I went to an Upper Midwest Australian Shepherd Club (UMASC) conformation and obedience trial in 1996 and met a beautiful dark red tri male, Tori. He had one blue eye, with a perpetual twinkle, a smile on his face, and a bounce in his step. I immediately was taken with him, and accosted his owner, Jean, and bombarded her with questions. She informed me he did have a litter on the ground and who to contact. Joe and I drove out to where the litter was and were amazed by the cute little "TV stars". The litter was in a Purina Puppy commercial. (Ez was the puppy at the end of the commercial whose butt was the only thing showing out of the bag. Her claim to fame.) I had in my mind a red merle male puppy. When we sat with the puppies they all came running, and played with us, except for one little red tri girl. She sat and watched us for about 5 minutes than sauntered over and sat in my lap. I had been chosen, a fact which she has never let me forget. She is probably the most stubborn independent aussie I have met. (I looked at this litter for an obedience prospect. Ha Ha!)

She kept her dark red striking color and beautiful eyes. She was my first dog to try and train for herding, she is also the dog I received my started sheep title on last. She became very trial wise and knew when to push mom's buttons in the arena. She also enjoyed a little bit of sheep surfing in a trial. (Definitely not a desired action) After we purchased Elysian Farm and acquired our hair sheep, she and I were able to work on our herding and communication. It paid off, in just a few months of training; we entered a UMASC herding trial and received qualifying scores in Started Sheep on Saturday's run and placed 2nd on Sunday's run. Yah Ez!

She is an amazing tracking dog and received her AKC tracking title despite the dope on the rope! We have yet to get our ASCA tracking title due to the dope on the rope and the fact that she now enjoys tracking so much she doesn't want to indicate the article. She is having way too much fun to stop at the stinky glove.

When she was a puppy up until about two years, we called her the "red terror"; she was constantly in motion and getting into trouble. When people meet her now, they can't believe she is even capable of running. She is very sedate and chooses when to put effort into anything. When she does, look out, the "red terror" strikes again. I haven't met too many dogs that can keep up with her in a dead run as she turns corners and leaps over objects.

She is excellent with adults, children, other dogs, and strange situations. She is a wonderful ambassador of the breed and can be taken into many different public places. She is intelligent, agile, beautiful, confident, and a lovely example of what the "red" aussie color is supposed to be. No orange or pink here!