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Lumen


Lumen - Rozate Vigilante Justice

DOB: 9/9/12
Blue merle Australian Shepherd.
S: Dual Ch. (T) Rozate Jackhammer HSBsd HIAsd
D: Mistretta Polar Ice 

Lumen was bred from 'Chil', a working Aussie from America, and 'Thor', Rozate's star herder and all-round good guy. Lu is serious, contemplative, and at times paradoxical. She has a high prey-drive and loves to have a job - I've been afraid that she'll drown herself trying to get a toy that keeps sinking, yet she can't let the job go unfinished.
Lumen delights in learning, tail wagging in slow and thoughtful way as she works out the puzzle. Speaking of which, we once bought an 'advanced' dog puzzle when she was about 3 months old, and she'd solved the 'easy' section within 6 seconds. 
Lu loves to run, and should excel in agility when she is old enough. At the moment we are enjoying foundation lessons both locally and abroad, with a keen interest in following Silvia Trkman's methods of training. 
Lumen has also had a couple of turns on sheep and has already shown a natural talent, ability to balance, and a calm steady work-ethic which is at odds with the frenzied lick-attacks we often receive while sitting on the couch.
Lu loves people, children especially, and as such accompanies me to school to be a 'class dog' to 46 prep/1 students. So far she has comforted those students reluctant to say goodbye to mum or dad, who were having a hard day and didn't want to read (so they read to her), and has lifted spirits around the school as she accompanies teachers on yard duty. Now, if I can just get her to stop chasing the soccer-ball the kids are playing with...
Lu also has a keen nose, and is on food in a flash (even if it's a dried up apple-core or scrap of popcorn, nothing gets by her). Given her natural desire to sniff, unlike many herding-breed dogs, I suspect she'll do well in tracking when I manage to find the time to train her in this discipline, too!

Lumen is hilarious with water- she loves to swim, and if she needs to drink from a creek, she'd rather walk all the way in up to her stomach than stand on the edge. One of her favourite games is to chase the water from the hose around the backyard. When it's raining, unlike Mal, she strides forward on a walk, oblivious to the downpour, and walks through puddles rather than around them, and is absolutely fascinated by water pouring along the side of the road. Why is there a stream there when there was no stream there before!? And if I stand in it... woah! Sometimes if she's inside and we take a shower, she comes in to visit us. Right in. The only deterrent is that the water sprays outwards and into her eyes, so she positions herself directly behind us, under the water so it can't go in her eyes any more. I am convinced that whenever she finds a water bowl, she assumes her job is to finish all the water in there, regardless of how thirsty she is. I've never met a dog who drinks so much relative to their size.
If I'm training her in something to do with agility or running, halfway through the session I'll need her to swim- it instantly revitalizes her and gives her renewed energy. I'll need to make sure to always bring a clam-shell pool with us to trials at least during ever season except maybe winter. I suspect that 80% of my photos of Lumen are her with wet fur.

Literally the day after I wrote the bit above about her loving water, Lumen went and did this...


Lu's timeline:

9/9/12: Born
5/11/12: Came home with us (two days after our wedding)
29/1/13: Began Foundation class with Aussie Agility
8/4/13: Began long distance Foundation class with Silvia Trkman








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