Kep's (1st) big year

This is my former Kep, now owned by Nancy Starkey of Trial & Error Acres Farm in Mt. Airy, MD, that was bred by Carol Campion out of a Henderson's Bill, Gellings Jan daughter off Carol's #Whiterose Kep. Nancy called me yesterday out of pure excitement over the fact that her dog won the Northeast Border Collie Association year-end finals in the ranch class. The top picture is of them after their win. Please click here to visit the NEBCA website and here to go to Nancy's Trial and Error Acres site. The trial was run on Dorset ewes and the championship was based on a cumulative score over 2 runs. Kep won the first day and was second the next under this year's judge, Maria Mick, who owns Kit, also one of my former youngsters. The pair filled some very big paw prints with this win. In years past the NEBCA ranch finals has been won by Beverly Lambert, Warren Mick and Gene Sheninger, to name a few. In addition to this accomplishment, Nancy and Kep also qualified for the 2008 USBCHA nursery finals, even though they were unable to attend due to Nancy's farm and work commitments.

In addition to his success on the trial field, Kep was on the cover of the 2008 commemorative world trial calendar in a photo of him taken by Barbara Klein, who also snapped the one that I've used here. All in all, it's been a pretty big year for this talented youngster that I shipped east about 1 year ago. To read more about Kep in this blog, please click "The dogs" link and scroll down to "Cover dog" and "It works." When I began training him, Kep was an early starting natural with something close to perfect balance. He is an obedient dog that's willing and a pleasure to handle. I cannot express how happy I am for Nancy's success with Kep and I wish them many successful, productive years together on and off the trial field.

If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend a visit to Carol Campion's Bittersweet Farm website. Not only can you find out what she's got coming next in the way of puppies, but she has posted some absolutely stunning sheepdog photographs from her travels around the world and her own backyard.