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!

Dis is me.. Darby.. here to tell you sum weekends is better than others.. sigh.. LAST weekend we all went to the Christmas party at the agility club and had the bestest of times!  I was soooo proud of my grandson Drifter, and his owner Dave.  See last year, Drifter did run a relay race against the fastest border collie in the world, named Andy.  Drifter almost won last year, but not quite.. so allllllll year long Mr. Dave has been wanting a re-match and at the Christmas party.. Mr. Dave picked Andy's gift and challenged them to a race for the gift, and there they went running like HECK for a little rubber basketball toy and DRIFTER WON!! he not only won cause he was accurate, but he crossed that finish line first too!! He got to keep the toy, and Mr. Dave is gonna have it gold plated and put up on his new mantle place in his new house, cause now Drifter is the fasted "border collie in sheltie cloths" in the whole world!!  That Border Collie Andy did challange ME, poor old me to a run for a different toy, and ya know what? I WON!! well I sure wasn't as fast as him, but he went in the wrong end of the tunnel and I didn't so I won cause I did it right, even if we was alot slower. Got me a nice tug toy too, and it was a great weekend!  I even raced Drifter's big sister collie Spirit, I dinna win that one, but I had me sum fun!  This weekend.. well.. not quite as good as last!  I need a new handler, Miz Crystal took me to a CPE trial, and she dun lost her mind on both runs, and I just ran around all over the place barking at her!  She was kinda upset with me after the second run, and brought me home and tried to drowned me.. oh sure, she called it a bath.. said it was because she got some expensive new shampoo and conditioner and wanted to try it out on me cause I stunk.  I think SHE stunk today, so hope she soaks in that new shampoo and does better tomarrow.. wish me luck!!

Posted by: Vistadei at 19:13 | link | comments (2)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

We knows it is a little late in the day, but we had lotta chewies in our stockin's and we'z been working on them till now! 

For those of youz that wonder what it is like to live in a house with 9 shelties.. er ya go, sum pictures of "wall to wall" Shelties!

Left back, darkest dog is Ricki, beside him on the left side middle is Misty, left forefront is Diana.  In the center rear facing the tree is Dew-oh, then in the center of the picture with the HUGE white collar is Destiny, forefront center with the spot in the collar is Darlin'.  Rear right, closest to the chair is Dusty, beside him towards the right middle is Darby and in the right forefront is Daisy.  Did you guess right?

and a 'nudder one..

Posted by: Vistadei at 18:11 | link | comments (7)

Today Darby qualified on both of his CPE runs, taking second place each time and finishing his CL3-R title.  He is exhausted and so am I, but happy in 3 days he qualified in 7 out of 8 runs.  He helped me with my Christmas shopping as he got a toy for each placement, so came home with 7 new toys and only REALLY wants to play with one, so the other will get wrapped for the other dogs from Santa Paws. (does that count as re-gifting?)  Poor guy is sleeping so soundly when the others went out to the potty I had to go poke him to be sure he hadn't died on the couch and that startled him, he didn't even realize everyone else had gone outside without him! 

Kiwi went home this afternoon, we will miss her, but she was sure happy to see Tim and Christy, and probably ready for a rest from the chaos around here.  Fingers all crossed that she has some puppies... now we wait and see..

Posted by: Vistadei at 21:38 | link | comments

Yes we have some brags here at Vista Dei this weekend!  First and most important to me.. As most of you know or have read on my website, when I breed, my first 2 goals are good health and good temperment.  We test the dogs we breed for various health issues and have so far been blessed with very healthy lines.  Shelties and Collies sometimes have adverse toxic and sometimes even fatal reactions to certain drugs, Ivermectin (heart worm meds), and Anti-cancer drugs in particular.  A gene mutation was recently discovered that indicates the individual dogs that carry the gene mutation that causes this toxic reaction.  I am SO PLEASED to tell you that both our "foundation dogs" Darby and Mysty were recently tested for the MRD1 gene and BOTH are "normal/normal" which means all of their offspring will also be normal/normal as they do not have and can not transmit the mutated gene. 

Now, onto the agility brags.. On Friday at the AKC trials at the IX Center in Cleveland OH, Darby had a qualifying run with a second place score in Open JWW, and on Sat at the CPE trials in Washingtonville, OH ran 4 for 4, qualifying in all runs, and bringing home a First place in Fullhouse game, a Second Place in Standard round 1, a Third place in Standard round 2 and a second place in Colors.  This finishes his CL2-F title.

I know Regis had some great runs at the IX center, but I am going to wait till they come home for the full run down of his wins, so I post the correct times etc, I know one run was very special!! Great job guys!

Posted by: Vistadei at 19:36 | link | comments (2)

Last weekend at the AKC agility trials in Washingtonville, OH, Regis earned 2 more QQ towards his MACH2, giving him 5 of the needed 20 QQ's by my count, and I have lost track of his speed points, I think he already has more than he needs.  He had 2 more first place scores and 2 more second placements that weekend.  This coming weekend is the big set of trials at the IX center in Cleveland, good luck to everyone who is running and showing, will see you on Friday out there!

