Reaching For The Stars
Meet Athill Shelties Performance Dogs
Athill is certainly proud of the well rounded Shetland Sheepdogs that we have produced and own, each; a hard working individual with a superior can-do attitude.
Although Athill is fairly new to the performance world we are eager and excited to get involved in the world of competitive performance sports.
Among our family of Shelties a few stars have been shining bright, we are proud to introduce to you our Athill Performance Stars!
~ Pictured Top Left - Kintara's Passion And Warfare - "Angus" ~
Meet Angus, 15 inches of beauty and brains all rolled into one, a tireless worker & true Sheltie; Angus has what it takes to be a success.
There is no doubt that our little Angus will someday become Athill's first VCX titled sheltie. Angus's true passion is for agility, he simply lives for it and gives me his all when we step out onto that field.
Angus is also currently in training for his PCD, and will be competing in upcoming CKC rally obedience trials. Angus is also having alot of fun learning Canine Free Style!
~ Pictured Right - Quest @ Agility Class ~
Lizzie and daughter Velvet are also getting their feet wet in performance. Lizzie is a wonderful working girl, she gets the job done and all with a big smile on her face, nothing fazes this girl.
Currently Lizzie is training in agility and might even dabble a bit in tracking in 2008.
Not to be outdone by her mother our little Velvet is blowing people away with her smarts and fantastic working ability. Velvet showed so much potential as a very small puppy that we knew she was going to be something special.
This little girl is a trainer's dream, its easy to forget that she is still a young pup because of her maturity and dedication to the task at hand. Velvet is currently training in agility and obedience, watch out world...this girl's on fire!
Lets just say that the love of performance runs in the family, Athill Kintara Questar "Quest" is our multi-tasker. During his first appearance in the breed ring as a jr. puppy he acquired 2 major wins in one weekend, he currently has 6 points towards his Canadian Championship.
While awaiting his new wardrobe; Quest and I have already gotten started on
his performance career. Quest is a fantastic obedience dog, and is also currently training in agility. We hope to also explore tracking, herding and rally-o with our homebred tri boy later in the year.
~ Pictured Bottom Left - "Jasper" Working Sheep ~
Our first taste at herding started in the fall of 2004, with the help of our dear friend Arletta Michaud (of Glenwater Collies) we got our chance. I knew that my shelties had the potential as you could see their instincts fire up even during everyday activities, to my surprise both Pixie and Jasper, with no previous exposure to livestock, both passed their first HCT trial. Both earing them their first leg towards their HCT title, not a bad start!
It is truly amazing to watch these dogs work, you can almost see the moment that the instinct takes over, and then for the first time you see your sheltie doing exactly what it was bred to do. Seeing your friend, your very own sheltie herding is a very beautiful and proud moment to behold.
In June 2006 Jasper and I decided to fine tune our herding skills. Jasper, I felt would really enjoy the classes with me so was my sheltie of choice as he had done very well during testing the previous year. Herding is hard work, period. But once we both got the hang of some of the commands we here hooked! Herding is one of the hardest things to train for if you aren't set up, thankfully in our city we have a facility that we can visit and practice on both ducks and sheep (pen work and in the field), all made possible by Tanya Wheeler's Tucker Creek Farm.
Jasper had a blast, and I learned ALOT, unfortunately in the last year we didn't get out enough and I hope to remedy this in the new year and pickup where we left off.
Last but not least I would like to mention our shelties (& our wonderful Borzoi) who are up and coming; Kaos, Pixie & Kapriz who have already completed some obedience training and have demonstrated superior working ability in formal obedience.
