I hope this Blog proves to be both fun and educational for anyone interested in Showing and/or Breeding Dogs. Spend some time with us and you will really understand the time and effort and emotions that goes into this hobby. Join me here for the good times and bad times, the joys and sorrows, the wins and losses. Welcome to life at Vista Dei!

Dancing in the streets here.. just got word that Regis got a Double Q! (That's 5 now.) Also 2 first place ribbons and 52 more MACH points. at Pittsburgh today!!  Wooo hoooo I am so proud of you guys!! Also heard Genni was out there having some fun even if she didn't get the Q's she did some nice runs I hear.. proud of her too!  Now.. when are Sampson and Aslan coming out to play with their siblings???

Will see you all there tomarrow!

 

Posted by: Vistadei at 22:28 | link | comments (3)

I have made a decision that I am sure is going to disappoint some of our readers, but I had to do what I felt was right for ME.  I decided not to do our spring breeding that was planned between our Dew-oh and Ch. Keegan.  It takes me a ton of time to do right by a litter, socializing them, cleaning them, playing, etc and I am just wanting to spend this spring with Darlin' - spend lots of time with her - and I want to be free to go to the shows I want to, as my guys are not getting any younger and I would like to spend time showing and earning titles that we have been training for all winter..  I am hoping to be able to travel and take all of the dogs with me some this summer, and with all of that, I do not want to be tied to  home with a litter this summer.  I am sorry as I know some of you were really hoping for a pup this spring, but I am sure the right little pups are out there waiting for you somewhere!  Hope you continue to visit our blog and have fun reading about our adventures!

Posted by: Vistadei at 09:23 | link | comments

I pulled off an earlier post that had a list of foods that included pedigree that MIGHT have wheat glutton in them.. I did go and look at the ingredients on some of them and see some wheat, but not wheat glutton, so I will just keep waiting and see.  Think I will cook a little to try to streach the kibble I have here so I do not have to buy more until they get this all sorted out, and hopefully pull any and all foods that could be affected no matter the brand.

Posted by: Vistadei at 20:41 | link | comments

Huh... seems the FDA news conference said that the contaminated wheat was sold to a dry food processing plant, but they are holding off on naming it till they know if it was involved.  huh.. well if you go back in the archives of my blog you will see several weeks before the food recall my dogs got VERY sick on a new-to-them dry food product.  I'm going to bet it will be found to be involved.  Seems too much of a co-incidence for me not to suspect that product was bad with some problem.  Kinda seems morally wrong not to give people the choice today of stopping feeding from what ever company has possible contaminated food, doesn't it?  I understand the cost and reputation involved, but geezzzzzzz  I have to buy dog food this weekend, sure would like to know it the next bag might kill my guys!!  So far Pedigree seems to be different manufacture than these foods involved, so we will be sticking to that for now, but like many breeders I am tempted to start home cooking for a while.  That worries me a little as I am not sure on long term basis if with home cooked the dogs stay balanced with the vitamens, minerals and the like (ie I know that if you give Fish Oil you have to add vitamen E for it to process correctly and I am sure there are many combo's like that - given alone or in the wrong amount cause more harm than good)  I fed the BARF diet for a while (Biologically Appropriate Raw Foods) but wasn't comfy with that, it was messy to prepare, messy to store, messy to buy and messy when they ate. The butcher would sell me trimmings, but various meats and other ummmm things like their emptied ashtray one day would be in the trimmings, I ordered Turkey necks by the case, they come in 20 pound frozen block that has to be defrosted in the bath tub, repacked in lots of manageable size, some stored in someone elses freezer, I can't fit all in mine, dripped blood and juices in their crate bedding as they ate, some would chew them down to about 1/2 size then swollow the huge chunk, so they had to be monitored while they ate, veggies had to be ground and pureed, they didn't like those much.. fresh tuna was supposed to be good, but canned tuna avoided.. oh my.. all lost weight and coat on it, that was supposed to be "detox" I couldn't make it through more than a couple months. So I am not looking forward to feeding raw, used to do a "stew" of meat/rice/veg, but again worried about long term balance.  Maybe a mix of cooked/raw/kibble.. I really don't know..

