From the time that the litter arrived, I was secretly hoping that Roper would be the one to stay here.  She was Holly's "mini-me" in looks which definitely endeared her to me.  She seemed to have the best of both parents in looks, so when she tested clear for CEA, I knew this was the one I wanted to raise.

Over the past 4 months, Roper has been busy.  Once her sisters left, we had the holidays upon us.  Roper traveled with us to one family gathering & also had some in-home socialization when folks came over for Christmas & New Year's Eve.  We have taken car rides, gone to visit the adult dogs at my Wednesday agility class, gone to puppy class, and more!  It has been a fun ride so far & I am looking forward to more adventures.

It occurred to me as recently I watched Roper playing outside that puppies are very much like small children.  We have a Maple tree with fairly low hanging small limbs.  Do you remember running through the house, jumping & trying to touch the top of the door frame or the ceiling?  Roper was running under the tree, leaping up, grabbing one of the limbs, hitting the ground & playing tug without a partner.  😉  To see the sheer delight on her face was priceless.

At 4 months, Roper is loving going to classes & learning some of the agility equipment.  Needless to say, I am having a ball with her!

November 2018

Yes, it has been awhile since I updated Roper's page.  😉 She is now 2 years old and is maturing nicely. She was an exceptionally easy pup to raise with the exception of when she hit 6 months of age. At that point, every stuffed dog toy in the house had to die. So for awhile, no new toys were given to her. She just had the "carcasses" of the old toys to play with, along with her antlers for chew toys. Still, she never touched things like shoes or furniture during this phase. Once she hit a year old, she began to play with the toys again, instead of destroying them.

It has been interesting to watch her grow up and see traits (physical & mental) that relate back to her grandparents. Like Kira, Roper likes to carry things around. She & Kira are the only dogs that pick up food bowls and relocate them. Toys are grabbed as one runs by them. They both enjoy squeaking the toys, just for fun. As she has gotten older, I also see Dillon's eyes & in general, his head showing up on Roper. From Dillon, she also inherited the fading gray gene (check out her pictures of when she was young & how much lighter in color she was then) and has his ears. Like him, one ear tends to be "up" a little more, than the other. She is proving herself as an agility partner and I can't wait until we can get back to training in the spring. Roper has also been proving herself as a varmint dog, like a good English Shepherd.

In March of 2018, Roper participated in her first UKC agility trial in the AGI level. She earned her first title that weekend. She was unable to participate in the September trial this year due to being in season, but hoping to be back working on her AGII title in March. She has had to learn to share me during class, since I am also working with Truman and his owner, Vicki.

We did take a one day herding clinic back in the summer with Cathy Hartley. Roper certainly had the drive and interest in the sheep. She was quick, seemed to be more of a heeler and doing some barking as she moved the sheep in the round pen. I do hope to get her back in some herding classes in 2019 to get a better feel for her instinct and ability in that area.

All in all, I am very pleased with the girl. She does tend to get a little excited when greeting family members, but I expect as she gets a little more age on her, that will diminish somewhat. She is lovely, athletic, minds well, extremely smart and is a fun dog to have around. So glad that she was the one I kept!