05/08/2026
PUPPY DIARY: Happy Ninth Week Birthday, Little Aviators!
"Love is in the Air" litter
Super Steve x Amazing Grace
BIS NOHSS GCHS La-De-Da Eye Candy HIC CGC FDC BN FDC x GCH Foxhaven Wild Wind Grace in Every Step CGC
Foxhaven Farm had a special visitor and dear friend this week: Julie Bond. Julie is an animal behaviorist who perfectly embodies a sign hanging in our guest roomââIn this house we narrate the dogâs thoughts.â Watching her work was a joy. She has an uncanny ability to notice the smallest nuances in our dogsâ behavior, interpret them with clarity, and reflect back meaning and understandingâfirst to the dog, and later to me. The dogs felt seen and heard, and they responded in kind.
Thatâs the secret, isnât it? The blend of research grounded knowledge and genuine heart that gives depth and meaning to our relationships with our animal companions.
At Foxhaven Collies, our guiding philosophy is to harmonize the science and art of nature and nurture. We take great care in studying pedigrees, temperament, and genetics when selecting potential breeding matches. Every puppy receives comprehensive health testing through UC Davis, and our adult dogs have hip and elbow radiographs submitted to the OFA database. We also partner with a third-party professional to conduct objective temperament evaluations.
As many of our readers know, puppy rearing, socialization, and nutrition are central to our program. It is our desire to see our puppies thrive. We fully embrace the evidence-based protocols of Puppy Culture and are committed to giving each puppy the strongest possible foundation. The neurological and brain development afforded by the âenrichment effect,â along with active, reward based learning, represent best practices and help build the humanâanimal bond, or handler focus.
Julie conducted our temperament evaluationsâalso known as the Puppy Aptitude Testâwhich offered a meaningful window into our nature and nurture paradigm, capturing both the spirit and the emerging potential of each puppy. Her interpretation, discussion, and the additional training and observational opportunities that followed provided usâand the puppiesâ familiesâwith invaluable insight. (I will be sharing YouTube videos of the evaluations in a separate post.)
In response to these evaluations, and with puppies heading to their new homes at the end of next week, weâve enhanced several elements of our program. We will continue our daily Puppy Montessori mini lessons, now with a few fun tricks and thinking games added for our âresponsive personality typeâ puppies. Weâve introduced side position work for leash walking and will add the actual leash this week, followed by individual puppy outings to our small townâs Main Street and its dog friendly shops.
Weâve made small updates to our indoor kennel space and will be increasing crate time following meals. Puppy parents will receive our Puppy Advocacy, Exercise, and Customized Socialization bookletsâamong other resourcesâin their take home backpacks. Each family is already enrolled in a reward-based puppy class that begins before the puppies reach twelve weeks of age. They have also completed the PC puppy parenting course âOpen Arms and a Level Headâ.
Finally, we did a toy swap. The families sent a well-played with toy carrying their dogâs scent, and we sent a litter toy to them. Both Ace and Jet will have collie sisters! The videos we exchanged were priceless, and I will share those shortly.
This is an earnest and bittersweet time for me. I am totally and completely in love with these puppies. I know the families are too, and that love will only grow as the puppies become an integral part of their homes and hearts. I am blessed to welcome the Giffon and Fulcher families into our Foxhaven Collies extended family.
P.S. While the puppiesâ assessment results were similar, there were some fascinating nuances. The empathy test certainly underscored some of my observations, and Julieâs insightful narrative descriptions made me smile and give an affirming nod. Jetâs response to Julie âcryingâ and showing distress was to approach, try to jolly up and say, âYou were fine a second ago. Hereâs a neat toy!â Ace was concerned in a thoughtful and concerned way: âWow, you okay? Need anything?â And Amelia was nearly in her lap, trying to comfort: âI am here. Youâll be okay.â
