Happy Birthday to DeltaBluez Rainey

It’s hard to believe that she is four years old today. Of course, she still acts like a puppy and still is quite spoilt by her mother, Tess. Tess still cleans up when she is dirty or wet and lets her eat out of her bowl, or steal food from her mouth.

She was the runt of the litter, about half the size of everyone else. Nevertheless, she was a tough little pup that would fight her brothers for the best space at the milk bar. She was the only female and we kept her. She was Getty’s Christmas present the year she was born. She was still tiny and fit into his hands.

She loved to watch American Idol and when the singing was especially horrendous, her eyes would widen in white eyed terror and her ears would flatten down. She loves to watch football and if often found in Getty’s lap, upside down and getting belly rubs. She is especially fond of the music by the “Sparkfarmers”.

Over the years, she has had many people be part of her journey growing up. She was puppy raised by a couple of friends while I recovered from heart surgery, then came back and started to help me do sheep chores. She went to Scott for winter training and spent some time on the trial circuit with him, running in a few trials. She came home and began to learn the role that her mother was going to turn over to her.

Rainey ran in a few trials with Janet and was successful in the lower classes, then summer of this year, began to run for me. She is quite willing and wants to be perfect. She will stand up to a charging ewe and I have never seen her back down. In her mind, she is a big dog and not afraid. She has won a few PN trials.  She will grip on command and has taken over most of the farm chores since Tess has retired.

Off stock, she is the princess. She thinks that she needs to snuggle to me on the couch, sleep on the bed and gets treats. When the alarm goes off in the morning that is her signal to squirm between us and wake me up for pets. She thinks she needs to sleep next to us on the bed as her mother does that too.

She will watch Tess, and then imitate what she does. I have trained her with Tess by her side, in tough situations. She has been a great stall dog when it time to worm, vaccinate or do any sheep work. She can single down to a solo ewe and march it to the pen. Quit is not in her vocabulary. She is not the strongest driver but will keep plugging along and as the weeks slipped by, she has gotten stronger and more confident.

However, mostly, she is our pet, our little Tess puppy and a cherished member of the family. She is the little pup that could.  She has  a series of nicknames, "Bunny, Rain-bug, Bug,  Daddy's little girl"

And, we wish her a Happy Birthday.