Morgan's Page

Shown above is U-CD Morning Delite of Riverview ASCA/AKC CDX STDsd DNA-CP CGC NA NAJ RV-E JV-O, otherwise known as Morgan, our first Aussie and our foundation bitch. Morgan is shown doing chores during a trial some years ago; she's putting away the sheep that one of the trial dogs was unable to work. You'll notice that her body was going one way until that lead sheep's head turned to break-at that point, Morgan pulled her body to put him back in his place. YOU CANNOT TRAIN A DOG TO DO THIS. They either have the ability inborn, or they will never have it.

Morgan exemplifies what a good Australian Shepherd should be. Highly intelligent, intensely loyal, extremely loving, a clown at times, all business when something needs doing, able to think and reason things out on her own yet still be able to (sometimes!) take direction. She is a real working Aussie, not one simply trained to follow stock at the handler's direction. She reads situations and reacts accordingly without having to be told. She is a natural header, and it has been hell trying to get her to drive. But we are making progress in that area. She does tend to do her best work sans handler interference! Smart girl!

Morgan is a blue merle, born the 28th of February 1990 at Riverview Farms, bred by Herm and Linda Fohlin. Her father was Nik-Nak's Romance of Riverview (major pointed), a very cool blue merle guy dog who worked just like his daughter, and her mother was Midnite Delite of Starcross, a laid-back, clownish black tri with a great sense of humour. She is Riverview Farms first obedience and working titled dog bred by them, and also their first therapy dog. Morgan became a San Diego Children's Hospital Therapy Dog at the age of 2, and retired after being the top dog there for 5 years.

At 12.5 years old now and battling mammary cancer, Morgan only jumps when it suits her; still wants to work stock but is relegated to harassing the Ho Dog while he's working; but she is still ruling the roost with an iron paw. Her OFA rating at 30 months of age was Good, and hip X-rays taken at 12 years of age would have still gotten her a Good or Excellent rating; she is however showing signs of severe spondylosis now in her transitional vertebrae but remains asymptomatic; she passed her last CERF exam in August of 2001 and her thyroid was well within normal limits at 12 years of age. Because she has lost a fair amount of her hearing now, she has retired from the agility arena, not that she really ever listened much to me, and as far as working trials go, well, if there's a trial around and we feel like it, we'll trial. Otherwise, she'll just live the semi-retired but still active life, overseeing the household, working the horses, and just generally being "the Queen". After all she's done with me, she deserves to enjoy life instead of being forced to do things she doesn't like to do anymore in pursuit of yet another title for no obvious good reason.

Morgan goes everywhere with me. And everywhere we go, people are taken by her looks, personality, sense of humour, and all her tricks she does. We sometimes run thru a Utility routine in a park, and by the time we are thru, we have collected a crowd. And that ability landed her some TV roles! She appeared with "Bobby Sixkiller" in a Renegade episode titled "Top Ten With A Bullet". Her next role was for Shamu-TV at Sea World, where she saved the Earth ala "Independence Day", plus there have been some commercials.

And Morgan shows folks all over the Western US that a good Aussie is a true buddy--obedient, calm, well-mannered, flashy and a showoff extraordinaire. She also helps me teach kids and adults alike about responsible dog ownership at local schools and humane societies.

Morgan is the best of them. Trust me on this.

On another note, we feel that all breeding should be carefully planned, keeping the ASCA breed standard in mind. We select studs carefully-we know we have an eye problem in our lines, and we know where that problem is and how to avoid it. We select studs for not only correctness as to the ASCA breed standard, but also for intelligence, working ability, temperament, loyalty and genetic soundness. Titles means nothing; the dog has to prove to US that he is deserving of the champion title or his working titles. Too many dogs are awarded titles by virtue of playing the conformation game (going to shows under judges that the owner thinks will like his/her dog, grooming to disguise faults, handling to disguise faults, etc) and in the stock arena, doing essentially the same thing-picking the stock and judges the owner thinks will be best for his/her dog, taking a dog with little working ability/instinct and training it daily to follow directions, not stock movement. I like to see a dog think for himself, use his ability and instinct to keep the stock moving in the direction he needs to be moving in. And I like to put my hands on a dog, feel the strength of the topline, shoulder layback, look at the rear angulations and the front pastern angle, see how the dog free-stands on his feet and how he distributes his weight. Watch him move. Look for correctness and efficiency in movement. That overdone, flashy stuff may look awesome in the show ring, but behind 50 head of cattle in August over rough, rocky brush covered terrain, it won't work, period. To illustrate that point, see the picture of Morgan's grandson, Bruce, at 8 months of age. He's gathering 30+ head of cattle at the Everett Cow Camp near Colorado Springs, a job he started at 7 months of age, with absolutely NO formal training whatsoever. He's working off pure instinct and ability-something that cannot be taught, but must be in the dog from birth.

And that is how it all comes together. Knowing pedigrees and some knowledge of genetics is essential in breeding sound, strong, solid dogs. Taking the time to look past the titles to the dog himself pays off. Some of our future planned breeding will be using non-titled dogs. We also prefer to use older, established sires so that we can evaluate their offspring for soundness and genetic health.

But the whole things starts with a good foundation. And in Morgan, even with her faults (the perfect Aussie does not exist), we have that sound, solid foundation. She's one in a million; we wouldn't part with her for anything!