Halo, just shy of her third birthday. Frenchman's Cove, NL.  Jan. 21, 2008.

Colour: Red Merle with White trim

Halo is everything we ever wanted in a female and more.  This little girl is a firecracker!  We cannot thank Terry Martin, of Slash V Working Australian Shepherds, enough for sending this outstanding girl all the way to Newfoundland to be with us.  Halo is Lawrence's heart and soul dog.  I don't think he'll ever love another dog as much as he does this little girl!  She is a true Daddy's little girl.  Our friends have officially named her "The SOOK", and she loves cuddling with almost everyone, but she saves special cuddles just for Dad.

Though this girl is the biggest sook, she is still very protective over the house, the car, and us.  However, she will warm up to strangers quickly (more so to women than men), and is all wiggles and kisses when she does.

A very naked Halo  at a Conformation show in PEI, Canada. June, 2008.  It was my first time in the ring, but I think we showed what beautiful, sound movement she has.

Photo by: Walt Norris

Halo at an agility fun day in St. Andrew's, NL.  Spring, 2008.

Halo's profile, which shows her longer muzzle and high earset, but beautiful face.

Once I realized what an amazing performance prospect she was, I tried to get as much training info and resources in flyball and agility.  I have attended several agility seminars with my older boy, Q, and I have traveled to Ottawa to train with Pam Casselman.  With the info I learned, and help from my friend, Lisa Giroux, I have started Halo's agility training.  Once we move to Alberta, March, 2009, we are joining some serious classes.  She shows outstanding promise, and we can't wait to start competing; hopefully Summer 2009 in Alberta!

Structurally, Halo is a very correct dog. Very nice rear, front, nice neck, level topline.  Her weakest part would be her head. She has a beautiful expression, but her muzzle is slightly longer than it should be, and her ears are set very high. 

Though Halo is built very sound, she looks nothing like what is currently winning in the show ring. We have put in little effort in the past to show her in conformation. However, we may occasionally enter her in the odd conformation show for fun, and socializing. We think it's nice to show off how beautiful working dogs are. We are firm believers that a dog should be able to do their job first and foremost. 

Spring 2008 Halo attended her second conformation show weekend, and picked up her first CKC point. Thank you goes out to Kim Moores, who handled her at that show.

Halo had the opportunity to attend her first weekend herding clinic Labour Day weekend, 2007, in Nova Scotia.  She had an amazing time meeting all the new people and dogs.  She got her Herding Instinct Certificate (HIC), and 1 leg towards her Herding Capability Test (HCT).  

Both the clinician and the judge said that Lawrence and Halo were a team that could go far in the herding area; great team relationship.  They plan to put much focus into this area.  

Halo also attended a second weekend herding clinic July, 2008, at Blue Rocks, Nova Scotia.  She had a great time, and we are looking forward to learning more together in the future.

NEWS:  We have moved to Alberta this pass March (2009).  We have already made plans with a great herding trainer, and have grabbed spots in an outstanding upcoming herding clinic in May.  We finally feel like we are going to get started in this area, and we could not be more thrilled.  Watch for updates Summer 2009!

Halo at her first Herding Clinic.  Nova Scotia, 2007.

Halo at her first Herding Clinic. Nova Scotia, 2007.

Halo at her first Herding Clinic. Nova Scotia, 2007.

Halo running in warm-ups with Burnin Rubber at "The Big O", Montreal, Nov. 29, 2008.

Photo by: Len Silvester

Halo cooling off at the 2008 Herding Clinic.

Halo at an agility fun day at Lisa Giroux's house. St. Andrew's, NL. Sept. 2008.

Halo ran in her first Starters Jumpers course in Agility.  She did a fantastic job!  It was a tough course for a Starters level with several front crosses, rear crosses, and twist and turns.  However, Halo was listening perfectly, and running at full speed.  We did run into a slight problem, as my being a newbie in the sport, did not know there could be a chute in Starters Jumpers.  So Halo was never trained to do one, or have seen one, so sadly, we did not Q.  However, that will not stop us!  With more training and serious competitive classes we plan to take the world by surprise.  Watch for us competing Summer 2009.

Halo also competed in Disc, and received her first title, RPT (Retrieval Proficiency Test).  She handled the whole thing like a pro, and performed as though she was just playing with me in our own backyard.  Nothing knocks this girl off her game.

Lastly, Halo got to run in warm-ups with the Burnin Rubber flyball team.  This was OUTSTANDING!!  Halo has had very little training in flyball.  We basically trained her a full run in 5 quick training sessions.  The last time she had trained in the sport was Feb. 2008, and didn't touch it again until the week before we left for our trip to Ottawa!  If that isn't amazing enough, then she ran in warm ups at the Big O.

The following weekend we traveled to a U-Fli tournament in Brampton, and Halo competed in singles.  She had never done head to head racing until our trip to Ottawa and she never thought about crossing over once.

Our friend, Pam Casselman, was a HUGE fan of Halo, and thinks she has TONS of potential to be an amazing performance dog.  She also said that she thought with the proper training and practice, Halo could be an under 4.0 second dog in flyball.

We are making several plans for when we move to Alberta.  We hope to have a very busy summer with Halo.  Filled with lots of fun and titles.  Watch for updates!

Robyn & Lawrence Hynes

County of Thorhild, AB

[email protected]