.My dear old Dad who knew it had always been my ambition to own a pedigree dog arrived home from a day out at the Brisbane Royal show.
He was slightly worse for wear & under his arm was a black & white bundle . "There you are " he said
" Here's your new dog & he has a pedigree as long as your arm"
Dad was very pleased with himself & his new purchase but I was not so excited as in my mind a pedigree dog was a stylish poodle or long haired dachshund, certainly not a farm dog .
However little did I know that this scruffy bundle was my passport to a long & wonderful life in the world of dogs .
One Sunday morning I heard there was a dog show happening on the bay foreshores so I washed the pup & put him on a lead & off we went to see what it was all about.
The first person I met at the show was a cattle dog person named Iris Heale. She told me that she had owned a lovely border collie "Patsy"who had passed on & that there were no borders being shown & that I should start showing King.
After she kindly gave me all information on what I had to do to do this I went off to get on to this next new phase of my life
Our first show was nearly our last as King was not a good traveler & he threw up & worse all over the car much to the disgust of my two sons who decided that from day on dog shows were OUT.
However for me the die was cast & I was on my way to my new & exciting life that has brought me in to contact with so many lovely people all over the world.
Border collies were the first step & I soon decided that there many other factors & paths to follow .
I got interested in training my dogs to work sheep & I spent many happy times following the sheep dog trials. I was quite sure that working dogs could also take their place on the show bench & that they should have brains well as beauty.
This point of view was not always agreed upon by most of the old farmers& other characters who were competing in the sheep dog trials but I proved my point when at the Brisbane Royal a little border bitch that I had bred, competed & did well in the trials in the morning putting some tough sheep in the pen,then went on to win bitch challenge in the show ring.
Next step was a love affair with Shetland sheep dogs that continues to this day
