XE Maid

When Scott retired Pleat this past fall, he was hoping Maid would step into the gap.

XE Maid

So far She has been showing great promise.

Maid was bred by Grant Musgrove of Halkirk, Alberta. Grant's bitch, Alta-Pete Megan was Maid's mother. You will often hear me sing the praises of Megan. She was from a previous litter, but the same way bred as Scott's Pleat and Tala. They all go back to Scott's big trial winner, Dan who was bred to a brave little bitch named Kelly. Megan was out of the first Dan/Kelly cross and although he had sold her as a pup, Scott was able to start her on sheep and get a feel for the way she worked. Later he would say that he thought she was the best dog out of both litters.

Alta-Pete Megan

Her owner offered her for sale after a few years, but she had broken her leg working cattle and had a permanent limp so Scott passed on her. Grant was much smarter and bought her to use as a brood bitch. Fortunately for us, we were able to get pups out of several litters. In addition to Maid, my Hemp, and Kaos are also out of that nice bitch. We recently acquired another pup of her's named Becky. She reminded us so much of Megan, we renamed her Meg in honor of her mother. Our Megan has recently been bred and we are eagerly awaiting her pups.
Maid's father is Michele Howard's Moss who was a son of Bobby Henderson's International trial winner, Sweep.

Maid was raised here at Alta-Pete Farm but wasn't trialed much her nursery year. We often have a customer dog or two to trial in the nurseries and with so many trials having limited entries, this means that Scott's dogs often stay in the kennel. Maid did however win a day of nursery at the Kentucky Bluegrass. Her first open trial was at the Thistle Dew trial in Michigan and she looked good enough to win a day there.

Maid's 2008 open year started slow but picked up as she went along. She again did well at Thistle Dew and won another day there and picked up the "Best Shed" trophy.

Maid at The Thistle Dew Trial '08

By the time the Nationals came around she was really starting to shine. Pleat didn't make it to the semi finals, but Maid did, coming in 3rd place in the first round. She continued her good runs and did well enough to make it to the double lift. Scott has always been known for his spectacular turn back's with Pleat so everyone was watching to see how Maid would do. When the time came, one whistle was all that was needed for her to turn immediately back and go for her second lot of sheep. Scott kept her locked down and controlled for the rest of the run as Maid has a temper and these sheep were looking for a fight. In the end she placed 7th in her first Nationals.

We would like to breed Maid as there is a big request for her pups but she has very bad timing as she usually comes in heat too close to the trial season. Instead this winter, Maid and Scott have been working on cleaning up some of her methods of work. He's pleased with her and is eager to see how she performs this spring.

Maid and Scott training at home.