Right from the very first day, Foss had been saying "I should keep that little girl"...and more and more I'd agreed with him.

The morning of July 19th 2008 we were getting ready to take sheep and Chyne to Red Deer to do herding demos at Westerner Days.  When I went to put SallyRose in with the pups for the day, this pup was up and over a 2' barrier and gone in a flash...when I turned around to look for her she had our 3 turkeys rounded up and stopped and was watching them.  If they moved she'd round them up and stop again....a 3.5 month old pup not afraid of a big (pretty ugly) Tom Turkey and his ladies?  hmmmmm!  So "the conversation" kicked in once again between Foss and I as we headed to Red Deer, with the pup along for the ride as well.  She settled down like an old pro in the truck, not a pup on her first trip to town.  Once we got to the show site, it was still early and pretty quiet when we arrived.  So Baker had her collar put on for the very first time in months, with a 5' lightweight drag line attached, and off she went investigating everything in sight, the few people, all the different animals both large and small, and then she spied the Shiz-Tzu puppies and it was love at first sight, she was mesmerized by the pups and by the kittens next door!  At least she was till she heard and saw the baby pigs, then they became her new interest as she tried to herd them through the walls of their pen!  Within an hour or two there were people everywhere, huge crowds at a time walking around the "Little Red Barn" at any given time all day.  Baker was fascinated by baby strollers, the kids were all there purely for her enjoyment she seemed to think as she greeted every single one who came near her, and searched out those that seems a little scared, those kids always got extra kisses!  At the end of the day Baker had greeted close to a thousand people, had a ride in a stroller and on a wheel-chair, she'd seen many animals up close that she'd never seen before, helped "Mom" Chyne with the sheep after Chyne did a demo, she'd been for a nice long walk around the noisy crowded mid-way and watched the pony chuck-wagon races from about 15' from the track!  She was one pooped little puppy but still managed to greet several more kids as we wearily walked to the truck to head home.  When we'd left home in the morning Baker hadn't had a collar on for at least 2 months...by the end of the day she was walking on leash like an old pro without pulling or fighting.  All she'd done was drag around a little short line all day and once in a while I would step on it to stop her progress, she learned to give to the pressure and stop, yet didn't associate it with me doing it to her, she'd just stop!  This has always been Foss' great way to leash break a pup and it worked!