It seems as if she has always been a part of our lives and our daily routine. So it's hard to imagine that she is only a year old. At the same time it seems only a short while ago she was a little short nosed puppy playing with her blue ball under the rungs of the kitchen chairs.

Our Joni is now a year old and has all the best qualities of the border collie, developing more and more as she grows. She has the intensity (here she is watching the blue ball in the launcher that Steve is holding for her) and the energy. She has the intelligence and the love of learning. She also has the patience (as here) to wait until she is told to do the job she is waiting to do. When we take her out on her walks, as she runs free, if we have the ball and launcher she watches us and won't go far. She completely ignores anyone and anything else. If we have the ball, all we have to do is say 'down' and she drops to the ground. If she has the ball in her mouth then she is not quite so keen to do as she's told, though she just runs around us teasing us and trying to bounce it on the grass or the hard sand if we are on the beach.

She loves to run up the seats of the bleachers on the sports field, running along the boards then jumping from seat to seat up and down in her own private agility course. Here you see her on the top row, pretty much at the height of Steven's head, as he is holding her attention with…. you guessed it…. the blue ball !

A few people have said to me that they particularly missed seeing pictures of Joni, in particular my dear G+ friends , +Christina Lihani and +Ursula Klepper. Thanks to you both for your friendship.

#dogloversworldwide +DOG LOVERS Worldwide by +Robert SKREINER

#hqspanimals +HQSP Animals curated by +Alejandro J. Soto +Krystina Isabella Brion +Andy Smith

#noapologies #bordercollie #puppy #JonisDiary #AdayinthelifeofJoni #fansofJoni

#fidofriday +Fido Friday by +mel peifer +Lisa Lisa +Suhaib Ayaz +Wes Lum

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Joni has come a long way from the photograph of her that you see at the beginning of this album. Not only has she grown so that she looks almost adult, but she is (mostly) obedient enough to be able to walk with us off her leash, in the woods and on the beach at least. She doesn't exactly walk to heel (not at all, to be honest unless she is on the leash) but she runs and walks a little way ahead before pausing and turning to see if we are coming along behind her. She will wait if I tell her to and will even sit when I ask, even though I am not nearby. If she thinks she knows where we are going she will sometimes run too far ahead, so this is something we have to work on, but generally she is getting better and better all the time.

Here you see her at 9 months old, sitting up on the top of a bank in the woods. As part of the obedience exercises I practice with her, she will run up the bank and sit and wait until I tell her that she can come down and carry on along the path. The way I taught her to do that was by running up and down the bank myself until she caught on. I leave you to imagine that. She has been running through the damp fields and woods as you can see, but that is what a dog loves to do.

Are you not able to comment on Google+ because you don't belong? Would you prefer to comment on my blog? It's right here with all my G+ posts on it: https://www.elliekennard.ca .

#dogloversworldwide +DOG LOVERS Worldwide by +Robert SKREINER

#hqspanimals +HQSP Animals curated by +Alejandro J. Soto +Krystina Isabella Brion +Andy Smith

#noapologies #bordercollie #puppy #JonisDiary #AdayinthelifeofJoni #fansofJoni

#fidofriday +Fido Friday by +mel peifer +Lisa Lisa +Suhaib Ayaz +Wes Lum

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