RRSF Lotus Flower HSAs HSBs
"Lotus"

Border Collie - 05/30/2017 – Surprise!

“Lotus” aka Lotie (pronounced low –tee) or Whoatie (pronounced whoa – tee) came to me
unexpectedly. My mentor, longtime family friend or adopted grandmother, Sherry Lee, came back from
her summer trip to PA with 2 Border collie puppies. I was told to come up to the house because Sherry
had something for me. Once I got up to the house, 2 really super cute puppies were let off of the back
porch. One black and white and one black tri puppy. While I was playing with the puppies on the ground
I was told “SURPRISE!” Carolyn Wilki, friend and owner of Raspberry Ridge Farms in Bangor, PA has
gifted me a beautiful smooth coated, female, black tricolor puppy. It took a couple of minutes for my
brain to process this information. She was mine! I took my new puppy home and I quickly learned that
she loved human affection, was toy obsessed, with a super soft and delicate personality and had a
powerful presence on livestock! I believe the universe sent Lotus to me, to test the herding knowledge I
gained from previous dogs before her, my patience and heart as a trainer. I turned into a hard and strict
trainer because of how tough Raiden was. Lotus forced me to change almost everything about me as a
trainer. I have learned to train in a much more forgiving, slower, patient and fair way. If I failed Lotus
with her requests of change and resorted back to my old ways, she would just refuse to work for me
until I figured it out! What a smart dog and it sucks that it took my 3 rd dog to be the loudest teacher in
herding for me!
Now that I have apologized to my last 2 dogs and listened loudly to Lotus in herding, we have grown
together as an amazing team! We are actively training and competing in herding on different types of
livestock and courses. I have high hopes for my little dog and look forward to what the future brings us!