Acadia Shelties

Untold 2025: Judging Futurity at the 2025 ASSA National

>> Thursday, January 1, 2026 – ASSA National, brags

Today I have been looking back on my blog posts from 2025, and there is a Huge Missing Experience- I Judged Futurity and Veteran Sweepstakes at the 2025 ASSA National! This is quite the Honor because one has to be nominated, and then voted in.

The National was held in Greenly, Colorado in April. I didn't take many photos of this trip. My friend, Katrina Steward, went with me. Katrina has been involved with shelties for a while, is a member of the ASSA and worked at the show as the ring steward. I was happy she was there to keep me company since I wasn't allowed to talk with anyone before the show.

One major disappointment was that the official videographer didn't make it on the day I was judging. I was looking forward to watching my ring procedure and also looking at the dogs from a spectator perspective to see if I would have chosen the same dogs once I was in the "arm chair quarterback" position. That is the view I normally have, and it was quite different being the one in the middle of the ring,

One of the biggest differences I noticed was that I was very focused on the dog being judged at the time. I didn't find myself looking at the lineup of dogs which, as a spectator, is something one does constantly. I was also surprised at how fast the time seemed to pass.

Best In Futurity: Laureate Ophelia

When I was preparing for the assignment (and I did a lot to prepare), I sat down with pencil and paper and worked out the timeline. I looked at how many entries were in a class, should I split the class, calculated how many minutes each class would be, when I should take lunch...... I knew it was an all day assignment, but I also didn't want it to go too long. On the day of the event I did a good job keeping the ring time right on schedule, which made me pleased because I was not checking the clock.

While I was judging I made sure I did the exact same procedure for every dog. When I was done, many people complimented me on two things: 1. that I was smiling the whole time 2. that I was consistent and everyone was treated the same way. I truly enjoyed the assignment and I found qualities in all of the dogs.

Futurity (the National) and Sweepstakes (local specialties) normally have the lineup of winners come in the same way- the males followed by the females, or: 12-18 month dogs (males), followed by 9-12 month dogs, followed by 6-9month dogs, followed by 12-18 month bitches (females), followed by 9-12 month bitches followed by 6-9 month bitches. The classes are not divided by color, so the final line up is all 6 classes of winners. I have never liked having the 6-9 month puppy dog being chased by the 12-18 month puppy bitch. I feel it puts both of those two entries at a disadvantage. As the judge, I was able to change things up, so I put the ages together and had the 12-18 month dog, followed by the 12-18 month bitch, followed by the 9-12 month dog, followed by the 9-12 month bitch- etc. I also found it easier to look at the ages next to one another, and also evaluate if I felt the "dogs appear masculine, bitches feminine" (as stated in the standard).

Runner up to Best In Futurity: Erable Limelight

I was very pleased with my final lineup, and also felt that if the classes had been divided by color, I would have had even more beautiful puppies to consider. My final 6 had all colors represented. In the end, the top prize of Best In Futurity went to the 12-18 month old bitch- a lovely, very feminine, sable. Runner-up went to a tricolor 6-9 month old bitch. Both of these girls finished their championships shortly after the National.

The veterans made me cry. They were so lovely and were such beautiful quality. I was interested to find out that Best in Veteran Sweepstakes was not a champion. She was so lovely and I felt that she could even compete today- however she was spayed, and therefore not eligible to compete for championship points.

bio writeup in the catalog

Herding Group 1 and new GCh. Acadia Essential

>> Thursday, December 11, 2025 – conformation, Liza, Warren

This weekend Warren Won the Herding Group! It is so much fun to show a dog that enjoys the show and is a good partner. I love showing Warren and every time we win Best of Breed and get to show in the Herding Group I always feel he could win it. This weekend he proved me right. The towel I had on my grooming table that day was the Group 1 towel Warren's grandmother, Liza, had won at the Mid-Susquehanna Valley Kennel Club show many years ago.

Tri-factored sables

>> Tuesday, October 21, 2025 – Luke, Manny, meet the family

My childhood dog and my first champion, Ch. Parker of Mirluc, CD was a tri-factored sable male. He was the love of my life and obviously had a huge influence on how I saw shelties. His father was the tri-color, Ch. Rockwoods Nite Enchantment, CD and his mother was a sable Misty's Lucky Cricket, CDX. Betty Ieronimo of Mirluc shelties, the breeder of Parker, owned Cricket and she can be found in all of my pedigrees today through her stunning great-granddaughter, Ch. Zion's Bright Signature.

Ch. Acadia's Crown Prince

If you read my blog, you know it's the female line that I base most of my breedings on, but I sure do love my tri-factored boys.

Pictured is Luke and Warren. Not pictured is Parker, Manny and Aiden.

Ch. Acadia Essential

New Champion Ch Acadia Essential

>> Monday, October 20, 2025 – conformation, Stud dogs, Warren

Warren finished his championship this weekend. He needed 2 points and Friday was 2 points. There was a major on Saturday, but only if Warren was shown to hold the points.

The number of points depends on the number of dogs of a particular breed entered. The point scale changes each year in May. Currently, to earn 2 points in male shelties, there need to be between 6-8 males entered in the classes competing for championship points. To earn a major (3-5 points) there needs to be between 9-14 male shelties entered. Saturday the entry for males, including Warren, was 9.

