The Southern Charm Gang

by M. Suzanne Sims

 Reaching back to my furthest memories, he is always there.

Twinkling eyes of blue, hair as white as snow, he is always there.

Bringing in the Holsteins with Meg, a black and white Border Collie, he is always there.

Playing in the Amite river during a picnic on the river bank, he is always there.

Salt of the Earth, do-anything-for-you, he is always there.

Showing off his new baby calves, he is always there.

Giving you dreams, he is always there.

Mr. W. L. Crawford passed away a few months ago, but he will always be in my heart and in the heart of so many others. He gave me dreams of herding. He is responsible for the passion I have for and my deep appreciation of what herding truly is. He honestly was the salt of the Earth, a good country man who certainly would give you the shirt off his back. I miss him so much; I hope he knows just how much he and his family gave to us long ago during our childhood. Wonderfully warm memories of a great big ol’ house in the middle of nowhere on a river bank, land seemingly going forever, the smells of a dairy and fresh green grass, smiles and laughter, books and his "stuffed’ Bobcat appropriately named Bob, listening to the sounds of "the country" at night on the porch, baby calves and Border Collies.

We moved away when I was around 10 years old. As I grew up, I did not always take opportunities to visit him and his wonderful wife, Miss Annie Mae, both whom I have always loved so. By the time I got to the hospital on Friday evening, Mr. W.L. was back in CCU. He passed away that evening at midnight without my telling him how much he, his wisdom and his teachings had meant to me over the years. Nor did I let him know that time never goes by without my thinking of all that he taught me so very long ago.

Mr. Crawford will never be far from my dreams or thoughts. People like him don’t come into our lives very often. Love them, cherish them, but most of all, let them know how much they mean to you. Some Day never comes; Yesterday comes more often than we sometimes realize.

                                                                            ------- M. Suzanne Sims
                                                                            March 23, 1999  © 1999-2000, M. Suzanne Sims

This piece is about herding, but even more so it is about the folks we meet along the way, the people who encourage us and help us to achieve our goals and even more. Herding is my life, filling my heart, mind and soul. I would be no where near to my herding goals with my Bouvier des Flandres, Casey, without these friends.......

The love of herding has always been in my heart, at least as long as I can remember; since I was about 4 and saw imported working Border Collies working a dairy in Amite County, Mississippi. That dairy belonged to Mr. W.L. Crawford and his wife, Miss Annie Mae. As a small child, I was amazed when Mr. Crawford would send Meg out for the Holsteins when it was milking time. All he had to do was call her and tell her what to do, and Meg would streak out into the pasture. Shortly, here would come Meg with those cows headed straight into the dairy. Meg’s love of her job showed each and every time Mr. Crawford asked her to do something for him. She was eager to please and the beauty of seeing her work her livestock was an awesome sight for a youngster. I still remember how the cows respected Meg and did exactly as she said.

Of course, my experience with Border Collies and herding spoiled me somewhat, for Mr. Crawford’s dogs seemed born with the ability to herd and how to do it right. And as a four year old, I could never have dreamed that my own herding days would be filled with tremendous challenges day in and day out! Then, all I knew was that I wanted to herd livestock with dogs of my own one day. Little did I know those dreams would eventually come true. Nor could I know the path those dreams would take me and the wonderful friends I would meet along the way.

The highlight of my young life were invitations to Mr. Crawford and Miss Annie Mae’s. Sometimes we would go for an entire day and would spend the day playing in the Amite River and having a picnic lunch. But no matter how long we were there, whether it was just for supper or the whole day, we would always go to watch Meg bring the cows in to the dairy. One of my favorite times of the year to visit was in the Spring when the baby calves were being weaned. I loved going from calf to calf, making friends, petting and loving them. On one visit, when I was 6 years old, Mr. Crawford told me to go out and choose any calf I wanted to take home with me. I was ecstatic. It would mean getting up very early every morning to bottle feed the calf, but I was thrilled. I ran outside and began the search for MY baby calf. I went to each one, loving and petting them. I finally chose a Guernsey; red and white. Excitedly, I ran back inside and told them I had made my selection. We all came outside and they told me to show them the one I had chosen. I ran straight to my new baby and my dad said, "Oh no, you have to choose another one, Suzanne. This is Mr. W.L.’s special calf and he is keeping her.". Mr. Crawford was laughing and said, "Oh no, she has good taste. I told her to pick any calf, and that is the one she chose. That one is going home with you, Suzanne.". My dad, still trying to talk a young, confused child into choosing another calf, had no luck because Mr. Crawford would not hear of it. I did not understand it then, but this calf was the result of an expensive artificial insemination breeding and had been a planned breeding for a long time. She did go home with me and I named her Charlotte after Charlotte’s Web. I got up every morning before school, while it was still dark, and bottle fed Charlotte. When we moved, she moved with us. When I would go out to call her, she would come running like a puppy to see me. Charlotte lived her entire life with us and brought many happy memories to my life.

