Hi everyone,

Its actually been a little more than a few weeks, but I'm finally 
getting around to make the announcement here.

Earlier in May we we joined by  a new collie puppy, born on February 
28th. She is from Washington state collie breeder Kate Harker's Romany 
Collies.  In the 3 weeks or so that she has been with us, she has 
adjusted perfectly to life with our elderly collies and our ES Lady 
Claire, now several years old.  With TahTay having had his stroke and 
nearing the end of his life, and his daughter Java having been on 
insulin for diabetes for over a year now with an uncertain fate from 
that disease, we thought it was a good time to bring in some youth. Her 
presence has had a very positive effect on the older dogs, helping them 
to be more active as they try to play, and its been really nice for Lady 
Claire who now has someone of higher energy to run around with. It has 
been really gratifying to see those two engaged in play, with tails up 
and a-wagging....as the older dogs just do not have the energy level to 
play with any consistency or duration with "Ding Ding" - Lady Claire. 
Glady plays with all of them...keeping the oldsters active, but 
seemingly knowing when to back off and let them alone.  She learns 
quickly and in all the usual respects earns some bragging about her 
brains, but then again, so do many of the farm oriented dogs that we are 
all familiar with here.

We named our new girl after the mythical Elfin Princess from the JRR 
Tolkein hobbit books, Lady Galadriel. We call her Glady for her call 
name, which also honors one of my long gone relations who had that 
name.  You can see some photos of her here....

http://www.facebook.com/glady.ladygaladriel

She is a tri-factored sable with white boots, similar to TahTay and Sky 
colors.

You can learn more about Romany Collies here...
http://www.romanycollies.com/
https://www.facebook.com/romanycollies

Kate does not select for the show ring, but rather is working for a 
larger eye, great temperament, and working ability. She has sheep and 
ducks at her farm and expects help!  Kate has friends that actually 
teach herding and agility on a nearby farm, and included with a pup is a 
free trial session at the herding school to check for aptitude.  That 
day for the recent pups is coming up in early June and will place the 
pups participating with ducks that are used to 'working' with puppies. 
He hope to attend and see how she does!

Well hey, thats the big announcement from our place!

Jennifer
and TahTay, and Sky, and Java and Lady Claire and Glady