Pepper has her first "title" - she's officially a Canine Good Citizen.
We went to a match show last weekend, where she did the CGC and went
in the ring as a pre-novice. The match was put on by the collie club
I belong to (as well as a Samoyed and Husky club), so Pepper got to
meet lots of young collies.
The obedience part - well, we do need work. I don't have Pepper in
a structured class, though she did go to a puppy socialization class
and sat in on basic classes when she was 3-4 months old. She broke
both the sit and down stays, but her heeling is actually good - super
attention, brisk automatic sits, changes of speed and the figure
eight. She even did well on the stand for exam, although she slicked
back her ears and started wagging her tail like mad when the judge
came close to touch her, she kept her eyes on me. Not bad for someone
who isn't even 7 months old yet!
There is another match at the same place next week, so we'll get to
try out the pre-novice class again. I need it as much as Pepper - one
of the club members slipped me a copy of "Best Foot Forward" which is
mostly about how to avoid handler errors.
Even though her color is "wrong", Pepper is a beautiful dog. I knew
this anyway, but the collie people confirmed it. I don't know from
conformation, but from what I've been told she has good head planes,
good bone, a great outline and good angulation. Her ears are nice,
too - unlike most collies, she's never had to have her ears propped,
glued, or weighted to make them tip over properly.
There are new pictures of Pepper on her breeder's website (her
brother is first, she's on the bottom):
http://www.geocities.com/rainbowdeli...hitemerle.html

Jana
&Bonnie
&Pepper