October 28 A warm late October day

 Today is my birthday and I wanted to celebrate it by going to a local park and take pictures of Aiden.  He is so pretty.  The day is unusually warm and it was a nice way to spend the day. 

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**NEW CHAMPION** Acadia Opinion Provided- aka- Chica

 Chica finished in Grand Fashion winning a 4 point major to finish when she just needed 4 single points.  Chica is a funny girl with a sense of humor.  I feel so fortunate to have her.  I hope that she will be my first Registrar of Merit (ROM)- which means (for girls) that she produced 5 champion offspring.  It is a coveted title, and one that has eluded me so far.   

To date, Chica is the mother of GCh. Acadia's Gregarious, BCAT, Ch. Acadia Trusted Opinion, FDC, and Ch. Acadia Peggin Iced Latte, HT.  Waiting in the wings are Acadia Popular Opinion (Tecla) and Acadia Everyone's Opinion (Trestle).

Chica is the 8th Consecutive generation of Champion bitches and the 6th consecutive generation of Acadia bred bitches.  I am hoping that Tecla and Trestle will follow in her footsteps.  

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**New Champion** Laureate Lavania

      Phew!  Today Vania won the final 2 points needed for the championship.  When she came to me to be shown, she had 8 points with a specialty major.  All I needed to do was win 7 more points and another major.....  That's all.  The 1st summer she was with me we won a 4 point major.  She was not giving me her undivided attention, she didn't seem to enjoy showing, and she didn't really know who I was.  In typical sheltie fashion- she didn't know me, why should she stand there and look at me just because I had food? 

     Kim and Pete asked me if I wanted to co-breed a litter of puppies and then attempt to get the final 4 points afterwards.   Yes!  We bred Vania to Am/Can Ch. Laureate Invincible, ROM/ROMC.  She had a lovely litter of puppies.  Since she has been here we have become good friends.  This summer the showing has gone much easier. She won Best of Breed over dogs that are already champions 3 times and placed in the Herding group once.  

     The judge that awarded her this final Best of Breed for her last required points said, "she looks at you adoringly".   Wow- I adore her too.  We have come a long way together.  In a post from last summer I was worried I was going to be a "one hit wonder" for Laureate- only finishing MeMe- but yesterday- Vania and I earned the last of the required 15 points.  

 

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July - 13 years ago -2010

 July 30- Today would have been my dad's 94 birthday.    This July Liza turned 13.  She is still with us. 

July 2010 was a monumental month in that year.  I had started a new job in March which was proving to be challenging and my father had been diagnosed with Cancer.  In other posts from 2010 I thank Guy Jeavons, Grandgables shelties, for allowing his new champion GCh.P Grandgables The Frat Boy, ROM, ROMC (he didn't have all of those titles at that time) to come visit so I could breed him to the sisters, GCh. Acadia Presence of Mind (Cassia) and Ch. Acadia Peaceful Garden.  They were both due the end of July.  As we now know, they were born the same week my father passed away. 

This past week both GCh.S. Acadia Stage Presence, CC ("Liza') and GCh. Acadia Serenity ("Serena") celebrated birthdays.  Those two girls were so significant to me and at a time that was challenging, they proved to be a bright spot.   Liza was my team-mate who made all of  my dog show & breeder dreams come true.  Serena and I won the Bred-by Exhibitor class at the ASSA National.  That is the one class that I feel is the most important and she was the one to win it.  Posts about the these two girls can be found through-out the blog.  

Happy Birthday dad, Liza and Serena.  

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25 is a nice milestone

Today I received an AKC championship certificate for my 25th homebred champion, Ch. Acadia Trusted Opinion ("Tristan").   It is also 25 years ago that my first homebred champion, Ch. Acadia's Bright Idea, NA, NAJ, RA ("Payson"), was born (10/17/1998).  

Payson's mother was a cutie named Dana that Shirley Vicchitto, Zion shelties, leased to me for a litter.  I was hoping for a boy, and Dana had a litter of 6 boys.   I kept two brothers, Payson, and Rocky- who would also be one of the 25 champions bred by me.  He became Ch. Acadia Rock Solid, HT. 

