Collies vom Seehain

During Isa’s pregnancy, Lexie came into heat. We then felt it was time to mate her. We decided on something that had been in the back of our minds for 11 years: an exciting combination of the genes of two dogs we have followed for many years. Lexie, 2 years old, and Jaxon, 3 years old, were mated on December 3–4 on a very foggy day in the Emmental. Both are from our own breeding, Collies vom Seehain, and thus distantly related to our foundation dog, Bess von Hahnenflüsschen. Fifteen years ago, the siblings Aramis and Alpha vom Seehain were born from our foundation dog Bess von Hahnenflüsschen. Jaxon descends from Aramis and Lexie from Alpha, making them five generations removed from their ancestor Bess. In between, there are many different dogs from all over the world without closer relation. Despite their youth, the video shows no playfulness, only courtship and affection, set to the fitting music of Sonny and Cher – “I Got You Babe.”

Lexie is 10 weeks old and now the socialization process for Lexie begins without Lotus. It's a little scarier to be out in town alone without brother and mom. Today it was the train station in Burgdorf, Switzerland. Lots of noise and new smells to sort through and remember. Everything went well, and eventually Lexie also got to meet her Mom again. She immediately noticed that Lexie had been out in town on her own. But the love for each other remains.

Am 24. Mai 2025 hatte Lexie die Möglichkeit, am MH-Test (Mentaltest Hund) in Lindesberg teilzunehmen – mit offiziellen Richtern, Testleitern und Helfern auf dem Platz. Eine ausführliche Beschreibung des MH-Tests findet sich auf Jawas Seite unter „Zuchthündinnen“. Lexies Ergebnisse werden ebenfalls bald auf ihrer eigenen Seite zu sehen sein. Lexie wurde kürzlich in der Schweiz zur Zucht zugelassen (Video hier), und nun konnte sie noch deutlicher zeigen, wer sie ist und wie sie in neuen oder auch leicht beängstigenden Situationen reagiert. Für uns ist sie vielleicht der coolste und neugierigste Hund, den wir je gezüchtet haben. Ihre Neugier sorgt dafür, dass sie selbst bei plötzlichen Geräuschen oder überraschenden Reizen in weniger als einer Sekunde von Schreck zu Neugier umschalten kann. Eine so schnelle Umstellung haben wir bisher noch nie erlebt. Seltsame „Geister“ im Wald durchschaut sie sofort und ignoriert sie. Schüsse stören sie überhaupt nicht – am liebsten würde sie nachsehen, wo sich der Schütze versteckt hat, aber das ist natürlich nicht erlaubt. Ihr Jagdtrieb ist etwas geringer als bei unseren anderen Hunden, was Spaziergänge im Wald deutlich entspannter macht. Wir hoffen sehr, dass Lexie in einem Jahr Welpen bekommen kann – nun, da wir wissen, dass ihre Hüften und Ellbogen perfekt sind, alle DNA-Tests gute Ergebnisse zeigen und sie sowohl in der Schweiz als auch in Schweden sehr gute mentalen Beschreibungen erhalten hat. Und ihr Aussehen? Das dürft ihr selbst beurteilen – ein Ausstellungsergebnis gibt es bereits von ihrem neunten Lebensmonat.

Jawa vom Seehain is now almost 5 months old and in the worst teenage phase. Nevertheless, she is very calm and composed with the puppies from the M litter, who have just become more confident in the playground. Now the puppies are starting to assert themselves against Lexie. They bite her, pull her tail, jump on her, and find it very exciting. Lexie remains completely cool and controls every movement so that no one gets hurt. She behaves like a responsible mother, and this is surely because she has learned from Isa and has a slightly calmer personality from our mother dog line Bess, Alpha, Caramba, Gisa, and Lexie. Isa and Jawa come from the sire line, especially from Aramis vom Seehain, our first breeding male, with a mother from Sweden imported from Germany.

There are countless videos from dog trainers where they try to teach that dogs shouldn’t pull on the leash and how to prevent it. Many dog trainers also think retractable leashes are really bad. Our Collies vom Seehain are smart and know they shouldn’t pull on the leash. They also understand how long the retractable leash is because they are intelligent. Even though they don’t live with children, they know that one must be considerate when children are holding the leash. You could almost say that it’s the dogs who are out with the children. While ensuring everything goes smoothly with the children, they also keep an eye on the rest of the group. Yes, dog trainers can be useful, but not to teach these dogs how to walk on a leash.

Now the M-puppies are over 2 weeks old and so big and active that we dared to introduce our 4-month-old puppy Lexie to them. It's even a little anniversary. Lexie is exactly 17 weeks old, and the puppies are 17 days old. The puppies' mother, Isa, has great trust in Lexie despite not being Lexie's mother. After all, Gisa vom Seehain is Lexie's mother, and there are many videos of that litter. Lexie likes the puppies but is big enough to understand that she can't play with them, which is impressive at her age. She often sneaks in to watch them when she gets the chance. We've noticed that Lexie is smart and very motivated to learn new things and show off her skills. Moreover, she has Jawa (2 years old) to learn from. Jawa is Isa's puppy from her first litter. It's good for this M-litter to have two such talented young dogs to look up to and learn from in addition to their kind and very skilled mother, Isa.

What a day. Lana Del Rey sings about both Mizzy (“Black Beauty”) and Lexie (“Young and Beautiful”). During a couple of weeks in June, we met several Seehain dogs in Switzerland. On this particular day, we visited Mizzy in the Basel region outside of Liestal. Lexie and Mizzy are completely in sync, as Lexie was present when the M-litter was born and throughout their entire puppyhood. They reconnected instantly. Mizzy showed Lexie around the large farm, and the most fascinating part was the big mountain goats—especially when they started butting towards her. After visiting Mizzy, we took the opportunity to explore a dog-friendly hotel in the middle of nature with a gourmet restaurant. Naturally, we dined with Lexie under the table, as she needs to get used to our habits. A big thank-you to Bad Schauenburg for welcoming us in shorts, T-shirts, and with a Collie at our side in their Michelin restaurant—Haute Cuisine with a touch of Haute Collie: after all, style comes with a coat!

The puppies in the M litter are now 4 weeks old. Today they were visited by a larger Seehain puppy who is 4 months old. That's about 2 human years, thus the same mental age as the other 2-year-old visitor. Both had the same feelings for the puppies, and neither of them minded. Not even Bruce Springsteen or Patti Smith.