Jay Gurden was born on a Sussex farm and spent a chunk of her life surrounded by tractors and livestock. A meeting with a student shepherd introduced working sheepdogs, and later brought on marriage and a number of years breeding prize-winning pedigree sheep. The farming days have gone but, as they say, you can take the girl off the farm but you can't take the farm out of the girl. Still in Sussex, Jay spends her days in conversation with an opinionated Border Collie, who tends to come out of the discussion on the winning side.