Border Collies In Need want to thank you for your support over the last year and to wish you all

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR

We now have some super doggie bandanas for sale, they come in a range of sizes and colours with different slogans all proceeds go to Border Collies In Need. Here is the lovely Jake modeling the Border Collies In Need one and a small selection of the ones on offer.

They cost £5.80 each inc P&P. So don't let your best friend miss out on what all the smart dogs are wearing this Christmas!

Been putting together our first newsletter today for Border Collies In Need (with help from Diane as since my computer crashed last week I have lost the programme I used to do the newsletters on). If any of you are not already on the mailing list and would like a copy just let me have your details via the website email bordercolliesinneed@live.co.uk and I will see to it that you get one.

Well Christmas is most definately upon us and the traditional out with the old pets and in with the new has begun!!

Went into my local vet today with some of our Christmas quiz booklets and they had just been handed a lovely white bunny to be destroyed. No longer wanted because the kids are getting Guinea Pigs for Christmas (the makers of G Force have got a lot to answer for)! The poor bunny is a house rabbit so has never lived outside, is neutered and litter trained, healthy and fit just not wanted anymore.


Sadly I couldn't bring him home because of the dogs and cats. Thank goodness the vet is nice and didn't want to put him to sleep.

Sorry I don't seem to be blogging as much these days, some days nothing happens and other days are so hectic I don't have time to turn round let alone blog!
As most of you know my home has been invaded by cats and kittens (I took some unwanted babes to help out a friend) now the whole world seems to think I've turned into a cat rescue and I'm getting calls every day from people wanting to give me their stray cats!!!! Just for the record I am NOT taking in stray cats on a regular basis. So far these kitties have cost me a fortune, wrecked my house and make Colin sneeze!! So definately NO MORE CATS!

My laptop crashed the other day taking everything with it so we are presently trying to reinstate it, it has been on it's last legs for a while now and I think we are on borrowed time so if anyone fancies donating the cash for me to buy a new one it would be very much appreciated as without one I would be really stuck as a good deal of rescue coordination is done on line.

I am in the middle of puting a newsletter together but have lost all my documents and pictures so it may take a while to finish!

Quiz books have gone out to all our wonderful volunteer sellers now so please make sure you pick one up. They are only £2 and the winner gets £20 worth of high street store vouchers. Great fun for the family over Christmas.

Ok, our super duper Xmas quiz booklets are ready! Hot off the press today!!! All those fab folks who have offered to sell them for us you will be receiving your bumper crop in the post but if anyone else just wants to buy one or two,  you can do, we just need an email with your name & address you can pay by paypal on our website or by cheque.

A great way to help a dog this Christmas and also have fun while you do it!!

Big thanks go to Nannette who has put a lot of time and effort into compiling and printing this for
Border Collies In Need.

Some of you may remember our Xmas quiz booklet from last year, anyway we are doing it again this year and so we can raise lots of money for Border Collies In Need we are looking for more people who would be prepared to sell it for us. The new booklets are being printed as I type and we are hopeing to beat last years total. Anyone who thinks they can help with this please get in touch via the website.

For anyone who isn't interested in selling them but would like to buy one they will be for sale in several places in Llanbedr and Dyffryn, Abertillery and also available directly through Border Collies In Need just send your name and address in an email, pay on line via paypal and we will send you a copy.

Cats, cats and more cats!!! Sorry I haven't had much chance to blog, cats take a lot of looking after. Pictures of all kitties can be seen on our facebook page - Border Collies In Need.

We are desparate to find a fosterer who can take on a 18 month old collie with dog to dog issues. He is called Beau and in every other respect is perfect. He may enjoy agility or flyball if he can cope with the other dogs. He needs a collie savy place with no resident dogs or a calm non reactive female and someone who is used to dealing with these kind of issues. I know it's a long shot but this boy really needs to move as soon as possible.

Nel is settling well into her foster home and again has a few issues that need work but her fosterers are doing a fantastic job and she will soon be able to go up for adoption.

We have two more collies coming to us over the weekend and I will update once I know more.

A couple of people have looked at the website and think we only have the two dogs - Tip and Sophie. We do have more but we don't always put them on the website until they are ready to be adopted so if you are looking for a particular age or type of Collie just email or ring us and I will be able to tell you more about the dogs we have.

Things are a little bit crazy here at the moment, lots of collies coming on board in the next few weeks. Also presently we have several cats all looking for homes -
Gorgeous ginger male, neutered and vaccinated approx 2 years old very friendly.
Ginger Tortie girl, neutered approx 7 years old extremely friendly.
Kittens - male black approx 16 weeks old very friendly and sweet plus female black & white shy, neutered.
Pregnant white cat who will stay here till she has her kittens.
Next week there will also be 4 black kittens approx 9 weeks old.

