I got Kate in October 2010 from Bonnie Block.
Kate's dam is Ellie Mae and her sire is Nap, who is a grandson of Alasdair's Nap.
Ellie Mae and Faye are full sisters out of my L&M Nan and by Imp Drift (Joni Swanke)
......a little history here........a few years ago.....
The same time I picked up Ellie Mae for Bonnie, I also got Faye for me. They were delivered to me by Joni Swanki at the USBCHA Sheepdog Finals in South Dakota about 6 years ago. They were around 8 weeks old and it was a big adventure for them. They made the long trek home to with me since Bonnie couldn't make it.
My pup was named Faye and Bonnie's pup was named Ellie Mae. Each night I would stand outside and call "Faye and Ellie Mae" and the other handler's doors would open and the rest of the handlers would help us in calling the girls, and we would have a few more singers joining us....and so forth....and then Faye and Ellie Mae would dash to several persons campsite and then back to ours. We provided free entertainment for every during the week long trial. Faye and Ellie Mae got to meet tons of people as everyone wanted to know these two dogs! After a while they had a little fan club and they really enjoyed getting all the attention at dinner time. A couple of times, someone played a guitar to the "Faye ans Ellie Mae recall" and it was funny. Amazingly enough, they were very well behaved and charmed everyone that was in range
I had Faye for years running her in sheepdog and cattle dog trials and I then sold her to a cow cutting operation and to be a future sheepdog trialist.
Ellie Mae stayed with Bonnie and had a little of pups. The sire, Nap was a grandson of Alasdair MacRae "Nap". George MacDonald owns the grandson. Nap. He is a real pistol!
There were a couple of boys and several girls. I wanted the spilt face bitch but got the cute one. She was quieter than the split face, We named her Billie Holiday....since our dogs have musical names.
We took her on a two week road trips (all trialing) and she did quite well. She would be social and then a brat sometimes. She handled the big change quite well and learned to tie out, crate, leash train and play with the big dogs and come back when call.
It was on this trip that the name of Billie really didn't suit her and her new name was changed to "KATE".....and once we used that name, She BOLTED BACK to us! So on her papers, the name was changed.
After I got home from the trip, we all settled back at the farm. Kate got to spend some time with friends and learn manners and grow up. She learned what "kennel up" meant and to be quiet on a chain. Not to grip the horses nose and ignore the chickens. The cats put her in her place with the sharp claws so she stays out of reach of them.
Finally Kate was old enough to work on stock at eight months, I took her out for a session in the lower field. She was soft but got got keener, Once her eye got stuck but with an aaahhhhh, she moved and that was the last time she got stuck.
Kate works very close to the ground and checks on the sheep.
She is soft on the sheep but doesn't let them get away.
All four off the floor
Spunky walk up to the sheep
I am not sure what happened here but each went their separate ways.
Checking the eye on the sheep.
Bringing them back to the barn
The Last Gather.
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