After Gage passed away in June 2010, we settled into life with 3 dogs for the first time in a very long time. It was nice to have 3 adult dogs for a change. And it was definitely easier. But knowing that Piper would be 8 years old in April 2011 and pushing 11 by the time a new puppy was ready to go, I began my search. It was a difficult journey. As I have only bought puppies from working lines in the past, I was having a tough go of it this time around. Many working breeders wanted to put stipulations on selling to a "sport" home, which I am considered. They wanted the puppy spayed or wouldn't sell to me because I do AKC activities. It was frustrating since I have had Border Collies for 23 years. I found a few breeders that were okay with selling to a sport home without all the red tape and put myself on their lists. It was my dear friend Megan Quigley who alerted me about the breedings at Handhills and for that, I am eternally grateful! I contacted Vickie, who came originally from agility, to discuss her upcoming litters and to see if she would be willing to sell to a sport home without a spay agreement. She had 2 litters coming up, one from her Gale which had a full waiting list, and one from Hanna, which had space on the waiting list. So I put my name on the list for Hanna... and waited. Who could have known that Hanna and Blaze would produce 7 girls and 1 boy on February 28, 2011 for Hanna's last litter? I had 3rd pick of the girls, after Vickie's and Norm's choices. It was all so exciting! My name was withdrawn from the 2 other lists I was on immediately. It's always good to keep your options open... But I didn't really need to worry about that any longer.
As Vickie knew the litter the best, I gave her some guidelines to what temperament and personality I was looking for and left it up to her. She had her eye on the split-face girl for awhile for us, but when the pup showed strong working interest at 5 weeks of age, she began to re-evaluate the girls. She and Norm were pretty set on the pups they were keeping, so she had 5 other girls to choose from for us. She settled on the pretty little girl she had named "Leah", for her sister, for us. It has been a wonderful choice. "Leah", now known as Gem, is everything Vickie said she is and more. She is social, outgoing, focused, bold, fearless, intelligent and pretty too. A grand combination! Gem loves to retrieve and best of all, she is very bonded to me. She takes life as it comes... loves to travel... and sleeps through the night. YAY!
So what is planned for wee Gemmie? For now, we are just having a grand time watching her grow up and discover new things. For the long term? Well, we'll just have to see. I am hoping she is a versatile BC like Piper and Seeker, excelling and enjoying multiple activities. I would love to get back to competitive obedience. Gem is retrieving a dumbbell to hand. That's a start. I've already had people inquiring as to whether I am planning on breeding her. She has many things to do and accomplish before I even consider that, including passing all of her health and genetic tests, which 2 of them she already has... CERF and BAER and most importantly showing me that she has true working ability and will be an asset to the breed. Everything else will come in time... I can't wait to see what the future brings and all the fun we'll have!
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