The first daughter of Cleo's that we kept was Freckles, now called Bun (Freckles>Frecklebunny>Frecklebun>Bun).  She was born on the Ace Hereford Ranch in Alpine County, California, in 1996 and spent her first few years working there as a cow dog.  Bun was fast, intense, and a natural at working livestock.

 

Bun will be 13 in November of

 2009 a

nd is still an active dog that 

loves to work sheep.

See Bun's pedigree at: http://www.bordersandquarters.com/Freckles_ABC9

5873.htm

The second daughter of Cleo that we kept was Vidalia, or Vider (or Spide or Spidey).  Vider was the first dog I formally trained to work stock, under the direction of Sandy Moore of Gardnerville.  Vider was born in 2001 and her first AHBA trial was in December of 2002.  I have competed with her in AKC, AHBA and ASCA arena trials plus a few trials put on by the Norcal Sheepdog club in 

California.  Vider is our farm dog as well, and the dog we use to gather and load new sheep or goats.

See Vider's pedigree at: http://www.bordersandquarters.com/Vidalia_ABC188072.htm

Vider had some awkward periods when young but turned out to be a lovely dog.  She was a good first dog for me, being kind to stock and fairly biddable.  She won a lot of

 arena classes for me.  

In 2005 we bought a puppy from Tim and Anne-Lise Stannard, a daughter of their Ruby.  I had always admired Ruby, though she wasn't trialed extensively.  Gwynn is a happy dog with a sunny temperament and lots of talent though she can be a little soft.  She is very biddable and eager to do well.  She is working at the advanced level in arena trials and I have worked just a little on cattle, and it looks like she'll be willing to work cattle.  She also works geese well.

Gwynn, right, at the Justin Memorial AHBA ranch dog trial in Gardnerville in 2008.

See Gwynn's pedigree at:

http://www.bordersandquarters.com/Gwynn_ABC266977.htm

Speck was the most biddable, willing and kind dog (though a little sticky).  We expected the same from Cleo, but from the moment she stepped into our lives, she felt she was born to run things.  At eight or ten weeks, she was bullying the four year old dogs (Speck and our Australian Shepherd, Hannah).  Cleo was a pistol, busy, energetic, driven to stay occupied.  She was very, very intelligent and figured out things in moments, especially if it involved anything she wanted.

We worked in a feedlot when Cleo was small, but moved out to work on a large ranch before she was one.  L.D. was cattle manager on the 200,000 acre operation, and we found opportunities for her to learn stock work when we were riding out to check the 850 cows or 3500 yearlings.  She learned fast and had lots of ability to control cattle.  We still didn't know much of anything about training stock dogs, but Cleo quickly figured out what we needed and helped all she could.

Cleo's sire, Casey, was bred by Arthur Allen and his dam, Dottie, was the offspring of two dogs bred or owned by Arthur Allen.  Casey and Dottie worked in Tom and Bonnie Thurman's Kansas sheep feedlot.  After we got Cleo, Casey and Dottie were sold in Texas.  Dottie ended up having descendants who were competitive cattle dogs, one placing 7th in the USBCHA cattle dog nursery trial in 2001 (Jewel, owned by Linda Holloway).  

Cleo was not only a great working dog for us, she was a great companion, being very close to human.  She had a brilliant mind and noticed everything, and even at 12 years old was still very active.   She had three litters.  We kept pups from the first and third litter.  We lost her in 2006 and still miss her.