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.