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 CGN - "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. Although he is always up for anything Angus's true passion is for agility, he simply lives for it and gives me his all when we step out onto that field.
This summer Angus competed in his first CKC agility trial, we had a blast and came out of the weekend with two qualifying runs with scores of 90 and 95, thus earning him two legs towards his AGN title!
This fall Angus became a certified canine good neighbour earning him his CGN title, what a good boy! Angus is also currently in training for his PCD, and will be competing in upcoming CKC rally obedience trials. He is also having alot of fun trying his paw at Canine Free Style, look out Gene Kelly, his boy has got some great moves!
~ 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 the fall.
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, CH. Athill Kintara's Questar "Quest" is our multi-tasker. During his first appearance in the breed ring as a jr. puppy he acquired 2 BOB wins in one weekend, he is our first Canadian Champion and is out of our very first litter here at Athill.
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 and earned their HIC (Herding Instinct Certificate).
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.
~ Pictured Below- "Mc Duff" Passing his herding instinct testing with flying colors! What a sheepdog! ~
~Mc Duff is owned and loved by Patricia in Thunder Bay. Mc Duff is sired by Quest and is out of Lizzie from our 2007 litter~
Click HERE to watch Mc Duff in action at Tucker Creek Farm
Many Thanks to Photographer Maggie Redfern-Pucci for capturing These fantastic action shots of Mc Duff's Herding Instinct Test on film.
Last but not least I would like to mention our shelties (& our wonderful Icelandic & Borzoi) who are up and coming; Kaos, Pixie & Kapriz who have already completed some obedience & agility training and have demonstrated superior working ability in performance!
