Kiko
Millknock's Believe In Magic BN RN SN-C HIC
I currently have two rough collies, Kiko and Robby, and both hold special places in my heart. Kiko came from Marianne Sullivan and Joseph Rhames after a 2-1/2 year wait for the "right puppy" for me from her breeding. I had approached Marianne when my last performance collie started aging and having increasing health issues because I wanted a collie who could "do it all" meaning conformation and performance. I wanted a blue male because I have a weakness for blues, but the pick puppy from the first available litter was also the only blue male and she needed to keep him for her breeding program. So I waited another year and Marianne bred CH Blu Ridge State of Mind (Billy) to CH Millknock Mosaic ROM-P (Annie) and 8 puppies were born. Naturally 6 of the 8 puppies, including ALL three of the boys, were tris. Marianne even asked me if I would consider a blue girl but I just didn't feel that this would work for me. (And that girl was Babbi Dilbeck's Katy, who was RWB at the 2017 National). Marianne picked Kiko especially for me because of his natural love for retrieving things. Obedience is my sport of interest so I thought this was a very good sign.
Since getting married, all of my collies have gotten baseball-themed names. A big part of the reason is that my husband and I met online because we were fans of the same baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles. Another factor with this theme is that he is a tried-and-true "cat person" and my thought was the baseball theme would help him appreciate the collies more. (He has always liked the dogs but they are more "work" than he cares for.) I had been holding onto a very special name for just the right blue merle collie but since I was getting a tri I had to come up with a new name for Kiko. The year I first became an Orioles fan was also the year they referred to as "Orioles Magic" and one of the popular songs at the time was America's song, "Magic," so I chose "Millknock's Believe in Magic" for his registered name. My husband came up with the call name, Kiko, after Kiko Garcia who was one of two players to hold the shortstop position on that 1979 team.
Kiko has proven himself to be an incredibly sensible dog, almost wise beyond his years. About six weeks after I brought him home, I fell and broke my ankle. This was a bad injury and I was in a boot for nine weeks, followed by several months of physical therapy. Somehow Kiko knew that he could not be around my feet or the crutches during that entire time span and he would wait to come up close until I was sitting down. I have no idea how a puppy less than four months old could know something like this, but he did. He would jump on everybody else who came into the house but not on me, at least not while I was wearing the boot. Such a smart puppy! (I should note that he does like to jump on me now to celebrate things and to get special pats.)
Kiko has proven himself to be an incredibly sensible dog, almost wise beyond his years.
Kiko has been shown in conformation and just lacks his majors for that highly coveted CH in front of his name. We are training in obedience and I am hoping to get his Novice title (CD) in early spring of 2019 with the hope of his Open title the following year. We are working on some of the Open exercises now while we do the final polish on his heel work. This has been slow-going because of health issues on my end (the broken ankle and a knee issue earlier this year) and with our trainer, who has had both knees replaced. I recently reintroduced him to herding with the hope of adding a versatility title to his list of accomplishments.
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