Once we moved from Amite county, I went for many years without seeing dogs herding livestock, but the love of herding still lived in my heart. Over the years I went through what most kids go through; life, college, a job, but three things stuck with me; my love of dogs and my passion for herding, and a new breed to me, the Bouvier des Flandres. I found them to be incredibly intelligent, beautiful dogs and they were herding dogs to boot! Another dream had surfaced, to have a Bouvier in my life.

After adopting two dogs, ironically and unintentionally herding breeds, I began my search for a Bouvier des Flandres. Three years of research led me to Karen Brown and B.Witchn Bouviers in Colorado. I told Karen I was looking for a healthy Bouvier with lots of drive and a real desire to work. She had a litter planned with AM/CA CH Quiche’s Re-Lee Tight Jeans (Leevy X Quiche’s Orissa) and CH B.Witchn’s Ryde Em Cowboy (Nite Ryder X CH B.Witchn’s Treasure Truly) and a year after I first spoke with Karen, my little high drive bundle of energy flew into our lives and we’ve not been the same since. No one can ever really know what skills and abilities a puppy will grow up with, but I could not have ordered a more perfect dog for myself and our family. Casey has passed 5 health tests (OFA Hips, OFA Elbows, OFA Heart, CERF, and Thyroid), is intelligent, and his favorite thing in the world is to work his sheep. He earned his AKC Championship with 4 majors with limited showing and in 1999 earned three herding titles. He is known as CH B.Witchn’s Justin Casey Howlz JHD~s HCT~s HT HIC CGC TT TDI VBB VCC. Karen’s careful planning of this breeding along with her uncanny ability to choose the right puppy for the right family allowed me to have the Bouvier of my dreams. Casey has what it takes to be a good herding dog; drive, enthusiasm, love for his work, and his never-quit attitude. I will be forever grateful to Karen for trusting me with one of her own and am proud to be a part of the B.Witchn family.

Karen has been so encouraging to me with Casey, but especially with herding. She understands this passion of mine and is so proud of her boy Casey and our accomplishments. One of the highlights for me has been watching some video tapes she and other friends have with many of Casey’s aunts, uncles, grandparents, and mom herding. Karen is more than a great breeder and a lover of this wonderful breed. She has become a true friend and she and her family are part of our own family now.

I longed to do herding with Casey from the beginning, but in the Jackson, Mississippi area there was no one doing herding with dogs. And of the few folks who were herding in Mississippi, most were Border Collie folks and were not too enthused about having a great, big, hairy beast run and chase their sheep. I had found this from an earlier search while wanting to do herding with my two rescues; Adam, an Australian Shepherd and Sissy, a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier mix.

When Casey was 14 months old, I heard about a herding instinct test down in Mobile, AL put on by the Bearded Collie club down there. Greg and I got up early Sunday morning and drove down with all three dogs to the test. My dad and some relatives from the Mobile area met us at the test. There we met Jim New and that meeting, again changed my life. I don’t think Jim had ever seen a Bouvier, but he had a Beardie, so he wasn’t a stranger to the seldom seen herding breeds. After our turn, Jim seemed impressed by Casey. He asked me if I was serious about herding with this dog and I told him that I was going to herd with this boy, no matter what. Jim took me under his wing at that point, got me into my first Bob Vest clinic, and Jim and his wife Lana are considered by all of us to be very special family.

I guess family is the best way to describe a large part of herding. The people you meet at herding clinics and trials are the friendliest bunch you will ever come across! They pull for you, no matter whether they are competing against you for a ribbon or not. Of all the dog related sports and competition events I’ve been involved in and participated in, herding is definitely where someone new needs that encouragement. The herding pros know that and always take the time to help someone new.

Over the last two years Casey and I have been up to Jim and Lana’s in Risco, MO for several Bob Vest clinics and a few herding trials. We especially enjoyed watching Jim and his Beardie, Max herding those sheep. Talk about working as a team...well, most of the time. I get a huge grin on my face thinking of Jim and Max working sheep. Much of the time, you could count on Max looking back at Jim, as if to say, "Is this right, Dad? Am I doing ok?" , but then there were the times when Max would downright argue with Jim. And you know, Max was usually right at those times. It gave us all a huge chuckle every time it happened. Jim and Lana lost Max the summer of 1999 and while it was a tragic loss for them, the numbers of herding people who felt their pain and loss were many. You better believe Max is up in Heaven looking down at his Dad, telling him just what to do with those sheep!

