Maggie's Story. Part 1 of I-don't-know-yet

MAGGIE’S STORY

She was a semi-rough border collie… classic black and white with a split face. Her black parts were sleak and shiney, with a big white ruff around her neck that was prefect to bury your face in- to muffle a laugh or dry a tear. The very tip of one ear was blue merle… the only merle spot on her whole body, and we called it her “kissy spot.” On the white side of her face she had a thin line of black that formed a perfect eyeliner which even curled up at the outside…. in the style of Gina Lollobrigida. She was patient, sweet, gentle, quiet, fast, protective, and smart. And her name was Murphy.
It may seem odd to begin one dog’s story with a description of another dog, but to fully understand Maggie, you have to first know Murphy. Murph was our first border collie.

The County Fair

It was 1994 and I had been looking for a blue merle Aussie for about a year. Aussies had only recently been recognized as a breed by the AKC and I was excited to have one of these beautiful working dogs. But either there were not many Aussie breeders in Missouri at that time or else I traveled in the wrong circles, because I just never found one and had given up on the idea of getting a new dog.
In the fall of that year we went to rural Missouri for a weekend visit with Grandma and it happened that the local county fair was that weekend. For those of you that have never experienced a real county fair, there isn’t really anything else that compares. Sure, there are carnival rides, but that isn’t where the heart of the fair is. First, there are the competitions… baking, sewing, art and agriculture. Future Farmers of America (FFA) members will parade their shiny black angus or bold charolais calves, trying to earn that coveted blue ribbon. And no one is concerned that these freshly bathed and brushed entries may be the entrees at next year’s fair.
There is always a "Miss County" pageant for which girls have prepared for months. Decorated coffee cans sit near cash registers at every gas station, feed store and restaurant throughout the county asking for "votes" with your loose change. And the daughters of the owners of those businesses always have the advantage as mom and dad remind the patrons to vote for their little sweetheart. The girls show up at the fairgrounds with their hair in intricate updos, wearing southern-belle style ball gowns-often made by mom or grandma-in the hope of winning the rhinestone crown and getting their photo on the cover of the county paper.
The ladies from the Baptist church sell pies and the Lion’s club men BBQ. The Job’s Daughters have a ring toss game, and the High School principal and some of his friends play their guitars on the main stage while people from the audience get up and sing a song or two. And we all know one another… maybe not well, but well enough to say things like “isn’t that Maude and Ed’s granddaughter? When did she get braces?”
But my favorite part of the fair, and that part that attracted us this year, was the rodeo. Not like PBR (professional bull riding) but real rodeo. Calf roping, team penning, barrel racing… real rodeo excitement provided by our neighbors. We settled into our seats early with our BBQ and some goodies from the band bake sale and waited for the rodeo to begin. As they unloaded the calves and cattle from the trailers into the arena, three slender dogs jumped from one truck and began helping sort the cows and load them into the right chutes so that they would be ready.
Team penning, an event where three riders on horseback separate three cattle from the herd of 30 and push them into a pen, was first. At the county fair, the cattle are numbered and three numbers are drawn at random. Also, one of the riders had to be a woman. I don’t know if these are the real rules or not… I’ve never seen a team penning outside the fairgrounds, but that is the way they do it at the fair. Once the cows had been penned or time ran out, the cows were driven back to the end of the arena to begin again. Often, these black and white bullets were turned loose to drive the cattle back and people in the audience often applauded. After the last team ran, the announcer thanked the owner of the dogs and said “if anyone else was as impressed with John’s dogs as I was, they might want to stop over here by the booth, because his favorite stock dog, Lucy, brought her litter of pups with her. And you might be able to talk John out of one or two if you have a few dollars to spare.”
“Oh Momma, can we look? Can we just go take a look at them?” I knew that it was probably a bad decision, but I said yes and we went to take a peek at Lucy’s pups. Five wiggly little balls of black and white fur were in the cardboard box lined with straw. John said he’d take $40 if we wanted one. They were all pretty much alike except for one… a split faced female that caught our interest. They were wormy, dirty, smelly, and adorable. The forty dollars was out of my hand before I even had a chance to think about it. I didn’t have a leash with me, but John threw in a yard of baling twine for free.

Cold.Hard.Cash.

People often ask us what we win when we do agility, and are very surprised to hear me say "a ribbon... maybe a rosette." They always follow up with "you don't win any money?" ... like I forgot about that part. No, no money... just a ribbon. And if we make even one tiny mistake, we don't even get the ribbon. Most people can't understand that we do this for fun.

