Lark

Ace is my first agility dog, a Border Collie/Aussie/??, I know for sure his mama was an Aussie and that's about it. He is a hand-me-down dog from my son that had to 'have a puppy' when he graduated from high school and was working on a ranch. He got the standard lecture about how much work and responsibility a puppy is but alas he came home with this little black and white puppy on a Friday night. He left the pup with me to puppy sit while he went out for the evening and the pup spent the night curled up on my shoulder and he was my dog from then on.

The pup is now 10 1/2 yrs. old and competing at the top of his game in agility. He has been to the NADAC Championships four times and had his best ever this past Sept. of 2008.

Ace is also a Flyball Champion, earning that title in one day of tournament competition in Coaldale, Canada on a team with Nancy Creel and Kili, Jean McCreight and Kintla and Sally Butcher and Tina.

Coledale Flyball Tournament

Ace's favorite class is Jumpers. He is a jumping fool and his eyes light up like a Christmas tree before Jumpers. We have a little song, Gretchen Wilson's "We're here for the party" that we sing in the warm up area before Jumpers. He recently earned his 400 point title in Elite Jumpers.

Because he is my first agility dog...he had to tough to survive all my changing handling techniques. He still has the old icky slow "hit it' contact on the dog walk but it works about 90% of the time. He breaks his start line stay a bit more recently, but at his age.......he can pretty much do whatever he wants! He is happy and I treasure every run with him.

Gadget: Life is Good

My second dog is a "rez" dog. Gadget, a Corgi/JRT/?? mix, was a stray in Polson, MT. He was caught and put in the pound and no one claimed him. His time was up and fortunately a rescue mom from Big Fork took him home. She put his picture on Montana Pets on the Net and that is where I found him. I emailed her about him and she said she had him neutered the day after she rescued him and the following day he was not doing so well so she took him back to the vet and he exploded with Parvo in the vet's office. They got him hooked up to IV's and saved him but she was not sure he would live so she told me to check back later.

In the meantime I was still searching for a second dog and I was a day away from adopting a Whippet in rescue in Portland. Fate would have it that someone from Portland adopted it that day. So I emailed again about the rez dog. The rescue mom told me. he did survive and he does have play drive. After more conversation and a home visit I was on my way to Big Fork. Gadget was my dog when I walked in the door of her house. She had about 20 dogs but he and I connected when I first laid eyes on him. We played a little ball and had a treat or two and a couple of times the rescue mom, Donna, would call him to her and he would run over to her. The third time she called him, he sat down on my foot and would not move. He pretty much said " I am going home with her".

So I had him ten days and he got bit by a rattlesnake at the place I was working at.........I drove about 110 mph to town to get him to the vet. He was convulsing and going into paralysis and all I could do was drive but I got him there in time and we saved him. He was one sick dog for about six months.

Then........because he had no recall on him and obviously had been chased very hard when he was finally caught as a stray in Polson....he darted out of my yard gate one day and ran across the street. I ran into the house to get some treats to help get him back.......and he chose to come back at the same time a pickup was going down the street.......and he ran right under, before my eyes, and crossed in-between the front and back wheels.

That's when I learned clicker training! He has spent most of his nine lives in the first few months that I had him. But since then he has done some amazing things in agility. He does flyball also but he has some luxating patella issues so I only do demos with him.

Flyball Demo with Gadget

Gadget had some seizures last year and I was about to retire him but after some acupuncture and a change in diet he is back better than ever. He has been to the NADAC Championships three times but until this year he always got shut down from the pressure and huge crowds,etc. This year he ran his little heart out and won a round of Touch N Go. placed in the top eight in Tunnelers, placed in the top eight in a Team event and Q'd in another round of Tunnelers.

Derby is my third agility dog. She is a Sheltie/Border Collie that I got out of a Sheltie rescue group in Denver. Somehow I was on a email list of a rescue group that sent an email saying "Amy needs a new home" and had a couple of pictures attached. The body of the email said she needed another home because she had too much drive and energy. I thought "too much drive??" and then I clicked on the pictures and I knew I had found my next dog. It was about two weeks before the NADAC Championships in Gillette of 2006. I made arrangements for her to get to Gillette from some folks coming from Denver so I got her in Sept. of 2006. In Sept. of 2007 she was competing at the Championships and brought home six ribbons.

She failed in three other pet homes and I can believe it. She is a great pet.......but she is so much more. She needed a job and agility is her thing. We connected at the right time.

Amy got a new name because she was starting a new life. Not long before the Champs in 2006, the Derby Fire came within ten miles of burning my home town so the term Derby was very common and my daughter and I have race horses so the Derby is something special to us. That is how I came up with the name Derby.

It is hard to describe her. She is sweet, she is insane, she only has one speed.....fast, she is intense, she is out of control, she is a herding fool, way too smart for her own good, she listens more all the time, and holy cow, is she fun!!

She can be a barking, herding nut case and then she can amazing. It is a roller coaster ride and I love it! She is ball crazy and I never have to say "are you ready"? She was born ready. She goes from zero to 100 in a split second.

As Bruce Vincent  (a NADAC judge) said "it is always much more fun to ride the roller coaster than the ferris wheel". She is my roller coaster.

She placed four times in the top eight in the 2008 Champs and had two more qualifying runs.

And yes, all my dogs are black and white.......I would swear that I did not plan it that way.......but my cat is black and white also.

About me.....I am the Animal Control Officer in the small town of Big Timber, MT. I am in this job for the dogs. I know most of the dogs in town and they know I have good treats! I try to make all the dogs as safe as possible and when I see one out running loose, I take it home a couple of times before I anything serious is done! I travel to Bozeman to train with my dogs enough that most folks think I am from Bozeman!