Posted by: Vistadei at 14:13 | link | comments (1)
dog food

Dis be ME... DARLIN' doin' my serious job of setting myself up pretty on the table at conformation class.  Now usually I don't look this way, usually I am all wiggly and waggly, but for a few mins I will do this just to please Miz Crystal and get me some hot dog to nibble on.  I like the other doggies in my class, and I like to go round the ring and and down and back.  I even like to do a triangle pattern and come up and show how purty I am to the judge.  Miz Crystal sez that even tho I just turned 6 months I am not ready to enter big shows yet.  She would like me to grow sum hair, and not be so weedy lookin' before I "come out" but we are looking for sum matches to go to this spring and I will have fun! 

Posted by: Vistadei at 08:02 | link | comments (4)

Darby and I went to a CPE (Canine Performance Events) trial this weekend, we ran 5 runs and got 4 qualifying scores with a Second place and two Third Place ribbons too!  This weekend we couldn't have earned any titles, but the next time we show in CPE we can earn 2 if we are successful.  I hope that will be the 3rd weekend in April.  I worked these 2 days so didn't do all the runs I could have if I wasn't working the trial, but last year when we tried to do too many runs in a day we both were too tired, and didn't get any more than the 4 Q's anyway even on 8 runs, so I suppose we are just as well to keep it a little shorter of a day.  I took Darlin' with us both days, she did great!  Slept in the crate even with some noisey neighbors, went for several LONG walks during the day, learning to walk side by side with Darby without getting him and me and her and the leashes all tangled!! She is learning to potty on leash faster, that is good, tho she almost went on my shoe.  She is learning to stick her head out of the crate and wait for the leash instead of either bolting out or pulling back and she is learning to run into the crate when I say "nite nite" even in the middle of the chaos of a trial, so that is great.  We had alot of fun.  Now I am looking for some extra shows to go to in the next few months, even if I have to drive a little, because CPE is raising the amount of legs needed for each title in July 2007, so I would like to get a couple done that we are close on before then, or I will need more Q's runs to get the same legs after that date.
 

Posted by: Vistadei at 23:20 | link | comments (2)

Yahoo! Alerts Breaking News Friday, March 23, 2007, 8:14 AM PDT ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) A spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Agriculture says rat poison was found in tainted pet food that killed several animals and sparked a nationwide recall.

Posted by: Vistadei at 10:40 | link | comments (1)

Regis has taken Vista Dei into the sheltie history books!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU Tim and Christy!!

Books are kept from the begining of sheltie history of the Pedigrees of AKC Champions and Advanced Titlists.. Compiled By Bob Miller. The new entries for April 2007 are up on this website:

http://www.barloshelties.com/  If you scroll down, you will see the entry for Regis!! They will stay there for a month, then be moved into the pedigree books "Sheltie Champions and Their Ancestors" that are available for people to research sheltie history.

 I am sooo proud of you guys!! Thank you!!!

Doin' the HAPPY DANCE!!

Posted by: Vistadei at 19:35 | link | comments (1)

More on the dog food recall, as of this morning, Mars - Petcare announces Pedigree, and Ceaser dog foods, as well as Whiska's and Sheba cat foods is NOT part of the recall.

Purina is joining the recall pulling their Mighty Dog packets, but no other food product  -their press release: Nestlé Purina PetCare Company today announced that as a precautionary measure, it is voluntarily withdrawing its 5.3 ounce Mighty Dog® brand pouch products that were produced by Menu Foods, Inc. from December 3, 2006 through March 14, 2007. This withdrawal is in response to the recall initiated earlier today by Menu Foods, a contract manufacturer that does limited business with Purina as well as with other pet food manufacturers. Only Mighty Dog 5.3 ounce pouch products are being withdrawn by Nestlé Purina, including those pouches contained in multi-packs. Importantly, no Mighty Dog canned products, or any other Purina products are affected by Menu’s recall

On one of my breeder list, a local sheltie breeder. reminded us that "For those of you who attended the Cleveland Classic this past December, remember that Eukanuba was giving away cases of their pouched food with a coupon received with our entries.  That's 3000 entries." I know that several of "our" shelties were entered there.. that is the stuff that is on re-call apparently, so if you have it stored somewhere you might want to check and toss.

