No quit

Yup...that would be Kilt and Champ.  I think you could hit them over the head with a tire iron and these dogs wouldn't quit working.  I have never seen Jet or Yoko show any signs of quit, but they are softer dogs...bendable, more biddable.  They will tire in the heat. Kilt and Champ will stand up to anything.  Great for hard ranch work because they have 24/7 stamina.  They both are built like sprinters, but can go ALL day.  Wayne says he has never seen dogs with lean hard muscle like Kilt and her son.  I think he is right.

Kilt was too hard a dog for me for my 2nd dog after Jet.  She made the rules and has always been difficult for me to trial.  At home on stock, she is my dream dog.  Now, I have her Buzz son and I may have met my match.  LOL   Champ is tough.  He is trying to listen, but he has lots going on his head.  I think there is a little devil sitting on one shoulder saying, "You must WORK, you must WORK."  And, on the other shoulder, mostly drowned out by the devil, is a little angel softly saying, "Listen to her. Do what she says."  I can be super hard on him and he pops back like it was nothing.

Last night was our 5th obedience class.  He came to the class with his tail wagging.  Yea.  I get there early so he can watch baseball practice, football practice, and the kids on the basketball court.  He loves all women, but is still a bit fearful of boys and men.  Before and after his class, I play frisbee with him.  This is a toy driven dog, fer sure.  The first 15 minutes of his class he was an idiot.  He kept sniffing the ground (he knows that "OUT" means stop sniffing).  I was tired after the first 15 minutes.  Then all of a sudden, the neurons synapsed and he turned into a little super star.  He started heeling and looking up at me.  I almost fainted.  He has the downs, sits, and stays already and is doing a nice job with his recalls.  The little min-pin that broke away from her handler the other week and charged Champ is his nemesis right now.   I think he is truly scared of the little beast.  It barks at him and he wants to lunge at it.  If I heel past it, Champ tries to heel on my other side.  That shows me he is worried about that killer min-pin.  Get over it, Champster.  There are bigger things to worry about. :0)

I wish there was a trustworthy dog park to take him.  But, the only one we have is filled with Chows, Pit Bulls, etc.  They all look like they know each other.  It seems every time someone says, "My dog would like to meet your dog."  I say "okay" and their dog comes at Champ like a heat seeking missile.  Shit!  Not only does it scare Champ, but it scares me.  So, I guess his socialization will have to come from sheepdog trials and hopefully, I can get him to an agility trial to watch.

Champ is an ongoing piece of work.  So, I know that the people who have his litter mates are having to put in a heck of alot of hours into them, too.  It's not that they aren't biddable, it is because they can't stop "working." I have put in MANY, MANY hours in with this pup trying to make a citizen or something out of him.  I hope it will be worth it in the end.  LOL