When we met Wags on the herding trial in Finland in summer 2009, we were impressed by his herding enthusiasm.  This small boy is remarably self-confident and brave, his physical ability is fascinating. Within the group of people and dogs at the trial he seemed totally relaxed.
We also had the opportunity to see some of the youngsters from his first litter, who are simply irresistible!  His offspring are very smart and self-confident, happy, playful and courageous.  Towards people and other dogs they were open and interested.

Wags lives at a cattle farm, but Pia Hjerppe trains and shows him at trials.  Pia also owns the breeding rights.  As we only saw Wags herding, I asked Pia to give me some more information about him - and this is what she said:
"Wags was reserved, when he arrived from the USA.  He also had to get used to children, but now he likes them a lot.  Towards strangers he is still reserved.
Wags' attitude changed rapidly when he was confronted with herding for the first time at an age of 4 months. Right away he was enthusiastic without showing any fear or restraint.  Even if he was kicked several times already, he never hesitates to go back to the livestock.  He never gives up before he has finished his job.  Without problems he switches between the requirements of working ducks or cattle.  
Wags loves to work, he does not mind if his owner ist present, but he competes with me.  She may go for a walk with him and afterwards he is working with me on the livestock.  He is also not irritated when bitches in heat are around.  Of course, his performance in trials would be more constant if he lives with me.
Even if Wags is protective, he is easy to handle.  In the daily routine he would never challenge me or my position - nevertheless, when herding, this may occur when he is convinced to evaluate a situation better.  Wags shows a good level of biddability but needs a consequent handler who is not willing to accept manipulation.
Wags loves his toys and also defends them aginst other dogs.  In general he is not that keen of other males but he is able to settle with them if they are not too equal.
So far, Wags shows no health problems, except a mild MPP at his left eye that was diagnosed when he was a puppy.  This diagnose could not be confirmed by his later eye checks.  Also the eye exams of his puppies were all clear."
Wags had two litters so far - one in Finland (J-litter of Ardiente) and one in Sweden (Windedos).  All puppies are pretty equal, they are open, happy and lively.  They also like to use their voices.
This litter with Wags is a distant line breeding.  WTCH Apache Trails Rough Ruby CD PATDs RTDcs and Apache Trails Fairoakshanita were sisters.  Ruby was a very talented, nicely build herding dog.  Unfortunately, these old herding lines fell into oblivion.  The goal of Wags' litter had been to preserve a part of this heritage.  Insofar it is remarkable, that Chilla's pedigree shows up with the same old lines!

Chilla is primarily my dog, I am the one that works with her and I am the most important person for her.  She is very athletic, agile and quick with a lot of drive. She likes barking (but not when working!) and plays wild with dogs she knows. She is an easily managed straightforward bitch with high intelligence.
She loves being the centre of attention - if not, she is angling for attention at all costs.  She likes people of all ages and has never been seen to be aggressive towards people, even if she is observant and announces visitors loudly.  
Towards other dogs she is usually pretty cautious, however, sometimes Chilla will control less confident dogs in a playful way.  To impolite dogs she avoids direct contact.
Chilla appears more sensitive than she is.  She is a master of manipulation and mostly she achieves what she wants.  The close contact to her caregiver is important for her.  She stays alone without any difficulty, but of course always prefers coming along. 
At all times she wants to know what is going on and is very, very curious, whereas she sometimes needs a little time to get along with a new and unfamiliar situation.
Chilla likes to work and learns very quickly.  If she might choose a sport, it would certainly be Agility, which we do for fun, but Chilla’s main sport is Obedience, and we seriously train to compete successfully.  Right now she will be prepared to compete in the highest class.  
We train Chilla with a lot of motivation but she is able to handle the lack in competitions. It is easy to motivate her either with treats or toys but she needs a handler who is outgoing and confident.  She does not like to make mistakes and tends to do nothing rather than something wrong. She is able to cope with pressure, but needs the positive confirmation and rewards. When working she is usually very concentrated and neither unfamiliar surroundings nor distractions affect her but she will try to avoid stressful or scary situations.  In order to solve problems, she uses her intelligence.

Fortunately, Chilla has no health problems, she was - knock on wood - never seriously ill.  Because her pedigree is reaching back pretty far in time over the last few generations, it is difficult to get information about genetic diseases in her background, so I have had the genetic testings, that I consider important and that turned out positive without exception. Chilla’s breeder barfs her dogs and puppies and Chilla was imported without having any vacci-nations.  This had certainly a positive impact on her health.