Funky von Hof Villa Kunterbunt

Born today in Grosskitzighofen Bavaria, a puppy who was to become our very best friend for 15 years and 2 days and was given a proper name when he moved to our place a few weeks later - Flash. It had to be an "F" name.

He was by far the largest of the litter and became the biggest grown-up Border collie I have ever seen with paws the size of a bear.

A bit of history in 1995: His breeder was a young organic farmer in our village who drove his dairy herd out twice a day during the grazing season. The farm was in the village and it was a time-consuming procedure involving about five people and his large dog to keep them out of gardens and on the public roads until they were in the fields. One day he told me his dog had died and the job was getting even harder. I suggested he needed a border collie and showed him some videos of them working sheep in the UK.

Alois laughed and said such a small dog would not survive 5 minutes especially with a bull in the herd. A few days later saw an ad in the local paper looking for a new owner for a young border collie that was being kept in a flat and had become impossible to hold for the female owner. I asked Alois to go and have a look. He refused but I kept on and on until he eventually reluctantly agreed. He came home with the dog and said " poor thing trapped in a flat, I bought it cheaply but simply to give it a better life. It can run around on the farm but no chance of it being of any use".

Within a week four members of the family were redundant and the process of driving out the cows only needed one person to open and close gates. Asta although only 6 months or so old, knew everything that needed to be done purely by instinct. Alois was, of course, amazed and became a border fan and eventually let Asta have a litter as so many people also wanted one. Every time he had a litter, he offered us one for free but we always refused as we were both away all day at work.

Finally, in 2003, Alois said it would be Asta's last litter and demanded we take a puppy - we agreed still somewhat reluctantly although our circumstance made it a little easier if not ideal. On 6th October we collected him.