Gone, But Not Forgotten
Rival’s Sierra
Breeder: Rival Kennels, Palmerston, Ontario Sierra came to us at almost 2 years old from a friend who had too many dogs and needed to give one up. She had absolutely NO impulse control, but had a GREAT recall, lovely toy drive and WAY too much enthusiasm for her own good! She struggled with her jumping due to over arousal, had no regard for her own safety (or the safety of the person handling her!) and had some bad habits like barking, biting the handler and running in circles around everything. She probably taught me more about agility foundation training and how important it is especially for a genetically “high” dog. If I knew then what I know now this dog would be my dream dog today.
On the flip side of agility, Sierra was a fabulous dog to live with, she had one of the best “off switches” of all our dogs, she was very soft and sweet, loved all people, and traveled like a dream! Sierra has taught me more about training for this sport than any of my other dogs. She helped me understand how difficult it can be to work with an adult dog, one with pre-existing issues, one with tons of drive (which seems to be what everyone is wanting in an agility dog these days!) and one that is very visually reactive. It was a huge lesson in training for me and I have discovered people like Susan Salo because of her. She managed to finish her MSDC, MSCDC, MGDC titles so she did ok for such a rough start to her agility career! I also have 4 dogs directly related to her because I loved her so much.
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Java’s Ceildhe out of Zhitomir “Ceildhe” 1991 - 2004 Started training in agility at 6 years old
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CDX, ATChC, AD, NAC, NJC, NGC
She went on to get her CDX, start her agility career, win 3 National Agility Championships and 3 BC Regional Championships as well as earn her Rally Excellent title and was the first Mini dog in AAC to earn an ATChC Title. At 12 and a half years old she is the queen bee at home, does pretty much whatever she wants, still has to tell us a story every time some one comes over and still loves to do tricks for a treat! I owe my whole career in dog training to Piper.
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VATChC, NAD, NJC
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Kintyre’s Feyd to Black – “Feyd” 
ATChC, AD
 Feyd is our second border collie and Bryn's cousin. He came to us as a 9 week old puppy from Brandon, Manitoba. Everyone said that the boy dogs were much harder to train, they matured later, it would be much more of a challenge for me. Well, maybe it was just Feyd but he was a dream. He picked things up instantly, never caused me a bit of grief in training or life. He won the AAC Nationals at age 3 before he was even completely trained and went on to be chosen for the AAC IFCS World Team at 4 years old. He was a pleasure to run and I was excited to continue on the path we were on. Unfortunately at 4 years old, just after we returned from Worlds Feyd had a seizure. That led to more seizures and ultimately I had to retire him from competition due to complications of the epilepsy. It was heartbreaking to have to end such a promising career.
Now we have finally got the epilepsy under some control, he is on Phenobarbital and Potassium Bromide and that keeps the seizures under control but his coordination has been affected greatly and makes agility just plain unsafe for him. He still runs in Funmatches doing jumpers or anything without weave poles (the first thing he lost was the ability to weave). He still has the most reliable contacts of any of my dogs!
Feyd's job in our house now is as puppy socializer. He is fabulous with the puppies and they all adore Feyd. Almost every picture of the puppies we have brought home in the last 3 years has Feyd in the picture.
Now he is happy to sleep by my bed, snuggle on the couch and play chuck it and then lie in the kiddy pool. Many people asked me why I didn't just place him in another home. People actually asked me if he could come and live with them. My answer to all of them& .. Feyd has a home and this is where he will stay. He is my pet first and all my dogs stay in my home until they die of old age ( that is why we have 8 dogs!!! ). He is happy and as healthy as he can be. Epilepsy is a horrible disease for these dogs and I sympathize with anyone dealing with this with any breed. Davis University in California is doing a study on Epilepsy in Border Colllies and asked for blood samples and health records for Feyd and we were happy to comply. If anyone out there has a border collie with epilepsy contact Katy Roberts at Davis University at krrobertson@ucdavis.edu
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Herding Dog Rescue’s Straight Shooter “Remington”
Border Collie Cross Remington is Rob's new puppy. He came from Herding Dog Rescue in Prince George, BC. His mom was turned in to the vet after 5 of her puppies were born dead. She was to be destroyed along with the remaining puppies but Shannon stepped up to help with the C Section and the cost of the vet bills and raising and finding homes for the last 5 puppies. Remington's mom has found a forever home with one of my students and is happy as a clam.
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Standsure’s Highland Dance – “Bryn” ATChC, NAC, NAG, NJC  Bryn was my first Border Collie. I saw her mother Jynx running agility in a trial in Quesnel and said I want a dog like that! Lucky enough for me they bred Jynx and my friend Kay put in a good word for me with Jynx’s owner Kim Anderson. That was in 1997. Bryn came home to us in March of 1998 and she has been my heart dog ever since. Bryn was a unique combination of sensitive nature with lots of drive. She taught me that you don’t have to push or pull dogs around, just show them what you want in a non-confrontational way and they are happy to comply. Bryn also taught me not to underestimate dogs. She made me realize that breed or temperament was not an excuse not to put the work into any dog you own. She taught me that the Shelties can gamble just as well as the border collies! So, because of her I treat all my dogs, border collie or not, the same with regards to their capacity to learn regardless of breed or temperament. 
