Acadia Shelties

New Ch Acadia Laureate Red Sensation

>> Thursday, August 21, 2025 – conformation, Gregory

Zachary completed the requirements for the championship last weekend. He finished with 4 majors and a 1st place in his class at the National. I am very pleased. He is the 2nd champion for his mother, Laureate Zinfandoll, this year and the 2nd champion for his father, GChB Acadia Gregarious, DCAT

Wolves in Yellowstone

I am so lucky. This year, my best friend Sharon, stayed at our house while we went on a Pruss family vacation. I had been very stressed because the dog sitter I had lined up for the week backed out and I was afraid I would not be able to go. Mike's mother is in her mid-80's and she had planned a family trip to Yellowstone. Oddly, I have never been to Yellowstone. I was really looking forward to this trip because Yellowstone is a wolf watching mecca - and I love wolves. I was telling Sharon my woes and she said, "I can come take care of the dogs"- WOW!! It is a lot to ask someone and Sharon volunteered. What a Great Friend!.

We did see wolves. We were looking through our binoculars and spotting scopes and we saw a whole pack- way in the distance. We could see adults and puppies (they looked like miniature adults). There were bison in the foreground and a nice stream. It was a very pretty area known as Slough Creek. As we were watching, one black wolf started trotting down a path in our direction and we were all pleased that it was getting easier to see this individual as it was getting closer- but it was still fairly far away.

July in Yellowstone is full of tourists and many people are there to see the wolves. There are a few areas that are fairly reliable for sighting wolves, Slough Creek area and Lamar Valley. "Wolf watchers" are a group of people who spend their days looking for the wolves, most of whom are people who spend their vacations going to the prime watching spots just to enjoy watching pack interactions. As such, there are people who are at these prime watching spots looking. They have formed a network and they keep in contact via radio and keep each other updated on the sightings. Other tourists stop to ask if there are any wolves to be seen. If yes, crowds gather along the road, if no, they ask if anyone in the network is seeing wolves, and where. This location had a small crowd of people and vehicles along the road watching the wolves in the distance, and the one wolf that was trotting on a path towards the road.

It was fun watching the pack with puppies in the distance, but after a while it became clear that the most exciting thing was the wolf that just kept coming closer, and closer, and closer to the road.

For some unexplained reason Mike and I don't have a very good camera. We both have really good quality binoculars, but our camera leaves a lot to be desired. If these pictures are what we took with a bad camera, just think what our pictures could have looked like with a great camera! The black wolf chose a path that took him directly to the roadside pull-off and the crowd of people. The crowd parted and the wolf crossed the road. The picture that looks a little "frosty" is the other side of the road and a different sun angle.

After the wolf was out of sight, we headed over to Lamar Valley. It was early morning, and the road was full of tourists. We could tell by the crowd that there was something interesting going on. I wanted to jump out of the van, but had to wait until we could find a place to pull off the road. I was afraid we were going to miss a wolf, but when we did stop and were able to get out, we found out that that while we had missed a chase, we didn't miss a wolf killing a bison calf. I don't have any pictures because our camera was not good enough, but we were able to watch the wolf, a coyote, ravens, an immature bald eagle, and a few adult bull bison all interact out in a wide open space with perfect viewing. I am so thankful. I could have stayed and watched all day- or at least until the wolf left, but we left before the wolf did.

New Ch Acadia Director's Cut "Vernon"

>> Tuesday, July 22, 2025 – Aidan, conformation

Vernon finished in a few short weekends with handler, Zana Friend. I love this puppy. He is sired by GCh. Acadia's Stage Director and his mother is Laureate Zinfandoll.

GCh. Acadia's Stage Director and sons

>> Saturday, June 28, 2025 – Aidan, conformation, meet the family

Aiden is now a Grand Champion! He is now GCH. Acadia's Stage Director. He had a wonderful weekend of shows. He was pulled for consideration in one group, and placed 3rd in the group on a different day. A women came up to me when I was walking out of the ring, touched my arm, and said, Love, Love LOVE your sheltie! That was really nice. I walked back to my set up and another person said to me, I have been watching you this weekend and you two are a really lovely team. It's true that showing dogs is a team sport. It is what I love the most about showing dogs. I love the connection with the dog. I love the time spent focused on the dog. I love being a part of the team.

One day Aiden's son, Acadia's Film Director "Windsor", won Best of Breed- defeating Aiden and the other entered champions. I was very proud of him. Windsor earned 5 more points that weekend bringing his total to 9 points, 1 major.

Acadia's Film Director "Windsor"

Brother Vernon, Acadia Director's Cut, was at dog shows in Virginia with handler Zana Friend. He was winning too and now has a major.

Acadia Director's Cut "Vernon"

Acadia's Film Director, "Windsor" wins a Major

>> Sunday, May 25, 2025 – Aidan

YAY!! My friend Eileen Seirup told me she was going to shows in New Castle, PA and asked, did I have anyone she could take and show. Yes, Windsor was looking good, but he had never been to a show, and he had also never been to a handling class. He "looked" the part, but I didn't think he would "act" the part. I told Eileen that I would love it if she took him along and trained him. No pressure- just make it Fun. WELL!! He was Winners Dog 2 days- and the 2nd day was for a Major!! WOW!! No pressure, but now he has 4 points- with a Major!!!

The first day, Eileen said he really didn't know what he was doing and he wasn't moving well. Yesterday she told me he seems to have figured this out and he moved So much better- I guess the judge agreed!. The weather has been horrible. It has been raining and Eileen took her camper and is staying on the show grounds. She said the site is muddy and that is making it more of a challenge. In his win photo- I was expecting him to look muddy- she is going a good job.

Eileen is showing 2 of her own girls and she is going well and winning with them also. Eileen as been having a very good weekend. She has never been to these shows before and I would be willing to bet that the competition is looking forward to her going home :-)

Acadia's Film Director (Ch. Acadia's Stage Director x Laureate Zinfandoll)

Acadia Trust Me "Nora"

>> Saturday, May 17, 2025 – Tristan

Acadia Trust Me (Ch. Acadia Trusted Opinion x Ch. Laureate Meiomi)

Mike and I are by no means professional photographers, but today we took a few pictures of Nora and then played around with some of the simple "edit" tools my computer has to offer. I wanted to blur the background. I liked it, but often, in our pictures, the background is too close and too in focus. After several attempts, I decided that I liked this well enough. It still looks like an amateur did it, but I think it is better than many of the pictures we have taken where we didn't do anything to the pictures.

Over the years we have gotten lucky with some of the pictures we have taken and when that happens, I am over joyed. Who knows, maybe I will learn new skills and improve the images I post on the blog- or perhaps I will just end up with a few lucky good ones as before.