I recently had several revelations about Niki, though she has been gone from my side for nearly twenty years. First, an old Sheltie friend found me. We haven't seen each other for many years: bless the internet! Carol knew Niki back in the early 1970s, and unearthed some memories of my dear blue foundation bitch that I had not even known I still had in my head. The second stimulus was a search for Niki's descendents by Lisa Porch, from her own incredible Relativity software. The results were surprising.

Since, after all, this is my site, I am going to indulge myself in remembering Banchory Half Moon, my sweet, gentle foundation bitch, who has given so much to all Shelties. For most of you, Niki is just a name way, way back on those pedigrees, so far back you may not even know she is there at all. But she is, and this is her story.

Niki was bred by Donna and Robert Olson (Banchory). Sired by (Ch.) Philidove Heir Presumptive (ROM) ex Scothill Jody of Misty Dawn (linebred Thistlerose), Niki was born September 4, 1968. Why was Niki named Half Moon? Donna told me it was because Niki was "built like a brick ****house!" Niki had one litter for Banchory as a yearling, sired by Am./Can Ch. Cherden Sock It To 'Em (CD, ROM). This produced Ch. Banchory Black Is Beautiful, Banchory Silver Score (pts), and Banchory Blue Print (pts). These fellows were smashing puppies, known as Crash, Crunch, and Print. Donna thought she had found a co-owner for Niki after this, but the relationship had not worked out well. I happened to be visiting from Arizona at the right time, and Niki went home with me.

On the drive home to Arizona, we stopped half a mile off the highway somewhere in Nevada to let Niki go potty. She saw some range cattle coming toward us, tore the leash from my hand, and proceeded to round them up and drive them some distance away, herded into a nice, compact band! Fifty of them! I was terrified, then thunderstruck, as Niki calmly trotted back to me and sat proudly on the toes of my tennis shoes. Until that day, she had never seen anything but a back yard!

Was Niki show quality? Ah, my friends, that depends! Niki was sweet, sensitive, and brave (I don't mean outgoing! I mean BRAVE.), but she was not showy. She was just under 15", but always looked larger because of her long neck. Her head was beautiful: clean, lean, with good stop and parallel planes, excellent bite, muzzle, and underjaw, but it was a masculine head. She had good bone and a tail so long that the end was sometimes scabbed over because the bone would hit the ground. She had natural ears that in those days were deemed much too heavy. Now, ears like hers wouldn't even cause a lifted eyebrow in the ring, as such ears are common. Her eyes weren't dark enough, and she was long-backed and had a wavy coat. Her tan markings were rather washed out. But she could move! Niki had superb angulation, and superb "legset," if you will. Even after all these years of seeing many good-moving Shelties, I cannot think of any I have seen that could outmove Niki. For much, much longer than you would expect, she could keep up with a coursing Saluki. The length of her back lent extra flexibility, and her long, sweeping strides ate up the ground in a fashion that I have not seen excelled. Her long neck and long down-carried tail served as rudders for turning and for balance. We lived out in the Tucson desert during the first years Niki was at Clan Duncan, and she often raced far, far ahead of the other Shelties as we hoofed it for the half mile down to the mailbox each day. She would have made someone an outstanding sheepdog, but I was lucky. She was mine.

One day I was sorting clothing in the back bedroom and heard barking. Niki was loose in the house as usual, and rarely barked even when outside, so I knew something was wrong. Hurrying to the living room, I saw a strange man sitting in the armchair beside the front door. He was just about as drunk as one can be without falling over. Red-faced and belligerent, he kept shouting, "Hey, is this the Smiths'? I gotta find the Smiths!" Every time he got to his feet, Niki jumped up and very neatly punched him in the stomach with her front feet, sitting him back down in the chair! Finally, I held her while he poured himself out the front door and drove unsteadily away. In the years to come, I came to understand that my quiet, unassuming blue bitch was brave, always putting herself between me and danger, and defending any and all of our other dogs -- placing herself between puppies and a rattlesnake, as only one example. I don't mean that she would aggressively run at people, barking hysterically. No. She thought very carefully, and calmly placed herself precisely between the danger and her loved ones, facing the danger and barking short barks of warning.