I was contacted yesterday by a distressed lady who is very worried about the safety and well being of two collies advertised on the awful preloved site. I would love to help these two dogs but the owner has refused to let them go to rescue despite the fact they are advertised 'free to a good home'. The only way I can help is if we have somewhere local they can go in the first instance while we find them a permanent foster placement. There are ways to get these two dogs out of their awful situation but we need somewhere to put them. So
do we have anyone in Stoke on Trent who would be in a position to take 2 rescued collies for short term foster (a week to 10 days maybe) while we find them somewhere permanent to be fostered. They are mother & son, both in a bit of a state, nervous, entire and unvaccinated. If you can help please contact us via the website http://www.bordercolliesinneed.co.uk/

Meet Sophie, a lovely collie cross girlie who has been with us for a while in foster. She is about 14 months old, we had her from the Pound when her time was up. Sophie was extremely nervous when she first came to us but with a lot of work from her fosterer she has come on lots. Sophie has been living with several dogs of various shapes and sizes without any problem so could go to a multi dog household. Because Sophie tends to prefer a quiet household we would prefer no children under 10 years and ideally a collie savy home.

Just arranged to take delivery of a sweet sounding collie girl, 16 months old and unwanted because she has "issues", some of which if not all are caused by frustration, this poor girl is living a life of a pet when all her instincts are telling her she should be working sheep, bless her. Her dad is a champion welsh working sheepdog, she is living a fairly mundain and sedate life of a pet dog with no opportunity to use her brain. It's no wonder she has "issues"!

She will be going into a lovely foster home where we will assess her and do some work with her before she will be up for adoption. Pictures will be on the website though with updates and infomation for anyone looking to adopt.

Unfortunately today's planned transport to safety for another little farm girl had to be cancelled because the farmer changed his mind at the last minute. We are all gutted! It was especially sad because the dog concerned (we don't even know her name) is the mother of a litter of pups we rescued earlier in the year, two of which have stayed in the fold, Meg who lives with Diane and Paul, Sam and Jake and Bear who is a part of the Penkitty pack. It's always sad when this happens as you know the poor dog is unwanted and most likely being bullied on a daily basis to do something that she isn't very good at (ie working the sheep).
I just hope we get this girl before she is used for yet another litter of pups!

I had a wonderful time in London at the Woman of the Year awards lunch, what an insiration! Over 400 women who have achieved great things, sometimes despite all the odds, it was lovely to be a part of something so magical. I didn't actually win an award although nominated but I have to say that what I do doesn't compare to some of the amazing feats these ladies have worked so hard to achieve.

It was also an excellent networking opportunity and hopefully more people now know what Border Collies In Need is all about.

On a positive note, the lovely Annie has now got a super home to go to, big thanks to Jill. It's a case of one out one in as we are transporting another unwanted ex farm girlie down to Jill on Saturday (thanks to Mandy & Diane) more on her at the weekend.

Most of you will have seen our wonderful website that Helen has put together for us entirely at her own expense. We have already outgrown our start up package and now need to add more pages, banners, and other useful add ons. The cost of this will be between £200 - £300 so we are appealing for sponsorship to fund this. If any kind company or person would be willing to sponsor this or even a part of it we would be extremely grateful.

Anyone who feels there's a need to breed dogs or anyone who just cares about the tragic numbers of dogs that are killed every week in dog pounds might like to watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCivfepDARk

make sure you've got tissues ready, people say it makes them cry, the situation makes me cry!
Come on folks, it's not getting any better. THINK ABOUT IT!!!!!

DON'T BREED AND BUY WHILE DOGS IN RESCUE DIE

Also staying in Ruthin with Jill is Meg, another sweet little girly this time rescued from a cruel owner at a sheep sale in North Wales. Poor Meg was being badly beaten and a kind soul asked if she could buy the dog to save her from further cruelty. Having paid £100 for her the lady didn't know what to do with her so passed her on to another (kind) farmer to see if she would work but Meg is frightened of the sheep so she ended up at Happy Days with Jill.

Understandably, Meg has some trust issue with people and other dogs but these are being worked on at the moment. Meg is approx 2 years old and will be neutered, wormed, flead and vaccinated before she leaves Jill.

Meet Annie, a gorgeous little girl who was rescued from the free ads. Isn't she sweet! Sorry it's such a small picture but hopefully you can see her beautiful spots. Annie is quite thin and a little bewildered at the moment but she is in safe hands and will make a lovely pet and companion. Annie is staying with a friend in Ruthin and may already have a home waiting so well done Annie!

Here are some pictures from Su's head shave yesterday, she raised over £100 in sponsorship for us and we are very proud of her! What a star!!!!

