Athena’s Collies

Last vet visit for Stella’s litter is complete 👍🏻🐾

Stella X Skye’s litter are loving their new play gym! They are growing so quickly ❤️🐾

We are back from our first veterinary health check! None of the puppies any physical abnormalities, any car sickness after driving for 4 hours, and all were very exited to meet and interact with all the staff at OGVECC

Stella’s puppies are growing quickly and doing very well on their second day of solids. They are doing great at sharing and are weaning off mom’s milk.

Hello everyone, My apologies for the late replies to everyone. I will spend the day going through applications and getting back to everyone today. If you haven’t provided a full application explaining your experience with working breeds, explaining why you want a collie (work, companionship, sports) the soliciting will be denied. If you have a shot or incomplete application it will be denied. This is not the right breed for you if you are gone for long periods of time and need to leave your puppy in a kennel for 8-10 hours a day. As always please remember that we breed working lines. This means that they will not do well in an apartment or townhome setting. While we have had 2 very successful placements in an apartment this only works with extremely active families and is not common. Working line collies will need daily exercise both mentally and physically to be content. They are mostly bonded to one handler. Depending on who will be the primary trainer/ handler males bond better with female handlers and females bond better with male handlers. While collies train very easily and can be an amazing asset to active families, they can also become destructive if their needs are not met. We only place our collies with households that agreed to follow POSITIVE reinforcement and training methods. This breed does not reply well otherwise and can easily become withdrawn, fearful, or even aggressive in extreme cases. ***If you haven’t done any research on the breed and have no experience your application will also be denied.*** We give priority to past buyers that we have successfully placed a puppy with. Puppies will need an age gap of at least 12 months. We DO NOT sell two puppies to any household at a time since littermate syndrome is common in the breed and can easily be avoided. We also give priority to those looking for a working dog and have a farm on acreage. If you have a small yard you will need to take your puppy on daily outings once they have become FULLY vaccinated at 16 weeks of age. Our collies love activities like working sheep/ cattle, barn hunt, swimming, running, hiking, etc. If you only have a back yard please make sure you have the time to go on daily long runs with your dog, hike weekly, go to the beach, and provide daily training. We like to learn details about the families that our puppies are placed with, such as activity level, children, what you do for a living, etc. Please free to join our private Facebook group to see updates. References can be provided upon request. Please reach out if any questions pop up!

