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Love reading the descriptions of everyone's dogs. Here's my go (sorry about the different sized images--i'm pulling from different places)

 

Renzo (14): A mutt of indeterminate heritage. Once described as a having the drive of a terrier and the work ethic of a border collie. We got him one day when, as a committed cat-only household, we saw him at a rescue fair, curled up like an angel. Little did we know...We started flyball with him as an outlet for his manic energy--that proved to be too much for his excitement level, but it did lead us to consider a border collie

 

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Pippin (10.5): We got Pippin from a sport breeder after deciding that perhaps we could handle a border collie. She has been a delight from the moment we brought her home; however, she has absolutely no work ethic. We tried flyball, agility and stockwork with her and, while she liked the latter best, she had the talent we might expect. So, we retired her from everything but biscuit eating and keeping the rest of the pack in line. She is by far our smartest dog.

 

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Rafe (8): Rafe is grenzehund's main trial dog and came to our pack at 7 mos. His sire was an Isle of Man import and his dam out of Vergil Holland's lines, both pretty good working dogs, though the dam ran pretty wide and was never trialled in open. Rafe is very biddable, incredibly stylish and has great presence. He also has quite a bit of eye, runs wide and is pretty slow. Grenzehund is something of a hero to several people because she doggedly worked to enhance his strengths and mitigate his weaknesses and never, ever gave up on him (even when pretty much everyone told her to). She moved him to Open at the Bluegrass a couple of years ago because she wanted him to have a chance on that big, beautiful field. They got scores both runs. They are a outstanding example of working together to get a job done using the strengths you each bring to the table.

 

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Kyzer (7): Kyzer is out of Dal Kratzer's Shep (same sire as Alchemist's Spain) and Kelly Murnighan's great trial dog Molly. He was my main dog for learning though I've never been able to trial him because of our complicated, mutual button pushing relationship. Unlike Rafe, Kyzer has virtually no eye or feel for the sheep. This was very good for making me learn where the dog needs to be, and you can put Kyzer anywhere, but there's not much there for him to offer by way of help. He has stamina and athleticism that knows no bounds. He has a ton of come forward, which, as a novice handler, I wasn't able to harness or manage very well, leading to lots of sheep hightailing it hither and yon. When he is relaxed and partnered up, he is a dream to run and breathtaking to watch because of his athleticism. I'm hoping now that I've learned a bit more and have let him sit for the winter that we can re-start our working relationship. We'll see.

 

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(photo by Jenny Glen)

 

Zac (6): I bought Zac as a trained dog. His sire is Dwight Parker's Craig (2013 USBCHA Cattle Dog Champion) and the dam is Marianna Schreeder's Open dog, Kate. Zac has been a dream dog to improve my handling skills with. He is extremely biddable with a nice amount of eye and plenty of presence on the sheep. A natural outrunner with a great stop. Excellent driving dog with brilliant sense of pace (though a tendency to go too slow, which is the main reason he was sold). I had him for almost 2 years before I could trial him (work got in the way of my plans....), but we moved to Open this year. He is the biggest dork you'll ever meet off sheep and I will forever owe him a debt of thanks for showing me some of the finer tricks of the handling trade.

 

1964947_10103971163877573_49471394217603(photo by Laura Esterman)

 

Lad (4): Lad is Grenzehund's second trial dog. He is from Jeanne Weaver's Jack (the dog in that famous series of photos by Denise Wall with the sheep jumping over the dog) and Neil Weaver's Lil. He is a quirky, interesting fellow with loads of talent but one of the harder heads around. When he listens, he is brilliant on the sheep; when he doesn't things get a bit messy. He has a lot of come forward, reads the sheep very well, natural outrunner. Trial situations have made him nervy so far, but he's also matured significantly over the last 6 mos, so we'll see what this fall brings.

