| 2001 Profile of Champions | ||||||||||||||
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2001 USBCHA Open
Champion |
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 Bill was conceived at the 1996 Finals, which was won by his father
Ben. Mother Nan was 7th that day. Bill was born in the kitchen of the MacRae household in Shipman VA, and was third born in a litter of 6 males
(Sweep, Nick, Bill, Tweed, Glen & Rocky). Bill along with kennelmate Sweep, Stu Ligon's Nick,
& Russell McCord/Mike Canaday's Tweed all won Nursery Trials and with the exception of Tweed, have won Open Trials. Rocky is being used as a stud dog In Alberta and Glen unfortunately was run over at a golf course in Northeast USA. At 10 months old
Bill was bought by Calvin Tyner, who after studying 4 Littermate's picked
him as the most likely candidate for success. After being trained he ran 5th in the 1999 Virginia Nursery
Finals. The Open Finals that year being won by his mother Nan for her "three peat". At the 2000 National Finals in Oklahoma, Bill finished 10th after a relatively quiet season. Bill was bought by Judy Aycock,
of Texas in February 2001, though being overshadowed by littermate Sweep in the 1st half of the season he came into his own in the later trials, culminating with the Semi Final and Finals wins at a superbly run National Finals at
Klamath Falls, Oregon.Bill is a friendly dog not too hard to handle. He has a nice way with sheep and is quiet but also has an assertive presence. (photo by Sara Bagg) |
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2001 USBCHA |
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Jeff decided to breed Gyp to my Mom's Welsh import, Ben, and I finally got the puppy that I had wanted for so long. As a puppy Diona was very faithful and the most obedient pup I have ever been around. At eight months old, I tried her on some sheep for the first time. I felt she was still too "puppyish" so I waited another 3 months before I started serious training. In the beginning she
was very fast and hard to control. It took about 3 weeks for her to start listening and after that it never seemed to cross her mind to disobey. She has been great fun to train because of her exceptional obedience and tremendous desire to please me. I keep her in condition with training and exercise plus I feed her a raw food diet. I feel Diona (which means dynamite in Scottish Gaelic) is a very special bitch and I am super grateful to have her. 
I realized that the dogs I was working were getting seasoned on the trial circuit, so I decided to start looking for another pup. While trailing in the spring of 2000 in Tucson, AZ, I met up with Newt and Jodi Robinson. They mentioned they had a10 month old female for sale.
I took a look at the little scrawny pup "Fly" and decided to take her home and work her a bit.