Zio the Border Collie: December 2011

Rescue a Border Collie

Border Collies are my favorite breed for all of the reasons that get too many of them into trouble with owners that aren't prepared for living life with this breed. Not everyone is cut out to provide the activities, exercise, and mental stimulation needed for the majority of BC's.

I try to help with rescuing abandoned border collies from kill shelters when I can, but it's a heartbreaking issue at times. At any one time, there are at least a dozen that I'm following across the country that I'd adopt myself if I could. Instead, I do what I can to help and try and get them out of a bad situation. If you're ready for a border collie, please be open to the idea of rescuing one from a shelter.

Friday, December 23, 2011

2011 in Review

We've been fairly limited on backyard practicing because
a) it gets dark early,
b) it's been rainy and wet
c) it's been too cold (for me!)

Sunday practices have been pretty good. I know some of the newer people think Zio really has his act together, but it's only been ten short months since our first tournament in February where his turns just imploded. You would never have guessed we had worked on anything over the winter. Fast forward to today and he is light years ahead of where we were then, mainly due to a tip from Trish Keck. She suggested that we use the gutter parallel with the lane to push him over in the lane away from the ball. We used that or a modified version of it for months and it has really made it click for him.

I predicted early in the year that Zio could hit a 3.9 with his new turn and he did it the first time in April (3.987) and with an official singles time of 3.953 in May. I also predicted that we would break into the 17's as a team and we did that in April (17.804) at the qualifiers. We ended the year with a club best time of 17.753 set during championship weekend with Zio, Cody, Wisp, and Jean-Luc.

My little man continues to be the poster child for tugging at practices. I sort of like it when people look at him and think he's a finished product, because I feel like I'll always be working on one thing or another... especially his turns.

It has definitely been an eventful year. Starting out as the new team captain, all of the veteran's efforts in getting newcomers involved, and even a new logo for our fresh start has made a big difference. Our practices are more organized, we did a ton of demos, and we have had a lot of great people join us with the promise of an even better 2012. I see a lot of dogs that might have the stuff to join the club team and push us even faster!