Reel Australian Cattle Dogs

30/07/2024

I feel like this is not just life with ACDs but specifically Shazam! 🤣🤣

13/07/2024

Happy 7th Birthday to Sheba!!
Mama to Peaches & Grandmama to The Reel Red Superheroes… now living her best retired life in Olds, AB with Pam & Jerry.

❤️🐾

01/07/2024

19/06/2024

Mother & Son
❤️🐾

17/06/2024

Shazam & I played in the CKC Scent Detection Sanction Match that the German Shepherd Dog Club Of Canada Inc. - Wild Rose Branch put on today.

I was having insecurities and second thoughts going into today as Shazam’s official “alert” signal isn’t as clear as I’d like it to be. But the benefits of the fun sanction match is that it’s a cheap way to go thru the motions and practice.

It was a long wait to get to our turn today but this rising red star did not disappoint! We got all three components: Interior (55 sec), Container (26 sec), Exterior (28 sec)🥳 which means had this been a “real” trial he would have earned his Novice Title today! Super proud of this boy as our Scent Detection journey only started in February and we’ve missed quite a few classes being on the road with Conformation shows.

We have more polishing to do but I’m looking forward to trialing “for real” at our next opportunity. Big thank you to our trainer Mia Staysko for her ongoing guidance, support & of course videoing today (https://youtu.be/dVUL32PaFzs) And many thanks to the GSD Club and their volunteers for the opportunity!

❤️🐾

25/05/2024

Holy Amazing Cow-Dogs! What a ride!

It was not my plan to hit the road competing in conformation as much as we have this year however if there is one thing I have learned about showing ACDs in Canada is that when there are other ACDs competing… you better show up! We are still a relatively rare breed in the show ring and it can be difficult slogging it out one or two points at a time or hoping for a group placement when you are standing there with the only ACD.

I was faced with a whole new dilemma though having THREE of my own ACDs to show and being unable to clone myself. It is hard to find people to trust with your dogs… people who will take how you’ve trained them into consideration… people who will bring out the best in your dogs. I have so much gratitude for these amazing people who have treated me & my dogs with kindness while earning points along the way: Jennifer Driessen, Jolie “Bubba” Thompson, Shanelle Wainright, Terri Brennan-Weiss, Amanda Weiss, Willow Bertrand, Carolyne Cybulsky, Jamie Thomaschewski, Terrine Maciborski, Aiden Maciborski, Madison Bernardin, Elyse Fernets, Katie Aadland, Mandy Ettel & Trina Neil. This post would not be happening without this “dog show village”.❤️🐾❤️. Thank you all so much!!

There is so much news to share but I don’t want to bore you to death so here is the point form recap.

We have traveled close to 10,000km since January going to:

EKKOC - Calgary (3 days @ 80km) Entry: 1-0-1-1 @3 shows
CROCUS - Brandon (2,500km) Entry 1-1-1-1 @6 shows
BRCA - Camrose (700km) Entry 1-2-3-3 @3 shows
RDDKC - Red Deer (400km) Entry 0-0-1-0 @3 shows
RENAISSANCE - Chilliwack (2,300km) Entry 1-6–3-2 @5 shows
HUB CITY - Saskatoon (1,400km) Entry 1-3-3-3 @3 shows
WORKING HERDING SPECIALTY - Saskatoon Entry 1-3-3-4 @1 show
FSJDKC - Fort St John (2,000km) Entry 1-2-3-2 @8 shows

I know to many of our American followers it appears that those entry numbers are weak but trust me when I say that we are elated when we see Best of Breed (BOB) awards that are 3 or 4 points consistently.

In that timeframe we were consistently found in many line ups of beautiful Australian Cattle Dogs:

LUCKY: 8x BOB, 4x BOS, 6x SD

PEACHES: 2x BOB, 9x BOS, 11x SB, 5x BOH

SHAZAM: 12x BOB (3 from Sr Puppy Class), 4x BOW, 8x SD, 1x Gr2, 2x Gr3, 2x Gr4

PEACHES & SHAZAM: 1x Best Brace in Group; 1x Best Brace in Show

COLLECTIVELY: 32 Shows, 22 Best of Breeds, 13 Best of Opposite S*x, 14 Select Dog, 11 Select Bitch, 4 Best of Winners, 5 Group Placements

