Tuque

Susan Gilbert and David Titcomb's Tuque

Tuque is the next dog that Scott will be running in the nurseries this year. Of all the dogs she is the most world traveled. She was bred by Geri Byrne of Oregon and is out of her Ted. Ted came from Con McGarry and goes back to Vic Morris' Mac the 1994 English National winner. Tuque's mother is Geri's Lynn who was imported from Derek Scrimgeour and is a daughter of his old Sweep. Originally, Tuque was purchased by Angie Driscoll and Kelvin Broad and was brought up to Alberta, Canada to live with them.

Tuque working at our Alta-Pete Farm

However, shortly after purchasing her, Angie and Kelvin moved to the UK. Tuque was too young to go with them and stayed behind with us, coming along on our travels in the US, until she was old enough to travel to Scotland. While living across the pond, Kelvin put Tuque's early foundation on her but shortly after, sold her to Susan Gilbert and David Titcomb of Wyoming. So back to the country of her birth came Tuque. She lived with Susan and David until this past fall when she came to Scott for her winter training.

Tuque controlling her sheep

Tuque is a very fast dog and Scott says she melts the snow behind her on her outruns. Because of her confidence and abilities, he offered to trial Tuque for Susan and David for her nursery year.

DeltaBluez Lucy

Lucy is owned by Diane Pagel.

DeltaBluez Lucy

Scott is only going to run Lucy one time, in the Heppner trial next weekend but I thought I'd better mention her so people will know who she is. Diane bred and trained her and qualified her for the nursery nationals. She also did a little trialing on cattle. Lucy came to Scott this winter to finish her training and get her ready to compete in open with Diane.

Lucy working near the Alta-Pete Barn

Lucy's mother is a daughter of Scott's Pleat and Diane's Tess and her father was a son of Diane's Libbi. Lucy is a very nice and biddable dog. She will return home to Delta Bluez kennels after the Heppner trial to run in open with Diane.

EyeSpy Sleat

The next nursery dog that Scott is running this year is Diane Pagel's Sleat. Sleat was bred by Anne Devine and got her first start on sheep with Carol Campion.

Diane Pagel's EyeSpy Sleat

When Sleat was just over a year old, Diane bought her and sent her to Scott to train for the winter. After a few months training Sleat was sent to her new home at Diane's Delta Bluez farm in Washington State to hang out for the summer and do some easy chores. This winter she was sent back to Scott to finish up her training and start trialing in nursery.

Sleat training at Alta-Pete Farm this winter.

Sleat is out of Anne Devine's Miah who is a daughter of Michele Howard's Spot. Spot goes back to Bobby Henderson's Sweep and Johnny Wilson's Spot. Sleat's father is Anne Devine's Ben who is a son of Bwlch Hemp and a grandson of Aled Owen's Ben. Sleat's first trial will be the Heppner St. Patrick's day trial.

Sleat

Don

Don is Scott's main nursery dog.

Don

Donnie comes from an impressive line of dogs. His mother is Star, owned by Eileen Stineman and handled by Alasdair MacRae. With Alasdair, Star has won two USBCHA National finals. She was bred by Dal Kratzer and was out of his Tib bitch. Don's father is a dog named Don that Alasdair imported from Ireland and is also owned by Eileen Stineman. He goes back to Templeton's Roy.

Scott bought our Don as a pup from Eileen Stineman, through Alasdair MacRae. Due to a misunderstanding, he is actually registered as "Tim". We were calling him Don long before his papers showed up with a different name on them but he doesn't care what you call him as long as he gets to work.

Don and Scott training at Alta-Pete Farm

Typical to both sides of his lines, Don is a smooth mover with a decent amount of eye. We have been happy enough with his work ethic and heart that we will be expecting our first litter by Don next week. He has been bred to Megan, a half sister to Maid and we are eager to see what they produce.

Donnie's first trial will be at the St. Patrick's day trial in Heppner , OR.

Don confidently moves difficult sheep away from the barn.

Delta Bluez Roo

Delta Bluez Roo

Diane Pagel's Roo is Scott's alternate Open dog. Last year was Roo's first year in open and although he has a nice way with sheep, he spent most of the past season trying to upset them. That was why Diane sent him to Scott. She was hoping he could fix Roo's outrun. She had done a good job with him but at the larger distances, he would decide to cause trouble with the sheep instead of bringing them quietly. This year it seems to be under control (knock on wood) and he appears to be challenging Drift for Scott's second open trial dog spot.

Roo is a son of Scott's Pleat and Diane's Tess.

Roo and mother Tess

Tess is Diane's foundation bitch but did not have papers. However, she was one of the first few dogs to be registered under the American Border Collie Association's Register on Merit program. She had to prove herself to get her papers and in 2001 she showed everyone she was worth registering when Scott handled her to 6th place at the USBCHA nursery finals.
Diane sold Roo as a youngster to Ron Green who trained him for cattle. When Diane saw that he had grown up to be such a nice dog she and Ron agreed on a co-ownership where Diane would get him ready for sheep trials. With this team of owners, in 2005 Roo was one of the few dogs to qualify for both the sheep and cattle nursery finals.

