Peyton Danielle Tickle, born June 13 at 6:20. 6 lbs, 15 oz. She is as beautiful as her mother. Everyone is doing well!

Alison and Sadie went 10 of 11 this weekend at the Blue Ridge Agility Club's AKC trial. There are some people (and dogs) that just won't slow down! Mike and Tommy came home empty handed this weekend, but Mike did earn Nicky’s AJP title. We are now officially on baby hiatus until late August. We’d like to thank everyone for the words of support and well-wishes … we are blessed to have such great agility friends!

Sadie and Tommy (as the Atomic Particles) and Bling (with Mary Whorton's Emmy and Linda Shuford Mallard's Willie) won gold medals in DAM and PVP team competition at the Teamworks USDAA trial under Judge Les Sanders. Way to go, everyone!

We had a very nice weekend under Judge Keith S. Van Housen. His courses were tough, but fair. Sadie went 8/9 for the weekend, taking first place in seven of those qualifying runs. Tommy had terrible day yesterday, but capped off this weekend with his first QQ running with Mike. The high point of the trial was today when Sadie and Tommy went first and second in standard. Go Team Tickle! Also, mad props to K. Lynn and Nicky for earning his first Excellent A jumpers leg!

Bling picked up her Rally Excellent (RE) title today at the Tarheel Cluster in Raleigh. Alison also was showing Nicky in advanced, and they earned up his last leg for his Rally Advanced (RA) title!

If you have never trained with us before, but have trained with another facility in our area, you are eligible to receive your first two hours of training at the introductory rate of $35 an hour! Alison will only be teaching until late May! Check out the "Services" page for more details.

Sadie earned MACH7 at the Danville Kennel Club AKC trial today under Judge Sionag Black! Alison had been chipping away at the QQs for a few weekends, but finally nailed it today with two beautiful runs. In other news, Tommy picked up QQ #3 on Friday with Alison, and placed third in jumpers today with Mike.

We spent last weekend in Charlotte at the CDTC AKC trial. There was plenty of rain on their perfectly flat fields ... which means there was mud. Everyone had moments of brilliance, including a triple blue on Friday for Sadie. The biggest surprise was Alison getting Tommy his second QQ on Sunday, with a third place in JWW! He is really turning into a mamma's boy, but if he doubles up with her, it is fine by me.

We've had an interesting run of weather here in the old north state. Five inches of snow were followed by a weekend of rain, then two days of ferocious wind. Needless to say, everyone is ready for warmer weather and more practice time. Tommy has managed to have himself grounded for at least two weeks due to an injury. He has 12 stitches in his rump from a collision he had with the deck. I hate to see my boy down, but I want to get better soon ... we have to get qualified for USDAA Nationals!

We had quite a busy weekend at the fabulous Blue Ridge Agility Club AKC trial in Fletcher, NC. Sadie went 8 for 8, Bling picked up a leg in JWW, Standard and FAST (just not on the same days) and Tommy picked up another standard leg towards his MX title. Alison ran a client's dog who won his Novice FAST title. We had a great time with our friends and are looking forward to our next AKC trial in Youngsville, NC. in February.

The USDAA has announced that nationals will be held at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, KY on October 13 - 17, 2010. Sadie and Bling are already qualified, now to work on getting Tommy qualified. We may be on the hunt for a team member soon.

Happy New Year to our friends and family! We'll be attending two big shows in January. The first is at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, and the second is one of our favorites ... BRAC in Fletcher, NC. Let's not have any snow this time in Fletcher, okay? And I would like to confirm the rumors that Alison is pregnant with our first child! She is due in July!

We had to say goodbye to one of our oldest shelties today. Possum died unexpectedly in her sleep overnight. She was a quiet girl who was content to lurk in the shadows, but always willing to add a barking voice wherever it was needed. We will all miss her very much. Not exactly how we planned on starting the new year, but we will celebrate her life and the people she touched.

I am proud to say that we survived the BRAC Blizzard of 2009 in Fletcher this weekend. Nothing like a foot of snow to make things interesting. Fortunately, we had food, a warm place to stay and four-wheel drive. The show was pretty quiet on Saturday, but the highways were clear all the way home.

Silvia Trkman was in town this week at PBH for a series of seminars. On Sunday, Ali and Bling attended a day-long handling seminar, and tonight, Boomer and I attended a puppy seminar. We all learned lots of good stuff that we plan to use on the field!

Well, we survived the drive home from AZ, thanks to being able to stop at my parent's house for a short break. Alison's team was in 2nd place going into finals, but they didn't fare too well in the final run. We learned at lot of lessons and have a list of things to work on for next year!

Hello everyone, Sadie and Ali are running this weekend at the USDAA Nationals in Scottsdale, AZ. We'll post an details update after all the runs are finished, but I can tell you that Sadie's PVP team is doing very well! More details soon!

It has been some time since we've been at a trial, but that is because we have been busy getting ready for our second wedding! The Big Show is this weekend, and after that, life returns to normal as we prepare for USDAA Nationals in Arizona. Never a dull moment!

Tommy continues to impress us with his mad agility skills. On October 3 at the PBCA trial, he finished his MXJ (Master Excellent Agility Jumper) title with Alison, and on Friday at the CDTC trial, he picked up his first QQ, again with Alison. He seems to like running with her ... maybe he'll get to work with Mike again soon!

This was a tough weekend of agility for the whole team. Steve Shelt, our judge, offered up some very challenging courses, but our biggest problem was the surface ... slightly muddy, very squishy and slippery. Sadie QQd on Friday and won standard on Sunday. Bling rocked jumpers all weekend by listening and staying on course. Tommy picked up legs eight and nine towards MXJ, but had no luck in standard all weekend. Next weekend, we'll be in Chapel Hill for the Piedmont Border Collie Association trial. See you there!

The forecast is for more rain all weekend during the Durham Kennel Club's AKC show. We generally don't like to run in the rain for safety reasons. However, we've trained in the rain and one of Tommy's greatest jumpers run was in the rain. The DKC site is actually famous for its mud, so we'll be moment by moment this weekend on runs.

The girls were on fire this weekend! Sadie QQd on Friday and Saturday, and was a tough weave entry from doubling up on Sunday. Bling had two fabulous jumpers runs, winning one. Tommy picked up another leg towards MXJ.

At the Teamworks USDAA Test this weekend, Sadie earned the Accomplished Performance Dog title, which is the Performance division version of ADCH. We're very proud of our girls!

We have added a new star to the stable. His name is "Boomer" and he will be Ignited's Thunderstorm Warning. He is a red, smooth-coat border collie with a small flash of white on his face.

The sire is "Danger" HTCh Silveridge Code Red, OA, OAJ, AAD, TM, GM, SAM, HTDIIIs, HTADIIIs, HRDIIIs, RLFIIIs and dam is "Brita" UGRACH Sandhill Brita AD AS AG AJ AR OA AXJ NAC OJC NGC TN-N CL3-R CL3-F.

Boomer comes to us from the fabulous Ignited line of border collies that already features several outstanding dogs. We look forward to continuing the Ignited tradition in a couple of years!

In their annual board meeting, the AKC has approved a new agility title that builds upon the FAST class, called the Triple Q Excellent title. The AKC states: "Requires the XF title. In order to acquire the Triple Q Excellent Title, a dog must receive 10 triple qualifying scores obtained from the Excellent B Standard Agility Class, the Excellent B Jumpers With Weaves Agility Class and the Excellent B FAST Agility Class on the same day." You can add in a "P" for the performance dogs, as well as an "M" for mixed breeds and a "MP" for ... oh, you get the point.