A good day herding for Jet the Border Collie and Zephyr the Smooth Collie

At the CKC / AHBA trials today at Louanne Twa's Phantom Ridge Ranch in High River - Jet was called upon for a very special job. She helped for a good part of the morning pushing reluctant sheep into Louanne's beautiful new sheep sorting chute while Louanne's Isla did all of the sorting and gathering and well, everything else. I worked Jet ON a leash and used the opportunity to work on walk-up, down, here and that'll do. As you can see, the sheep are not impressed by Jet's presence (by which I mean PRESENCE). Jet sometimes just shivered with excitement as she eyed them up. Needless to say, when the gate was lifted, the sheep were saying "Please, let us into that chute!" As I always say, Jet is the biggest dog I have ever had - and it has nothing to do with size!

For more stockhandling pictures, please visit Louanne's blog to see her Kelpie Risk and Jerry Kurbatoff's Kelpie Jedd. OK, when you look, you will see that in one or two photos they are NOT on a leash. Hmmpphhh! Show offs. http://phantomridgebordercollies.blogspot.com/
I donated the trophy for High Scoring Collie (Rough or Smooth) and was very excited when the only collie entered didn't just qualify but got HIT today, from the CKC Stockdog trial! The dog is Zephyr, owned by Marilyn Clayton of BC who did a wonderful job handling him. The judges, Barb Vandeford (WA) and Shelley Fritzke (BC) complimented Zephyr's calm and steady work. Go Collies! I have a special interest in Zephyr because the very last Breedlines column I ever wrote about Collies for Dogs in Canada magazine was called "Choosing Zephyr" and focused on Marilyn's quest for a Smooth Collie from conformation lines, who could "do it all." As Zephyr seems to have over 30 titles, 6 years later, I guess he was the right dog for her!Ted came for fun, but he didn't really find it much fun to watch, and not herd the sheep. Here he is at the end of the day wondering where they all went! As usual, he was Mr. Social, befriending everyone (probably hoping they would be better than me, and take him to sheep).