KAY L EARY went to the dogs a long time ago. Her father bought her [and the family their] first dog Lady, a black cocker spaniel, and showed her how to teach Lady tricks. Then a friend's family got a border collie, and Kay was in love. "I always remembered it."

Now she has 10 border collies, kept in indoor-outdoor runs attached to the old corn crib on her farm just outside Monticello.

"They look like popcorn out there," she says, as excited black-and-white dogs raced up and down, barking and jumping up on the sides of their runs.

In the Beginning

In high school, Kay bought her first show dog, a Daschund. Over the next several years, she collected 2 more Daschunds as well as German Shepherds. By then, she was living in California, having taught elementary school until marriage. Two years later she and her husband had a son, Michael.

When Michael was just six years old, doctors found cancer in Kay's thyroid gland. Her fright was made worse by a neighbor, who callously told her that if it was cancer, she would be dead in three months.

Luckily, doctors were able to remove all of the cancer. Later, she found out that thyroid cancer is one of the slowest-growing cancers, and she didn't have to worry so much. She hasn't had a reoccurrence since.

"Prayer had a lot to do with that," she says, her deep blue eyes intently serious.

The cancer set her back for a while. She mostly stopped riding and withdrew a little from life. But then a friend encouraged her to take a class on creating stained glass windows. Reluctantly, she joined and was surprised to find out she was quite successful.

"I found out I can do things. So I say, 'Go ahead and try! You'd be surprised at what you can do'."

With renewed self-confidence, she set out to tackle life again. One day, she accompanied her sister to watch some herding dogs and got hooked. That same day, when she spotted a black-and-white, four-legged frame rounding the corner, she just knew: "There's my border collie."

She took home two of the dog's puppies, one for her and one for her husband. Normally not a 'dog person', he had also fallen in love with border collies.

Also at a trial, she saw a lady hand spinning wool. "I didn't think they did that anymore."

But she became fascinated by the bright colors, intricate weaving patterns and varied texture of the resulting cloth. And she found out this woman made a good bit of money off the hand-woven products created from the wool of the sheep she raised.

Slowly Evolving

As her puppy, Sparkle, grew, Kay decided to get a few sheep to help with training. The lady at the trial still stood out in her mind. Kay was already a proficient knitter and crocheter, so she decided to learn how to weave as well. Soon, "I had more orders than I could handle."

Meanwhile, Sparkle's first herding trial attempts went horribly. But before long, she ranked second at one of the major herding trials in the nation. Along the way, Kay picked up several more border collies.

TO PART II