A Border Collie in Kelpie Town

Last weekend Ivy became an honorary kelpie and tagged along with her 'big brothers' to the Casterton Kelpie Muster. She obviously felt that having Atilla and Cruz there gave her some legitimate kelpie street cred as she bounced around full of confidence all day, almost like a furry balloon on a string when things excited her .... like the street parade complete with very loud bagpipes, the pens of sheep, a whole bunch of people to kiss up to looking for a pat and of course all those kelpies. Did I mention that it doesn't really take all that much to excite her ?

Sitting pretty with L down by the old railway yards ...... now where did all the kelpies go ?

Posing at Island Park where all the bales of hay give some atmosphere to the auction held on the following day.

She really has her 'big girl' face now and at 510mm at the shoulder (or thereabouts as she looks absolutely identical to Atilla in height) I think she is pretty close to fully grown - hopefully anyway. This week she has a new 'big girl' collar, a new 'big girl' bowl and we are phasing out the puppy food for 'big girl' food. So I guess my baby is a baby no longer. This time between 12 and 14 months is a real transition time for me in her training. All the foundation work we have done will hopefully pay dividends when I apply it to equipment, which she is almost ready for, but it's so important not to rush things before she is totally ready. These couple of months are the danger time for me in that respect where it is so tempting to start start stringing things together but I know it's still better to wait and to really consolidate her foundation work.

And her favourite thing from Casterton after all the kelpies ? Toss up between the pens of sheep, the indian runner ducks and all the wonderful smells along the main street.

Happy First Birthday

I can't believe how quickly Ivy's first birthday has come around. It seems like only yesterday that she looked like this ...........

And all of a sudden the puppy has morphed into this ............

I decided on a very feminine theme for her birthday cakes, after all with hobbies that include excavating, gardening, swimming, ball chasing and sheep stalking through the fence, she is such a beautifully groomed 'girlie dog'.

This was part of her cupcake tree - unfortunately some doggie taste testing had already taken place before I thought about photographing it. But if you squint a bit and tilt your head you won't notice that there are actually a few cakes missing.

She didn't get to eat the icing, as Border Collies and sugar are not really that good a mix, but it didn't effect how quickly her cake disappeared anyway.

Looking back on her training I am very happy with where she is at 12 months. My main goal was to have what GD calls 'really brilliant circles' by now - I'm not sure if I would describe them as brilliant just yet especially by his standards, but they are pretty close.

Her toy drive is outstanding - she will tug with absolutely anything I present, any time and anywhere, which was also pretty high on the goal list. She has a very solid stay, thanks to crate games and also what I would call a good 'off/on switch.' We have done a few Susan Salo jump bump grids, although not to excess, and I am also very pleased with her work on these. At the moment I am working on her end position for contacts on a travel board and on the end of an extremely lowered A Frame (the wonders of a long length of chain !) and next month I will start weave training with her.

I love working with this gorgeous girl so much and I am so very grateful that her breeder decided to take a chance on sending her so far away to me. So Happy Birthday sweet Ivy and may you stay just as driven to work as you are right now for the next 12 months ! I have lots of new things in store for you over the next few months.