Bryn also had a huge amount of patience. She was unbelievably patient with me over the years. I did all my learning on her, things changed a lot in her agility carer, she endured all the different training methods I have used over the years, she was very forgiving and I am incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to have her in my life. Stepping to the line with her was always an incredible honor. She carried me through so many events! She won every BC Regional Championship from 2002 to 2006, was a finalist in the USDAA Nationals her very first time she attended at 2 years old, was one of the fastest to earn her MADC (49 days) and her ATCHC doing that in only 9 trials. She earned her AAC Lifetime Achievement Award Nov 2007..
Bryn was called the “Bryncess” in our house, she always slept on the king size bed and held many hearts in her little paws. She will truly never be forgotten and will always be missed.
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AKA “Peak” – Shetland Sheepdog |
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AKA Bounce
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Standsure’s Fire and Brimstone http://standsurebordercollies.com
She is a LOT of dog, she already bosses the boys around, but is smart enough not to try it with the girls! She has amazing work ethic, learns extremely quickly and has lovely structure. She can be shy with strangers at first but once she knows you she never forgets you! She has a work ethic much like Bryn, “don’t make me do anything, just show me what you want and I will Synge is 19.5 inches. She has a great sense of humor which makes me laugh out loud because she comes across as so serious a lot of the time. I am enjoying working with her and I can’t wait to try her on sheep. I think she will be fantastic!
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Once I started to work with her I realized this was going to be a very long haul. She just had so many issues that caused her problems in the sport. After almost 4 years we finally got to a point where she could run a course without causing injury to myself or her. 
Piper was the third sheltie I owned. She is from a local breeder and when I picked her up she was free fed and a bit timid. She became progressively more and more timid as time went on. My sheltie Ceildhe was so out going I was surprised to find Piper so shy. I worked like crazy to get her over her fear of people and went a bit over board I think! Now she has no loyalty! If someone has food she is their best friend! When I first got Piper I didn’t fully comprehend just how amazing a dog she was. It took us a while to bond but in the end she is the dog who has brought me to where I am today and for that I will never be able to thank her enough.
Piper learned in spite of me. I wasn't the best trainer when Piper started; I was still training obedience with a choke chain because I thought that was what you did. It was because of her that I finally gave up that type of training. Our instructor had us using the choke chain (or pinch collar but I refused to use that!) to convince the dog to pick up the dumbbell. I felt horrible that I had to keep popping the collar to get her to take the dumbbell. I finally decided if this was how I was going to have to train her we were never getting a CDX! Then thank god we discovered clicker training! Piper blossomed! She LOVED this way of training and her repertoire grew in leaps and bounds. She was a fabulous trick dog, she loved to be shaped to learn new exercises and she looked like a different dog when I picked up the training bag!
All 5 remaining puppies have found great homes and we see 2 of them on a regular basis.
He is going to be a great dog with a huge stride and Rob is having a great time training him.
AAC Lifetime Achievement Award
Peak is my 4th Sheltie and is much like my 2nd sheltie Ceildhe. Peak thinks everyone loves her and is happy to launch herself on your chest or back. She has been more of a challenge to train in that she is quite soft and never wants to be wrong. I chose to give Peak an extra year of training before entering her in a trial. She did her first trial March 2007.
Bounce is our 4th Border Collie and came from Flashlite Kennels in Ontario. She is a niece to our Red Border Collie Sierra. I wasn’t sure I was going to get another border collie but this particular breeding came along and I liked Sierra so much that I couldn’t pass it up. I am so glad I didn’t!
Bounce has taught me a lot. She has incredible power in her body and sometimes her brain kicks in a bit too late! She has challenged me at every point of her training from her jumping skills to her flatwork and response to body motion. She has been to at least 7 Susan Salo Jump clinics and has continued to excel at each one. All her jumping issues now are my handling! She has pushed (or should I say forced) me to become a
better handler. She gives you no time to make any errors. She will always be a work in progress but I wouldn’t change a thing about her. I learn more working with her than any other dog except maybe her aunt Sierra. 
She is the perfect demo dog, travels great, is completely trustworthy in people’s homes and always gives me 110% when she works. She earned her ATChC in September of 2009. We continue to work on our handling skills together and hope to build a bit more consistency in her response to handling cues over the next couple years.
Synge is the newest addition to the family. I have been waiting for another Standsure puppy for a long time and she arrived in August 2008. Synge is a feisty Red and White girl out of Bryn’s niece Fia and Rising Sun Shep.(
give 120% to do it for you”. She never wants to be wrong. She very rarely is!