 So to recap.. Menue foods has listed tons of brands recalled and that has been UPDATED since the last time I posted about it. It can be accessed at www.menufoods.com/recall and it includes Nutro brands in the recall.. in addition Iams and Eukanuba, Science Diet, Authority, Great Choice, and MANY others, please check.. Mighty Dog has joined in, tho it is not on the menufoods list.  If you are in doubt and feed canned/pouches, check your dog food brand's websites as some are listing on their own websites and not with the master list.

Posted by: Vistadei at 10:48 | link | comments

Thanks to Linda for these cute pictures of Shelby enjoying the latest snow!  I think Shelby wanted to show her litter sister Cricket what she is missing by being down in Sunny Texas!

And another cute picture of Shelby enjoying watching a Dog show on TV.. seems to be her favorite programing is dog shows, we got a picture from her several years ago watching a dog show on Animal Planet!

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Cricket counters with pictures of her "suffering" in Texas.. oh the beach breezes...... she wonders if her sister Shelby might like a romp in the surf??

Posted by: Vistadei at 13:22 | link | comments (3)

Well I see the huge dog food recall is including Nutro, Nutro Max and Nutro Natural.  I think just the canned from the best I can tell on the recall website this morning.  Wonder if whatever is wrong with all those kinds of food was also a problem with my bag of dry?  Wonder what IS wrong with all those foods, and how long this has been going on?  All I am hearing is there are kidney failure cases.  I have been saying for several years now that the vast majority of the people coming to me for a new pup have been loosing their dogs (any breed) to kidney failure.  Usually they have been feeding super premium foods, but wow, this list of recall brands of canned is extensive, ranging from Nutro to Old Roy.  Ok.. then that is also a question.. are all 46 of these brands basically the same?? huh..

Here is a link of recalled foods:www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html

In addition Iams and Eukanuba have added the recall to their websites this morning, again only their canned and pouches, not dry food.

 

Posted by: Vistadei at 10:33 | link | comments

And the boys go out, and the girls come in.. then the girls go out and the boys come in.. when they are inside, Daisy wears her little panties and the boys wear their belly bands, boys on their side of the baby gate, girls on their side of the baby gates.  It is a pain to dress and undress them, but it is the best protection if someone jumps a baby gate while a girl is in heat, they don't get anything "done" if they are all wearing pants and belly bands!! hahahah  ahhh the joys of having breeding animals and not wanting them to breed this time to this or that one! Hey, that could be something people kept in mind.. don't want to breed, keep your panties on!

Posted by: Vistadei at 07:46 | link | comments

Goodness, it has been a week since I wrote!  I had bronchitis and really haven't done much with the training or anything more than maintainance all week.  Still need alot of sleep, dogs are all doing well.  Think that bag of Nutro was bad, I added a little to Darlin's food and same deal, came home to runs all over her crate, vomit ewww I think I am going to call the company about the bag, she couldn't have had more than an 1/8 of a cup total.  Dave let me barrow a board for the house that he made, like a mini teeter, haven't even brought it up from the van I have been so worn out this week.  Will get started on it with Darlin and Daisy.  Daisy has gone into heat, so that kinda is going to keep her out of the agility class.  Now I have to start up with the shifts of who is on what side of the baby gates!!  She will drag the other females into heat, the boys are already checking out Mysty and Dew-oh.  Dew-oh is over due for her cycle.  At least we might get them all in near the same time and over with rather than drag it out.

Posted by: Vistadei at 21:39 | link | comments

Boy, Darby and I were really "off" last night at agility class. Sometimes I think if we start out with too hard of a sequence that throws off my whole evening.  I was upset because I had found out I have to work some of the weekends coming up that were important shows I wanted to attend.  This working thing sure gets in the way of my fun... hahahahah.. Darby seemed off too, but he is pretty tuned to my feelings so who know if me being off made him that way too or what was going on.  I did get to run Drifter through one set and that was fun. I think we did really well, it was alot of fun to do that, he was a little suprised I think, like.. what am I doing here with YOU?? And of course I run much slower than Dave, but Drifter adjusted and we did just fine.

