My Blue ACD

** JD's Pedigree **     JD is *Major Pointed** 

UCI Ch. Arohne I-Karumba Blu Boomerang HIC                                           JD at 2006 ACDCA National Specialty 

JD came into our lives in July 2006.  After several attempts at bringing another puppy/dog into our family, I became friends with Lou and Mara Meyers of Arohne Australian Cattle Dogs.  I had been looking for a nice bitch for several years and came across theirs (CH Teddee's Arohne Pal Joey) at a local dog show.  In March of 2006 the Meyers' bred their bitch to Jim and Louanne Brooks' dog Scooter (CH Hillhaven's Miracle).  On May 19, two girls and 1 boy (all blue) were born.  JD, originally named Bat by Lou and Mara, has a half mask.  I am very grateful to Lou and Mara for opening their home to me and letting me watch the pups grow and develop.  It was an experience I will never forget.  I brought JD home on the 15th of July and it has been an adventure ever since.  It had been 7 years since I brought Sydney home and I had forgotten a lot about puppies.

The advantages of getting a puppy from a good breeder:

1.)  The puppies have been born into a clean, well-cared for environment.

2.)  The puppy has been handled from Day 1.     

3.)  The puppy has usually been crate-trained (or started to be crate-trained) .

4.)  The breeder has started house training the puppy.

5.)  The breeder has introduced the puppy to a variety of things or objects.

6.)  The breeder has introduced the puppy to a variety of people.

7.)  The breeder has taken the puppy to different places.

8.)  The breeder has begun grooming the puppy (i.e. trimming toenails, brushing, etc.).

        JD at 12 weeks             9.)  In some cases the breeder has also introduced the puppy to other dogs in or outside the home

                                                    to begin the socialization process.

         9 weeks                      9 weeks                     8 weeks                   4 months                     6 months                    9 months                11 months

See More Photos Here

The 4 month picture was taken at the Specialty in Minnesota and is courtesy of Great Dane Photography.  This was our first show and while I had been practicing with JD's honorary "cattledog sister" Rani in ASCA, it had not prepared me for showing a puppy.  He did well and let the Judge examine him which for being in a new and strange place with other dogs and noise, etc. was pretty good.

Well, JD has changed a lot over the last nine months.  He is now sleeping in a 400 crate and is actively marking and lifting a leg.  It doesn't seem that long ago that I was training him to sit and lie down and NO BITE.  He still tries to take the Jolly ball from Sydney, just like he did at 9 weeks, but now he is usually more successful than not.  His first conformation show is in a couple of weeks and it will be interesting.  He had his first real stock lessons recently.  He moved some ewes and lambs, on a line, and he gathered and moved some very compliant cows, also on a line, but he did have one turn and stare at him.  He stared back and he was so proud of himself when she turned off.  His chest puffed up.  He had been flirting with lifting his leg to pee all weekend and two days later, there it was.  Another milestone is that he is now actively retrieving.  This was the puppy that went and got the crumpled piece of paper but ran off with it, so I am very happy that he has decided to work with me.  [Did I mention that he is now ball crazy and loves to retrieve water logged milk jugs (his favorite game), the more water splatter the better, especially if you can dunk the milk jug in the pool and then fling it from side-to-side and spray everyone within a 5 ft radius.  @#$% that water is cold!!!]

It is difficult to believe that JD is 15 months old already.  His show career has started out rather slow.  JD has 3 AKC Championship Points and competition has been hard to come by lately.  There have been a few shows where we were the only entry.  There was a nice entry at Purina Farms in late May for a Judge from  Argentina but we placed third in our class.  The Judge on the previous day also gave us third place and as she put it "Third place goes to the hopping dog".  All I can say is that it is never a dull moment.  "J" took his first Best of Breed under Mrs. Robert Forsyth in June, so that was rather special.  I had the opportunity to show under Ms. Joan Zelinski at the Sedalia, MO show in July.  She put up Joey for Breed at the St. Joseph, MO show back in Feb. 2003.  I took the opportunity to ask her what she liked about "J" and she commented that he moved well, had a nice head and nice fill under the eye.  I think he is coming together nicely, now about that handler........  His herding career is starting out a little slower.  We have put him on sheep and cattle (briefly) and his confidence is starting to show through.  He is beginning to settle down and is becoming more comfortable around stock.  We are also working on some basic obedience and he may be ready to enter Rally obedience soon in preparation for going on to earn his AKC CD.

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January 2008

I just can’t believe that in May, JD will be 2 years old.  Yeah, he has survived, it’s been by the skin of his teeth, but he has survived.  He now has 6 AKC Championship Points.  We had a very nice entry for the September 21^st weekend at Purina.  Even with the change in the Points schedule back in May, we were able to have a 3 pt major in bitches but only 2 pts for dogs.  Under Katie Gammill, JD went BOW for the crossover and his first major.  She was very understanding and switched our order with the bitch (who was in heat) behind us.  I have to say that this may have given us an unfair advantage.  (No, not really!) After all, he now had a reason for reach and drive. BOYS!!!!!

His herding career is still going slowly.  Not by his lack of enthusiasm but I just haven’t been able to get to work him lately.  I have put him on goats now.  He hates being on a line so I am weaning him off (with a few reminders here and there).  I n our latest outing, I was getting dizzy going around the round pen so I set up an exercise for him to take the 5 goats out of the corral and put them in the alleyway and then put them back in the corral.  Well, he peeled off the first 2 and put them in the top corner of the alleyway, he then came back and peeled off the next goat and so on until all 5 were in the corner.  He then laid down crossways and said you guys are staying in the corner.  I had to put the line on him so they would come off the fence.  They were not going anywhere.  We’ll have to work on that.

He has discovered the plastic dumbbell.  I put him aside so he could watch and then set Sydney up for the retrieve-on-the-flat Open obedience exercise.  His expression was priceless. “You mean I can retrieve things other than a ball!!!???!!!”  He still tries to pick it up on the end but it’s his first few times, so I figure that will go away with practice.  I am just glad that I don’t have to do a forced retrieve with him.  I was really dreading that since he can be so opinionated about things.

August 2008

Yes, in case you are wondering...JD did live to see his 2nd Birthday.  Our first experience with getting X-rays for OFA didn't really work out so well.  They anesthetized him but still could not manipulate his legs into position because he has too much muscle.  Anyway, that is the story they gave me but I am not sure what really happened.  I am going to insist on being there the next time we do this.  The X-rays did not come out well for OFA purposes but if I had to look at them from a lay person's point of view---the balls of the femurs fit tightly into the sockets which were deep and round.  So unless, the OFA view gives a completely different perspective, I expect him to be given no less than a Good rating.

September 2008

What a difference a Vet makes.  JD had his second appointment for OFA X-rays.  This time the Vet I had originally made the appointment with did them.  Not only was she able to get the elbows but she got the hips without anesthesia!!!  I was skeptical that JD would cooperate but this Vet is very calm and has taken many OFA type X-rays so she was able to convince him that this is what he wanted to do.  The X-rays will get submitted next week and we'll see what the verdict is.   As they say, patience is a virtue, but the waiting has been a royal pain.  I finally got the results in the mail and as expected we have Good hips (ACD-2356G27M-VPI) and Normal elbows (ACD-EL499M27-VPI).  I am just glad that part is over and now we just have this year's CERF exam.  I may have to wait a little while to do Penn Hip since it can be so involved.  I need to recuperate first.

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