ADCH-Bronze IAC ATCH Zarra's Red is the new black
RCH-Silver AX OAJ XF BCAT LC-N LD-N lAA BRONZE DNA-VP

Vital Statistics

Registered Name:  Zarra's Red is the New Black DNA-VP
Call Name:  Prima
Owned by:  Erika Maurer and Dave Grubel, Slipstream (CA)
Bred by:  Michael and Karen Black, Zarra (TX)

DOB:  April 18, 2016
Breed: Australian Shepherd
Color:  RED! Tri
Reproduction: Intact
Tail:  Docked
Dentition:  Full, scissors
COI: 8.71% over 30 generations

Height: 19”
Weight: 40 lbs

Registration and DNA Profiles

• ASCA

  • Registration No. E196185

  • DNA-VP (verified parentage)

• AKC

  • Registration No. DN45942901

• USDAA # U154160

About Prima

What to say about Prima ... She is a LOT of dog in a not-quite-so-little but very powerful RED package.  She has opinions and can be quite vocal about them (fits right in with our pack).  Thanks to genetics, she has springs and can flat-foot up to my nose without appearing to exert any effort.  As a pup, she works her fitness core daily by perching on the plastic doghouse outside the living room window to check out what was going on inside if left outside too long.  She loves her toys and feels they deserve a good toy parade each time she engages with them.  Tug is great, too, as is food - I just need to make sure reinforcement appears promptly to keep her engaged! 

She is a bit reserved with new people (who always want to admire her, it seems!), but when greeting her expanding inner circle she is quite effusive, sometimes to a nuisance level.  It looks like she wants to explode with excitement when she recognizes one of her human friends!  We didn't do a good job of teaching her to keep "4 on the floor" so she is a full contact / pogo greeter and with the rainy season, that has meant muddy paws have been involved (apologies to all who have been affected!).  She is very protective of her home front, and will alert authoritatively if she detects intruders on her property.

Prima's mom, 7, needs little introduction in the Western ASCA circles and comes from the Hayden x Mattie cross that I have admired for a long time.  7 excels at everything she does, but of course has to perform each task with her own flair and her daughter is no different. 7 has her ASCA CH, RTCH and ATCH+ and is building on her obedience and working titles.  She is a busy girl, and her daughter (jokingly called "3.5" when she was born first in the litter!), wants to follow in her mother's footsteps.  Hopefully her trainers and handlers can keep up, but not sure when we will get her to work with livestock on a regular basis.    Prima's dad, Case, comes from the Midwest and is a very accomplished dog as well - in addition to CH and RTCH2 titles he is titled in stock and agility and is also a multiple MVA qualifier.  In 2018 Case earned his WTCH and SVCH!  He has also produced some very lovely and talented dogs. 

I feel remiss that I didn't capture Prima's puppyhood enough in photos or videos.  She is just SO funny but also such a handful that the camera or even the iPhone weren't the first thought when she was on the loose.   We spent a lot of time just learning to work and live together.  While I want my dogs to be "agility dogs" and "obedience dogs" when they grow up, it's really important to me that they get to just grow up and learn to enjoy and feel comfortable with their surroundings first.  Other than with my first dog I've never felt the need to rush to compete or train the dog beyond our mutual abilities.  There are so many things I want to build first before testing it in the ring. 

For her first year, Prima has enjoyed attending several foundation classes, and even a couple seminars (oh if only I could charge admission for spectators!), but overall we are really just learning to be a team and to me that is the most important part of the equation.   Look for Prima in conformation and agility later this year perhaps, and maybe even obedience and rally rings several years from now!

I cannot thank Mike and Karen enough for entrusting me with Prima.  She is everything I wanted, but I am also reminded of the adage "be careful what you ask for!" She is definitely a handful, but she is already my teammate in life; in time we just need to learn how to do all those other things, too. 

Below are a couple of videos of Prima's first year - when she attended the OMD seminar with Perry DeWitt she was just 9 months old and hadn't ever sequenced many obstacles (and certainly not with that many fancy moves!).  Note how much she keyed in on the 2nd course (Day 2) vs. the first!  #thissh*tworks     #MyDogIsAwesome

When she was 7 months old we also had her herding instinct tested while we were attending Cynosports in AZ - this was her first exposure to stock.