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My Border Collie X Kelpie: 'TAZ' |
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 My name is Sharon (Shaz to friends!)
My dog's name is Taz (Tipsy Taz Maniac, once she needs a 'posh' name!)
So, we are Shaz 'n' Taz - it wasn't planned but there you go!
I got Taz at the end of June of 2006, a month after my Mum died and 2 days before I had to have my old dog put down - it was a rough time but having Taz made it bearable - she was (and still is!) a bundle of fun, energy and entertainment.
A friend of mine knew that I was going to have to have my old dog put down and knew I couldn't be long without a dog, knowing also that I'd not long lost my Mum - they saw this 8 month old Collie cross Kelpie advertised in the Freeads paper, free to a good home and rang up on my behalf, also knowing that I'm extraordinarily shy with people!
It was arranged for me to travel the 80 miles or so to see her - I had to - I was somehow 'drawn'!
I drove up, found the house and met Taz (then named something else - I changed it), and promptly fell in love with her. I took her home that day.
I can honestly say that neither of us have ever looked back. She had, and still does have 'issues', which I can only assume are down to having been teased severely in her previous home - the most upsetting thing is that she used to run and hide when I prepared her meals, then took a lot of coercing to come to eat. Thankfully it has improved, slowly.
In May of this year a friend of mine introduced me to a dog trainer near Redruth, about 20 miles from me, who thankfully took us on. I say that because it has turned out to be the best thing I've done for years, apart from getting Taz of course!
I'd taught Taz a few tricks in the few months I'd had her but they were fairly basic and I used only treats - I'd known nothing else with my other dogs.
 Pam introduced & trained me in Clicker Training - I caught the 'bug' straight away! - it made perfect sense to me and Taz improved on a daily basis. She really loves working - her brain requires the stimulus!
The only place she ever pulls me now is into the barn, where we train!
When we first met Pam, Taz was scared of her own shadow - now she's growing in confidence and she's even 'performed' a little 'play-act' trick at some local shows - one where we were asked to do an encore - and loves it! We've been lucky enough to get first place in every 'best trick' class we've entered this year!
She's now 2 years old.
Our aim is to compete in Heelwork to Music - probably focussing on Freestyle, due to the fact that Taz LOVES her tricks! We are also going to try(!) to go through the levels of K9 Multisports - she got a distinction across the board, apart from a '2' in heelwork, in the 'mock' but unfortunately she came into season the day before the test so we couldn't do it this time - very frustrating as we'd worked very hard but I learnt a lot by just watching others and working one of Pam's dogs in a 'workshop' day over the same weekend.
Taz has kept me going, literally - she's an utter joy to have around. We bonded extremely quickly, and now? ...
The bond is unbreakable.
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