Once a dog is a champion, they compete in a different class against other champions. Champions, and the class they compete in is often referred to as "Specials". If Warren had been moved to the Specials class, the entry for the dogs competing for championship points would have been 8, or 2 points. To earn a championship, a dog must win 2 majors under 2 different judges.

He was entered in the Bred-by-Exhibitor class which I feel is a class in which the exhibitor proudly puts their best dogs, and shows to win. Other exhibitors asked that Warren not be moved to the specials class so that the major "would hold"- the term we use when enough dogs are competing- the opposite thing we say is "the major broke"- meaning that enough dogs were absent the number competing went below the thresh hold for 3 points. I didn't want to not show to him to his best advantage so I moved him to the Open sable & White class and asked someone else to show him. They did a good job, but he was not as in-sync with them and it worked- a different dog won the major- which finished that dog's championship requirements. They told me they were not coming back on Sunday so I moved Warren to the Specials Class to be shown as a Champion. Sunday we won Best of Breed.

12 year old Mason Cleans Up at the Rally Trails

>> Wednesday, September 17, 2025 – Mason, Rally

Ch. Acadia Independence Day, CD, PCD, BN, RM3, RAE, RC, TKI "Mason" Cleaned up at the PWCCP Rally Trials on September 6 and September 7. He earned several placements and both days he earned Highest Combined score for Excellent B & Advanced B and Highest Combined Triple in Master, Excellent B, and Advanced B. This is a huge accomplishment! Anita said she has never experienced that before. The coolest part of this big accomplishment is that Mason turned 12 years old this month.

In honor of his accomplishments, the Corgi Club made Mason an Honorary Fluffy Corgi.

New Ch Acadia Laureate Red Sensation

>> Thursday, August 21, 2025 – conformation, Gregory

Zachary completed the requirements for the championship last weekend. He finished with 4 majors and a 1st place in his class at the National. I am very pleased. He is the 2nd champion for his mother, Laureate Zinfandoll, this year and the 2nd champion for his father, GChB Acadia Gregarious, DCAT

Wolves in Yellowstone

I am so lucky. This year, my best friend Sharon, stayed at our house while we went on a Pruss family vacation. I had been very stressed because the dog sitter I had lined up for the week backed out and I was afraid I would not be able to go. Mike's mother is in her mid-80's and she had planned a family trip to Yellowstone. Oddly, I have never been to Yellowstone. I was really looking forward to this trip because Yellowstone is a wolf watching mecca - and I love wolves. I was telling Sharon my woes and she said, "I can come take care of the dogs"- WOW!! It is a lot to ask someone and Sharon volunteered. What a Great Friend!.

We did see wolves. We were looking through our binoculars and spotting scopes and we saw a whole pack- way in the distance. We could see adults and puppies (they looked like miniature adults). There were bison in the foreground and a nice stream. It was a very pretty area known as Slough Creek. As we were watching, one black wolf started trotting down a path in our direction and we were all pleased that it was getting easier to see this individual as it was getting closer- but it was still fairly far away.

July in Yellowstone is full of tourists and many people are there to see the wolves. There are a few areas that are fairly reliable for sighting wolves, Slough Creek area and Lamar Valley. "Wolf watchers" are a group of people who spend their days looking for the wolves, most of whom are people who spend their vacations going to the prime watching spots just to enjoy watching pack interactions. As such, there are people who are at these prime watching spots looking. They have formed a network and they keep in contact via radio and keep each other updated on the sightings. Other tourists stop to ask if there are any wolves to be seen. If yes, crowds gather along the road, if no, they ask if anyone in the network is seeing wolves, and where. This location had a small crowd of people and vehicles along the road watching the wolves in the distance, and the one wolf that was trotting on a path towards the road.

It was fun watching the pack with puppies in the distance, but after a while it became clear that the most exciting thing was the wolf that just kept coming closer, and closer, and closer to the road.

For some unexplained reason Mike and I don't have a very good camera. We both have really good quality binoculars, but our camera leaves a lot to be desired. If these pictures are what we took with a bad camera, just think what our pictures could have looked like with a great camera! The black wolf chose a path that took him directly to the roadside pull-off and the crowd of people. The crowd parted and the wolf crossed the road. The picture that looks a little "frosty" is the other side of the road and a different sun angle.

After the wolf was out of sight, we headed over to Lamar Valley. It was early morning, and the road was full of tourists. We could tell by the crowd that there was something interesting going on. I wanted to jump out of the van, but had to wait until we could find a place to pull off the road. I was afraid we were going to miss a wolf, but when we did stop and were able to get out, we found out that that while we had missed a chase, we didn't miss a wolf killing a bison calf. I don't have any pictures because our camera was not good enough, but we were able to watch the wolf, a coyote, ravens, an immature bald eagle, and a few adult bull bison all interact out in a wide open space with perfect viewing. I am so thankful. I could have stayed and watched all day- or at least until the wolf left, but we left before the wolf did.

Untold 2025: Judging Futurity at the 2025 ASSA National