Smokey is admittedly, a leftover puppy.  He was the last male left from three litters.  I have to admit he would have been my first choice in a heartbeat so "to each his own".  As an adult he has just about everything I would want in a stud dog although of course that is yet to be proven.  We prefer a laid back personality, a dog who bonds to a person or family,  a working dog that has a calm confident deliberate attitude, lots of natural stock savvy so he will be useful to a farmer/rancher who is not a dog trainer, the trainability that will allow for fine tuning - a dog you would want to live with.  Smokey is those things.  As a bonus he is a beautiful dog with sound structure.  He is medium sized standing exactly 21" which is an inch taller than either parent.   Speaking of parents, his sire is a very strong fetch dog and his mother is a strong fetch dog on sheep but definitely a heeling dog on cattle.  His grandparents are to us a plus in a stud dog and we feel this is very important.  His paternal grandsire is as strong on the head as any dog we have ever seen.  Sam could probably turn an elephant around and would do it without saying a word.  His paternal grandmother has (still with us at 14) the same style almost exactly.  His maternal grandsire is not as strong on the head as his other grandparents but is the fanciest of low heelers - the really classy pretty heeling style.  His maternal grandmother was the strongest head dog we have ever had but a pretty heeler too - and in our opinion our #1 of all times.  Nice background in a pedigree!