Holly was added to my dog family at eight weeks of age.  There were three tri bitch puppies from Ivan Weir’s old Moy, one rough, two smoothes, and I had third choice.  The two smooth coats both had one blue eye……oh yuk!  As luck would have it, I was left
with one of the blue eyed smooth coats . . . thank goodness for the pricked ears.  Holly was a busy little puppy . . . run, play, wrestle,….piddle on the carpet . . . ooops!!  A very difficult puppy to housebreak, always too involved to remember to go to the door.  Of course now she’s fastidious and likes the soft comfort of the leather couch,…alas . . . there’s a lot to be said for owning a smooth coat . . . and even though I still find the rough coats to be more attractive, the smooths are definitely more practical and much
easier on the furniture.  

It’s taken me quite awhile to get used to that china blue eye,…..but all can be forgiven when a dog trials as well as Holly does.  She’s quite a handful . . . kinda like driving a Ferrari with a beginners license, incredible speed, hairpin turns, with stylish sleek lines . . . thank goodness for ABS brakes.   She was a natural, speedy out-runner from the beginning, with square flanks and an intense desire to work. This made training her a joy and a challenge.  I started her at six months because I knew that I needed to get a handle on her early because of her incredible physical ability.   Holly is definitely a collie that would work herself into exhaustion, so that is something that I’m quite cautious of, as well she runs hot mentally and I’m careful to slow things down or quit for awhile and take a break.   I’m still working on slowing her pace . . . I’m hopeful that maturity will help accomplish part of this task, she is still quite young and I feel that I have lots of time to smooth out the wrinkles in our performance.  

I think that the biggest challenge that I faced in 2004 was getting my timing right . . . it’s
  difficult to trial a really fast dog and then switch over to another one that is steady and careful.  I found myself  missing panels with Hawk and being generally late with my commands.  Once I  discovered the problem I was able to re-adjust and give Hawk a little more time to maneuver.  Holly’s not finished working for the season just yet . . . she’s now very busy with a litter of seven by my Hawk.  They are beautiful, healthy puppies, and I expect will be great working dogs with speed, power and the natural ability that makes winning trial dogs. 

I’m looking forward to running two dogs in Open in the 2005 season, the bigger courses should agree with Holly’s talents.  Thanks to all the trial hosts, managers, and their volunteers for another wonderful season in Ontario, and thanks to Ivan Weir for producing Holly, and to Lorna for choosing her very talented sister Zoe instead.