Toss

Toss. My silly, good hearted, out for a good time, dedicated to me heart and soul, dog. Off sheep Toss is a goofball! He loves to have a good time and is always the one that finds something unique to do, or at least find a special way to play along with the usual games. During games of fetch with the pack, he is the only one I have that'll go get the "sinkers" in the 85 gallon stock tank. You think he's not really paying attention, but the second someone drops the toy that doesn't float in the tank, Toss is on it with no prompting. He will stick his entire face, head, and ears under water if that's what it takes. Running with the atvs, yup they all do that, but he takes that to another level. First off he truly races the atv. He would have been an awesome race horse! LOL! So far, even on the smooth tractor service road in the field I cannot out do him! (Ben can, but I can't) He is hard core fast when there's a reason- and he has the stamina non of my other dogs have. I've often wonder if that's not his highly Imported breeding? His other atv/bicycle running trick is to find something to carry. Anything! He does this when we zoom around in the yard and we can't do much more than about 15mph. One day I watched him run and run and run (with the atv) carrying a 2 foot piece of a treated 4x4 post!! What in the world?? LOL! It must have weighed 5 lbs! Recently I about peed myself because I had not yet picked up my BIG orange cones I use to really dial in my driving whistles. There he was running with the boys on their 4 wheelers with this great big cone in his mouth- nearly covered his whole head!! Toss is also my love-bug. He is a big sap and loves to sit with me and bury his head into my arm pit. As a younger dog he only had eyes and ears for me. He was my dog, and no one else could tell him or ask him anything. As an adult he has outgrown that to the point that he will listen to anyone and would probably work for most anyone, but he is still very much my dog. He adores me. ;-p Because of this trait I had to learn that when Toss was being too much or just plain not using his head I needed to be his rock and be the one who kept their head. It took me a fair amount of time to learn that if I got angry and loud with him it would only spin him up even more and make things even more intense. (on sheep all fun and games end, and every fiber of his being is replaced by intensity to work) He taught me a lot about being a quieter, calmer handler/trainer. I owe that greatly to him and him alone. He was such an intense youngster, coupled with his straight forward type of approach, we had a lot of stressful days of training. Toss took some time to learn how to properly outrun, but once he had it short, it carried over very easily to longer distances. He is a stellar driving dog. He is a big reaching dog in his pace, even at a walk. Currently, he's working very hard to thoroughly learn his whistles. He's doing very well. There's no question he's going to be a wonderful Open dog. He is not a dog that is going to stall out or grip out. Along with whistle work Toss' sessions are greatly centered around keeping his flanks square and not leaning on his sheep. Toss is a lot of dog on sheep, but with growing skills and maturity on both our parts, I'm learning to really appreciate that. If I remember to keep focused and quiet, he is quite responsive to do things my way. :-) It seems impossible, but Toss was born in Nov of 2003. Yes, almost 6! He still seems like such a young dog. He was a loooong to mature dog. Toss is nearly all Imported lines. On his top side his sire, Lacy's Brand is a ##Sweep ISDS 180949 grandson. Also on his top side are Kathy Knox's Ettrick Bob AIBC 92561, and Amanda Milliken's Hazel ABC 15278 and Imp. Boy ABC 39773. Toss' bottom side is 100% Imported. Nearly all the blood on his bottom side is from Wales and include such names as J.R. Jones (multiple times) and J.M. Baker. Like so many imported dogs, he is not without the blood of Supreme Champion, ##Wisp ISDS 161487. I have two females from Toss, both out of Deal. One female is quite a lot like Toss, the other like Deal. His granddaughter, Emma is fast becoming one of my all time favorite puppies. Only time will tell what she turns into. I'd like to cross Toss again with a female of my own, but that's 2-3 years away. Unless something were to suddenly to happen to him, I can see him running and working hard for many, many more years.