Acadia's Perpetual Motion, AX,AXJ,NF- an aspiring Champion

This past week I have been watching the Olympics.  Proctor and Gamble is running the an ad,

"Before the world saw them as Olympians, Mom saw their potential. This winter, as we celebrate the world's Olympic athletes, let's not forget the person whose encouragement got them there. Mom. “

And so it is with our canine athletes as well.

I got this message from Janet (mom) about Robbie:

“From the time I brought him home (it's hard to believe it's been over 2 years!), he has been a fearless bundle of attitude, game for anything. He's smart, eager, and always happy. He loves everyone and everything. He is also a snuggle bug - when he settles down, he's either on my feet or in my lap in the chair. If the cat happens to be in my lap and Robbie wants that spot, he just jumps up and lays on top of her - she moves out and he settles in.

 Robbie's agility career is going well. His first trial was one year ago (Feb 1-3, 2013 - he wasn't quite ready), and the last weekend in October, Robbie completed both his AX and AXJ titles and earned his first 15 MACH points. He currently has 3 legs each toward MX and MXJ, and we had our first Double Q February 1st, exactly 1 year from his first trial.”

I am inclined to end her message right there, but alas she goes on to say,

“I've had trouble staying patient while he grows up! He learns quickly, but has a mind of his own (his primary nickname is "brat"). During his early days of competition, he was as likely to go under jumps as over them, and he loves to fly off the A-frame and dogwalk (perfect two-on/two off contacts at practice, but will launch off during competition and hit the ground running.) We had a long stretch of "perfect runs except for incomplete weave poles" - he didn't want to slow down enough to do them! He has now figured out that he gets to move on to the "fun part" more quickly if he just does them. He's beginning to settle in and become a bit more reliable, and I am thrilled with him!

Thank you for providing me with this goofy, sassy, motivated boy! He's lots of fun (when I'm not ready to wring his bratty little neck!) and I expect, with a bit more maturity, that he will go far!”

And then Janet, when Robbie is finally completing in the Agility Nationals, the world will see Robbie as the Agility Champion you know he can be.

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Sisters Teagan and Joy had a successful January and a New *CD*

The "sisters" are both owned by Amys- and in January, they both had success, but on opposite sides of the country.
Teagan= Acadia Teagan Rose (pictured)

Dr. Amy (Maryland) wrote: "Teagan had an awesome day at the Oriole Dog Training Club's AKC agility trial at the Maryland State Fairgrounds yesterday! She was only entered in Jumpers (still needs some work on her A-Frame contacts before she's ready for Standard), but she rocked the course--1st Q, 1st clean run, and 1st place in the Novice B JWW 12" class! In fact, her course time was a blazing fast 23 seconds (I blinked and it was over!), but Standard Course Time was 43 seconds. This trial is held in conjunction with a huge pet expo, so there are lots of spectators and lots of noise and distractions--it's known to be a challenging venue for the dogs. The weave poles on Teagan's novice course were practically right up against the gate/bleachers where many spectators gather to watch. Teagan nailed them, no problem."

Meanwhile, in California, Amy and Acadia Essence of Joy, RE, *CD* (aka Joy)said:
"Joy had a good weekend on January 18th and the 19th. San Mateo DTC AM trial Joy took 4th place (20 competing) lst and 2nd were taken by the two high scoring handlers that always do well and goes onto taking high in trials. The PM trial San Francisco DTC Joy came in 3rd. lst and 2nd were the same two that took earlier . These two legs were for Joy's Novice title. The next day Sunday at the Santa Clara DTC's Open A trial - Joy took first with 194 - 1/2 out of the 22 competing. There were only three of us that qualified. I have her entered at the Santa Clara KC trial on Feb. 15th going for her 2nd Open leg. We are working on her articles (Utility training). Joy is a joy to train. Hope to have another good news soon. By the way Joy came in lst for her lst leg in Novice. That was sometime ago. "

These two successful girls are Cassia daughters.

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GCh. Acadia Serenity is moving to Florida

Congratulations to Hector and Meredith Hector of Enclave shelties. Serena will be joining them this year and I think she has a lot to offer. I am super excited to see what sort of an impact she has on their successful breeding program. Both Hector and Meredith are licensed judges, and I am proud that they thought of me when looking for a special addition to their breeding program. Serena leaves her son, Mason, at Acadia to continue her influence here in Pennsylvania.

