New Zealand Life

My Girl

Officially, she’s Dad’s dog. Realistically, she’s mine — she's my girl.

My puppy was born on October 30, 2011. We looked at the pictures of all the puppies in the litter, and decided she was the cutest and the one we wanted as our Border-Collie. Dad, Mom, and I debated on what we would call her. Dad suggested Molly; I said Olive; Mom said no, it had to be a J-name. Maybe Jaynee? Mom thought, liking how the name was similar to her Mom’s. When we got to the rendezvous, on December 15, 2011, Mom picked up a little black-and-white, furry puppy that closely resembled a miniature cub. I looked into her eyes and agreed. Jaynee it was.

Jaynee was immediately loved by all the family members—ducks, Jess, Mom, Dad, and (of course) me. She needed infinite amounts of exercise and cleaning-up after daily. I took on these jobs most of the time and loved her to bits all the while. Mom quickly taught gave her lessons, where she proved to be very intelligent (which Border Collies are known for). She learned the commands come, sit, down, stay, shake, and roll over all by the age of twelve weeks (see video link page).

We shaved Jaynee the day after we got her, so she would get cooled down. And on her third day home, she played with the ducklings. She tried to herd PB&J, by barking, biting their beaks, and batting their tails with her paw (see video link page). She also chased Jess around, to Jess’ extreme displeasure, and played with Callie.

As she grew, Jaynee became very good at catching her toys in the air. Some of her favorite toys are a purple ball, brown tug toy, and tennis ball. Occasionally, she jumps into the air to snag her toy from midair. Other times, she races as fast as she can after the moving toy.

Over the time we’ve had Jaynee, we’ve found that she is gentle when she wants to be. She can play softly with Callie or Jess, and is especially gentle when given a treat. Though she enjoys all types of treats, some of her favorites seem to be deer/pork ears and raw bones from the butcher.

Jaynee is now nearly 9 months old. She is nearly full grown, and will soon be starting to learn to herd. She has just recently begun to go to the farm with us every once in a while. We hope she will quickly learn to herd efficiently so we can bring her to the farm all the time and use her skills.

For now, she is simply enjoying life as it is at the Webber Road House. We all love her more than can possibly be written down. Mom continues to be her "trainer" and Dad is beginning to be more affectionate with her. I continue to clean up after her and play with her daily, and she has become an expert at catching her ball in midair.

My puppy is always extremely pleased to see me, and I always love it when I get up in the morning, to know that my girl will be there wagging her tail and saying good morning.

~ Julia ~