A friend told us that he'd seen dogs like Sinkyone working sheep in the Anderson Valley. So, we started looking for breeders in that region. We came across husky look-alikes, such as the Greenland Dog and decided that Sinkyone was probably a Husky (or Samoyed) and Border Collie mix. We widened the search to look for a similar dog in the various rescue shelters in California and then came across the Border Collie Rescue of California site. That's where we found "King", in El Mirage. We filled in the forms (they were very careful about checking potential adopters' credentials) and the very next day we were in touch with their California Rescue Co-ordinator and arranged to meet her and "King". Bobbie lived way out in the high Mojave Desert, so that's where we first met "King" (above) . He'd been fostered by Diana, another volunteer with Border Collie Rescue of California. We brought him home on March 4th., 2000 and renamed him Toby. He started to answer to that name almost straight away. His full name was "Toby Wan Kenobi".

Toby settled in very nicely. He was very friendly, unless anyone tried to come into the back yard! He was a very vociferous guard dog. He loved to play and to go for walks. When he was younger he used to walk twice a day for a total of about an hour's exercize. He had his own house in the garage at first, but he mainly stayed indoors between forays around the garden. He was an ardent squirrelologist. He was very interested in everything that's going on indoors, particularly cooking! Unusually for a dog, he was also an avid software developer, having taken courses on many products, particularly databases.