While it is fun to highlight the many wins that Hob Nob dogs compete and excel at in agility, herding, obedience, flyball, rally, etc. I am just as thrilled for all the Hob Nob owners and their teammates in AND out of the dog sports arena!  These are the often somewhat silent partners, so to speak, that deserve equal recognition!

Jan,

I wanted to tell you again what fantastic dogs you make, all of whom bring so much happiness to so many.   You likely receive communication from people who work the most with agility and sheep trials, but I know that other families like mine cherish their dog just as much in a different way.

Trio has turned into the most amazing herding dog....for little boys.  I've never seen a creature so attached to 6 year old boys as she is, after being raised with my son Logan.  

My mom watched her for a weekend while I was out of town.  She said that she took Trio and her dog for a walk one afternoon.  At some point she and her dog looked back, realizing that Trio had stayed behind in another yard, staring intently without moving.  My mother called her several times, but Trio simply couldn't bring herself to leave.  Since such refusals are unusual, my mom went back to see what the issue was. Trio was stopped in her tracks, listening to boys playing unseen behind a house in the neighborhood.  She knew there were some sheep in there that needed tending to, and it was literally killing her not to be able to play with them.  

My dad lives on a small, isolated street at the top of a hill where several young boys under ten are free to roam on their bikes and skateboards like we all did back in the days when life was more simple.  We go out there almost every weekend now, and Trio is a part of the pack.  Whenever I need to find Logan, I simply walk outside and call her name.  Within a minute, Trio comes running along to take me to the right location. Notice I didn't bother calling my son.  He isn't half as well trained as Trio is.  If she is forced to stay inside away from her sheep-boys, she whimpers these heart-wrenching howls at the door until she is allowed to be with them again.  She can also open every door in my dad's house to escape to find them.  We had to learn to lock them all to keep her inside.  Her love is fierce.  

One of my favorite things to watch is the back of my son's T-shirt, running several yards in front of me along a hiking path with that dog at his heels.  Trio is the sibling Logan does not have.  It's funny - I work with her daily.  I feed her, bathe her, train her, etc.  But no one fills her heart the way my son can.  Trio is very good about distinguishing her toys from human belongings.  However, if a sock or a glove or anything at all with the scent of my son is left for over 3 weeks on the floor in the room with her crate, she secrets it outside to sniff and treasure.  She has a calendar hidden somewhere in which she marks off the days, calculating the right time to label an item as discarded.  The funny thing is that she always gets it right.  It's never something important - always an object outgrown and well-worn, filled with the scent of her beloved boy.

Many people warn about mixing children with Border collies due to the herding/nipping tendencies.  With the right training of both child and dog, the results are fantastic.  Please feel free to give my name to any people who are having issues with combining the two - although I'm sure that you weed out the people who don't know how to train dogs.  It isn't rocket science.  It broke my heart into a million pieces to turn Weezy over to her new owner because I couldn't handle raising a toddler and a border collie as a single mother in a big city.  I can honestly say, however, that when the time is right, the bond created between a young child and a border collie can bring tears to your eyes.  Thanks for giving me a second chance.  The funny thing is that I had to learn about watching over and raising the human, not the dog.  I'd never had a baby before, so I didn't have a clue.

Trio is a crazy little girl.  She never met a living creature she didn't like.  She is not much of a snuggler, unless I catch her already lost in sleep and sneak up on her without getting her riled up.  This trait is coming out more with mellow that age brings.  Mostly, she can be found somewhere near me with a toy in her mouth, waiting to play.  She also plays by herself in the back yard, which I have never actually seen a dog do.  I have a cat who will play with Trio in the morning.  He slinks down into the grass and waits for Trio to run past, and then pounces on her when she runs by.  In the afternoon, my family of four plays in the front yard.  I switch off throwing the ball to Logan and to Trio, while the cat races up and down trees, hiding in bushes to chase the dog when she retrieves and brings the ball to me.  It's all quite hysterical.  

Trio and I do agility together, but more as a side entertainment than a lifestyle choice.  She has the most highly-tuned sensitivity to my body language that I have ever seen.  I have said all along that she is frequently 5 seconds ahead of me in any situation.  I still struggle to understand her sometimes because I know she is reading signals that I have not yet interpreted.  Sometimes we stare at each other, and she cocks her head to the side, and I think "man, you wish I could talk don't you?"  There is nothing out there that she could not learn.  You may have heard of Gerry Brown, who lives near Austin.  We work with him on occasion, and he is fantastic at breaking down our teamwork and teaching me to get it right.  It is really fun to have a talented trainer help you see where you are making mistakes.  

Trio has unfortunate obsessions with

lights and shadows.  I have overhead

track lighting that makes matters

worse, and as night sets in she begins

her hunt of the perfect circle of

light to pounce upon.  I redirect her

with toys and calming and petting,

although sometimes there is nothing

to be done but to crate her because

guests at the house think the behavior

is entertaining.  She also hears iPhone

sounds from across the house, and

particular ones like a camera shot or

ping will send her flying into the room

to attack it.  Obviously, these are

things we have worked on steadily to

stop...but I’m telling you as a

description of her personality rather

that as a depiction of her flaws. 

It’s part of what makes Trio

                                       who she is!

Oh, and tinfoil.  God help the person who unknowingly pulls out a sheet of aluminum foil from the pantry because Trio again comes flying out of nowhere to attack it.  My proudest moment for her was the day she learned to get this impulse under control because it was the hardest tendency to get her to stop.  Nonetheless, I do sometimes wish I had made a few videos of people's reaction to Trio's thundering tinfoil attack. The person was always left with the box in hand, mouth and eyes open wide, with this incredulous "what the heck???" look on their face. It still makes me laugh (please don't worry, I have these obsessions under control after much hard work).

Lastly, I wish you could see Trio run full tilt across the grass.  I've never seen such power and speed.  It reminds me of some of the pictures on your website of dogs like Bezel flying across the snow.

Hope you are doing well!                        Trio is from Singe & Scheme

Allison, Trio, and Logan

Dr Allison Kendrick