Telfer was introduced to his future house-mate, "Zippy", our 11 year old Half Siamese cat. Zippy was used to a bustling Boxer so he soon accepted Telfer.

Telfer was used to a litter of exhuberant puppies and tried his best to get more life out of the sedate cat. He seemed dejected by his lack of success and we soon heard his "sighs".

Like most puppies Telfer could make a game out of anything and my plant pots became a favourite target, when Zippy was not available. The pair soon got on very well together.

We soon discovered how fast these Border Collies learn. By the age of 3 months Telfer would go "down" to a hand signal at a distance of 30 metres, and stay until released by "O.K".

We took him to the obligatory Puppy training classes until he was 20 weeks old, where he enjoyed the 5 minutes "free for all", but seemed bored by the slow progress of the other puppies in the structured training and would stretch out on the floor while flicking his eyes at the other participants.

Not wanting the committal of full Obedience training, we just taught him the essential commands, and a few more which would come in useful.

Experts had said that these dogs get bored if their minds are not kept active, and so we found.

Telfer at 12 months

When he was old enough Telfer started jogging with me in the countryside, always running 10 to 20 metres ahead.

To avoid constantly calling him back when he took the wrong path I taught him "Left" and "Right". Within days all I had to do was shout out the direction and he would turn that way.

But I suppose that is what sheepdogs do all the time.

I never fail to be amazed at his incredible memory of footpath turnings out of the hundreds we use. Many months later after only one visit he knows exactly which way to go.