 

10514397_10202328128351021_2211772294685 (photo by Laura Esterman)

 

Scout (8 mos). Scout is from my Zac and Kelly Murnighan's Megan, a strong Open dog from Alberta lines. She is a pipsqueak but full of confidence and bravado (except when it comes to nail trimming :o ). She's probably not going to be quite so easy to handle as her father. We've just started seeing what she'll do on sheep and so far she looks to have a commanding presence with a good feel for the sheep, understanding how to take pressure off (though not always making full use of that understanding). We'll see more of what she has this fall and I'm really excited to see what it is.

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(photo by Laura Esterman)

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There you go Emily. I didn't find good shots of Eve and Tally loaded onto photobucket. I guess I need to pull out the camera.

 

Mark, I've got some snapshots of some of your dogs (Eve and Tally for sure, but also Peg and Bette) - let me see if I can dig them off the server this weekend. (I've got to dig through sheepdog photos this weekend anyway; a sad mission, unfortunately, in search of good shots of a dog who recently passed away at far too young an age).

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Celt, 11 years young, a very good dog who deserved better than me, in 2008 at a Jack Knox clinic, photo by Michelle Dobbs -

 

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Megan, 11 years young and definitely the Princess (12 next month) (she's the cute one on the right, Celt is on the left) -

 

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Bute, a little love bug who worked the cattle with gusto, who would have been eight this year -

 

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And Dan, who's physically five years old and mentally still a pup, who gets the job done, in California in 2011, photo by Danielle Shank -

 

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Nearly Perfect Nick, 10, is, well, nearly perfect. I bought him sight unseen from across the country as a well-started 2yr old, and I've never regretted it. Couldn't ask for a better first stockdog. He's saved my butt many times on both the farm & trial field. Nick is fast, pushy, and without a ton of self-confidence, which makes him difficult to handle on light sheep, but oddly awesome on rank range ewes. He's got some issues a better handler could have fixed, but we made it from Novice to Open, and had fun doing it. Nick is the dog who knows what I want before I ask. He's got some respiratory issues & is retired now, but he's perpetually happy doing whatever life brings him. He's a half brother to Robin's Zac (out of Kate, but by Debbie Bailey's great dog, Ben), and like Zac, Nick is a giant dork off stock. He's amazingly charismatic & has a fan club wherever he goes.

 

Hoot, almost 5, is weird even for a Border Collie. He's unregistered, born in rescue, but out of some nice, but tough, Saskatchewan prairie lines. He was sent back to rescue at barely 4 months old because he was a horrible puppy (the woman who fostered him told me he was the only puppy she's ever actually hated). If you give him an inch, he'll take 10 miles and keep running. Surprisingly, Hoot never did the puppy bowling ball thing on sheep. He was slow to mature, but the first time he kicked out around my old ewes, there was no doubt he was going to be a fearless stockdog. He totally sucks at the precision necessary for trials, but he shines in practical work. Hoot was my ram/bull/rank ewe go-to dog. He backed down from nothing, and came preinstalled with great head & heel grips. True to his nature, though, if I didn't stay on top of Hoot, he'd be off doing his own thing with livestock, taking them wherever HE thought they should go. Even though he frustrated me sometimes, Hoot never failed to get a job done, even if it wasn't always pretty. He's a quirky, opinionated, weird dog off stock, and even though he's very much my dog, I swear he hams it up for other people just to make me jealous. Hoot's brother is Dexter, of TWAAW/WooTube fame (infamy? The whole litter is bananas!)

 

And Phin, 6. The boyfriend's terrier mutt, who is a hilariously ill behaved cartoon of a dog. He's supposedly a Yorkie x Bichon, but who knows. Phin isn't truly "bad," he just has a terrier's "I don't care what you want! I want THIS!" attitude. He listens about 1/3 of the time, thinks it's his mission in life to bark at cats, and gets incredibly indignant if we aren't in bed by 9:30 :) Raucous laughter gives him the zoomies, and "Grandma's" house is his favorite place to go because her cat actually reacts to the barking, and the treat jar is never empty.