…Shazam is #2 ACD in Canada in Breed Points and #5 ACD in Canada in All-Breed Points at 14½ months of age!
…Lucky is #3 ACD in Canada in Breed Points and #7 ACD in Canada in a All-Breed Points.
…Peaches is #6 ACD in Canada in Breed Points and #10 ACD in Canada in All-Breed Points.
…We expected a bigger entry in Calgary however a polar vortex in early January in Calgary combined with some life-happens-issues thwarted boosting our entry.
…Shazam finished his Championship at 11½ months in Brandon on Carolyne Cybulsky’s lead in the morning show of the last day with a Best of Breed from Judge Patrick Mudge and then was awarded his first Grand Championship points in the afternoon with another BOB and a Group 4th placement under Judge Carmen Haller!
…Lucky finished his Grand Championship with a 3-point Best of Breed award from Judge Mario Knoll in Camrose on Terrina Mackiborski’s lead
…We had the joy of becoming an impromptu “Show Foster Family” to a Junior Puppy ACD named “Pip” while in Camrose and helped her achieve her first Championship point while her very pregnant owner Morgan watched ringside
…Peaches was entirely Breeder/Owner Handled for her Grand Championship which she finished in Chilliwack with a 3-point Best of Opposite S*x award from Judge Lesley Hiltz in the Group 7 Specialty.
…We took Show-Foster-Pup Pip with us to Chilliwack and supported her while she finished her Championship with four majors in a row including a BOS from the Junior Puppy class!
…Two days after returning from Chilliwack we had an MVA that totalled my Tundra and caused me significant whiplash & concussion. It was a tough first few weeks but it feels like I am turning the corner.
…My health stress of our recent MVA combined with a pending heat cycle seemed to cause Peaches (who is the most sensitive to me) to drop her coat entirely over the last three weeks! She was looking quite haphazard at Saskatoon but still managed to be awarded a 4-point Best of Breed in a beautiful line up of ACDs with hair in the ACDCC Supported Booster Entry under Judge Linda Scanlon! It was rewarding to see her structure and movement rewarded beyond the aesthetics of coat. Big thank you to Jen Seaborn for organizing it and to Cheryl Dauvin for helping with the prizes. The boys were also acknowledged in this booster — Lucky with a 2pt BOS and Shazam with a 2pt SD.
…We took Sarah Linda and Uncle JJ with us to Saskatoon so they could play in the Rally Ring. They had great successes teeing up a few pairs towards JJ’s Rally Championship title. Big thank you to Sarah for helping with set up and tear down and questioning my concussion brain thinking at times. 🙏🏻
…Shazam finished his Grand Championship with a Best of Breed & Group 3rd (5-point major) on Jennifer Dresden’s lead in Fort St John under Judge David Denis
…The Reel ACDs earned some amazing points during our recent trip to Fort St. John - Lucky (GCHB 5pts), Peaches (GCHB 14pts), Shazam (GCH 5 + GCHB 21 = 26pts!!). They secured 6/8 Best of Breeds (Lucky x1, Shazam x5) and Shazam was awarded four Group placements - 3rd, 2nd, 3rd & 4th.
…The conclusion of this spring fling of shows leaves everyone well on their way to their Grand Championship Bronze titles where 50 points are needed — Lucky (12pts), Peaches (27pts) and Shazam (21pts)
…I nearly pulled my entries for Fort St John due to my MVA injuries… but I am really glad I went. Yes, for the accomplishments, but more to spend some time with really great dog show people (ACD & all-breed alike). I am so very, very grateful to Jen, Terri and Willow who seamlessly ensured that Lucky and Shazam were handled beautifully in the show ring — there was never a question of a no-show which brought tremendous peace of mind while I was not feeling my best.
…The best part of sharing these last seven weekends with fellow competitors is that EVERY ACD at EVERY SHOW went home WINNING SOMETHING. Some went home with more, some with less… but everyone shared in the winning of points. Working together to ensure we have a good entry is so critical in our breed in this sport. There are too few well-bred ACDs in the show world to not support each other. While I was not physically capable of big visits with everyone, it was really awesome to see old friends, new friends and to enjoy our dogs together.

Honestly, conformation is my least favourite dog sport but I recognize that it is important part of breeding with integrity. COVID messed up a lot of showing plans I had for Peaches & Lucky. Though they achieved their Championships, I did not feel great about how they got them as there was not a lot of diversity in their CH wins. The whole point of Conformation is to prove whether or not you have dogs worth breeding from a structure and movement perspective. It was important to me to put my dogs up against their peers to see how they would do. We hunted down our competition over 10,000km so that we were not just playing “The Prettiest In The Family Show”. Don’t get me wrong… when no one else is competing, you enter and hope for a group placement. But when there are other ACDs in the community showing, I felt it was important to get the oil changed, break out the show leads and hit the road.

