Trewnia Jess

This blog is going to be the hardest to write, Jamie's old and best work bitch had to be put to sleep she was a wonderful dog that knew her job. We got Jess at 8 weeks old now she was a horror of a pup she cried for about 3 months!!!!!! She was a late bloomer who at 4 months amongst 2000 ewes and lambs at crutching time thought working sheep meant you pick up a lambs tail throw it up in the air and catch it again. We tried a few times to give her away but no one would take THANK GOD, then one day at about 9 months she went I am a work dog and she worked every day after that.
One day when Jamie was mustering at Mt Marlow with Jess they had about 2000 sheep strung out along a fence the lead had to be put through the gate so Jamie sent Jess to the lead(about 1km), Jess went and stopped just at the right point to put the sheep through now Jamie could not see her but she just knew what had to done. This was just one of many times the old girl would do things like this, you could leave her with 1000 steers point them in the direction they had to go and Jess would keep them going and leave any behind while you kept mustering the paddock.
However if you tried to sheepdog trial her she would look at you and say I don't think so!!!!!! She hated being told to do and nine times out of ten she was right. Jamie had a couple of goes trialing her but gave up as she just didn't like it, but she would never give up in the paddock where it counted.
We will miss her but she is in a better place now SEEYA OLD GIRL

Old Memories and More Dogs

This weeks I took my girls plus a few dogs to visit my Mum & Dad, they live near a small town in Western QLD called Yaraka. Jamie and I have worked out that way for most of our married life, being out there brought back some lovely memories. It is a wonderful place to live and raise a young family and of course to train and work our dogs, our dogs would work from daylight to dark over shearing either in the yards or out mustering. At time there was 28 thousand sheep to shear this took about 8 weeks, this test both man & dog. I don't have any photos of shearing as this was before digital cameras I will try to scan some pictures to add  however I have found a photo of some sheep near a turkey nest and trough.

Working in these hard conditions really showed the ability of the working border collie, they had to be a mustering dog as well as work in yard all day. Old Bill would do this for weeks on end and never give up, it takes a very special dog to be able to do this.

Nell is my next prospect she is a AI pup from Kevin Evans Mirk out of MiMi, Nell is only 8 months old at this point in her training she is showing me everything I want from a work dog. She has great mob sense, good distance, plenty of force and is willing to please. She will definitely a regular once she starts her formal training.

Lass is a litter sister to my Nell, like her sister she has great stock sense, great distance and plenty of force. Jamie is very excited about her.

Sweep is another AI pup he is from Micheal Gallagher Cap out of a bitch who was imported into Australia in 2008. Sweep is a wonderful dog to have around, he has plenty of force and great coverage of his stock. He will play a big part in our breeding in the future.

MiMi is a beautiful dog she had a bad accident as a young dog and lost her front leg, since then she has become part of the family. She showed so much promise before losing her leg and even after losing her leg she still tries to work sheep & cattle.

I will going to a three sheep trial in early September so I better start getting the dogs ready, Sonny and Bella will be going and I will see what Nell is up too but I think she will be still too young. Stay tuned for updates on how they are going.