 

 

Hoot on the left; Nick with the prick ears.

 

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ETA: Poor quality, odd size phone pics. Hard to do this on a mobile device!

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This is Penny, our 14 month old BC. She is sweet and silly and a lot of fun. She loves people, playing ball, cuddles, obedience training, and we've recently started beginners agility. She still can't decide how to wear her ears and varies between prick and airplane, and combos of the two, all in the same day LOL. When she's "talking" to us she makes noises like Chewbacca, it's quite funny.

 

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Tess will be 2 in October. August 17th will make a year that I've had her. Even though I grew up with a Border Collie Tess was a lot different than the dogs I'm used to working with. She is very sensitive and soft, and will shut down if she's feeling too pressured. We had to learn to work together at first. Tess is the first dog that I've owned on my own and she is absolutely my best friend and companion and the best hiking partner in the world. She is one of the sweetest dogs I've ever known and she had successfully charmed my whole family (parents, siblings, cousins, grandparents, you name it). She's a bit nervous around new people and in new situations but we've come a long way this past year. I took her to the Bluegrass with me and managed to walk her up to the white house once, which was pretty huge deal with all the people and dogs milling around. The rest of the time she hung out in her crate in the back of my vehicle and enjoyed watching everything go by.

 

I know we have many more adventures in store for us. This year I hope to try her on sheep, and maybe take a few agility classes. She's the best dog I could've hoped for. And I shamelessly dress her up for all holidays.

 

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My brother is her favorite person in the world.

 

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Her smile, one of my favorite things about her.

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I'll play! (since I've been mostly absent lately and have some fun new photos of my girls...)

 

My oldest, Sasha, is almost 12 years old. We've had Border Collies my whole life, we brought Sasha and her littermate brother Rocko home when I was in high school. We lost Rocko last winter, but Sasha is still living at home with my parents. They were/are just farm dog pets, not working dogs or anything. Very little training except basic manners.

Rocko on the left, Sasha on the right:

 

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Next is Jade. I brought Jade home when I was in college, she is 6 years old. Jade is my first Border Collie as an adult. She has some working dogs in her pedigree, but she's not specifically working bred. She gave me my 'first child' learning experiences- first dog in the house, first dog I formally trained, first dog I started herding with, and the first dog I subjected to all of my annoying photography demands. She's the one that got me started in working Border Collies, and is the namesake of my photography business, which she also is the foundation of. She's silly and I don't think there's anything more important to her than 'her' cat, her Jolly Ball, and sheep... I think in that order, too. I trial her occasionally in AHBA trials, but for the most part she stays at home when I trial and is my husband's couch buddy, and she loves that.

Jade:

 

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Pepper came into the picture when I decided I wanted to get more serious about training and trialling working Border Collies. She is 3 years old this year and is teaching me a tremendous amount about training working dogs. She is keen as can be and extremely biddable, she wants nothing more in the world than to please me. We've been hitting a lot of USBCHA trials this year, so far just competing in Novice/Ranch courses, my goal is to be running in Pro-Novice in the trials in October after the Finals.

 

Pepper:

 

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Last is the baby, Kess, who is not quite 9 months old. I wasn't actively looking for a dog, but when Kess' litter came along, it was kind of an opportunity I couldn't pass up. She's been on sheep just a couple times and is definitely showing a lot of interest, I can't wait to see what she has in store to teach me. She is an ornery little cuss, but lots of fun. I've been doing a photography project on her too, to document her first year of life with a photo every week.

 

Kess:

 

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Group photos:

 

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Just read the whole thread, start to finish. What a wonderful idea!

 

Soooo, I got Samantha, (1996 -2010) from a back yard breeder. Had no idea what a border collie was, or a back yard breeder for that matter. I only knew I was ready for a dog, having been without one for about 7 years. Sam was sweet, loooved kids and babies, and very easy to live with. I got her when she was 1, and her breeder had done a good job of basic obedience/ house training, etc. She totally got me hooked on border collies.