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EXTREME FUSTRATION WITH GOOGLE

I am SO FRUSTRATED with GOOGLE!!!! As you can see, there have been NO PICTURES in my last few posts- and NO PARAGRAPHS!! Not because I don't want you to see the pictures that add interest to the story, or because I forgot how to write, but because what ever changes GOOGLE made to BLOGGER has made this MUCH more DIFFICULT and FUSTRATING!!! I have been "sending feedback" to Google, but I get an automatic message saying they can't reply to all the feedback they get. HEY GOOGLE!! IF YOU ARE GETTING SO MUCH FEEDBACK THAT YOU CAN'T REPLY- YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING WRONG!! I just started a new paragraph- can you tell? No, because this sentence is directly behind the last sentence! No one is going to read a bunch of unformatted, run-on paragraphs. I am going to end this paragraph now and start a new one. Pictures- as you can see, the last picture that I was able to upload is SIDEWAYS. In the "old days" of Blogger, formatting pictures was EASY!!! Now, it is DIFFICULT and I can't remember how to do it without going back to a post I wrote a while ago when Helen posted a comment with instructions on how to reformat the picture. WHY do I have to go look for INSTRUCTIONs when I should be able to right-mouse click and click on ROTATE!!! It was THAT EASY BEFORE (on blogger)!! Not only can I no longer format the pictures- I can't even UPLOAD the pictures from my computer now. These last THREE posts I have attempted to add pictures- BUT ARE THEY THERE!!! NO!!! (new paragraph) GOOGLE!!!! Are you really trying to make people's lives more FRUSTRATING???? I have been using your Blogger program since 2006- This blog and its contents are IMPORTANT to me!!! I have been so FRUSTRATED with you that I don't even want to use your product anymore. (new paragraph) Why did you "FIX" what wasn't "BROKEN"? I choose your product (over Wordpress and other blog formats) because you were USER FRIENDLY and I could write a post and put on pictures QUICKLY and EASILY!!! NOT ANYMORE! NOW it is BROKEN!!! Please FIX IT!

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New *VC*- GCh. Acadia Prince of Peace, HT, *NPJ*, *VC*

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU PEGGY CRAWFORD!!!! Manny has been visiting Peggy Crawford, Peggin Shelties, in Alaska this past year. Together, they earned the Grand Championship, the Herding Tested title (HT), and the Novice Perferred Jumpers (NJP) title.

 The addition of these performance titles earned Manny a Versatility Certificate (VC) from the American Shetland Sheepdog Association (ASSA). Not only did the two of them complete the NJP, but Peggy and Manny have already earned two (out of the needed 3) legs towards the next level- the Open Perferred Jumpers (OJP) title!! WOW!!

Peggy is an amazing trainer and a wonderful person. I wouldn't trust Manny with just anyone- and Peggy is one of the special people in shelties who are able to bring out the best in all the dogs she encounters.

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Acadia's Catch Me If You Can, RAE, OAJ, CD has been Invited to the AKC National Rally Obedience Competition!!

LeaAnne writes, "We got Lucy's entry confirmation for the AKC National Rally Obedience competition in Harrisburg, PA in March! To qualify you had to have 3 scores of 95 out of 100 during Dec 1, 2012 and Nov 30 2013 and 5 Double Qualifying scores in the Excellent class and Advanced class. During the qualifying period Lucy got her RAE title in 2 months with 11 scores of over 95 and 11 Double Q's with 10 1st place, 4 2nd place and 5 3rd place finishes. She will be in the Rally Advanced/Excellent competition along with 80 other dogs from across the nation!! So proud of her! You go girl!!" That is a HUGE accomplishment!! We are so proud of all they have accomplished!

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EXTREME Cold

Burrrr…… Baby it’s COLD outside! Extreme Cold is gripping the entire nation and it is the favorite topic of conversation- at least on the news. The good news is that this is expected to be a short-lived problem, but it is a problem none the less. Waterlines are the most vulnerable and remind us how much we take free-flowing water for granted. Here at our farm, water to the house if still flowing, but the (Frost-free) hydrants in our barn have frozen, making it necessary to carry water from the house to the barn. No tasks are fun in extreme cold.

Schools are closed so that kids don’t have to stand outside at the bus-stop. Dogs need to go out to potty, an activity that is not optional. The first day Mike went out to check the thermometer and it said -6 and it was WINDY. He came back in and looked at the computer and it said the wind-chill made it feel like -36. It seems that I have been letting dogs out, letting dogs in, letting dogs out, letting dogs in……. In addition to the biological need to go out, they also just want to play. The first day of this cold I only let the dogs out to potty, and as soon as I saw them go, I brought them right back in. I gave them every toy and chew toy I could find so they could play inside. They all seemed ok, but then last night it seemed that they just needed to RUN.

 It was not windy last night, so the wind-chill was not as big a factor as it had been. I decided that I would allow them to tell me when they had enough of the cold. I allowed them outside and let them stay out as long as they wanted. If they came back to the door, I let them in, but I didn’t call them in. They are all individuals and just like us, they have different tolerances for cold, and as long as they were out playing, they would be generating body heat anyway. I was surprised at how long many of them wanted to be out playing. Claire in particular didn’t seem ready to come back in. I have a high tolerance for cold too. I think it is my Swedish heritage. Today it got up to 20 degrees with no wind, and I thought it seemed downright comfortable. While I was carrying buckets of water out to the sheep, I was generating enough heat that I needed to take my coat off. I don’t mind winter, but the past 2 days have been a bit extreme, even for me.

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