Hi Sue.  Hope this message finds you all well.  I've been perusing your OES site ever since we've had Callie with us.  Congratulations on all the beautiful, healthy litters.  Sure makes me want to get a sister for Callie to play with.  Having said that....  She did manage to make it through 8 weeks of obedience/"manners" class.  I'm not sure how she ranked with the other classmates because she spent most of class time barking very loudly at all the other dogs there.  She's quite the dog.  The last 9 months have been very interesting for Callie.  She hasn't had the best time of it.  When we had her spayed at 6 months we were away in Victoria and thought it would be good for her to have the surgery then and then recuperate for a couple of days under the care and "watchful eye" of the vet. The day our daughter went to pick Callie up she had ripped every stitch out and had to go back in to surgery.  That was at the end of July.  In September Callie picked up a pretty bad virus (we think from the off leash area where I walk her) and had to pretty much start from scratch with her diet as the virus affected her bowel. Blood and stool tests for a week straight and we never did figure out what was wrong. We just got that all straightened out and in October she escaped from her leash one night and ran about 2-3 kilometers on the cobblestone sidewalks and did somehow (we don't know how!!?) manage to find her way to our front door.  When my husband opened the door she ran in and there was huge amounts of blood dripping off of her.  Long story short....I took her to the Vet Emergency and she apparently ran so fast and hard on her feet that she actually blew off all the nails on her two back feet and some nails on the front two paws. So they cauterized all her nails that were gone and bandaged her up.  It was so terrible to see her like that. She's all in one piece now.  I've had to buy her a special harness to stop her from pulling me down the street.  It works like a charm.  I've been working really hard with her training (she's very stubborn and strong willed) so I can get her in to agility classes.  It's going to take some time.

 

I must say though she is so beautiful and very, very affectionate and extremely bright!!!!!  She must get kissed and hugged hundreds of times a day.  I spend a lot of time with her and we have great evening walks that are about an hour and a half long.  She spends a lot of time in the snow banks.  (We also play all day.)  I wish I knew what she had running through those veins and get me some of it.  Ha! Ha!

Callie is a very special dog and I know she is going to do some great things with her activity level and intelligence.  I absolutely adore her and we have loads of fun together.  Christmas decorating has been a challenge as she has managed to strip the tree of it's ribbons from floor level up about 3 feet.  Oh well, I just left them all off.  She's still a baby dog.  (I'll probably still be saying that when she's eight). :)

 

I have attached some recent pics taken late November of her helping me decorate the Christmas tree.  Too cute.

 

Have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends and may the New Year bring to you and yours much good health and happiness.  (Callie has brought us much joy).

 

Take care,

Peter, Kim,

Kirsten, Marissa and the one and only "Callie".