Coyner Farms Skye Holbrook
Skye is a blue merle with plenty of Dunrovin and Heritage bloodlines. She weighs about 50 lbs. She is miss confidence and was born socialized with work ethic too! Tested clear for CEA, PRA, MDR1. Skye mothers all babies. She adores chicks and has been known to crawl in their bin to cuddle them. She monitors our foal, and her #1 job is keeping a close watch on our 2 children. She leaves livestock alone unless it seems to be threatening us, or if we are trying to herd. Then she jumps into action. She is willing to handle animals as large as horses.
Pleasant View Farm's Aspen Holbrook
Aspen is an amazing and beautiful 55 lb lady. She has a fun loving, resiliant, friendly personality, adores children, and instinctively gathers stock. Prefers to gather, very gentle working style but focused. So far we have only worked her on chickens. She trail rides with us, has started agility, enjoys hikes and swimming, and is an excellent babysitter. Quick and agile. Genetically tested clear for MDR1, VWD, PRA.
Holbrook Homestead's
Darling Daisy
Daisy is the sweetest, gentlest soul. She tries hard to please and only takes correcting once to learn for life. She is a very mild herder, likely partly due to her gentle nature and partly because she was not exposed to stock until over a year old. She is however quite confident and nothing scares her. She has showed interest in herding cows, will work poultry (often with another more experienced dog's guidance), and loves to trailride with us. She stays right with us and trots and gallops along through any kind of underbrush. She will try to herd goats, and adores the baby goats. She really just wants to cuddle them up. One day I sold some of the baby goats. Daisy (who never chases cars) chased that car for half a mile to rescue her "stolen" babies and when the car finally stopped she circled it and wouldn't leave her baby goats. When I called her away she finally sadly obeyed. She has a silly side too and enjoys chasing sticks and playing with my children in the pond. She often accompanies us for walks on the dirt roads or trails and stays right with us. She knows to ignore barking dogs and stay out of people's yards. She spends much of her time babysitting my toddler. She is excellent out in public and loves to be a breed ambassador. She also has an excellent off-switch and will happily spend the hours relaxing in a soft cool spot. She is quite smart and enjoys doing basic obedience, tricks, and some just-for-fun agility on occasion. She learns lightning fast.
Butterscotch Farm
Oh Henry
Henry helps gather the chickens and ducks in the underbrush in our woods so we can lock them up at night. He is good about working at a distance in heavy underbrush/woods and applying gently pressure, then working them up the fence, and through the gate. He helps herd the goats occasionally and LOVES it. He doesn't scare off when a goat challenges him either. He is gentle but eager. As of writing this he is still fairly new to this work (started in May 2021) so is sometimes confused as to what is the desired direction/goal. However he is biddable, and has great natural gathering and moving instinct. He also has shown a willingness to work cattle and while I am inexperienced in this department (none of my other dogs wanted to try something so big and scary) I have tried him on cows several times and been very pleased. For a dog that has started so recently I have been very pleased with his herding progress. He is a great trailriding buddy. Stays right with the group, isn't scared even when a horse is aggressive toward him, but keeps a safe distance as needed. He can trot alongside the horses all day with his ground covering trot (or run along and keep up when the ponies gallop), but has a great off switch and is happy to lounge around and keep an eye on things too. If he flushes game while riding (rabbits, deer, squirrels, coyote, fox) he quickly calls off. He greets visitors happily but warns off unintroduced people he thinks are suspicious. Loves car rides, trips to the feed store. At the feed store everyone pets him and he is a great ambassador. Adores me, and watches our children. He is incredibly smart and communicates a lot to me through body language and howls/talking. He loves to go for walks down our dirt roads *off lead* with me. He can go alone or with other dogs. He has learned to get over when a car comes by, stay off people's yards, stay with me, and not react to strange dogs barking in people's yards. If we are approached by a stranger on the roads (unusual in our rural setting) he warns them off so I always feel safe walking by myself with the children. On leash he has excellent loose lead skills but I seldom need a leash with him. He also enjoys swimming in our pond with my son. In short he is just about perfect. Genetically Clear too. I have included several videos. A bit embarrassed over these. Disclaimer: I NEVER have my camera when the good stuff and real work happens, I am always too busy to think of it and women's clothing is always bereft of pockets. So these are staged sessions with my right hand holding the camera and unavailable to cue the dog. And I am terrible about planning a goal for staged sessions which confuses the dog and me as well. He performs well beautifully in the moment when I need him. However I feel these vids at least show his instinct. Enjoy!
