Who says dogs can't fly?
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Trek and Ceilidhe (pronounced Kaylee) are well-bred dogs,
meaning both parents are working dogs. Trek’s father was a champion trial dog from
Wales (smooth-coated red dog). Having never been to a sheepdog trial, we took our puppy to
a trial in Pittsboro. She stayed glued to the fence the entire time! Her eyes followed the
sheep up and down the field. We thought perhaps she might have some of her father’s
instinct, so we took her to a trainer for assessment. Kent Kuykendall thought for sure
that she would make a fine herding dog, but needed to grow up a bit, and be exposed to
livestock. A few months later we took Trek to a local trainer, Homer Rowland in Fuquay.
Homer trains border collies to herd cows for farmers throughout North Carolina. He starts
dogs on sheep because they are not as intimidating as cows. We bought our first dog (Mik,
now deceased) from Homer’s uncle Jack. Jack had told us of Homer’s work with
dogs, so we asked him if he would allow us to give his sheep a good run! Homer has been
very kind to let us work the dogs as much as we like (except when the ewes are heavy with
lamb). Trek was bred to Bill, Kent Kuykendall’s Purina Champion trial dog in 1995.
Ceilidhe was the runt of the litter. When it was time for Bett and Bill to choose the
puppy they wanted to keep, they let Trek choose for them! They let Trek play with each
puppy individually, and then all together. The puppy she played with the most was
Ceilidhe. One of the puppies, Pat, lives with Homer now and works cows and sheep everyday
out on the farm. The other two puppies, Blu (because of one blue eye) and Queen, now live
with Felicia and Steve Lewis. They have three cats that don’t mind being herded
around the house, and they have a large yard and woods to run and roam in everyday.
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Ceilidhe is a ‘stylish bitch’
according to Kent, in her herding
style. She is a smooth-coated red dog, like both her grand-parents. She is one of very few dogs who get terribly excited
over bright lights and shadows. She herds reflections
throughout the house, and in the car when the sun is refracted off of
watch crystals.
Her best buddy is "Mr.
Beam", the flashlight! She knows which drawer in the kitchen where he is
kept, and if she could open it herself, she would take him out to play
at her will!
The dog's TAIL is the key to the seriousness of their work. when they
are young their tails will wag and flip upward. When they are ready to
work, their tails will be held down.
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Border Collies are extremely bright dogs. They understand our vocabulary to the point where we need to spell words sometimes. They even understand our movements to an art. Borders need a lot of exercise, so Bett walks with them 5 or 6 miles everyday and We both take them for an evening run in the woods. Even this is not enough. Working Border Collies will run 50 + miles a day, and still be ready for more. The dogs are bred for work, and they need something to do almost all the time. Work for Trek and Ceilidhe is playing ball or tug of war with stuffed toys. The minute we sit down, they are upon us bearing gifts of tennis balls and stuffed animals. If some Border Collies get too bored, they can find their own work to do, often not something to make their owner very happy.
In their younger days, Trek and Ceilidhe got the best of all worlds: nearly daily walks at Umstead State Park, or Schenk Forest, which are only a few minutes away from home. They also got to develop their natural instinct to herd sheep in their visits to ‘Uncle Homer’, and ‘Uncle Kent’. After all, we let our son play soccer and baseball, so why not let our darlin’ daughter dogs herd sheep! While we were on vacation in June of 1999, Trek and Ceilidhe received formal training from Kent at his ranch outside of Siler City. They polished up a few skills, and broke a few bad habits. What an exciting treat for them to be at "Sheepdog Camp"!
Trek was bred again to Bill in November of 1998. She whelped January 28th 1999. Seven beautiful puppies, 4 boys and 3 girls. Six are black and white, one is ‘red’ or mahogany in color. All of them have wide white, classic Border Collie collars. They will make wonderful working dogs on a farm and loving affectionate family pets, good with children (they will keep kids ‘in line!’) If started in training early, they will pick up their own toys and put them away!
One of the pups (Sox) went home with Kent and Gwen to be a #1 trial-winner sheepdog. Zipper made her home in Indiana where her mom and brother, sisters and other canine companions will help make her be an ‘agility queen’. Kilmer will live in Asheville and hike the trails with his new mom and dad. Gracie comes to visit on Thursdays while dad learns a few licks on guitar. She will be an active agility and herding puppy and played on the local flyball team. Harley (whom we called Mr. Wide as he had the largest collar, but turned out to be the widest puppy) lived in Pittsboro on 17 acres of land with some goats, sheep, horses kids (human kind) and other canine companions. He moved to California early in 200? to work on a cattle ranch. The other two pups, Star and Tre (short for Trefalen) remain with Bett, Bill, Trek and Ceilidhe. They all moved 2000 to 3 acres of land (still in Raleigh---believe it or not!) in a nice spacious home with plenty of room for all of them to run around! It was too difficult to say good-bye to everyone. Some HAD to stay! More about their environs at Little Lake Hill.