Kyra thought differently.  In 1997, we moved from suburban Northville, Michigan to rural Howell, Michigan.  After about a year, our neighbor, a Texas Longhorn hobbyist fenced in a few acres and before we knew it, we looked out from our front porch to see a huge bull, Henry, and three females, Queen B, Chloe, and a female whose

1st AKC PT Leg with Stephen

name I don’t remember. Kyra appeared to show little interest.  I can remember setting up agility jumps on a section right next to their electric fence and never feeling concerned that they held more interest for her than what we were doing.  However, one day I learned that she had just been biding her time and waiting for them to come closer. 

ABHA HCT With Violet

In 1999, Dick and I were cleaning our garage and Kyra and our Sheltie, Callie, were in an x-pen out there with us.  I heard a crash as I looked up to see that the Longhorns were coming to the fence to see what we were doing.  Before I even realized what she was up to, she was under the fence.  She gathered the females, ran down the fence line and got Henry, and proceeded to take them a few hundred yards across the field and into the barn. 

AKC PT Kyra and Tonya

Tonya and Rocky

Unfortunately, the only people having lessons in my area at that time were Border Collie people who didn’t seem to understand or appreciate the shepherd's way of working—or the training they needed, but I persisted and eventually found Tonya Haney from Akron, Ohio to work with us.  We would spend two to four days with Tonya at Hado-Bar Farms. 

I later learned that Nancy DeGarmo was experiencing the same thrills with her dogs, Schultz and Sassy, in New Jersey and hooked up with her and her then trainer, Stephen, for the German Shepherd Dog Club of American National Specialty herding tests and trials in Nova, Ohio in 2000.  Kyra earned her HT title and her first leg for her PT title with a trainer she had never met before.  Tonya Haney got her 2nd PT leg.  A friend of Tonya’s, Violet, got Kyra’s HCT title one weekend when Tonya had some sick dogs in her kennel and didn’t make it.  Then, when it was clear Kyra’s illness could continue to prevent us from following through with future clinics, tests, or trials, I learned that there would be trials on the 4th of July weekend at Keepstone Farms in Virginia.  I figured this might be Kyra’s last chance at the Junior Herding Dog title so I called Susan Rhodes from Keepstone and asked her if she would handle Kyra.  She said she needed to meet her and work with her once before making that decision so we made an appointment for the Friday before the trials.  Susan worked Ky for a few minutes and said, “Yes, it was a go.”

I was thrilled.  We came home with her JHD and fulfilled a dream.  I know this girl had what it took to go all the way and the feedback and compliments I received about her over the years reinforced that belief. 

It always amazed me and thrilled me and was so gratifying to me that this same girl who barely acknowledged my husband’s presence because she was “my dog” would work for anyone I handed her off to if they were fair in their treatment and what they asked of her, and it was clearly because she trusted me to take care of her.