Mike,
If that question was directed at me, the short answer is no.
I've been working with my Ruby dog, the one that looks like a bird dog in the below pic. She knows enough to play with at this point, but she is not useful enough to pen a set of cows without the help of an older dog. She needs some more handle on her. Crack a whip and she's headed to the truck.... I'm going to work with her on that around the house. A few times she made me proud this weekend, and a few times I questioned if she was going to make the ride home... I'll keep working with her, and hope that she progresses to a point that I can call her a cow dog.
The yellow dogs in the pic belong to JDT, they are some young dogs out of Clue Anderson's stock. Some nice dogs with a lot of natural drive.
The saddleback dog is what I want in a cow dog. He belongs to my friend Ben. He has just enough range to be effective, but not so much that you are making enemies with the neighbors. He's got a pretty good handle, and the grit when needed. His dad, Rowdy, came from the Tiner's in the Bastrop area.
Here's another pic of Ruby working with some of the old roping cattle at the house.
