introduction

[Guest Penny Tose]

I'm Penny Tose. My expertise is in being a

dog trialing version of the

little

engine that could.

 

It took me years to move from novice wrecks to pro-novice dogs not listening

ever

to open dogs not listening ever and then finally to open dogs listening most

of the time to all commands both correct and incorrect. I now keep about 75

sheep and usually

read trial results from the top down instead of from the bottom up.

 

Most people, including my friends and family, did not think my success

(modest though it is by

the standards of someone training and handling a Nick or a Nan or a Hannah)

would be

possible

even

if I had bought a trained dog, which I did not. My ineptitude teetered

between cosmic and monumental. I had never been around sheep until I got my

first border collie.

 

Nevertheless, my dog Taylor (grandson of my first border collie) was 1999

Reserve Nursery Champion and made it into the top 20 in the 2001 National

Finals. His littermate Jordan ran first that year in the opening 150 dog

round of the National Finals. She is a well respected dog and has won

several difficult and demanding trials over the years, including Woodbury's

Powder River Classic in Wyoming and O'Donnells' in South Dakota.

 

My first border collie was

not registered at all. When I picked her out, I told the breeder to give

me the puppy least likely to be a good working dog because all I wanted was

a pet and her dogs worked cattle. She told her son, "Crawl under the porch

and grab that puppy that always runs back under the house."

 

The puppy, once grabbed, knew a good thing when she saw it, never whined

once about leaving her littermates, and became outgoing. I thought she

would never see a sheep, then one day I read a classified ad in the

newspaper for stock

dog classes.

 

She was

way too smart to heed to anything I shrieked while she

was working, and it is possible that the breeder was right about her

potential. However, like everyone else with a first dog, I relished

believing

that she would have been great if I had known what I was doing. I always

wanted trainers to work her instead of doing it myself. It was because of

this dog, her name was Dixie, that my husband and I moved to Montana and

bought our first play farm.

 

I bred Dixie and got Emily. Emily became the first dog to be registered on

merit by the American Border Collie Association. Several years before that,

Bill Berhow kindly agreed to breed his Tweed to Emily. From that litter, I

kept Jordan and Taylor. I now have another generation, two dogs from

Jordan's only litter, and my husband has a Taylor son. I just moved one of

Jordan's sons to open and will move the

other when I retire Taylor.

 

When I started training Emily, I went to Roxanne Linderman in Belgrade,

Montana. She said, "What are your goals?"

 

"To win a dog trial," I said.

 

Roxanne, who knew perfectly well I meant a novice dog trial, paused long

enough to frame a tactful answer. She said, "Let's talk about achievable

goals."

 

I didn't have a clue about achievable goals, and this was after several

years of lessons working Emily's dam.

 

In sum, I think that if you haven't grown up around livestock (I don't mean

to include horses...although that might help you, it didn't help me), the

learning curve is steep and requires stubbornness. I have endless patience

with people who know that working a dog once or twice a week at someone

else's house usually means that it will take years and years longer than it

otherwise might to become

competent. I have no patience with instant experts (gosh, had a border

collie two years) or for old

timers who think they know everything just

because they think they do and do some set out. Both are tiresome and

reflect complacency, not hard work.

 

Penny

[Guest pshanny]

Penny is a person that I have known almost from the start. She will admit with everyone, that she wasn't the most talented person when she started. But her determination and education with sheepdogs has made her a "contender" at any trial she attends. She can...and has...won many of the most difficult trials.

 

She is a person that has a great perspective on starting out. She has helped many a "newbie" get on the right track, and if she doens't know the answer, she isn't afraid to admit it and ask someone else for help. Look for her to be a great mentor.

[Guest Brookcove]

Yea, Penny! You are one of my inspirations - hope I can stand more or less where you are today and tell a similiar story. Right now I'd be happy just to move up before I'm to old and stiff to walk to the shedding ring. :roll:

[Guest Pipedream Farm]

In sum, I think that if you haven't grown up around livestock ..... the learning curve is steep and requires stubbornness.

 

From someone who feels they are finally making some headway up the steep side of the curve (no previous livestock experience), thanks for agreeing to be the Expert.

 

Mark