I'd like to introduce to you my newest addition to my fur family, her name is Maple and she is a pure bred bordercollie who was born on July 1st 2015 which coincides with Canada Day here, Maple seemed like the perfect name for her considering her coloring and birthdate.
She is from the same breeder (http://burhillbordercollies.com) as my other dog Lexi, they are related through Lexi's sister. Here's the introduction to Lexi I did the other day.
https://steemit.com/dogs/@funkywanderer/the-many-face-of-a-border-collie-named-lexi-the-poopstar
She was born in a litter of 8 puppies, to the sire Robbie and dame Sasha. Here's a pic of her litter mates at 1 week old.
Sire: Robbie (Red and white with light taupe eyes)
Dame: Sasha (Black, white and tan with brown eyes)
This is Maple when she was 5 weeks old and still at the breeder. It's customary that the puppy stay with the mother and litter mates until they are at least 7 weeks old.
Because I had put my name on the reservation list for this particular litter much in advance, I was the first to pick from the 8 puppies... well, 2nd to pick because the breeder always keeps the best one for his own breeding purposes, but lucky for me, the one he chose was not Maple. Maple was the only puppy of the litte to express both coloring of the parents, being both red and white with the added tan as a tri-color from her mom and the taupe eyes from her dad.
Here's a video of me visiting the litter for the first time and picking my favorite. Pardon the puppy talk, what else are you supposed to do with puppies? I was turned to mush.
The decision wasn't very hard, I already have a border collie named Lexi who is an oddly spotted white faced border collie and they are quite rare to come out that way. I jumped at the chance to have another similar white faced fluff ball to love, and Maple sealed the deal with the first of many kisses.
2 weeks later I drove back up to the farm and picked up the new bundle of fur. Here's Maple on her first car trip home at 7 weeks old, she wasn't sure at first what was going on, so after driving for about 10 minutes she was crying out and I pulled over to the side of the road and took her out to console her.
The first thing I did was drive the 2 hours back to Toronto and then visit my girlfriend at her work so she could meet Maple for the first time in person. This is her, day 1 on her way to her new permanent home.
Not too sure about all this new change in her life, a little frappiness and running around always ended up with her flying into a little hidden space and look oh so adorbs.
I wish puppies didn't grow up so fast, it was so quick, everyday she'd grow another lil bit. You really have to take the some pics everyday or else you'll miss the cuteness of puppydom.
Going out for walks in the big city is full of sighs and sounds so unfamiliar to a country farm puppy, but Maple is brave and curious. Unlike my other border collie, Maple is not so distracted by loud noises which is nice when at our city home.
And she flourished in her new habitat and got to know everyone in her hood. She was quite the walk of the town, as all cute little puppies are. We live in front of a school so all the students made her feel famous.
PUPPY CHASING HER TAIL! Check out the quintessential video of the elusive tail chase.
Maple loves our farm and running around in the tall grass. It's nice to have both a city and country home to give Maple a balanced upbringing.
And truck rides are always an adventure. Her and Lexi have the whole back seat of the pickup truck
Into nature where we roam and run and laugh having so much fun.
Naps are a must and can be done anywhere. Let sleeping dogs lay.
And as Maple got older, she was all about the ball. And border collies love to work, and ball was it.
All the time it's ball, ball, BALL! I'm sure your dog is the same.
She grew up so fast, it wasn't long till she was about the same size as Lexi her great aunt from the same breeder.
And they started to act the same, learn all the same tricks and some of Lexi's bad habits too.
And before we knew it, she turned 1 year old. This is her on her birthday this Canada Day.
She's aced puppy class, and agility training, but it's not quite fair when you have a border collie in the class, she's a ringer.
She has since graduated to the frisbee like Lexi and they are partners on the field.
I hope you enjoyed meeting Maple, she's quite the character
She's looking so mature now, I can't believe how time has flown.
I'm so lucky to have 2 amazing border collies to love everyday. Thanks for taking the time to check her out.
And don't forget to STEEMIT UP because she's worth every click and I promise to spoil her with all your love and STEEM.
More pics here:
https://steemit.com/photography/@funkywanderer/maple-and-lexi-the-border-collies-make-their-debut
https://steemit.com/dogs/@funkywanderer/the-many-face-of-a-border-collie-named-lexi-the-poopstar