Going to Jim’s place is kind of like "old home week". Everyone who goes to the Bob Vest clinics Jim has and to his herding trials are all like family. All of us love Bob, his "way with animals", and what he has done for each of us and our dogs. After that brief time with Jim on sheep at the HIC test, Casey did not see sheep again until the following December at our first Bob Vest clinic. My fears of my darling boy wanting a tasty snack of lamb quickly vanished as Bob worked his magic with Casey and with this very green handler. On the first day, Bob told me that Casey would be off lead and I would be working him the next day, and true to his word, that is exactly what happened the next day.

This clinic is where I met some very special ladies. Janett Covington from Arkansas and Debbie Hunott from Missouri and some ladies I like to call the Memphis gang, Klo Spelhouse, Anne Morrison, Dianne Williamson, and Anne Troutman. These ladies represent what true sportsmanship is all about. They are at Jim’s just about every time Casey and I are there. They are always right there on the fence when it is Casey’s turn, cheering us on, letting us know when we are right and when we are wrong. I am not sure what Klo does for a living, but she HAS to be a teacher for a living, because she truly has a gift for giving clear explanations. She has always been able to make sure I understand, even the tough stuff!

Casey and I both have come a LONG way since then, but the neatest thing is that he and I are still growing together. Casey and I have been to five Bob Vest clinics and are still going back for more. Bob is a very special person and one of the greatest trainers I have ever had the opportunity to work with. I have told him many times, he knows more about animal behavior than any person I have ever met in my life. I have seen Bob work with dogs folks had given up on, and these same dogs others had said would never herd, earned herding championships under Bob’s guidance and the dedication of the owner/handler. But more than herding titles, ribbons, and championships, the dogs did learn to herd and obviously loved their job after tutoring by Mr. Bob Vest and plenty of time and devotion by the dog’s owner/handler.

After Casey’s HIC, I became very serious about herding. We completed Casey’s championship the summer after he earned his HIC and I began making contacts for herding lessons. No matter which direction I chose, it would be a two and one-half or three hour drive away. I had spoken with Shelly Spotswood of Folsom, LA a couple of times and was very impressed with her. The January after our December Bob Vest clinic, we drove the two and one-half hours to Shelly’s farm for our first herding lesson with her. There I was, a very green herding enthusiast with a dog who had so much drive, he had no clue that there was anyone else out there with him. Just he and the sheep. And I still had no idea where to walk or what I was supposed to do. It all looks so easy when you are watching someone else, but the moment you walk into that pen or field, everything you thought you knew leaves you, sneaking away, leaving you feeling helpless and so very out of control.

Control....that, in a nutshell, is what is so difficult about herding, and why I believe herding is the toughest dog sport. In herding there never really is any control. Not until teamwork between you and your dog has been established and the dog learns control. In obedience, you begin with a leash, and even the off lead work is normally done in a small area. In agility, you and your dog are typically working closer together, in more control and without moving targets. And when you aren’t, you can more easily go back to working on lead until that control has been established. But in herding, it is you, your high drive dog, sheep and a field. You and the dog both have to learn control. No leash, only opportunity for you and your dog to learn the importance of team work.

The highlight of our first lesson with Shelly was the sheep breaking out of the round pen, Casey right behind them, taking them all over a couple of acres, finally heading them straight into a stall in Shelly’s barn. I’ll never forget Mary Alice Therriot marveling over Casey looking back as if to ask, "Anything else need to go in here?" once all the sheep were in the barn. It sure looked good, but I guess we’ll never know if he really knew what he was doing at that point. He was so young and green. Shelly has never given up on either of us and always had new ideas for us to try with our challenge boy as well as this challenged handler! Shelly has her own challenging dog, Yaka, an Australian Shepherd. Yaka is a super neat dog, boasting 50 titles, which includes the coveted OTCH. "Yaka stories" from Shelly have sure kept me motivated with the Case man.

The first year Casey and I traveled to Shelly’s every other weekend without fail. We also worked Sissy and tried to work Adam. Sissy turned out to be quite a herding dog herself, beginning at the age of 9. With Shelly’s encouragement and guidance Sissy earned her AHBA HCT~s with me handling just after being on sheep three times. Last year we did not make it as often, but still try to drive down at least once a month. Hopefully 2000 will see us down at Shelly’s on a more regular basis.

Herding is also a lot of work. It requires a tremendous amount of time and dedication on the part of the trainer. Most people who want to herd with their dogs have to drive at least a few hours in order to take lessons, and going every once in a while just does not get it. It is best to take classes and work livestock on a regular basis. For this reason there will always be dogs who would probably be very good herding dogs, but will never get the chance. The time and effort are simply too great for some owners to manage.

