Collies vom Seehain

Today the puppies were visited by two of our grandchildren. This time it was two girls, aged 1 and 3 years. Both the puppies and the girls were very calm and enjoyed cuddling and giving kisses. The puppies, now 4.5 weeks old, seem to have inherited more of father Attack’s calm and cool temperament, as Isa is a bit wilder and more spirited. We cannot compare the parents at puppy age, as both were born in Sweden, but this was one of the reasons we chose Attack. Isa has plenty of temperament, and there is certainly some of that in the puppies as well—at least when food is served. Feeding time is at maximum speed, which is a good thing. Of course, they stress each other a little, but that is also intentional when feeding from one plate. It is easier to train and reward a food-motivated puppy. They play-fight quite gently and are very evenly matched, which is lovely to see. We are beginning to get an idea of which puppy might go to which family, but we will wait a few more weeks before making final decisions.

Today the puppies turned one month old. They celebrated by receiving puppy food for the first time. What a vibrating appetite! Eating outdoors gives new energy – and results in little piles on the lawn. King Nero, the only male in the basket, discovered the newly built training stairs made of steel grating. The princesses romped around on the playground and in the ball pit that opened today. The puppies are now outside three to four times a day and are becoming truly confident on their feet. House-training has officially begun.

New challenges mean new progress. Today we have introduced sloping surfaces, different types of flooring, a tunnel, steps, and a wobbly suspension bridge – a small adventure world on different levels. It is also easy to build yourself. We film everything to show both breeders and puppy buyers how important this is. The puppies gather impressions and experiences that strengthen their self-confidence and further stimulate their curiosity. This becomes very clear after just 20 minutes of play in the playground that was newly set up for the day. They have sniffed, climbed, fallen, and wrestled for dominance. Then we go inside for food and rest – and what do we notice? The puppies have already become steadier on their feet and are running much faster and more purposefully on the slippery floor. It is the breeder’s responsibility to prepare the puppies for adult life by raising confident and curious dogs that are easy to take over and continue training at ten weeks of age. Make sure that the breeder of your puppy is doing this.

The snow is back, and out go the puppies, who are now 26 days old. The land of ice and snow from the band Stratovarius gives the right atmosphere. We check, film, and assess their personalities every day. We’ve known the recipient families for a long time, and now they’ve been here to meet all the puppies. They can have preferences, but we decide which puppy goes to which family. We do everything we can to make it as good as possible for both the dogs and the families. We stay in contact with all the families throughout the dogs’ lives. That’s why we know it has worked well with the 60 dogs we’ve placed over the past 14 years. Four more weeks to check, film and assess, and we’ll know.

The 25-day-old puppies are invading the kitchen and the hallway. Everything is, of course, puppy-proofed so they can do whatever they like – which they certainly do. The curiosity is there, and there are no tails tucked between their legs.

At a full three weeks (and a little more), it’s time to try meat for the first time. It’s always just as fascinating to watch and feel. We hand-feed them to create real closeness. At first, the puppies are a bit skeptical, but within seconds their skepticism turns into enthusiasm. Then the little wild animal awakens. They tremble with excitement and want more, more, more – just like ‘Bat Out of Hell,’ as Meatloaf so aptly sings. We give it to them late in the evening, so they sleep through the night without mother Isa needing to feed them.

We are having the coldest January in a long time, and the puppies seem to think they want to go out into the snow. They turned three weeks old yesterday and have not yet started on minced meat or puppy food, which means they don’t have much energy to draw on yet. It was probably around –10 °C outside, but curiosity is still there and little tails are wagging. After a few minutes it becomes really cold and the puppies start to shiver. Back indoors and warmed up again, Naela at least becomes quite mischievous and playful. I surrender with Rainbow fits well and this is a special live version

At exactly three weeks of age, the puppies are eager to go outside. They look out and are, of course, naturally attracted by the white snow and all the birds. But oh, how cold it was! The coldest temperature was –15°C, and in the sun it reached –5°C. It was therefore only a short visit, as the puppies are still very young and easily get cold. They have only been living in the conservatory for three days, and today there were other things on the agenda. We were visited by our daughter Sophia and her children – two boys, one six years old and the other almost three. Despite having plenty of energy, they were very gentle and careful. We introduce new challenges to the puppies step by step during the nine weeks they live with us, and this visit was one such challenge. It also allows us to assess the individual personalities of the puppies. Meeting new people will soon become routine as the future puppy families begin to visit. At the same time, it is important that the puppies are able to relax. A good exercise for dogs of all ages can be seen at the end of the video. Sociability is an important personality trait and is also strongly hereditary. This trait is evaluated both in the Swedish Mental Description test and in the Swiss Verhaltensbeurteilung, and we know that both parents have very high scores. This is important because it is difficult to train a dog to genuinely enjoy making contact with other people. A family dog should be social. Strong sociability does not prevent us from teaching our dogs not to approach strangers unless we allow it – this is easy for a dog to learn. There are, of course, working dogs for which high sociability is not desired. However, such dogs require extensive training and control, for example police dogs.