when we grow up - we got a chip too in case we get lost.

Our other sister got adopted before we did - we don't know where she is but hope she will read this blog and write us someday to tell us how she is doing.

Lotsa people came to visit us a the shelter but no one picked us. Most people said because we are Border Collies we are too hyper - we even practiced our manners to get someone to pick us but no one did .. we were pretty sad because we thought someone might only want one of us and then all three of us would be separated for life.

On Friday, October 16 two people came to the shelter and looked all around. We could hear them talking to the shelter workers and they said they wanted TWO puppies!! We barked and barked but they didn't come to our area. We saw them walking and holding hands and talking - we knew they would be nice people and wished they would come and see what good puppies we are!!

The nice man came to our little cage first and looked in - boy was he scary!! He has this funny tail growing under his nose on both sides!! He is SO BIG!! We never saw a man that looked like that!! Then the lady came and looked into our cage - she was so beautiful and had such a kind voice! We hoped and hoped they would like us..

The shelter person opened our cage and the nice people played a little with us.. they were so nice and kind and the lady picked us up and snuggled with us and said something about 'puppy breath' .. the man and lady asked the shelter people about us and we heard them say they really wanted us to stay together. The shelter people took us out of our cage and we got to run and play with the nice man and lady!!

After a few minutes the shelter people put us back in our cage and the nice man and lady walked away holding hands and talking just like so many other people had before - we were so very sad when we saw the door close ...

We were eating lunch when the shelter man came and opened our cage - we saw the nice man and lady coming down the hallway and they had a file with lotsa papers in it - the lady was putting her bag down on the table and picked us up and held us close..

"Hi there you two", she said.. "I'm Sarah and this is Dave .. we're your new parents and you're coming home!!"

~bella