Acadia On My Mind - "Canyon"

Who's on your mind?

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Genna's boy- 4 weeks old

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Puppy Therapy

Two weeks ago I was telling my friend and co-worker, Erica, that my puppies needed to meet more people, so Erica invited me to a Bible study group. It is a small group of about 5 or 6 people who meet 1 mile from my house every Thursday. I told Erica that I thought having puppies at a Bible study would be too distracting, but she said that she had already called the hostess, Amanda, and told her I was coming.

It was great fun and wonderful for the puppies. That night they met 5 new people and got to go on a short car ride. Amanda has a friendly dog and so the puppies got to meet a friendly dog too.

The puppies were definitely a distraction and they were the subject of conversation the entire study time. Amanda asked if I was coming back next week with the puppies, and I must say, I did think they had been such a distraction that they would not be welcome back- but they were.

I went the following Thursday (last week) as well. As I was leaving, Amanda said, “well I needed some good puppy therapy. I had a head ache all day, but after holding these puppies, it is gone.”
On Saturday the puppies got to meet a 5 year old boy and 6 year old girl. They were great with the puppies and it is so good that they (the puppies) have gotten to meet friendly (gentle) children.

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Acadia Shock N' Awe's early herding lessons

Jean sent this picture of "Jazz" herding. Before I report what Jean had to say, I want to comment that I was very impressed to see a young herding sheltie with his mouth closed (so he is not barking, or biting) and he is on the outside of this young goat (kid) so clearly he is getting this kid back to the flock of goats- who are standing calmly. Jazz has only had a few exposures to herding, but based on this picture, he has talent and is not upsetting to the stock.

But here is what Jean had to say, "Here is a photo of Jazz performing his new favorite activity (well, outside of the teeter totter in agility....). The trainer says he is "keen" and her face lights up when she says it so it must be a good thing...."

Yes, it is a good thing!

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The social aspect of blogging- I've been "tagged" by Cool Design Shelties

I have been tagged by Cool Design Shelties in Denmark. Here are the instructions

This is what you should do:
Open a document or file folder,
Click on the fifth folder and then the fifth photo.
Post the photo and describe it.
Then tag 5 other bloggers.
So here I go!

These two photos are of Cameron. They were sent to me by Pat as print photos and I had scanned them together.

When Pat sent the pictures, she sent a letter that said, "Cameron is doing just fine and, as you can see, he is absolutely gorgeous. He has tons of toys but none come close to the love he has for his "lambie". He is using "lambie" for a pillow in one of the pictures and in the other one he is jumping up to catch it (notice his front legs are out grabbing onto his toy).

Our one Granddaughter (13) is so in love with Cameron that she wants to get a sheltie when she grows up. We gave her some important pointers for choosing a breeder which she will hopefully remember and then she said, "well how about I just use your breeder when I 'm ready to get one." (of course, that would be the ideal choice!!!)She is begging us for a weekend overnight stay again so she can get her "Cameron" dose."

Thank you Pat.
(and yes, Pat is the one who said the nice compliment in parenthesis)
So I am "tagging"
Belaire shelties
Gone to the Dogs
Dream Dogz
Shelties4Us
Istari Shelties & Eskies

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“We will not apologize for our way of life……

nor will we waver in its defense”- President Obama in his inauguration speech as the 44th president of the United States of America.

But as you know, when I repeat his famous phrases, I am not just talking about our “American” way of life, I am talking about mine. My “way of life” revolves around raising animals- animals to nurture the human spirit, animals for companionship, and animals as food (lambs). I do not apologize for this, and I will not waver in its defense.

I voted for this man to be our next president. I find him inspirational. I applaud his call to responsibility, to hard work, to actions that increase community and civility. I love that he spells out values “But those values upon which our success depends — honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism —“ I believe in those values. I love that he calls for an increase in humanity- but don’t get me wrong- Organizations such as HSUS or PETA are not about increasing humanity. These organizations are simply about removing animals from our lives and they are doing it in ways that at first we (yes, dog people too) bought into- ie. spay/neuter your pets. They have moved on to far larger agendas and they are about intolerance- not tolerance as our new president calls for.

I do not think that these next four years will be easy, and I do expect that I will be called upon to defend my way of life. But I will answer the call to action, so that future generations may also enjoy the wonderful way of life that I have chosen. I will answer the call in this midst of crisis and the “sapping of confidence” that leads to “a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable….”
While I know that President Obama was speaking of MUCH larger, more far reaching issues than I am currently speaking of, his requests is that we all do what we can. And I intend to- I hope you will join me in an effort to stop these extreme Animal Rights Organizations from limiting your choices about where your next pet comes from.

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Canyon's puppies have strong herding instinct too

Acadia On My Mind "Canyon" has only sired 2 litters of puppies so far, but puppies from both litters have been instinct tested and here are the results:

Jean had this to say about Acadia Shock N'Awe (Jazz) "I also had him instinct tested for herding which he passed with flying colors. The trainer said he was a very unusual sheltie in the amount of focus he exhibited in the pen."

Morene had this to say about Acadia's Micoburst (Mike) "Sue and I finally got around to instinct testing Mike to today... AND, the boy has plenty of instinct!!! "

Jazz turned a year old Dec. 24 and Mike is only 6 1/2 months old.
Canyon himself has quite a bit of drive, desire, and instinct. The question now is going to be...... will Cadie train him?

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