River and Ruby in Urbana, IL April 30, 2011

Saturday was perhaps the windiest day I've experienced thus far. Before the wind picked up however, I got to run my dogs on a very fun Jumpers course at an AKC agility trial down in Urbana, IL

Since it was such a small trial I had to walk the course for both dogs at the same time. Here is the course designed by Judge Kay Vonnahme:

Ruby and River both won their classes (24" and 16" respectively) I did all rear crosses with River actually starting with him on my right side. I'm very proud to say that he ran it only .79 seconds slower than Ruby but at 5.38 yps giving him his first World Team Qualifying time. What a good boy! With Ruby I did all front crosses with the exception of a rear over jump #12 and she gave me a nice tight turn there. Such a fun course to run and it was great getting to run River again if only for one day. :)

As an update to my previous post, I have decided on a breeder with the help of my instructor Sherry that is to soon to have a wonderful litter on the ground. I mailed my contract and deposit to her on Monday. As they say, things happen for a reason. Updates will be posted as news comes in! Very excited about this litter! :)

A New Addition

As some of you may or may not know, we have been looking at adding a new pup to our small pack. I've looked at a couple of Border Collie breeders and after seeing quite a few run in the past several years and spending time with a lot of them (not too mention running and training my ex boyfriend's dog) I knew exactly what type of dog I was looking for. Structure, health and temperament are priorities as is an "off-switch."

I've contacted a couple of different breeders and tried to do my due diligence on them and the dogs that have come from their kennels as well. Currently I have it narrowed down to two kennels, oddly enough on polar opposite sides of the U.S. One in New York, the other in Oregon.

Lake St. Louis, MO February 19 & 20, 2011

Just a couple of fun runs with my favorite red-head! ;)

Kim and I entered the girls in the Time 2 Beat demo; proceeds went to Keeshond Rescue. It's interesting to see how similarly the girls run (except Jersey's stride is about a foot longer than Ruby's) and how differently Kim and I handle our dogs. It was a lot of fun! =)

Ruby - ALAC Trial - Feb 12 & 13, 2011

Ruby and I had some time off and were a little out of sync for this trial. We went 3 for 6, 2nd half of the trial were the good runs. 1st place in STD on Saturday and a QQ on Sunday with a 3rd place STD run. She's such a good dog! Love her to pieces! =)

River USDAA January 2011

1st Place Starters STD, 1st Place Starters Jumpers, 2nd Place Starters STD and a Grand Prix Q!

Some Awards the Dogs Received in 2010

Agility with River Puppy