However, this weekend we participated in an agility match sponsored by USDAA, rather than AKC. They gave out ribbons as well (just flat ones, not rosettes). But, to my delight at the end of the day Sunday I found out that Maggie's second place finish in the Steeplechase event didn't earn a ribbon, but an envelope with $25! Maggie's first paycheck. I wonder how she'll spend it.

she's gone...

I have been very busy with Christmas preparations, so I have not been keeping up with the blog, but I wanted to offer a quick post on the status of the puppy. Despite the fact that all of my friends were betting that she would stay with me, I passed her along to her new family on Saturday.
I miss her happy little face and wagging tail terribly, but I know that she is in the right place. Her new family is looking for their next performance dog and Killian should be able to fill that need nicely. As happy as I am for her and her new family, I'm still just a little sad for us.
But I have the perfect cure.... now that the snow is melting, I'll be doing dog-poop patrol. That should remind me why we don't need another dog.
Happy journey little girl!

Dogs in Hats

I'm the kind of person that frowns on dog coats. Not the kind that are genuinely meant to keep a dog warm when needed... I understand that some breeds just cannot handle the cold. And the Old Duck (Mopsy) has coats for the winter... at 16, I don't want her spending any energy on keeping warm. I'm talking about fashion coats. Like their fur isn't pretty enough? Anyway, you would think that this dislike for coats would travel on to other parts of the dogs anatomy, but it doesn't. For some reason, I love love love putting hats, headbands, scarfs- you name it- on my dogs and taking their picture. Though I have to admit, it isn't really about making them look better... quite the contrary. It makes me giggle to see their silly faces-looking at me like I'm killing them. It reminds me of when my kids were little (especially Sarah) and I'd buy them a new outfit and they HATED it. But, I made the kids wear it anyway, and I don't want anyone saying I give preferential treatment to the dogs, so, bring your little furry heads out here... I have HATS!

Ree, especially hates hats. But unlike most dogs which immediately paw them off, Ree gets paralyzed. You can pose her in any way and she won't budge. Except for her eyes which roll at you.

The old duck won't wear a hat. Go ahead, give it a try. She'll rip your face off.

We gave the puppy a go at it. Maybe her future home will want her to wear a hat too, so might as well get her introduced to it.

See? equal opportunity. Love the kids as much as I love the dogs.

Dave! bring the dog over! I've got some great santa beards for you guys to try on!

Killian remains...

Despite several people saying that they planned to apply to adopt Miss Killian, there have been no new applications. I can't believe that people are not begging for her... is it the holidays and that people think they are too busy to deal with a puppy right now? Is it her mixed heritage (Aussie/BC)? Because as far as puppies go, there is probably not a better one out there. She has such a great disposition (always happy), she is a quick learner, and she is cute as button. I know that the right family is out there for her... but why are they taking so long? Don't they know how much it is going to hurt me to let her go? And it will get worse every day she stays here. Oh, please, where ever you are, your perfect little puppy is at my house.

More pictures...

Okay, I'll try to wean myself off of the picture taking, but I swear, you cannot take a bad photo of this puppy! She is such a doll.

I mentioned in an earlier post that she wrestles with Ree a lot, I have to separate them every so often, just to give them both a break. But every day she gets faster and smarter, so it won't be long until Ree has her hands (paws) full. Well, if she stays with us that long.

I think this is a cute picture of them playing together, but honestly the only thing I can think of when I look at it is "why don't you put the camera down and clean your yard!"

Does it get any cuter than this? I don't think so...

Growing FAST!

She's only been with me one week, but Killian has changed a lot in that time. The first few days she was content to nap and lay on my lap. But now that she has found out that Reba will run from her, she is no longer willing to be a lap dog.

She seems to be getting faster everyday, and Ree manages to keep just out of reach of those sharp little teeth. Of course, Reba could easily outrun her, but it makes Killian happy to think she's catching up, so Reba plays along.

Next, Killian tries out her best sheep-herding moves on Ree... Sorry little girl, but Ree knows all about that and your best stalking poses have no effect on her... Poor Ree will let the pup catch her once in a while, but you can tell she doesn't really enjoy it. She will let Killian maul her for a while and even bite a little... but once those teeth sink into Ree's ear or leg, Ree gives her a quick reprimand and Killian is back to her best behavior... for a little while.
Killian is still available for adoption through http://www.mokanbcrescue.org/. While the posting says that we are no longer accepting applications, we would still be willing to consider a new applicant that wants a working or performance dog. Though it is hard to promise how she will be as an adult dog, she appears to have a lot of promise for someone that is looking for an agility or herding dog. She would probably even make a nice therapy or assistance dog. Anyway, if you are interested in her, hop on over and fill out an application.