Fiona

Fiona is our latest addition to the farm.  She is a gorgeous chocolate (or red) merle, ABCA Border Collie puppy from Hill Top Farm in IL.

 I knew I wanted her after a little correspondence with the breeder, but how to get her down here was a problem.  We couldn't just drive up there and pick her up - that's just not something my father would be open to at this point, so I asked my brother, Evan, and his wife, Joanna, to pick her up on their way back to their home in Michigan.  They had been attending a conference in KY with a lot of other family, and were carpooling with Farrah and Joshua (my sister and her husband, who is one of Joanna's brothers), so they cleared it with them and got in touch with the breeder.  Farrah and Joshua graciously agreed to drive a couple hours out of their way and Joanna carried Fiona in her lap most of the way home.

 Then my grandfather and sister, Savana, drove up from Florida to visit them for a week, and they brought her back.  They reported that she was very good in the car and only had one accident in her crate.  Saturday, when they got back, Daddy and I drove about an hour and 40 minutes north to pick up Savana and LilyAnn, who had with my grandmother while Bompa was gone.  And then I finally got to meet Fiona!

When we got on the small road leading to our house, I let her out of the crate and held her in my lap.  I rolled down the window as we drove down the driveway and let her smell her new home...

When she got out, she was nearly smothered by Anna-Frances and Frankie, who are thrilled to have another puppy to play with.

Fiona, however, was overwhelmed by all the attention from them and from the other dogs, so she tried to climb back into the car.  Flossie (not pictured here) was far more afraid of her than she was of Flossie, and after barking furiously for a few seconds, ran off and hid, leaving Kep, Cleone, and Duncan to inspect the new arrival.

Then, once everyone kind of calmed down, I took her on a little walk around the property.  The first new friend we ran into was Chauncey.
He loves the dogs, but this one was new, so he resented her sudden appearance in his domain.

"What is that?  Looks fun to chase..."

After she thought the coast was clear, Flossie came out of hiding and discovered that Fiona was here to stay, so she decided to check her out instead of hiding.

Apparently the inspection was satisfactory, for they are becoming friends fast!

I also tried to get some pictures of Cleone and Fiona together.  It took a while, but I eventually got this one:

Fiona tries to escape with a quick leap away from Cleone...

"I would still like to go check out that thing she keeps pointing at me...  It looks chewable!"
"Don't even think about it!"

Yes, I'd say she's settling in nicely. She already wants to chase the cows and goats, but still listens to me when I call her back.  And she loves milk!
At this point I am keeping her penned up except when I'm out there to work with her.  This way she associates freedom with me and wants to be with me more.  This is the method I used with Cleone and it worked great, so I'll try the same thing on Fiona.  I'm eager to see her growing and learning!