 

Shoshone came from a rescue, (1996 or 7 - 2011) Because Samantha had been so easy to settle in to our home I naively thought Shoshone would just fit like an egg in an egg carton. Wrong. WrongWrongWrong. Shonie was badly treated for at least a year, perhaps more, before she came to the rescue. Starved, probably hit, she was a mess physically. The rescue fed her and treated her wounds, but she was always a whacko dog. I think that she would have been a bit on the eccentric side even if she'd had a decent home, but as it was, she was pretty crazy. If she hadn't been so food motivated, no one could have lived with that dog. Once she caught on to how easily she could manipulate people into giving her yummy stuff to eat, she lived for it. I used to joke that she would approach Idi Amin if she thought he had a dog cookie. She had on-going food/environmental allergies and arthritis, plus anxiety. You know, one of those free, million dollar dogs. We called her our Quirky Girly.

 

Buzz, (1998-2008) was whisked out of a shelter, literally a couple hours before he was due to be euthanized. Through a happy combination of circumstances he was delivered to our door shortly thereafter. The plan was to foster him and find him a great home. Well, we failed at fostering - I was driving home from the dog park about 3 days after he came to us. Buzz was sitting directly behind me, he put his chin on my shoulder and heaved a big sigh. That was it. Buzz changed the whole household - he brought my husband out of himself in very good and happy ways, he gave my timid girls courage to do just about anything, and he made me laugh so many times. We lost him to bone cancer, way too young.

 

Today, Super Special Agent Gibbs is my only pet. When we lost Samantha in 2010 we wanted another dog, simply to have some youth and life in our home. Shoshone was 13 or so, and just didn't care to do much more than eat and sleep. Gibbs came to us from Amy and Ray Coapman, and settled in nicely. It took Shonie a few weeks, but she decided that if this interloper could get treats and go on rides, then by golly she could, too. It made her much more interested in life, (read - getting humans to dole out treats to her) than she had been. Gibbs is a very soft boy, but has quite the personality and loves, loves, loves his human friends. He's also very good with other dogs, even on leash, and is known in our circle for being very good with shy, timid dogs. He yodels a lot, and everyone in my neighborhood knows him by his songs.

 

I am so in love with border collies, and hope never to be without one. And you guys are awesome!

 

Ruth and Agent Gibbs

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Michelle took that at a Jack Knox clinic - Celt and Bute and I did horribly at that clinic (bad case of nerves on my part, that both dogs picked up on and we all had a train wreck clinic) but Michelle got this, my favorite photo, and was gracious enough to give it to me to use.

 

I grew up with a dog that smiled, Lady (how original), who was either a Border Collie or maybe English Shepherd. I've wanted a dog that smiled ever since but have not had one. Lady smiled when she was glad to see us (when we came home), when she was being submissive (like when she knew she'd been naughty, which wasn't often at all, or if we said, "Who did that?" or "Did you do that?" in a mock stern voice), and when she was very happy about something. I miss that so much.

 

Sue, that's quite the action shot of Celt!

Tess's girl, my Gabe and Livy also smile :D Love it!

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Jinx is a working bred border collie that came from a cattle ranch. He's growing into a nice young dog, turning a year old tomorrow(July 14, 2014). He's my first purebred border collie and my first dog that isn't a "family dog." I grew up with dogs and always had multiple dogs at a time, but they also lived outside. So he's also the first dog I've had live inside with me. Got him the day I moved out of my parents house and haven't regretted a single second of having him, though he does LOVE to push buttons. He's my best buddy, and we spend the majority of our time together. He goes most places except for work. He's super smart and will work for food or toys and learns tricks very quickly. Always willing to do whatever I ask of him and ready to go go go, though he does have a great off switch and settles down in the house great. Loves to cuddle and is a very sweet dog.

