Gwen (Nel x Rob Ellis’ Bran) left for her new life with Lora on a goat farm in Massachusetts today. Lora is a pharmaceuticals engineer, with a passion for animals and traditional husbandry, working from home so she can do what she cares about most –farming! Yay!

Delightful talking with Lora while he dogs frolicked this afternoon. She is just the kind of person I want to have my dogs. Easy to say ‘yes’ on the spot. If I’m going to let a premium dog go, it has to be to a premium person …like Lora.

I violated my own rule today and said from the outset, I think this is dog for you. Gwen kept coming back to us and circling round, so I think she agreed.

Halfway home and Lora reports Gwen already has her nose on her arm as she drives …and giving her kisses!!!

Makes my eyes well up thinking how happy these two are going to be together!! Pairings like this make the tough parts of dog breeding feel like it is worth it.

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ADDENDUM: And this is what Lora saw in Gwen’s eyes the next morning when they went out to the barn to see the goats. Just look at that SMILE!!!

Moments later, supremely confident Gwen took charge of the goats! No grabbiness, just taking control at 7 months old. All this her first morning off the farm. A very talented young pup!

Yes, that is a border collie pup (Gwen) competing with baby goats for the milk. Loving her new life on the goat farm. Always a job to be done that requires working dog ‘assistance’.

Brian, Meg & Myles have just done wonders with Willow (né Jill). Jill was outwardly shy and introverted. There was something inside a protective shell that just couldn’t get out. Brian, with a long history of rescues, had some ideas.

With every update, I see who Willow is becoming and was meant to be, brought forth by what Brian calls ‘love’ and ‘consistency’. Brian is a-ma-zing with dogs.

Today, Brian sent me a couple videos of Willow pulling what looks like him on a skateboard with Willow focused on what looks like son Myles ahead on a skateboard along the Cape Cod Rail Trail, near where they live. I could never have imagined Willow doing that. The transformative power of love and security.

BRAVO BRIAN AND MEG !!!

Jett is the son of Gail and Jimmy (an unplanned mating), brother to: Faye, Willow, Annie, Rob and Nico.

Andrea from the Albany, NY area wrote today with an update on her (Fly By) Jett:

Hello Charles! Attached please find some pics of Jett at our weekly Agility class. He is truly a budding superstar, learning very quickly and teaching me how to be a more efficient handler. I am also thrilled to share with you he has successfully completed Puppy Too training and moved onto Life Skills classes. Thank you again for this absolutely amazing border collie! ~ Andrea 

I would love to give Gail credit for young Jett, since he looks so much like her, but Andrea and Jett are a team. Without Andrea and her dedication and skill as a handler/trainer, Jett would not be the ‘budding agility superstar’ he is. I remember that snowy day in November when Andrea was here in Vermont: Jett chose Andrea! He would run off with the others for a bit and then come right back to Andrea. Dogs have a sense about these things, about humans and situations. When a pup clearly chooses a human, and the human feels it too, it augurs a happy new beginning .

BRAVO ANDREA AND JETT !!!

Llangwm Ffansi (which means ‘fancy’ in Welsh) turns 14. She is the last of my first generation of dogs from Aled Owen, in Wales. She has arthritis and double cruciate ligament disease, but she is out walking around for most of the day, every day. Unfortunately, those lines are known for osteoarthritis, and I didn’t find out until later. Ffansi has always had a kind of gutsy determination to press on, never one to be left out. She wants to be doing what everyone else is doing. Even at 14, she won’t back down from the challenge of #2 female, 3 year old Nel. Ffansi has her dignity to defend.

Ffansi adored my favorite dog of all time, Seren, 2 years older than her. Ffansi was content to be 2nd female. Never a cross word between them. They were beautiful together.

Photos of Ffansi in years 1 and 2: a strikingly beautiful young tricolor female with a big smile.

Even with her limited mobility, Ffansi insisted on taking her turn on sheep last summer and showing the youngsters she still has it in her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FFANSI !!

“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”
—John Adams

“The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment. ” —Robert M. Hutchins

“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.”
—John F. Kennedy

Lucy wrote today to say little Nico was kicked out of his obedience class. He was fine with the other dogs …until there was a group of them, at which point he felt duty-bound to herd them. The trainers said they “didn’t want him back.” Like his sister Faye, Nico is compelled to work and has no idea he is smaller than all the rest. As far as Nico and Faye are concerned, “Size doesn’t matter!”

Despite being kicked out of obedience class, Lucy & Jim are not sending young Nico back to Thundering Paws. Lucy writes: “He is still our most adorable wonderful tremendous everything we could ever ask for in a puppy.”

Nico is enrolled in Julie Hill’s online working sheep dog course, where over the next year he is learning her ‘Natural Way’. He is using the Herb Hill goats as proxies for sheep. Round ’em up Nico! You’ll have an easier time with goats than the dogs at obedience class.

The fuzziness is not the focus, it is snow blowing in the wind gusts. Calendar spring, the spring equinox, is 2 weeks away, but this is Vermont hill country, known for its plentiful snow, wind and cold, even in the shoulder seasons

8 mo. old Jules grew into the most amazing young working collie. She was a slow developer, but when she turned 8 mo., things changed. Seriousness, purpose, focus and style. Jules is a strong, gutsy and pushy pup with muscular style, always in motion, and a sweet temperament. Compliant and dutiful, and not afraid of my growls and barks, she just keeps coming on, taking my correction in stride. Jules looks SO MUCH like her grandmother, James McCloskey’s Becca, a contender for my favorite sheep dog of all time.

Jules is will join Tom on his sheep farm in Lyman, NH on Friday. Probably the best young working dog I have ever sold. It was a high bar to get me to part with such a fine youngster, but Tom, his farm and family checked all the boxes.

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Off to her new life with Tom & family today in New Hampshire! Tomorrow, she will assist Tom in shearing sheep. Training starts on Monday!

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Dewi Jenkins, from Wales, is breeding and training the best sheep dogs in the world. His dogs are special, like no others. They posses a kind of inner zen and purposefulness as they go about their business with abundant instinct, rarely if ever flustered. And they are physically spectacular.

9 mo. old Ormond Mirk is by Dewi’s International Champion, Jock, out of Rhodri Pugh’s Gilfach-Y-Fran Belle.

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The best dog I have ever bred, 20 mo. old Peter, who is Dewi Jenkins’ Clwyd Bob x James McCloskey’s Nel. Perfect style and ideal intensity.