the chores my parents finally relented and
said we could get a dog. They did most of the
research for which breed would be the best.
As they wanted one that would stick with me
and my brother in the woods, and would be
sturdy enough to handle a six year old and a
three year old. They decided that a cattle dog
would be the perfect fit, and Mom just hap-
pened to know someone that had puppies for
sale. The first time we went to see them they
were two weeks old and had just barely
opened their eyes. There were reds and blues
in the litter. We knew we wanted a girl, but
we could not pick between one of the little
blue girls or the only red one. My whole family
went back to pick the puppies up when they
were only six weeks old. On the ride there we
Trever and I never agreed on anything, I
wanted Dixie, and Trever wanted Spot. Decid-
ing which puppy we wanted when we finally
got there was not easier, I still wanted the
blue girl and Trever wanted the red. So our
parents decided to get both puppies. We did
talk Trever out of naming his puppy Spot, and
he eventually settled on Daisy.
Mom wanted the dogs to be well behaved so
she had us all go to puppy obedience classes
and I joined 4-H in Allegan County. That first
year as a young clover I showed in obedience,
showmanship and costume. The next year we
switched to showing 4-H in Barry County be-
cause they had agility and I wanted to try
that. Through 4-H we competed at the county
level and at state. For the state show one
year, we had an obedience team with a poo-
dle, dachhound, sheltie, and pit bull. Getting
them all to go the same speed was quite a
trick! Though 4-H I also became involved with
therapy dogs, where we take our dogs to
nursing homes, do demonstrations, and visit
the residents. Dixie, and my other Australian
Cattle Dog, Cara are both certified and we do
therapy work as often as we can.
I wanted to show Dixie in more than 4-H
shows, so my Mom helped me get her an ILP
number in 1999. After that we showed in jun-
ior showmanship, obedience and agility. I
started showing in the breed ring with Mrs.
Collette in 2002; she contacted our dog 4-H
club looking for some one that wanted to
learn how to show conformation, and since I
had a cattle dog already, I was recommended.
I ended up really enjoying showing in the