Horned Locust Goatscaping: Bucky and Guppy Puppies are HERE

SunStar's Horned Locust GoatScaping is proud to announce the arrival of Guppy and Bucky's first litter! They were born in a den outside the house on October 16, 2012.

(And excavated from said den two days later...)

These will be fine working dogs of calm and kind temperament.

The merle color carries on...!

Bucky is a very attentive boy, always with an eye on the job... ready to spring into action!

He is a strong intelligent worker with a confident attitude.

Guppy is a very sweet girl that loves to work her goats.

She is very strong and intelligent, and is a more independent worker than Buck. Her main focus is to keep the herd together which she does by circling the herd and driving the laggards and other drifters.

Guppy and Bucky are a good team.

Guppy at 10 months...

Here Guppy drives a tough mother and kid into the herd while on the range west of SunStar. She is good in these situations as she can read how close the bubble is and not cause too much fight from the stock, though she will certainly head when needed.

Guppy is half Australian shepherd.

Zuli ("SunRay's High Desert Lazuli"), is Gup's dam from Arizona. Zuli's grandsire is "Twin Oaks Kit Carson" Who was one of three dogs to ever earn the title "Supreme Champion" by winning the National Stockdog Finals in ducks, sheep and cattle in the same year. One of the other dogs was littermate to Kit Carson. Zuli is always ready to go when she hears the sound of spurs or bridle.

She is a great help in catching goats as she triangulates well and keeps the stock toward me.

And especially kids which she handles very gentle/assertive.

Here Zuli gently pushes the herd through a garage into the fenced backyard at an Eldorado home.

Guppy at two months with Zuli.

Bucky and Guppy both liked to keep their toys together as puppies!

This is Guppy's basic working posture.

Gup Loves her Goat Babies.

Guppy chastises her sister, Bamba, for being too excited around the goats...

Bamba is Guppy's litter mate and belongs to my niece. Though she has had less exposure to stock she loves to work when she can. Bamba also has a strong bunching instinct like Guppy and Zuli.

Bamba and Guppy's father was my neighbor's sheepdog. I know little about the dog other than that he grew up with the sheep and kept watch when they grazed free. I suspect he did some herding. My neighbor owned both the dog's parents. The mother was a Rottweiler X Border Collie and the father a Rottweiler X German Shepherd.

Guppy at the ready beside my trusty steed.

Guppy is always keeping the herd together. When one gets too far from the herd she rounds them up. She hates disputes and is especially helpful when breaking up buck fights during the breeding season.

Guppy has always loved the Maremma Sheepdogs that we keep for protection. Here she sits at the ready with her little friend, Dog.

Dog, at four months, herds a goat into the nightpen.

Whether from her own genetics or not she has become quite the herder in her own right under Gup's example.

Guppy oversees her work.

Though Guppy is usually a very calm worker she sometimes employs this maneuver on the goats when she wants to make a point. She is more likely to hit this way, more with her body than with her teeth.

Hart II's SunStarBuck

"Bucky"

Bucky is a tough little dog from Texas. We bought him from Norma Hart at MeMac Ranch in the hope that he would be a dependable worker for us in our climate and environment, and that he would be worthy to breed more useful members of our new herding dog society.

When we got Buck at eight weeks he could merely walk past the goat pen and the herd would dash away snorting, wondering what that little black furrball was. He demanded such attention! At 10 weeks a dairy goat and her kid got out of the pen. Zuli and Bucky together turned that doe (THE Queen which Hates dogs) and put her back into the pen, but the kid started zooming in all directions. It was too much for Zuli, so we told her to stop.

Bucky blocked that kid a few times then pushed it right through the gate like a pro.

We knew then that we had made a good choice.

He has shown us many times since that we chose well.

Buck is a truck dog...

Always ready.

Here Buck heads a tough goat...

And drives the herd home for a water break.

The black and red goats here were always testing the dogs, but Bucky, at eight months, shows them what the alternative to good behavior involves...

Bucky drops everything to herd goats, but off duty he loves to play ball!

You wouldn't believe how many golf balls and tennis balls there are in the world. Usually after the goats settle into a yard he shows up with something round...

But more than anything he loves goats.

Bucky on the job in Villanueva...

Buck at the Eldorado's 2011 Independence Day Parade...

Getting ready for the parade with Krishan...

Bucky is strong worker that lives to please. He will do exactly as you ask to the best of his ability.

And he is quite smart and able to figure things out.

Bucky and Guppy wait while the work crew unloads at a job for CH2MHILL in Eldorado.

This was a job where they kept the goats inside an existing non goat-proof wire fence. Guppy kept the herd together and Buck let them know that outside the fence was off limits in no uncertain terms.