My name is Jenny Glen - my husband and I train border collies to herd sheep at our farm in Southern Alberta, Canada. The dog in the picture is my Lad dog. He's my main trial (competition) dog and is a 5-year-old male tri color border collie. I also have one other trial dog named Hemp (5 yrs), two retired border collies named Bob (12 yrs) and Jed (9yrs) and a small mutt named Skid (3 yrs) who pretty much runs the place. My husband has a few dogs of his own too and then we have multiple kennel dogs but they are usually sold by the time they are 2 yrs old.What's the occasion for Coffee with a Canine?
I'm not much of a coffee drinker but my husband takes it intravenously so the dogs and I figured we'd pick up some supplies.
What's brewing?
What ever is on sale! He's not picky.
Any goodies to go with the coffee?
A plain scone for me with clotted cream and strawberry jam and a hot chocolate.
Any treat for your dogs on this occasion?
They like their scones without cream or jam but with a bowl of water on the side. Skid wants a blueberry muffin. He likes to be different.
How were you and your dogs united?
I bought all the border collies from breeders who had working dogs. Skid we got when he jumped out of the back of a pickup going 90 mph in South Dakota right in front of our truck. He bounced into the ditch. His truck never came back to pick him up and he was only stunned so we brought him home. He was about 8 months old at the time.
How did your dogs get their names? Do they have any nicknames?
Hmmm - Laddie was named after Albert Payson Terhune's, Lad a Dog stories- we often call him Princess. Hemp was named after the father of the modern border collie, Telfer's Old Hemp- I often call him Pempers no good reason for that. Jed was named after the real name of the wolf hybrid who played the wolf in the Ethan Hawke version of White Fang- he often comes to the name Mr. Jed Jed. Bob - well, he had alot of names before I bought him and that was the last one anyone had called him so I left it, and Skid was named after what he and we were doing when we met. His full name is Skid Mark so on formal occasions he is known as Mr. Mark.Squirrel, cat, postman...?
No squirrels on the prairie. Cats are off limits and a postman couldn't find us so our mail is delivered to a PO box. What can I say? My dogs are deprived.
Tennis ball, Frisbee, squeaky-toy...?
Everyone loves a squeaky toy! The ultimate goal is to see how fast they can be disembowled and the squeeky removed.
Where is your dogs' favorite place for an outing?
I have to say a sheep dog trial is number one. They are border collies after all (Skid enjoys spectating). Their second choice would be swimming at a lake.
Who are your dogs' best pet-pals?
They see enough dogs at the kennel so their favorite pals are my human friends Louanne and Lisa. If they are around there is sure to be fun coming. Recently Louanne got a little Chihuahua named Joe and Skid thinks he's pretty cool.
What is each dog's most endearing quality?
Nothing in particular. Maybe good bed warmers when my husband is out of town. We all just enjoy each other's company.
If your dogs could change one thing about you, what would it be?They'd like me to feed them more. They'll never be happy until they are all so fat they can't waddle out the door to pee. They would like more treats.
What is each dog's proudest moment? Most embarrassing?
Both Lad and Hemp have been voted most promising dogs at very important trials. Jed once did well at one trial (he wasn't very good very often) Bob won 4 trials and Skid, well, Skid keeps dangerous people at bay. He does this job so well, I never even see the bad people.
I'm sure they've all done something stupid at one point or another but we don't like to dwell on their mistakes.
Visit the Alta-Pete Stockdogs website and blog.
--Marshal Zeringue
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