1982- Ch. Parker of Mirluc, CD with
future Ch. Arista's Abbey Road (bottom)

Both Payson and Rocky produced champions.  Rocky can be found in Tristan's pedigree.   Payson can be found in many of the pedigrees of Sharon Crawford's Sunburst shelties. 

I have also had 10 dogs I purchased that completed the championship- for 35 champion dogs as of today.  Shirley met me because of my very first champion, Ch. Parker of Mirluc, CD, who I purchased from Betty Ieronimo, Mirluc shelties.    It was because of Parker that Shirley sold me Tucket, Ch. Zion Acadia Town Heroine, CDX, PT, VCX and it was because of my success with Tucket that Shirley leased Dana to me.  Tucket did produce 1 champion daughter- also a multi-titled dog, Ch. Acadia Another Story, UD, PT, NA, VCX.   

    I was living in Arizona, as was Sharon Crawford, and Sharon fell in love with Tucket.  Shirley sent Tucket's mother, Tuffy to me to show and Sharon loved her too.  Tucket had a brother, Ch. Zion's Man About Town, HT, NA, VC, 5CC ("Jamie"), who was THE hot winning dog at the time!  Sharon bred to Jamie which was very successful for her.  Subsequently I was able to purchase Ch. Sunburst Acadia Here I Come, ("Carrie") a descendant from these successful pairings who became the anchor of my breeding program.  

    It is so interesting how these dogs and people weave together.  I love looking back and seeing how the family is still going strong- thanks to good breeders who care about the dogs.  Many of the dogs in this family have titles in multiple venues.  They are smart, happy, and good "Shetland sheepdogs".   I look forward to the next 25.

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13 Years ago - July 26, 2010

7/26/2023 marks 13 years since my dad passed away. So often I hear people talk as if 5 or 10 years ago is ancient history- and maybe it is when it comes to social media or technology changes, but interestingly enough, 13 years ago I was writing this blog- and I posted about my father's passing. I have enjoyed looking at the posts from 2010. 2010 was a very big year for me. 

 The lows were low- my father passed away and that was hard, but we were lucky. He was an active man, living with his wife (my mom), in his own home, able to take care of himself. He had been diagnosed with Cancer- and was receiving chemotherapy. One day he accidently gashed his leg and went to the Doctor to have it checked out. That Doctor told him that because his immune system was compromised, he should go to the hospital to have it examined. I am a bit fuzzy on how a gash ended up with him having surgery- but it did- and he never woke up. He was in a coma for about 10 days.

Both of my sisters got to the hospital and my sister Amy called me to tell me to get there right away- he wasn't going to make it any longer. I called Mike and we loaded up our pregnant dogs and started from Pennsylvania to Connecticut. When we got to the Connecticut state line, I called my sister to let her know our ETA. She said, "here- talk to dad" and put the phone to his ear. I said, "Dad, I love you. Hold on, I am 2 hours away......" and my sister came back on the phone and said, "he heard you- and he just passed away." Wow. At that point I wished I hadn't called. 

When I got to the hospital all of the tubes and machines had been taken away and he looked peaceful. The minister was still there and he said to me, "when he heard your voice, the heart monitor changed. He heard you. He waited for you, and he knew you were with him." Hearing those words has meant a lot to me. Dad waited for me. Although I wasn't physically there, he didn't know that. He felt the touch of family, and heard all of our voices- and he was able to leave peacefully.

A few months after he died, I had a dream about him. In my dream, he was there- and in my dream I knew I was dreaming and that he was dead- but he told me he was good. I am SO THANKFUL to have had that closure.  I love and miss you Dad.

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** New Champion** Acadia Trusted Opinion- aka Tristan

 Tristan finished today by winning Best of Breed over multiple champions from the Bred-by-Exhibitor class.  He topped the day off by winning a Herding Group 4.    He was only in 6 total shows.  I can't believe how quickly this happened! 

Tristan is the 3rd Champion for his mother Chica.

Chica- Acadia Opinion Provided, had a good weekend too.  She earn 5 more points, 1 major towards her championship.   What a Great week of shows.  So Proud of this family. 

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