The thrill of seeing Casey work his livestock, seeing him know what to do when a sheep gets out of line still gets me deep inside. Seeing him bear his soul, working, and so very happy at what he is doing is something I hope more Bouvier owners will one day have the thrill of seeing in their own dogs. It has, however, taken me a long time to release and learn to trust my dog. I heard that from Bob, Shelly, and a few judges along the way and I think it has finally sunk in a bit. I still have so much to learn, but Casey and I have both come so far in two years. I still have to keep reminding myself to walk, keep moving....another of the hard things for new herding handlers to remember. But now, at least, I remember what to remind myself to do! The terrible helplessness that beginning herders experience is very overwhelming. That feeling seems as if it will always be around, but it won’t. Herding sounds and looks simple, but to a beginning herder it is a far cry from simple. Herding does get better with experience and all of those promises of "it’ll get better" really are true. What never does leave are the challenges you and your herding dog will face as you continue with your training. Overcoming these challenges will make your team stronger.

Some people have asked me what in the world I did to accomplish Casey’s reliable down and the vast improvement we have made in herding. In May of 1999 Greg and I moved our gang to a little 10 acre farm, complete with a 6 stall barn and a lake. We call it Three Dog Farm. We added sheep a few weeks after we moved in. I think having access to sheep on a daily basis has helped Casey to calm down and learn a bit more control. Even more so, this has given me more confidence in my own handling skills, as well as more opportunity to practice them. Our farm and the wonderful herding friends we have met along the way, are responsible for the improvement Casey and I have made.

Thanks to much encouragement and hand holding from Bob Vest, Casey and I recently started working ducks, something I NEVER thought we would be able to accomplish! The weekend we first worked ducks brought a new herding friend into our lives. Bob’s wife Rachel. Rachel has been a wonderful source of encouragement to me and I love the way I can always count on Rachel to "tell it like it is"! Thanks to Rachel and Bob, we added several ducks to our menagerie a few months ago. True to Bob’s word, it has helped Casey to begin to learn to work off his stock a little more. And, how fitting that Casey’s first time on cattle was with Bob. Having been raised around cattle all my life, I know they can be unpredictable at times. So, I was a bit cautious. Casey and I were able to obtain a spot in Janett Covington’s yearly cattle clinic with Bob this year and, once again, I was amazed at my boy and his abilities. I was surprised that Casey seemed more cautious on cattle, but it was as if he seemed to know cattle were very different from sheep and ducks. The cattle were very nice and as usual I learned so much from Bob. Add to that good friends, and the weekend was one of the best.

I guess I can say that I am hooked, all the way around! Sheep, ducks, and now cattle. With twenty-two sheep and eight ducks, Greg doesn’t like the little gleam he sees in my eye when I start talking about adding three little biddy baby Holsteins this fall. The way I see, it will almost be like coming full circle. I fell in love with herding while watching a wonderful Border Collie bring in her Holsteins every day. And I fell in love with livestock while bottle feeding a very special dairy calf.

Beginning way back in 1964 and now, getting ready to enter into a new century, leaves many years of friends along the way. People like the W.L. and Annie Mae Crawford’s, the Karen Brown’s, the Jim and Lana New’s, the Bob Vest’s, the Klo Spellhouse’s....these are the people who make life rich and rewarding. Taking the time to make life more enjoyable for others and helping others achieve their goals. These are the folks who make life what it is.

In 1999, Casey and I earned three herding titles; AHBA (American Herding Breed Association) HCT ~s (Herding Capability Tested, Sheep), AKC HT (Herding Tested), and AHBA JHD ~s (Junior Herding Dog, Sheep). For many folks, this means very little, but for a new herding handler with a dog like Casey, it means the world. These titles represent the teamwork Casey and I are beginning to form, the control that we both are beginning to become comfortable with, but most of all it represents the growing love and respect between a handler and a dog.

Herding with my own dog has taught me so much about myself, my dog, and about life. I guess the most important lesson I’ve learned is that when you really want something, no matter how difficult it might seem, you will find a way. The truth about sheep and dogs is they bring lots of great friendship, growth to you and the relationship with your dog, but most of all they can bring dreams to life.

M. Suzanne Sims is a Technology Consultant in Jackson, Mississippi. She has conducted house bunny seminars, taken pet photos with Santa, as well as weekly photos for the state newspaper featuring a homeless pet at a local humane society. In her spare time, she trains in obedience, agility, tracking, and herding, does pet therapy work, is a Therapy Dog International certified CGC evaluator, serves as the American Bouvier des Flandres Club webmaster, volunteers for the American Bouvier Rescue League, and offers assistance with pet behavioral problems.   She also serves as webmaster for the American Bouvier des Flandres Club and the Jackson Obedience Training Club.   You may email her at threedogfarm@bigfoot.com.  To learn more about the Bouvier des Flandres, visit the ABdFC (American Bouvier des Flandres Club) web site.

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