Gwynnie's pups have grown up to be nice dogs. We kept Jezebel for ourselves, and she is showing talent as a sheep dog. Chris and Faye Gansberg took Brit and Bob and they have both received training from Sandy Moore in preparation for their life as ranch dogs. Ann has Janey and is training her for both herding competition and agility. Ruby lives with an active retired couple in Topaz and spends a lot of time hiking with her people. Kitt is Marla's buddy and has become a very handsome fellow, and is also showing great potential for open field work.

Photo: Jezebel and Dub.

  Imported Killiebrae Rudy is the son of Derek Scrimgeour's Sweep ISDS 198150, a 1996 English National Team member, and Lyn ISDS 227341, a 2000 English National Team member.  

  Rudy was a cattle dog for Chris Gansberg most of his life and at the time I borrowed him to breed Vider, he was approaching the end of his career.  Chris was very disappointed when Vider only raised one pup because he was hoping to get a puppy from the litter to replace Rudy on the ranch.

  We made the decision to breed Gwynn to Rudy and give several pups to Chris, so in fall of 2007 I again borrowed Rudy and artifically inseminated Gwynn.  In January of 2008, she had eight pups.

Lasca was born in August of 2007, the daughter of Imp. Killiebrae Rudy and our Vidalia (Vider).  She was a bit of a miracle baby, one of two pups conceived by artificial insemination, delivered by hand, and the only one to survive the first day of birth.  Bird helped raise her and played with her from the time she started to be able to get around on tiny legs.

  Lasca has shown a wonderful gathering instinct and a strong sense of balance on sheep.  She is graceful, intense, and confident on stock.  

Our disappointment in not getting Vider bred spurred us to adopt Bird, but then, as often happens in the human world, after adopting, we got the offspring we had been trying for--we finally got a pup from Vider.  I borrowed Imp. Killiebrae Rudy, a dog bred by Derek Scrimgeour in England that ended up in the US, not far from us.  Rudy came over with a littermate, Geri Byrne's Lyn, and was raised and trained by Mike Hubbard.  Mike took Rudy to the sale at Red Bluff and Chris Gansberg of Gardnerville, Nevada, bought Rudy for his family's cattle operation.

We wanted to have a Cleo grandaughter and Vider daughter, so we tried to breed Vider several times.  It seems that the timing was always wrong for a breeding to a dog we really admired, and we thought we'd never get another pup.  So we contacted Vider's sire's owner, Bonnie Thwaits, in Arizona.  Bonnie had Vider's littermate, Queen, and just happened to have a litter with one female available.  So we ended purchasing Cleo's granddaughter, Bird, in 2006.  A friend brought her back from Arizona for us.  Bird turned out to be more like Cleo than either of Cleo's daughters.

Bird is...well, Bird.  She is an interesting combination of absolute gung-ho on sheep and very vulnerable at home.  I had a chance to take her to a Derek Scrimgeour clinic soon after starting her, and Derek said she had talent and a lot of power that the sheep recognized.  She is not always the most biddable, but she always has control of her sheep and is rarely unsure of herself when working.  She is also very outgoing and social with dogs and people.

Bird gained a few nicknames, like "Birdagator" because of her love of lurking in water, and Birdzilla for just being a young monster.  Her combination of toughness and sensitivity has just endeared her to us.

We've been working together for a while, but I'm not in a hurry to start competing with her.  She loves excitement and isn't above blowing through a bunch of sheep if she feels a training session has gotten boring.  She doesn't bite or chase or ever hurt sheep, but she has stolen them on occasion and gone off with them, I think possibly because she enjoys the power and hearing me get wound up.  Bird has some nice dogs in her pedigree and is coming along with her farm work, so in time I think we'll be great partners.

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.