Hello everyone, As we get closer to all the puppy go-home dates I wanted to make an update about products that we recommend. I remember when we got our first puppy (Athena), I was very overwhelmed with what she would need once we brought her home. From the overwhelming food choices, to kennels, training tools, to durable toys. Here is a list of what I would recommend after raising dozens of puppies to adulthood. We only accept 1/5 dogs into our program after maticulous health, temperament, and work ability testing. We’ve definitely been through the puppy stage many times. ***As always, please remember that we are always here to support our puppies from the point of application to the lifetime of your puppy. *** This post will also contain some helpful tips and tricks with things like potty training, grooming products, and products that will help make things easier (especially for new puppy owners). I would appreciate if everyone can take a look at this post since I am getting a lot of questions; and thought it would be better if everyone had a chance to get the same information. I have links and screenshot of everything attached to this update. For 7 years now we have been boarding dogs for a living and have a lot of experience with different foods/ products. If you have any specific questions please shoot me a message. I will do my best to respond in a timely manner. For starters please make a VETRINARY appointment for your puppy WITHIN 5 DAYS of bringing them home. While we will have all puppies fully health checked by our vet, vaccinated, microchipped, and dewormed; we want everyone to have their puppies setup early with their new vet of choice early on. Please do your own health check that first week. Everyone gets their last 3 day deworming packets and a Simparica Trio prior prior to pickup. This will prevent worms, heart worms, ticks, and fleas for ONLY 30 DAYS. I highly recommend the preventative prescription to be continue once you get established with your new veterinarian. The puppies will be sent home with a blanket, a durable toy, a large bag of their current food, treats, and a large go home packet with a hard copy of all the files you will need. The packet includes the signed breeders contract, OFA results, genetic results, vaccination records, and health records from our veterinarian. The puppies spend the first 4-6 weeks with their momma and therefore may have some separation anxiety leaving mom and their litter mates. You may go through a short stage of puppy crying while kennel training. They will go from being around their littermates to possibly a single dog household. Here are some products that may help distract them and help them feel better with the transition. **SCREEN SHOTS OF ALL RECOMMENDATIONS ARE ATTACHED** since links don't go through via these updates SEPERATION ANXITY: Purina Pro Plan Calming Care for anxiety https://a.co/d/gfHORf6 Original Snuggle Puppy Toy for anxiety https://a.co/d/dRSkpOw This product is a huge hit with almost all of our puppy buyers and is highly recommended. Frozen peanut butter in a Kong toy will keep them distracted and happy for hours. This will also help with kennel training so they know and learn that their kennel is their private safe space. It is critically important that you teach your border collie puppy from a young age to have a good "off switch.” Kennel training is necessary to have a well trained dog in general and to make life easier for you. They may be kenneled in a boarding facility, at the vet, and a variety of other scenarios. This will make life easier for you and your puppy. TRAINING We highly recommend you crate train your puppy. We will send a blanket that we have mom and litter mates lay on the night prior added to each puppy pack. The snuggle puppy toy can also help them settle into their new home. I also added screen shots of our preferred kennels (car, indoor, and outdoor). Would also recommend a good car liner for any accidents either in the back seats or cargo space. The big metal one will prevent serious injury if your puppy is a chewer. The holes are too small for puppy or adults teeth to get stuck and no way for their collar to become stuck either. Training treats are a must. A lot of puppy parents make their own. But if you buy them this "Zuke's natural mini naturals" work great. They are very small so you can make sure you aren’t filling them up with treats to the point that they don't want to eat their food later. DO NOT USE PUPPY PADS. They are terrible and will not help potty train your puppy. It will just teach them that they are allowed to potty inside the house. With us, we give them their food outside. Puppies will potty the second they have water or food. So feed them outside, and hold water overnight while they sleep in their kennel. This is the easiest way to achieve quick potty training at a young age. They will need at least one potty break overnight (every 3-4 hours) so this may feel like having a newborn in the house. Only give your puppy water outside to prevent accidents. FOOD RECOMMENDATIONS #1 recommendations will always be raw food. For complete 80/20 raw we highly recommend raw paws. You can also look around and do your own research. #2 there is nothing wrong with dry kibble. I attached a picture of what the puppies are currently eating, and you will be sent home with more than enough to slowly transition your puppy slowly to their next diet. If you decided to give your puppy a different food, we highly recommend Inukshuk. As always, make a slow transition. I attached a picture of the formula we recommend. You can also continue with their their current food (purple bag). #3 recommendation will be cooked or "fresh" diet that can involve some fruites or veggies added. Just Food For Dogs is a great brand but there are many others. These are many food choices, so please do your research and use trial and error since each puppy is different. GROOMING: Depending on your puppies coat as they grow you'll need to brush their hair. Starting early so they are comfortable with brushing will make your life easier so you can brush them as adults. l attached a picture of the shampoo we've been using for over a decade. It's a great shampoo to remove stains and smells off of your dogs coat while still moisturizing their skin. Please reach out to me if any questions pup up!

This afternoon we had to rush our girl Anastasia (mom to the older litter of 13) to the hospital. She was out on her run when she got stung by a wasps (several times) by the time we noticed and got her out. I want to warn everyone brining their puppies home within the next few days/ weeks. Especially those with property/ acreage that will let their puppies roam. Even if under supervision, a wasp sting can quickly happened. If you see wasps nests, completely spray them down or get a professional company to spray the property. And make sure they go into any forested areas instead of just checking the main house/ garage areas. MULTIPLE STINGS WILL CAUSE A PUPPY TO GO INTO IMMEDIATE ANAPHYLACTIC SHOCK. I would hate to see any of these beautiful families that our puppies are going home to suffer the loss of their puppy.