 

He's really smart.... and sometimes that's frustrating. He will blatantly ignore commands I KNOW he KNOWS if there's something really interesting. My fault though, I guess we should work on that more.

 

I would really like to get him started on sheep, and agility, but mostly sheep.

 

Looking oh so classy at a friends house

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come on mom... just one more time

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Driving to my new house from my parents the day i moved out and picked him up at 8 weeks

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Jaderbug, I've been looking for ages for a good "picture every week" of a border collie! That's fantastic, you can be sure I'll be following it for the first eight weeks until I get my pup.

 

I've had fun doing it! But starting to run out of ideas!! :blink:

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Jader...how about a little doggy portrait tutorial... I have my D80 in hand waiting... ;)

 

Oh boy... put me on the spot! :D

 

For starters, this is how I shot the ones I just posted:

 

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I put this together a while back, just some rules of thumb I use that I've kind of learned and picked up over the years:

 

Tips for better dog photography

 

Oh and having willing subjects helps, obedience works wonders for canine photography subjects :)

 

Thanks, Emily!!

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Haha...guess I need to go buy a silo..Thanks Jaderbug. I used to be a cameraman (video and film) many years ago and I have a pretty good handle on macro photography but the portrait stuff isn't really in my wheelhouse. Always something new to learn.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

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Well, this is Tio my 14 month old young fellow. He is my first dog and at 48 I really kick myself for not getting a dog sooner. Unlike most of you I had no interest in, and admittedly, no knowledge of stock work. Although I knew of their history my sole goal of having a Border Collie was for sports. I wanted..or rather dreamed of...having a "frisbee dog" and only a BC would do. Aside from some soft poop issues early on I think we got through puppy hood pretty well.

 

By 8 months Tio was already accomplished at his frisbee ground game and we were getting ramped up to start some air work. He had already mastered back stalls and a host of other controlled semi air tricks with me catching him. I was very careful with NO IMPACT.. We were doing so...so well.

 

Then one day 3 months ago out of the blue I noticed he was scuffing a hind paw and 2 days later he was lame. Most of you know the rest of the story from there... so I won't bother with the details but he seems to have some form of myelopathy although we don't know the cause.

 

So, we take one day at a time with his condition and he's doing well but I've accepted that Tio isn't going to be my frisbee dog. What he is though, without any doubt, is this man's "best bud".

 

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Hi all, new to the boards here. We are Brian and Blanca (not Bianca..lol) I just spent the last two days reading vaious posts on the forum here and LOVE it! Some BEAUTIFUL BCs here, Here's our two girls:

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Shadow on the left is our 6 yo and first BC. I wasn't planning on any dogs at the time (since we just thinned the cat herd of 5 down to 2) when my sister had her BC bred....then the wife kept up the " Pleeease.. just one puppy and that will be all..." So I caved and we brought Shadow home. Very laid back and eager to please, it was so easy to train her I was hooked. I knew I would never want another breed of dog...and no more new pets for a long time.. I thought...


On the right we have Dusty, our 14mo.
Fast forward 5 yrs and my wife, who worked at the local vets, has been telling me for years about two beautiful BCs Zirna (female ) and BJ (male)that come to vets from time to time. Next she tells me that the owners of Zirna had her bred to BJ and it was going to be Zirna's last litter, so could we pleeeease just go look at them....I held firm till the pups were about 6wks old... then caved! lol Dusty is the opposite of Shadow, very headstrong and barks at everything, but her and Shadow get along great and take turns beating each other up when they play.

I was telling my wife how i was reading "some othe folks on the BC forum have like 5 dogs!" to which she replies
"I wouldn't mind having three... three is a nice number..."
*facepalm* Hooboy...Time to start digging the trenches so i can hold firm on her last promise of " I won't ask for any other pets... really..." lol

 

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