Darby thinks Kiwi is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen and is quite in love with her.  Unfortunately she doesn't share his enthusiasm for love and romance, but we are getting the job done.  She has been a very good house guest and fits in here like she just belongs with the others.  Will miss her when she goes back home on Sunday.

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

Someone sent this to me and it was too funny not to share!

Ten Peeves that Dogs Have About Humans

1 Blaming your farts on me.....
not funny... not funny at all !!!

2 Yelling at me for barking.
I'M A FRIGGIN' DOG

3 Taking me for a walk, then
not letting me check stuff out.
Exactly whose walk is this anyway?

4 Any trick that involves balancing
food on my nose. Stop it!

5 Any haircut that involves bows or ribbons.
Now you know why we chew your stuff
up when you're not home.

6 The sleight of hand, fake fetch throw.
You fooled a dog! Whoooo Hoooooooo what
a proud moment for the top of the food chain.

7 Taking me to the vet for "the big snip",
then acting surprised when I freak
out every time we go back!

8 Getting upset when I sniff the crotches of your guests.
Sorry, but I haven't quite mastered that handshake thing yet.

9 Dog sweaters. Hello ???
Haven't you noticed the fur?

10 How you act disgusted when I lick myself.
Look, we both know the truth. You're just jealous.

Now lay off me on some of these things.
We both know who's boss here!
You don't see me picking up your poop do you?

Posted by: Vistadei at 08:07 | link | comments (1)

Decker the Halls wif bunches of Holley fa la la la LA... la la la la...

Diana - Hey, where is that Blue Dog Decker?

Daisy - Him lives at Dave and Denise's house now...

Dew-oh - What, how kin we Decker the Hall without Decker?

Mysty - Silly  - "Decker the Hall" is long for Deck-R-Ate, that is what Miz Crystal done this weekend, Deck-R-Ate for Christmas!

Darlin' - yah, but she put an X-pen fence up around the Christmas tree, so how is I supposed to eat all those cute snowmen and the feathers, and the icecyles?  I don't know why she puts all those toys on the tree then not let me get 'em?

Darby - even more important, there sits a perfectly good pine tree in the middle of the livingroom and I can't even get close enough to pee on it, how stupid!?!

Ricki - we could pee on the fence and have a contest to see who gets it closer to the actual tree....... ohhhhhhh.. HI THERE MIZ CRYSTAL.. no we wasn't talkin' about nuthin' nope nuthin' at all, just admirin' that tree there... (run Darby, run!)

Dusty - I am just waiting for the stockings to go up.. once the stockings are hung, if you ask me "Dusty, were is Christmas" I run right to them and put my paw on the wall and point to them!  I have done this every year and visiting humans think it is a blast.  Ofcourse I also have the most skill in unwraping presents, as this will be my 11th Christmas and practice makes perfect!  I practice allllll month long, when I see Miz Crystal wrap something, ummmm I unwrap it, probably why she started stacking presents behind the Xpen fence by the tree.. she wants me to wait till Christmas morning to help others unwrap.

Destiny - I haven't been here for Christmas before, but sounds like it is going to be sum fun!

Kiwi - oh my dog, will I have sum stories to tell Regis when I go back home... there is a whole house of wall to wall shelties here... oh my oh my.. this is fun..hehehehheeheh

Darlin' - WOOOOF WOOOOF WOOOOF - there are RED BOWS IN THE WINDOWS... hey everyone, come bark at dem, they is flapping around in the wind, I am going to climp the outside wall of the house and GET THEM.. hate them hate them.. woof, woof, woof...

All the dogs chime in.. WOOOOF WOOOF WOOOF WOOOFFFFF.. must scare the red bows out of the windows.. it is our Christmas mission .. woof woof woof.... someone kill those things if you can, please????

Posted by: Vistadei at 09:09 | link | comments (3)

It's time to add some life back to this boring blog - after over a year with no puppies, we are planning multiple breedings for late winter/ early spring!  The first breeding is taking place this week, Kiwi is here for a visit, in heat and will be bred to Darby.  In a few weeks we will be doing another breeding you can visit the page to see what is in the works.  http://www.vistadeishelties.com/available.html Depending if these 2 breedings "take" and give us pups due in Feb, we have some alternative plans for 2 more late spring breedings as well, so hold onto your hats, we should be starting the puppy count down pretty soon!

Kiwi has fit right in with the "pack" she came on Friday, and is right on track with the rest of them as far as eating and going out and potty breaks.  She hasn't been here for a while, but remembered right where to go for the treats they get when they come back inside from a potty break, she came right in and and went to the container licking her lips and stamping her feet! When we ask her were Regis is, she runs around the house looking for him - he is actually out with Tim running agility this weekend in Washingtonville, OH , and will be at the IX center in Cleveland the13-16  Last weekend he ran in Edinboro and got his 3rd QQ towards his MACH2 with a second place score in both runs!

I didn't get into the trial this weekend, took the time off work, but got wait listed and then didn't get in.  I will be in Cleveland running on Friday the 14, then in Washingtonville with the CPE trials on the 15 and 16th. 

Posted by: Vistadei at 09:26 | link | comments (3)