Our introduction to dogs and dog sports
Rich was lucky enough to grow up with a family dog, Spooner, who was a terrier mix reminiscent of a Scottie. His family got Spooner second- or third-hand from a friend who wasn't up to his housebreaking challenges. Spooner lived to be thirteen and was a beloved and well-known character throughout his Chicago neighborhood.

Erin grew up dogless, so she spent her childhood trying to teach the family cats to act more like dogs. Right after graduating college, she adopted a fuzzy black puppy from the nearest animal shelter and named him Mac. Erin and Mac's obedience instructors urged her to apply with the AKC for an Indefinite Listing Privilege (ILP) number, because they thought he looked awfully like a Flat-Coated Retriever. A few years later, when we started hearing about dog agility, Erin applied, and Mac eventually became U-CDX U-ACHX Erin's Macheath MX MXJ CDX JH TD WC EAC EJC EGC CGC TT. He introduced us to the world of dog sports and was a tremendous teacher with a gallant soul. We still miss him dearly, and have a great fondness for both Flat-Coated Retrievers and the Flattie folk who were so encouraging and kind to a couple who had never competed before with a dog and probably didn't even have a genuine Flat-Coat.

Our introduction to Tollers
After Rich saw how much fun Erin was having showing Mac, he began to think about getting a dog of his own. He wanted something smaller than a Flat-Coat or Golden, but with spunk and lots of energy. One of the dogs that intrigued us both was the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, but we probably would never have gotten one if not for Heather Green. Heather's bitch Gem (our Ghillie's dam) was the first Toller we saw in the flesh, and it was completely by luck. Although Heather and Erin both trained at Four Paws Training Center in Antioch, Illinois, our classes were on different nights and we had never crossed paths-- until Heather and Gem were at a dog park the same day we were there with Mac.

When we saw Gem, we asked each other, "Could that possibly be a Toller?" We scouted around for her owner to ask, and found Heather, who was thrilled that someone actually recognized Gem's breed, and delighted to tell us all about Tollers. Heather put us in touch with Gem's breeder, the late Evelyn Williams of Lonetree Kennels. Many months later, we drove up to Ann Arbor, Michigan and brought home Dobro-- our first Toller.

Our introduction to Border Collies
After showing in agility for a while, Erin was looking for a more competitive dog. Mac enjoyed agility and would place in the 24" class occasionally, but he was a steady worker rather than a driven athlete. Border Collies are of course the quintessential high drive dog, and Erin thought she might be ready for one-- but we heard many ominous tales of hyperactive, flaky, or quirky BCs, and weren't certain a BC was the right choice.

Luckily, Laura Kincaid was one of the obedience instructors at Four Paws. She bred occasional litters of Border Collies, and her Oelamp Border Collies were well-constructed, eager, sweet, and sensible. Three pups from Laura's Zak x Lindy litter belonged to Four Paws students, and Rich and Erin had seen them grow up into very promising performance dogs. Laura's next litter would be a similar match: she would again use Rae Tanner's Zak, but with Aimee, her Juice x Lindy daughter. Doing this line-cross again meant we knew the sire, dam, granddam, and three half-brother/uncles of these pups-to-be, and they were all wonderful dogs. We were confident that a pup from this litter would be a sane, sweet, high-drive dog. How right we were!