A Good Thanksgiving Weekend- Glory Wins again for 2 more points

Glory was WB again on Monday for another 2 points bringing her total to 9. I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will finish her championship this calendar year.

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Acadia's Crowning Glory wins a major

Today Glory won a major at the Chesapeake Kennel Club under sheltie breeder/judge Mrs. Janet Turnage Nahikian. I am SO THIRLLED! This brings her 1/2 way to the Championship. She now has 7 points, 1 major. She needs 8 more points and 1 more major.

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Great Competition Homes: Morene Brown

L-R, Kaibab, WIT, Mike, Morene, Cache

Morene was my agility training when I lived in Tucson. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher! When I lived in Tucson Morene had a lab, a whippet and a sheltie. At that time I was training Tucket, Valerie and Payson in agility.

In 2000 shortly after I moved to Pennsylvania, Morene called to see if I had a puppy to share with her. I was expecting a litter sired by Payson out of Molly, Valerie's litter sister. There were only two in the litter, and the male had a tail that didn't reach his hock, so I knew that he would not be a show dog. I was able to call Morene and say, "Yes, I have your puppy"- even though he was only a few days old. Morene named him Kaibab.

Morene's fun and clear training helped Kaibab become the first TRIPLE agility champion, all breeds, in the city of Tucson. It takes a very special dog to be able to compete successfully in all three of these venues as they all highlight different skills and abilities of the dogs. It also takes a very special trainer to be able to train for each of these venues. Officially, Kaibab is MACH. NATCH, ADCH Acadia's Candidate, HSAs. The MACH is the AKC agility championship, NATCH is the NADAC agility championship and the ADCH is the USDAA agility championship.

Morene's passion is agility, but due to Kaibab's interest in sheep, Morene met Sue Bradley and allowed Sue to train Kaibab to the Herding Started title on the A course with sheep. The duo of Morene and Sue allow Acadia bred shelties to excel in multiple venues. When Morene called to say she was ready for another puppy, I was ecstatic!

WIT, aka- Acadia What Ever It Takes, HXAsd, AX, AXJ, is sired by Molly's son, Show Low out of Valerie- thereby doubling on Tucket (the mother of both Molly and Valerie). Morene takes her time training a new dog. She is never in a hurry to get titles, but rather waits until she knows the dog is ready and will enjoy the experience too. Knowing she trains this way, I shouldn't have been too surprised when she called to say that WIT had gotten a leg towards the herding EXCELLENT title at his FIRST herding trial, but I was. Again, it was Morene's willingness to allow WIT to train with Sue in herding that enabled WIT to shine in this venue.

I had thought that the accomplishments of Morene and Kiabab were outstanding (and they are!), but I couldn't have imagined the joy of what was to come. WIT not only completed the HX title on both sheep and ducks in three straight attempts, but he was High in Trial at the ASSA National Specialty Herding sheep trial and Reserve High In Trail at the ASSA National Specialty duck trial He has 6 pts (out of 15), the necessary two 1st place wins and the major towards the Herding Championship (HC). I would be willing to bet that WIT will be the first Acadia HC/MACH.

As luck would have it, Morene is sold on Acadia bred shelties. She has two more- Acadia's Microburst, OA, OAJ, Mike, a Canyon x Kiara puppy, whose first agility trial was the ASSA national specialty and he placed first in both Novice Standard and Novice Jumpers with weaves . Morene's youngest, Acadia's Hidden Treasure, Cache, is a Rincon x Faith puppy.

Kaibab turned 10 this year, but he is still competing in agility. His role now is that of "teacher". Kaibab is a very honest dog and will work for anyone. Morene now has Kaibab teaching her students the handling skills needed for some of the more advanced maneuvers. Once the student is clear about their own body language, they can begin to work with their own dogs on the advanced skills with the confidence that at least one of the pairs knows what they are doing.

It takes Great Owners and Great Trainers to make Great Dogs- and I am Thankful to have quite a few of them sharing their lives with Shelties from Acadia.

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Thankful for...

I say this all the time, I love dogs! I am thankful that I can (still) live a life full of dogs. As we experience our “Great Nation” incrementally handing over our rights to freedom and the pursuit of happiness- I can say that Thanksgiving, 2010 – we still have the right to own and breed dogs. For this, I am the most Thankful.
I love to breed dogs, but it is the Great Owners that make breeding dogs so much fun. YOU- are my extended family! I LOVE to see and hear about your successes and disappointments (but mostly successes :-0 )

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9 month old Xena is doing 15 obstacles

Linda Hall called on Sunday to tell me about Xena. Xena is one of the Rincon x Faith puppies and this week she will be 9 months old. If you click on Xena's Label to the right- you will get to see a few videos of her as a young puppy. Linda has been training Xena from the moment she got off the plane- but this past weekend Xena really showed her accelerated training.

Linda went to a NADAC agility trial to compete with her two older dogs. Xena went along for the socialization and experience. One of the nice things about NADAC is there are LOTS of classes to compete in and each one is very different. In AKC there are only 2 classes- Standard, which is jumps, weave poles, tunnels and 3 "contact obstacles", or Jumpers which is just jumps, weave poles and tunnels (no contact obstacles).

At the trail that Linda was at, a class called "Tunnelers"- (because every obstacle is a tunnel) was the last class of the day. Linda stayed to help the club clean up, and when most everyone was gone, she asked if it would be OK to run the course with Xena. They said yes and Xena ran a 15 obstacle course under course time!!!!!!! How GREAT IS THAT!

Linda had to send her from one tunnel to the next, making sure she took the correct entrance, making sure she took the correct TUNNEL! It is not easy to do a course where all obstacles are the same- but it is even harder when the dog can not see you most of the time (because she is inside a TUNNEL!). Changes of course, become more difficult and your signals must be clear and the dog must understand, or they "pop back out" the same way they went into the tunnel. Linda was amazed at the maturity level and work ethic of Xena. True- Xena has work ethic and drive- but it is Linda who is developing the mental mind of this dog and making Xena the working partner she is becoming. Congratulations Linda and Xena- I KNOW we will continue to be reporting GREAT THINGS about you two.

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