Branwenn's Previous Updates - 2008

I am an amateur enthusiast of pedigrees, and over the previous several years have become very interested in a few particular lines of working Border Collies. After I lost Kaylie in April 2007, I didn’t intend to acquire another dog or puppy any time soon, but continued to do research for fun.

I’d been emailing with a friend about the lines I liked and thought I’d like to have in my next dog. My friend then introduced me to another friend of hers who is quite involved in pedigree research, thinking her friend might have some ideas about where I’d find my next dog. As it turned out, she was right. On April 27, 2008—the one-year anniversary of Kaylie’s passing—Karen told me about a litter that she thought would interest me. The sire was Don Helsley’s CV Cap, and the dam was Tim Naasz’s Ryn, who works on a large cattle-breeding operation. Ryn is a talented and valuable worker for Tim, and has good success at trials when time permits Tim to get away from the ranch. She is a littermate to several well-known trial dogs, including Tommy Wilson’s Sly, Laura Hicks’s Jag, and Joni Swanke’s Chip. The breeding was just what I liked on both sides, and I could hardly believe the good fortune of having this opportunity and the “coincidence” of the timing. I am not normally the sort to seek out “serendipitous” coincidences, but of all days to have learned about such a special breeding, hearing about it on the anniversary of Kaylie’s passing seemed significant to me.

The arrangements having been made, Bran flew out from South Dakota when she was eight weeks old. I didn’t know which pup would be mine, and when I got my first good look at her face at the airport, I felt quite choked up. Her face was marked almost identically to Kaylie.

Bran is an absolute delight! She is a very happy girl and so sweet, and just like a puppy, always ready to play. She has a special talent: she can literally do a somersault, rolling on her back from head to tail! As a pup, her coat was described as feeling just like a cotton ball, and it was so true; even now with her adult coat coming in, it is soft in comparison with my other girls. Bran seemed to become a coordinated athlete very early, and at about 4 months old (just when her legs seemed too long to belong to such a little girl), she was surprisingly agile.

Bran has traveled with me this season to clinics, lessons, and trials, and taken it all quite in stride. As of this writing, she has just turned six months old and has had a few goes on the sheep, and she looks like a good’un. I can hardly wait for her to grow up!

Bran's Dam and Sire
Ryn	Cap
©2006 Rebecca Naasz	©2008 Laura Esterman

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