Simon

OTCH U-OCH U-ACHX
Oelamp's Simon Says
UDX MX MXJ EAC OJC OGC
HRDIIIs HTDIIs HTDId HSBs HSAs HIAs HXAs

Simon is one of those 'once in a lifetime' dogs that everyone dreams about. He was bred by Laura Kincaid of Oelamp Border Collies and was born on 1/6/96. At the age of 6 weeks he was the last unclaimed puppy in a litter of four. He had been turned down by a previous prospective buyer because he 'didn't have enough drive'. (Read the rest of this web page and you'll see why we all have to chuckle whenever we remember this comment).

I was just starting to look for a BC puppy but didn't know about Simon even though Laura and I trained at the same facility. By chance, Laura read my post on the bulletin boards on AOL asking questions about BC's and called me to see if I still was looking for a puppy. From the first day I brought him home we have had a bond different from any other dog I've ever owned. I believe that we were meant to be together and that fate conspired to keep this wonderful little boy unclaimed until I was ready to find him. He's a sweet, lovable, unassuming dog around the house, but give him something to do and he turns on the jet propellers and goes to work!

Here is an unusual sight - Simon doing nothing.

Obedience Competition

Simon is a high drive dog. He lives to work and play as hard and as FAST as possible. My biggest challenge in obedience work has been getting him to slow down enough to think about what he's doing. He balances this with an amazing desire to please, very strong focus on his work, and a natural gift for precision.

Here are Simon's obedience accomplishments:

UKC and AKC CD and CDX titles with multiple placements
AKC UD in four attempts
Completed UDX within 10 months of his UD, with limited showing
AKC OTCH completed with four first place Open B wins and one first place Utility B win
UKC UD with placements for all three legs, all earned within a one month period
UKC U-OCH with multiple placements, HITs and HCs
Perfect 200 UKC Novice C
Two HIT's UKC Novice
Two HIT's AKC - Novice B and Open B
Two High Combined AKC, Multiple High Combined UKC
Novice 5th Place Pup-Peroni Central Regional 1998
Sunday Best Novice with 199.5 - Central Regional '98
Open 6th Place Pup-Peroni Classic 1999
Utility 2nd Place Classic 2000

Agility

Click Here To See More Agility Photos

Simon is my second agility dog and a tough dog to handle even for a second-timer. He's faster in agility than he is in obedience and has done a lot to improve my reaction time! He's always a crowd pleaser because of his speed, the way he whips through the weave poles, comes to a screeching halt on all the contacts, and richochets off the insides of the tunnels.

He currently has the following titles:

AKC MX and MXJ, and ten double Qs
UKC U-ACHX (Agility Champion Excellent)
NADAC OJC, EAC, OGC

Simon placed 8th place overall in the 1999 Eastern Pup-Peroni Agility Championship and 5th overall in the Classic 2000 Agility Championships.

Simon's favorite agility trick is to see if he can leave the ring with none of the tunnels still in their original configuration. He also occasionally likes to rip the cloth off of the closed tunnel and take it for a spin (literally!) around the ring.

Herding

Simon was my first serious herding dog. It's been a long road for us, because I had so much to learn and at times we had to un-learn a few things. He earned his Junior Herding Dog (JHD) title from the American Herding Breed Association (AHBA) with mimimal traing, completed his HRD-Is (Herding Ranch Dog I on sheep) in October 2001 and his HTD-Is (Herding Trial Dog I on sheep) in October 2002. He earned his AKC Pre-Trial Tested (PT) title from AKC at the BCSA National Specialty in October 1999, and completed his AKC Herding Started title (HSAs) on May 20, 2001. In April 2003 Simon completed his AKC Herding Intermediate title (HIAs) in three straight trials. Later that year he earned his first two AKC Advanced A Course (sheep) legs, completed AHBA Herding Trial Dog I (duck), Herding Ranch Dog II (sheep), and Herding Ranch Dog III (sheep) titles, earned his first AHBA Herding Trial Dog II (sheep) leg, and completed his AKC Started B Course (sheep) title in three straight shows at the BCSA National Specialty. In the spring of 2004 he completed his AKC HXAs title and earned a couple of extra 'insurance' legs, and completed his HTD-IIs title in June 2004. We're currently working to improve his driving, flank commands, and outruns.

Simon herding sheep on B course at the BCSA National Specialty, October 2003
(photo by Kathleen Schaffer, Pup Art)

See below for a list of links:

Click to see my second BC, Tempo, Simon's younger sister
Click here to see the newest addition to the family, Simon's little brother Robby.
Visit Oelamp Border Collies to meet Simon's family
Click Here to see Simon's page on his breeders web site
Here is the site for our new agility club, WI-IL Agility Group (WAG) of Spring Grove Illinois
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