Posted by: Vistadei at 06:26 | link | comments

I almost didn't go to the Kennel club meeting last night, it isn't always one of my favorite things to do, and it was cold, and I was tired and it seemed like it would be so much nicer to stay home and cuddle with the dogs, they had lots of kisses for me.  However I went, and was glad I did.  Our AKC delegate had allot to discuss and there will be votes for new AKC board members and we all were talking about the changes to the PA dog law.  It seems that those changes to the PA dog law might not be something that need voted on by our representatives in the end, the changes might just take place as "clarified wording".  There is legislation pending in 28 states that will negatively impact small breeders, and the bills just keep coming, when one gets defeated there is another to take it's place.  In addition, the AKC has been running a survey about allowing mix-breeds, things are really changing quickly and I wonder about the future of purebred dogs, if we will have much of any small breeders of purebreds over the next 10 to 15 years or if most future pets will be the designer  mix breed dogs bred in commercial facilities and the accidental litters of irresponcible owners, and those dogs that end up in the shelters.  Because of the very nature of small breeders (not making much money from the dogs that could go into fighting new laws, not have large groups to lobby, personal time consumed with care of the dogs, no hired help to be there while they travel to attend political events, 'flying under the radar' and not wanting to attract attention to themselves and their cause, because they may already be over their local limits of 2 to 3 pets, etc) it surely seems we have an uphill battle.  I have to say.. just personally... if quality purebred dogs become hard to find (really expencive too) AND if AKC starts allowing mixes, (so that basically I could compete in any registry with a mix breed as well as a purebred), I still wouldn't be likely to get a random or accidentally bred shelter pup, but rather there is a deliberate mix of breeds that has always intrigued me and I think would be unstoppable on agility courses.  I just saw a very professional ad for a breeder of  that particular mix at an agility club I was at in the last month, so I think that  AKC needs to think long and hard about this idea of adding mix breeds to the registry and competitions and what the long term consequences will be beyond an increase in entry fees.  If those of us who now show dogs to exhibit the wonderful talents of our chosen breed and our personal breeding programs - if we are no longer breeders because of restrictive laws, and lack of  public interest in pure bred dogs, will we then become simply competitors, and if so, will we compete with dogs that are specifically bred for the canine sports?  No more striving for shelties who are in standard size, who have certain coats type, who have good bites,correct head planes, ear sets etc.  It would be down to drive and performance..  and what dogs could be combined to give you that, all else set aside.  It could be a strange new world coming.

Posted by: Vistadei at 07:28 | link | comments

It has been a busy dog week, Saturday was the agility seminar, then Sunday I took Darlin' to conformation class, Monday was Daisy's first agility class, Tuesday is the Beaver County Kennel club meeting, Wednesday is Darby's agility class.  I am a little conflicted about Daisy's agility class, I think we are in the wrong class for her, she needs more ground work for each obsticle, and turns and such before we try to throw together the sequencing.  That is my fault, we can not get into the very begining class because of my work schedule, and I thought we might jump into this one, but I can see the potential for some bad habits to develop, because she doesn't yet understand what is being ask of her on each obsticle. Plus she spends all her time between the little segments we do "stacking" for conformation, and doesn't relax.  Not sure if I will continue her in the class.  I might just do some home training and stay focused on her conformation showing for this year.  There are some conformation classes on Mondays, I might look into. I REALLY have to get some of the bigger Agility equipment for home, Like the Dog Walk and Teeter. I wish the good stuff was a little more affordable, I hate to have them on non-standard home made stuff.. plus I hate to drag out stuff that takes longer to set up and take down than the time spent training (like my 12 weave poles - each set of 6 is well over 40 pounds and has to be screwed in and then all repacked after 10 mins of training)  My  big MUST is a proffesional grade tunnel, actually I would like to get 2 of them a dark and a light colored one, cause I found at a CPE trial that the dogs experiences a dark tunnel is something all together different than a light one with the varient in heat and light and also apparently the light when they come out of it.  Anyhoooo.. seems most of the tunnels are ranging in weight from 40 pounds on the ultra lights to 70 pounds.. again alot to drag out and put away, but I think I will get enough use to invest the money, prices seem to range about $200 - $250 each.