I bred Niki to Pow, and got some very nice bitches. One lovely gal was lost by a lessee (I had leased Becky to another breeder when we moved to Mississippi so as to have fewer Shelties during the move.). Another, Clan Duncan Maramet Moonrise CD, won her puppy class during that year's National Specialty weekend, and went on to gather several more points. "Jennifur" became a foundation bitch for Maramet Kennels. One went to Piper's Shelties: this was Clan Duncan Dark Secret, CD. Two little males went as pets. And the one blue bitch, I gave to Donna as a present, because I knew she needed to be up where she could be bred to her sire. This was Clan Duncan Banchory Bluette, or Tinsel, who produced Ch. Banchory Thunder Blue, ROM, in her first litter, when bred back to her sire, Pow. Thunder Blue and Tinsel are, however, another story.

The following year, I sent Niki to Banchory, since a litter back was part of her price. After having been bred, Niki became very, very ill, and nearly died. I don't remember what the cause was, but she did not have a litter, and was given to a local friend of Donna's, Connie, to be nursed back to health, which took many months. Finally, Niki recovered, and was sent back to me just before we moved to Mississippi. I was overjoyed to see her, and for weeks she would not go to sleep unless she was touching me, even though it might be only her head lying across my foot.

The first year in Mississippi was when Niki bonded with our beautiful sable visitor, Banchory High Glow, Mae. (Their story, "Long Lost Friends," can be found in the Sheltie Pacesetter.) When Mae returned to Banchory, Niki was inconsolable. A year later Niki went back to Banchory for her litter by Ch. Banchory Midnight Shadow, and I was told that she and Mae were inseparable. (This litter produced Banchory Blue Pearl, dam of two champions.) After the litter, Niki came home. She acted fatigued, and was always underweight, though a series of veterinarians could find nothing wrong with her. It didn't take me very long to discover that it was because she missed Mae, but Banchory neither needed nor wanted Niki, and Mae had to remain there. I bred Niki one or two times during the next five years, but she did not conceive. However, Niki loved other bitches' puppies, and was very strict with the other bitches in making sure that their "puppy care" was up to her standards. She inspected all puppy ears and puppy faces every day, up until a year of age, and if these did not seem clean enough to her, she would pin the puppy to the ground and wash him clean, even if he outweighed her!

The year before we left Mississippi, 1977, Niki came into season when she was up to weight and looked better than she had for years. She was nine years old. Not wanting to ship her at her age, I bred Niki to a youngster, my ptd. inbred Thunder Blue son, Clan Duncan Cobalt, her great-grandson. Benny was so young that he was unproven. I really did not think Niki would conceive, but I was wrong. One cold winter day she produced a pretty blue pet male, a double merle that did not survive, and a very nice little blue bitch, Clan Duncan Once In A Blue Moon, Junie. Once In a Blue Moon I bred once, to Am./Can Ch. Banchory Formal Notice, ROM, before I had to sell her at the time of my divorce. Bitches from Junie's litter carried on for others.

That was it, Niki's entire producing career: three show-quality males and half a dozen nice daughters. Niki died in my arms only a few years after Junie was born. What has come down from her is astonishing, even to me. Lisa Porch has uncovered what seems to me almost a miracle.

Niki is behind 46 ROM Shelties, encompassing many bloodlines and all colors, and has no doubt many, many more good descendents in Canada, about which I know little. Breeders who have never even seen a photograph of Niki are redoubling her just out of sight in the pedigrees, every time a new litter is born. I don't want to put up pages of Chs down from her, but for those of you to whom Banchory Half Moon is just a name misty with time and fading from the tail ends of pedigrees, I wanted you to know her: Niki, a natural stockdog, a serious puppy-washer, a brave defender, a loyal friend -- and a windrunner.

When you hear those who would make Shelties into stodgy little "companions-only," forsaking all the attributes that produce excellent movement, pause for a moment. Forget that picture of a gray-muzzled dog lurching stiffly and painfully to her feet. Conjure an image of silvery Niki at twelve years old, running as fast as a horse at a gallop, as fast as a coursing sighthound, through the gray velvet sage of the open desert. Think of her muscles moving effortlessly, her neck stretched parallel with the ground, her long tail streaming straight behind her in the wind of her speed. Niki is behind so many Shelties of today; she may very well be behind your own. The genes of the wind are in there! And Niki is not the only one who gave windrunner genes to the bloodlines of today. We can all mine this precious resource. With time and care in the breeding, all Shelties can possess this beauty of movement, even in old age. Keep faith with the breed, and do not forsake the dream.