but look at these gorgeous little ones. Early one morning on 5th November we were expecting Cassey to give birth to her first (and probably last) litter. She had been panting and pacing the previous day and we just knew it was going to happen. The vet had told us it was not going to be a big litter, maybe 3, 4 and at 1.45 am it was the beginning. Although we had set up a whelping place for her, Cassey gave birth to her first pup - she literally dropped it on her chair. Luckily we had throws on it for her and Daren was trying to sleep downstairs. Unusually she climbed up on the sofa where he was and as he was trying to get her off, he heard a little sound from the chair. He went over and sure enough, it was puppy number 1! He broke open the bag, ran upstairs to me and we all went downstairs in our dressing gowns, washed our hands thoroughly just in case we had to help in any way and were we in for a shock. The new arrival was fine, however, Cassey just kept running away, still panting and pacing, the next one was imminent. Daren went and looked on the internet to see how to tie off the cord etc. He came downstairs, positive as he knew the right thing to do. We got some cotton, Lianne helped Daren tie it round the cord twice and cut it ... the first one was done, making a little noise and it lived. The first puppy was a girl - let me introduce you to Keira, our new puppy!
This is Cassey at 5 months old. She grew from a mischievious little puppy into a typically intelligent, inquisitive border collie. And of course Daren and Cassey's relationship just grew and grew as with the rest of the family. She is our gorgeous girl and during the time we've had her, we've taken her to the beach, to parks, taken her swimming in lakes although we try to encourage her, she is not keen! She still enjoys walks down our local park every day, meeting up with all her friends. She enjoys chasing after her ball but will never bring it back unless you're standing still. If she drops the ball and you go to pick it up thinking she wants you to throw it again - wrong! What she dropped it for is to see you making a fool of yourself, going to pick up the ball and she'll always beat you to it!!! She loves playing games but always likes to come home and lay on her bed for the rest of the day. She eats a carrot a day to keep her teeth and coat nice and healthy. 
We visited Cassey's family home three times before she could come home. The first time was to choose her, I had phoned one day to arrange a visit and we went the next day. Originally we wanted a boy and when I phoned, there were 3 boys and 3 girls left. By the time we got there, there were only 3 girls so we had no choice - a girl or nothing! Of course, we couldn't not have one, if we had come away without paying a deposit it just gave Daren time to change his mind. So we chose there and then. We held one girl each and after a huge decision, we chose the one with the heart markings on it's head - Cassey. At this point she was 9 days old. We were so excited and as soon as we got in the car, I phoned Daren. He couldn't believe what we had done but wasn't angry and wasn't really that bothered. I told him he HAD to go and visit. It was a lovely sunny day one Sunday in November 2007 and I arranged for all of us, including Daren to go and see Cassey. I am sure he was going to love herand look forward to her coming home. When we got there, I was so surprised to see how much they had all grown. They were running around but small and fluffy, just slightly smaller than a toilet roll! 