After a nice walk with Poppy, Molly, their owner Jules and Whitevanwoman this afternoon, I was settling down for the evening, waiting for my dinner, when suddenly there was a knock at the door. Whitevanwoman went to open it and it was Farmer Richard with my mate Penny 
Penny used to live with Whitevanwoman and Lanky before I was born and Whitevanwoman had trained her to play fetch with the sheep, running round the field and bringing all the sheep to her. When I was a puppy, Penny used to look after me but she was always very bossy and I soon learned not to make her cross, otherwise she would give me a nip.
When Whitevanwoman moved to Balamory, Penny went back to live with Farmer Richard on the farm where she had been born, because Whitevanwoman didn’t have any sheep for Penny to fetch (Whitevanwoman just used to borrow the sheep at Newton Rigg when she was training Penny), and Penny is the kind of dog who needs to run round fields after sheep, otherwise she gets naughty and into all kinds of trouble.
This evening Penny knew where she was straightaway even though she has never lived here and has only visited a couple of times in the past 6 years, and she definitely remembered me and Whitevanwoman. It was lovely to see her again, and to see her looking so well (but a bit smelly from living outside on the farm), although she still hasn’t grown at all and is still very little, especially compared to me. But what she lacks in size, she makes up for in attitude, and she had soon settled herself in my bed and discovered my stash of old bones, and then wouldn’t let me anywhere near. I know from experience that Penny doesn’t like sharing things, so I kept my distance so as to avoid getting a nip from her.
Farmer Richard says that Penny is working very well as a sheepdog. She is beginning to settle down a bit now that she is 8 years old, but she can still be very giddy and a bit naughty sometimes. He says that whilst it can be exasperating when she doesn’t listen to his commands and sets off in the wrong direction, he does like her spirit. He thinks that she could do very well at the National and International Sheepdog trials over the next couple of years. She is already a National Trial Champion which makes her a very special sheepdog.
Penny has got a boyfriend called Gus, who is just a young 2 year old sheepdog at Farmer Richard’s farm. Penny might be having puppies in a couple of months time and I am really hoping that one of her puppies will come to live with us next spring. Whitevanwoman is thinking about it and said “We”ll see”. I’m not sure what that means – sometimes “we’ll see” means “yes” and sometimes it means “no”. But Whitevanwoman said that she has already decided on a name (Lune – named after the river near where we live) so it is definitely looking hopeful. I do have to admit that it is nice having another dog around the place.
I did try to play with Penny but I think that because she is now a proper Championship sheepdog and not a pet dog anymore, she thinks she is too good to play with mongrels and she just curled her lip at me so I backed off. So having a young pup around the place to play with would be great. I feel that I am mature enough now to cope with the responsibility of being in charge of a pup’s education, teaching it manners and tricks the way that Lanky and Penny taught me 
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