Five years ago, on November 10, 2007, a special little angel entered our lives. Her name is Rainey.
It's hard to believe that five years have flown by. It seems like the other day that Tess had pups and Jeff got one of them as his Christmas present. But the days and flown by, the pups are all grown up now and Rainey just turned five years old. She was the runt of the litter, half the size of her brothers but she was feisty. She would push her brothers aside to get the best seat at the milk bar and had the loudest shriek. We always keep a female from each litter so this selection was easy. Somehow she knew she was the chosen one and grew up to be the DIVA.
Rainey, as per tradition, was named after a female musician. She was named after Ma Rainey. She has various other nicknames such as Petunia, Bug, Bunny, Rain-bug, Princess, Baby, Diva and Baby-Girl. She is quite spoiled and her mother Tess still dotes on her. She will come into the house, soaking wet and Tess will lick her dry. At night, she sleep in my arms or next to me on the bed. But she gives me everything I ask of her. She is my right hand on the farm and my Open Dog.
I appreciate www.dogbarkcollar.com for making this post possible.
As a puppy, Tess and Rain would snuggle together.
She started her sheep work early. Here she is practicing a take down.
She needed an education on working sheep so read various sheep books, then went to Scott Glen for her foundation training.
She was the Christmas gift to Getty. She is his dog and will be here forever. She won't work for him as she is a one person dog but is his lapwarmer and watches football in his lap.
She is my lapwarmer at trials. She has taken over the role from her mother, Tess.
She was slow to mature and finally began to run well at 3 years old. Janet Thorpe ran her in Novice and Ranch until one day, Rainey decided she only wanted to run for me. She ran quite well for Janet too! We have no idea what happened but you couuld see at the trial, she decided to switch handlers. She will work for Janet if I am not home but if I am home, she ignores everyone else.
She is not the pushiest dog but is super obedient. She has a bit of eye so I have to manage her. She won't back down if a ewe charges her and is kind to her sheep. Her drive is the hardest part for her but she has gotten much better. She did great in PN, winning or placing high. After her third trial in PN, people began to ask when she was going to move to Open. When I first started to run her, I had no expectations and just wanted us to have fun. Many hours of practice, she got better and she began to shine. She runs different than Maid or Nan and is very senstive. She won Reserve PN dog of the year in the WASH Stockdog Club last year. I just moved her up to Open this fall.
She has a nice way with her sheep and they like her. On heavy sheep, she will struggle. Oddly enough she does well on range or hair sheep. She got third at Palm Cottage in PN.
At LaCamas in PN, she did well too and place fifth.
She just moved up to Open. Some trials have been a struggle for her. At Fire Ridge, she didn't give up.The sheep tried numerous time to break away and she patiently kept bringing them back. She timed out on the last leg but her heart was huge.She wanted to cross but took my redirect on the fly and went blindly to where I told her. She trusts me and I trust her. She won't be the top Open dog, not for the lack of try but not having that extra push. But she does everything I ask of her and is a shedding machine and pens greats. Her outwork is awesome but her drive is hard. This Sunday was the longest drive in Open, that we have had at a local trial, and she did it. One ewe wanted to break away but she held her to the group. We timed out as she came in for the shed and it was the best shed. The sheep are some of the toughest to shed and she had the shed in seconds. I had no hole, but called her in, she made the shed and held the stomping ewes off. I will pick and chose the trials for her but she is fun to run.
Rain is like her mother is some ways. Loving and willing to do what you want of her. She is a small version in look of her father, Delmar Scot and has his working style but not his push. At the farm, she moves anything I ask of her, will grip as needed and goes where I send her, with no sheep in sight, but trusting me that they are out there. She puts the poultry away for me and does most of the farm chores. She loves to swim and is a water dog. Rain loves to watch football, upside in Getty's lap and is quite spoiled. She adores my mom and Aunt Kimiko and is their shadow. No matter how well or not, she does at trial, she is here to stay. She is our little Princess and the love of our life. Tess made sure she has left a pup of hers that we can spoil and love as much as we love her.She loves to cuddle and if often next to me on the couch.
Happy Birthday, Bunny!
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