Roo trialing on cattle

Roo has been living here at Alta-Pete Farm for a year now and will be running in all the trials that allow a handler to run 3 dogs. He'll have plenty of opportunities to show up Maid and Drift and if he does, you'll be seeing alot more of him.

Roo at Alta-Pete Farm

Drift

Drift is currently Scott's number two dog.

Drift

He was purchased just before his 3rd birthday so he missed out on his nursery year. He almost missed the next year too. He was coming along nicely in his training when he went into our barn to bring a sheep out. A big Suffolk ewe was surprised by him and went strait up in the air, only to land on Drift's front foot. He ended up with a deep laceration and a broken bone. Needless to say, his training was put on hold and he was not released to work again until the day before his first run at the Bluegrass. Scott was a little afraid that it might be a disaster since Drift had not seen sheep for over 2 months and had never trialed before but it was a nice surprise when he placed 5th in the Open Ranch/Advanced Pro-novice class. His good work continued that year when he took the overall Open Ranch win at the Thistle Dew trial

Scott and Drift at the Thistledew Trial '08

and did the same at the Buffalo, Alberta trial. Buffalo was also Drift's debut in the open class (and so far his only open run) and Scott was pleased with his work.
Drift was born in December 2004 to a little black bitch named Mij. It's often hard to believe that a big rangy dog like Drift came out of such a small mother.

Drift

Mij was a daughter of Jim "The Bomber" and RC Tomlinson's Penny. Scott had bought her as a pup and trained her. He trialed her in one nursery class where he always remarks how changed a dog she became after her first trial run. "She just blossomed" he said. Shortly after that Mij was bought by Alasdair MacRae who bred her to Michele Howard's Spot. Spot is a Bobby Henderson bred dog and goes back to to his International trial winner, Sweep and Johnny Wilsons's Spot, also an ISDS champion. Alasdair and his wife Tricia got Drift a good start on his training and then sold him to Scott.

Drift training at Alta-Pete Farm

Drift's biggest weakness at first was his shed but as his training and confidence progressed, it ended up being his best move. Scott is looking forward to seeing Drift settle into being a good open dog. Perhaps by the end of the season he'll be challenging Maid for first position.

XE Maid

When Scott retired Pleat this past fall, he was hoping Maid would step into the gap.

XE Maid

So far She has been showing great promise.

Maid was bred by Grant Musgrove of Halkirk, Alberta. Grant's bitch, Alta-Pete Megan was Maid's mother. You will often hear me sing the praises of Megan. She was from a previous litter, but the same way bred as Scott's Pleat and Tala. They all go back to Scott's big trial winner, Dan who was bred to a brave little bitch named Kelly. Megan was out of the first Dan/Kelly cross and although he had sold her as a pup, Scott was able to start her on sheep and get a feel for the way she worked. Later he would say that he thought she was the best dog out of both litters.

Alta-Pete Megan

Her owner offered her for sale after a few years, but she had broken her leg working cattle and had a permanent limp so Scott passed on her. Grant was much smarter and bought her to use as a brood bitch. Fortunately for us, we were able to get pups out of several litters. In addition to Maid, my Hemp, and Kaos are also out of that nice bitch. We recently acquired another pup of her's named Becky. She reminded us so much of Megan, we renamed her Meg in honor of her mother. Our Megan has recently been bred and we are eagerly awaiting her pups.
Maid's father is Michele Howard's Moss who was a son of Bobby Henderson's International trial winner, Sweep.

Maid was raised here at Alta-Pete Farm but wasn't trialed much her nursery year. We often have a customer dog or two to trial in the nurseries and with so many trials having limited entries, this means that Scott's dogs often stay in the kennel. Maid did however win a day of nursery at the Kentucky Bluegrass. Her first open trial was at the Thistle Dew trial in Michigan and she looked good enough to win a day there.

Maid's 2008 open year started slow but picked up as she went along. She again did well at Thistle Dew and won another day there and picked up the "Best Shed" trophy.

Maid at The Thistle Dew Trial '08

By the time the Nationals came around she was really starting to shine. Pleat didn't make it to the semi finals, but Maid did, coming in 3rd place in the first round. She continued her good runs and did well enough to make it to the double lift. Scott has always been known for his spectacular turn back's with Pleat so everyone was watching to see how Maid would do. When the time came, one whistle was all that was needed for her to turn immediately back and go for her second lot of sheep. Scott kept her locked down and controlled for the rest of the run as Maid has a temper and these sheep were looking for a fight. In the end she placed 7th in her first Nationals.

We would like to breed Maid as there is a big request for her pups but she has very bad timing as she usually comes in heat too close to the trial season. Instead this winter, Maid and Scott have been working on cleaning up some of her methods of work. He's pleased with her and is eager to see how she performs this spring.

Maid and Scott training at home.