Yesterday we helped get a little Collie girl to safety, she was an unwanted sheepdog who had been advertised free to a good home. Luckily we were able to get hold of her before some unscrupulous dealer or puppy farmer and with the help of a friend give her shelter until she could be moved to her new foster home.
It will be a little while before she can be homed because she is very closed down and unresponsive at the moment so will need time and patience before we get to see her true character coming through. She has gone to stay in Ruthin with a good friend of ours Jill and if anyone can bring her round, Jill can.

I know I've said it before but please if you need to rehome a dog don't advertise him free to a good home, these dogs often fall into the wrong hands. Contact your closest rescue and ask for help, if they can't help ring us and we will do our best to help. If it's not a Collie then we may still be able to pass you onto someone who can help. We lost a male collie last week who had been advertised on freecycle!!! We were just too late and he got picked up by a farmer.

For anyone interested in giving a home to a Collie take a look at Tip on our website, he is one gorgeous boy! His present owner is unable to keep him through no fault of his own. He will remain with his present owner in Scotland until a new home can be found for him. However, he will come under the umbrella of Border Collies In Need should back up be necessary at any time in his life.

Our website is now almost finished and Helen as ever has done a fantastic job putting it together (big thanks Helen).

Our facebook page keeps growing, I can't believe all the fans we have both here and abroad.

We also have a ebay account now through which donated items can be sold, all profits go directly to Border Collies In Need (big thanks Diane). So far this has earned us £50 which is excellent.

Sponsorship contiues to grow for Su who is having her head shaved on Oct 3rd to raise money for us. A very brave gesture Su.

Su has also been busy making and selling greeting cards for us too, they are great quality cards and very reasonably priced. The total for cards sold is around £85 so far.

So you see if everyone does a little bit how quickly money can be raised. If you think you could help by holding a coffee morning, boot sale or any fund raiser we would love to hear from you.

We are looking for a foster home for a gorgeous brown and white male collie, as yet not neutered. He is coming from a large pack situation and would need a quiet, collie savy home with at most one other dog, preferably female. He has some issues with strong male characters (dogs) in a home situation but otherwise fine. Walks well on a lead and has been well trained.

If you think you can help with this boy please get in touch either via the website
www.bordercolliesinneed.co.uk or by phone on 01495 217000 all expenses will be met by us.

One of our wonderful volunteers at Border Collies In Need is doing a sponsored head shave to raise money for us - how fantastic is that! Su is donating all proceeds to us and we will be posting before, during and after pics on our website and also our Facebook page. If you would like to sponsor Su please get in touch via the website www.bordercolliesinneed.co.uk where you can donate by paypal, phone or email.

Isn't it funny how you meet someone and somehow the converation turns around to dogs. The gas man came today to sort out a problem with the meter and as he was chatting he noticed all my doggie training and psychology books and asked if I was a dog trainer. It turns out in his spare time he rescues and trains gun dogs and is actually one of the good guys and uses only positive reward based training methods even though he gets a lot of stick for it. I told him all about Border Collies In Need and he promised to send any needy dogs our way. We had a nice long chat about how it's always a case of wrong person not wrong dog and generally put the world to rights.
Made me forget how angry I was with the gas company anyway!

Just to let everyone know our new website is still under construction but is live as of today so check it out at www.bordercolliesinneed.co.uk and let us know what you think.

The move went smoothly and we are just about getting to the end of the box unpacking, I must admit it's very nice to be back in a house after all that time in the caravan.

The new website is still under construction but I had a look yesterday and it's looking good - thank you Helen you're a star!

We now have 106 fans on our facebook page!

I am off to the bank in a minute to open the new account for Border Collies In Need - huge thanks to everyone who has made donations to get us up and running, we really couldn't do it without you.

Our aim is to become a charity as soon as we have enough funds in the bank and we already have our Trustees set up (people I know and trust this time, people who really care about the dogs we are helping).

Hi and welcome to our new rescue blog, we aren't quite there yet but we should be up and running in a couple of weeks. Preparations are really moving on, the new website is being put together as I type. We also have a page on Facebook for Border Collies In Need.

If anyone is interested in being a fosterer for us, then please don't be shy. Expenses will be met by us so you needn't be out of pocket, it doesn't matter where you are in the country because we home country wide.

Also we are trying to build up sponsors as obviously funds are a bit low on the ground as we are starting from scratch (no, we didn't get any money from Home-A-Dog). Sponsors will get a mention on our sponsor page as well as a certificate and updates on how we are doing for £25 per year. Companies can have a banner advert on our home page for £50 per year. Any companies donating food supplies will also get a banner to advertise their company.

Our aims at Border Collies In Need are not just to rescue, rehabilitate and re home dogs but also to provide education, training and assistance to the public to enable them to better understand and relate to their dog.