Posted by: Vistadei at 12:25 | link | comments

'Ello, my name's Darlin' and ya-all been missing seeing pictures of me, haven't ya?  Whaaalll this is me, I am 23 weeks old now.  I am a very happy girl, my mom and granny and aunts all have me pretty spoiled.  If'n I want to sit on the chair where they are, I go up to their face and I sez "BARK" really really loud, and they git up and move so I can sit there.  If they have a chewie and I want it.. I sez "BARK" really really loud and they let me have that chewie.  I lay on the floor on my back and Mr. Ricki gives me snuffs and nuzzles and tells me I'm a cutie pie.  About the only one that doesn't think I am the best thing that ever came to this house is my daddy Darby, he often trys to impress me with how big and white his teeth are, but I never pay him any mind.  Miz Crystal sure does like me, she measured me this morning and sez I am 13 1/2" which is perfectly perfect.  Of course!! I AM perfectly perfect.. see, here is my picture! I am tryin' to look lady like.. but that only lasts a second or two!

Posted by: Vistadei at 12:43 | link | comments (6)

I have to say attending the Susan and Jennifer Crank seminar yesterday was probably the best money I have spent to date in agility.  Very briefly, the mother/daughter team of Susan and Jennifer Crank have impressive experience,  They have both been on the USA World Team multiple times, placed there and have over 20 MACHs between them.  Susan is also an agility judge.  Their style of teaching was a little different than I have experienced in other seminars, a little more technical, maybe even mathematical precision to some of the moves, rather than "feel good encouragement" but that is apparently a method that finally made some light bulbs go off in my head!  There was one exercise in particular where we used the same series of jumps to do a Layer, a Treadle and a Serpentine, and really looked at the different body cues that used correctly showed the dogs the different moves even though we were using the same jumps, just needing different results.  It seemed that exercise really helped clarify things for allot of people.  Over the years, different instructors have been basically telling me the same information, but it just finally "clicked" with the way it was presented by these instructors.  Especially the use of the front cross, something I have never understood well, executed correctly or known when to use, but also things like keeping the dog on left and right planes of your body to give very clear signals, that the dog turns when your shoulders turn, use of lateral motion and deceleration to cue the dog, just oh so many things!  They did a brief covering of contacts, something I do not have a problem with when running Darby, but definitely gave me a clear mental picture of what I want to see happen with Daisy and Darlin" in future training, how to re-enforce contacts using flat boards and how to proof the method to be sure the release is coming from verbal release rather than motion cues.  Again, for me, this seminar taught me more in the five hours I attended than in any other combination of instruction I have received in the past.  Part of that might have been where I am mentally, perhaps I was just "ready" for the information at this point.  Part I do think was the manner of presentation, as a bit of a computer geek I think in a very technical manner and having the moves presented that way just made so much sense to me, but a great deal of it was the instructors in the seminar, their experience, expectations and criteria for the training methods was clear and demonstrated in a way that you could actually see it working with the dogs in the audience.  I have to give this seminar my highest recommendation.  I will definitely travel a good distance to attend another one given by these women, fantastic!

Posted by: Vistadei at 01:39 | link | comments (1)
seminar reviews

I couldn't be more pleased with the agility class last night!  We had missed 3 classes because of illness or icey roads, and Darby was READY to be there.. he worked with the most enthusiasm I have ever seen from him.  I enjoyed myself too, and got in a front cross that I planned and executed and worked perfectly (front crosses are hard for me because I am usually behind Darby, he is faster than me)  The instructor was happy with it, said that wouldn't have happened a couple months ago.  I feel like we stepped things up a bit and are ready for the advanced levels we will be showing in this year.  I took Darlin' out with me too, and she did very well. Our goals were small and she met them.  Road in her crate without puking for the hour each way trip, walked around out there in a strange parking lot on leash, tho we need a bit more work there, she still sets her feet around vehicles.  She pee'd promptly on leash after the ride and after being in her crate during Darby's class.  She relaxed in her crate during the class, and that was pretty noisey, a Fly Ball class was going on in the other room, doors slamming, teeter slamming, lots of comotion.  Before class she walked on leash with Darby around the agility ring and around the equipment where other dogs were practicing.  After class she played the level 1 game "come" back and forth with Dave and I, which was a step into doing it in a new enviroment, with someone she didn't know, and with just a couple mild distractions off in the distance (most people had left).  Anyway, I think we made lots of progress with both dogs last night.  Monday Daisy starts her agility class, and I am excited to begin.

 

Posted by: Vistadei at 08:28 | link | comments (4)
training levels