7 Border Collies Puppies! Oh my!!!

I had just agreed to foster 6 puppies when I got an e-mail from Stephanie in Alabama: a litter of seven border collie puppies were about to be taken to the pound. Could I possibly foster any of them? What was I to do? I couldn’t possibly take them all in addition to the six; that would be crazy. When my husband came home for lunch, I told him about the situation and bravely said I’d only take 3. He paused for just a moment, looked at me with that smile that I so love, and said, “Don’t be silly. We’ll take them all.” And I cried.

The mother of the litter of puppies is a blue-eyed border collie. She apparently found her way onto a farm, and a year later, still living outside, had already given birth to two litters of puppies. Unfortunately, the farmer had multiple dogs inside and out, and had no desire for more. He was going to take them to the pound, which is a virtual death sentence in that area.

With a go from us, Stephanie and Jill arrived at the farm Friday morning. After seeing the horrific conditions that the dogs were living in, they rounded up the puppies and loaded them into their truck. It wasn’t a huge challenge ~ offering food more than did the trick. Sadly, they couldn’t get the mother. She was petrified, shaking and hiding everytime they approached (side note: they were able to get her the next day. Steph’s husband has fallen in love with Lyra, and it is mutal! yay!!!)

Monday morning Stephanie and Deb drove all the dogs to Atlanta where they were met by Zondra and her son Matthew. Unload, reload, then drive home to Jacksonville, Florida. Next morning, one last let to central Florida where we eagerly awaited them.

And now they’re here. And they’re great! They were born early August but seem to have no bad affects from their life on the farm. They are playful and spunky, absolutely full of beans. When they start running around the yard, it’s like a mini-circus. They love to play and wrestle, but most of all, they love attention from people. It’s like they are trying to make up for lost time.

Let me introduce you to the gang. There are 3 boys, 4 girls, and possibly three fathers (you did know that litters can have multiple fathers, right? ) I won’t get into a lot of details yet as I’m still learning their individual personalities, but I’ll share how I tell them apart. You can see lots of photos on their facebook group photo album.

Boomer is the largest of the litter. His father was most likely a black lab. He has the short lab coat and a striking sleekness to him. According to Stephannie, “When we found the puppies, they all came running for food except for Boomer. We had to look for him because the woman I was with knew there were seven puppies. We found Boomer sleeping in an old broken down chair. I picked him up and plopped him in the backseat. All of the pet carriers were filled with puppies so Boomer slept on top of them for the ride to my house. He’s a Lovey Labby!” Here is his personal photo album.

Drummer is the only male with white and black markings. The flash between his eyes is extended and perfectly centered. View his personal photo album.

 

Dilly is the larger of the two girls with black and white markings. The flash between her eyes only goes half way up. This is her personal photo album.

Dilly was adopted on November 13th.

Dally is the smaller of the black and white girls. The flash between her eyes goes all the way up but is not symmetrical. Visit her personal photo album.

Dally was adopted on November 13th.

Pepper is the male fuzzy black puppy. Perhaps his father was the same black lab, but he got his looks from his mother. He always manages to look rather soulful. Pepper’s photo album is here.

Pepper was adopted on November 14th.

 

Poppit is the female fuzzy black puppy. Her features are more delicate than Peppers, and she is a bit smaller. Poppit’s photos are posted in her personal album.

Poppit was adopted on November 13th.

Pickle is the only puppy in the litter with brown markings. She is also the runt of the litter. I am inclined to believe that her father is an Australian Kelpie. That would account for the coloring and the petite build. We’ll leave the fly-away-hair on the doorstep of her momma! Pickle’s photo album is here.

Pickle was adopted on November 13th.

 

If you are interested in these puppies, please review our adoption process and then e-mail holly.thedoglibertor@gmail.com. Thanks!

November 11 update:

Stephanie sent me this photo of Lyra, the mother of the puppies. She has not only rescued this sweetheart, she has adopted her as well! A happily-ever-after for the whole family!!!

Today Dilly, Dally and Poppit are being spayed. I was in the yard trying to get photos and video of the rest of the gang when Boomer and Bungie started playing with a rope toy. I was very impressed with Boomer’s determination to not let go, and Bungie’s manuvering to force him to do so. Boomer must be very flexible! Anyway, I caught it on camera, so I hope you think it is as funny as I do!

November 14th:

Boomer returns the ball! Both he and Drummer love to chase it, but today Boomer brought it back. I am most impressed. I suspect that Drummer will be bringing it back soon too. I’m just loving these puppies!!!

 

November 13th was quite the day for this litter of puppies. Four of them were adopted on the same day!

Dilly was adopted by Karen. She loves border collies and has a 6-year-old one who can be a bit overwhelmed by other dogs. When she described her dog to me, I thought Dilly might be a perfect match. In fact, I was so confident I went ahead and got her spayed. Turned out I was right! Dilly just loved Karen, and when they got home to St. Petersburg, Bruno proved to be quite taken by our little girl! Yay!!!

Dally was spotted early on by Joseph. His dog Ginger had markings on her face just like Dally. Ginger was his boyhood dog, entering his life as a puppy when she climbed up into his lap when he was 6-years-old. The whole family drove up from Boca Raton to meet Dally. Before they knew it, guess who had climbed up into Joseph’s lap to give him kisses on the chin? I think Ginger is smiling……

The Doyle family lost their 14-year-old Bearded Collie last summer and had been looking for a puppy for the last couple of months. When they saw Poppit‘s photo, they thought that surely this was the puppy for them. Dan came early in the week to meet her and Poppit thought he was wonderful. When the family came on adoption day, all three children sat on the couch and in no time Poppit was in their laps licking fingers and giving kisses. She didn’t even give me a backward glance as she headed north to her new home in Ponte Verda!

Scott spotted Pickle on page 37 of Petfinder. She was the last dog listed when he searched for BC puppies. She was the last dog listed because she was the one furthest away. You see, Scott and Anna live in Vancouver, Canada! It was crazy for them to even consider a puppy in Florida, but they were captivated. Anna is a nationally recognized agility instructor and competitor, and knew that Pickle would be a gem. Our little girl is now learning to bark with a Canadian accent!

Pepper was adopted the next day. Scott and Karie had adopted Derby from us a few months ago. They came to meet Boomer and Pepper (they love solid black dogs) and were really stuck. They loved them both, but this couple already have three dogs! I told them that they couldn’t pick the wrong dog ~ both of these boys are wonderful. It probably came down to the flip of a coin, but they finally settled on Pepper. I told them not to worry about Boomer; all of our puppies find outstanding homes! Just like Pepper did!

Funny thing ~ Pepper is the fifth in the litter to be adopted and the first to be staying in central Florida!

December 24th Update on Pepper:
We wanted to thank you so much for helping us find our forever home! We’re having a great time going for long walks, learning new tricks and playing with our big brother and sister. Oh, and our humans aren’t that bad either. 🙂

We appreciate everything you do to help pups like us in need, and wish everyone at the Dog Liberator a warm and fuzzy Christmas!

Lots of love and sloppy kisses,

Derby and Pepper the puppy