What Deb says about Cinder after a year . . .
Candy Cane, or Pink? Pink, or Candy Cane? What a hard choice I had to make last June, especially after Kat decided she wasn’t going to keep a pup. Candy had certainly indicated that she would make a brave little agility dog, but Pink stole my heart when she alone would run and play with me on pick-up day. So Pink became Cinder…
There were some jokes about the nick name for that feisty little pup being “CIN” (sin) and warnings that she would probably live up to it!! Yes, she’s had some sinful moments: scrapping with her brother Skye on the ride home; jumping from couch to coffee table to love seat; learning to live peacefully with Grace the Pomeranian (lots of the trouble being Grace, who thinks she’s a much bigger dog than she is!), learning that barriers aren’t put up as a challenge to see if you can get over them. But in comparison to our other BCs, she’s unbelievably mellow. While she had some silly puppy moments, she has the very rare “off” switch that is her dad’s trademark and so desired by BC owners. She rips and tears with the best of them during our walks and outside time, but in the house she settles right down and is content to snooze on the bed if I’m working on the computer or curls up on a rug in whatever room I’m working in. And, she’s finally figured out that Tucker the cat will NOT be herded and has pretty much given up on that effort! Several folks we’ve been training with have commented on how level headed and controlled she is “for a border collie.” I just have to smile – Thank you Sonic for the genes and Gramma Kat for the great beginning!!
I worried that with so many dogs in the house, she might not bond with me very closely, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Cinder never gets too far away during our morning and evening walks or trips to the park; even if the other dogs run off, she continues with me; runs ahead and lies down waiting for us slow pokes to catch up. I especially love it when she lies next to me and puts her head in my lap or across my legs; claiming or protecting me, or just asking for a scratch, I don’t care. They’re special one-on-one times that make me feel as important to her as she is to me. Since the day she came home, she’s liked to sleep on the head of my bed on the built-in shelf. I thought she’d out grow it, but even now she sleeps there at least part of every night, even with arms and legs dangling over. The heat register for the room is up there, too, and I thought that when it kicked on it might scare her away, but she just moves her butt away a bit and goes back to snoozing…
Look up “versatile” in the dictionary, and I think you’ll find a picture of Miss Cinder. Even though herding is not one of our key activities, she’s had some chances at Gramma Sharon’s and I was very impressed at how well she did; thought I was just biased, but when SHARON bragged about her, that surely must mean she inherited the genes!
Rally Obedience was my training tool to help Cin learn to work with me; it’s kinda fun, and it let me get her into a competitive atmosphere before we go into an agility ring. We have 2 Novice B legs already, and with a bit of luck may have our title shortly after her birthday!
I did NOT expect to do conformation with Cin, but sometimes our dogs take us in an unexpected direction. Little did I know what a beautiful girl she was going to grow into. We’ve only shown 1 time, but a conversation with the judge afterwards led me to believe that we certainly should continue with that activity, that she needed to mature a bit; we’ll try a few more shows this summer to see how it goes. Even after 3 months without practice, Cinder is moving and stacking like a veteran. Can’t wait to see how we do next time!! She’s absolutely gorgeous.
Agility will be our primary activity, and our “formal” training is just beginning, though we’ve played at it a bit just as fun – no where near as intensely as O’my, but then, we’ve been busy with other things and I didn’t want to overwhelm her too much. But watch out this summer; we’ll give it a real go now!! She quickly scaled the full size A-frame the first time she saw it AND held her contact until I released her. Yup, I think we’re going to do all right!!
She’s a fantastic dog with all the potential anyone could ever hope for. I only hope I can live up to the same standards!!