The dogs and I are very excited to sit put for a little while. I’ll take the liberty of changing the lyrics to “Home For A Rest” (Great Big Sea)…

You'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best
I've been gone for five months, I've been running since I left
These so-called vacations will soon be my death
I'm so sick from the goals, I need home for a rest

Thank you to all who have supported and helped us in so many ways. Much love to you all.

But most of all, I feel so very blessed to have this ACD crew that are easy to travel with and keen to please.

They. Are. The. Best!

❤️🐾

18/05/2024

It’s been a whirlwind of shows over the last month… and I’ve been very poor with updating Facebook. This has rested in the fact that the dogs and I were involved in an MVA two days after returning from a show in Chilliwack mid April which has left me with symptoms & moments of overwhelm. The dogs were physically ok having been in crates, but I sustained a pretty significant whiplash and concussion. Things are turning around for me but it’s been a very challenging month for me physically and mentally. Peaches is pretty connected to me so she decided to drop her coat in dealing with the event stress and my being unwell — someone should tell her it’s not bikini season in Canada just yet!

I promise to write a big run down of our adventures soon… but in the meantime I’ll share that we are currently in Fort St John with a beautiful entry of eight ACDs. We have 4 shows in the books out of a total of 8 over four days… Lucky won the first Breed and Shazam has taken the next three Breeds including a 2nd, 3rd & 4th in the Herding Groups! In spite of her bikini, Peaches has also achieved three 2pt Select Bitch awards towards her GCHB. Another bit of exciting news is Shazam’s first win yesterday finished his Grand Championship at 14.5 months with a 5 point major! Many thanks to Jennifer Driessen and her team for helping show this weekend.

Stay tuned…

❤️🐾

07/05/2024

This guy scared the sh*t out of me today.

We have nasty rainy, windy weather. I went out to the driveway to get a phone charger from the car. When I returned, the gate did not latch properly in the wind…

Abracadabra… Shazam was gone… only I didn’t notice for ten minutes.

I grabbed a leash and started to walk the Tower Hill neighbourhood yelling his name & my puppy call. I never see many people out in the street during the day but today, amidst this bad weather, I ran into easily half a dozen neighbours along the way who had sighted him and gave me clues. I’d made it a few blocks when I decided to come home to start driving instead…

As I turned the corner to my house I discovered that my newly moved in neighbour’s friend had him on the front lawn.

SO GRATEFUL he came back.

SO GRATEFUL for so many folks helping along the way.

Thank you!

https://youtu.be/sO2o98Zpzg8?si=ZBzD7Q0hDE7Pdy1E

30/04/2024

Happy 3rd Birthday to this happy-go-Lucky boy!! We are just at the beginning of our journey in versatility together but his talents and capacity for learning new things are exceptional. He is SO much fun! Looking forward to trialing in tracking soon and we are both so happy to have returned herding lately. I’m very blessed to get daily hugs and kisses from my Lucky Man. 🥰

Big thank you to Grandma for stepping up with the fabulous doggy cupcakes — so good Romeo tried to steal Peaches’!

Thank you again to Hillhaven Australian Cattle Dogs for sending him to Canada to be a part of the Reel ACD breeding program.

He. Is. Loved.

❤️🐾

Am GCHB DC Hillhaven Second Star to the Right HSAdsc HSBds HSDs HIDs HIAdsc HIBds HXAdsc HXBd HXDs
“x”
Am CH Hillhaven Blue Zephyr BCAT

19/04/2024

So this just happened! Much gratitude to Judge Karen Day for the Brace Best in Show for Peaches & Shazam at the Renaissance Dog Show today! There was some stiff competition and the need for us to collect ourselves on our first go around 🤣🤣. But we got ourselves together and pulled it off!

There is REEL irony in being awarded Sargent Werewolves for BIS prizes as these two redheads are a little hangry being an hour past suppertime!!

So proud of these two knuckleheads!

❤️🐾

CH Reel Austlyn Ksenia Crown Royal Flush HTs RAE PCD VN

CH Reel Shazam! RN NTD-M VN

17/04/2024

Lucky’s official Canadian Grand Championship announcement in this weeks issue of Canadian Dog Fancier. Thank you to Prestige Graphics for beautifully showcasing his versatility. 🥰

Ongoing gratitude to Hillhaven Australian Cattle Dogs for sending him to Canada and entrusting him to me. This handsome, talented boy and his amazing temperament is such a blessing to my breeding program. I love my Reel Happy Go Lucky Man so much!!

Trusty x Zephyr

❤️🐾

17/04/2024

In this week’s issue of Canadian Dog Fancier. Thank you to Prestige Graphics for the beautiful artwork! 🥰

❤️🐾

Lucky x Peaches

16/04/2024

I think this is Shazam’s spiritual Doppelgänger. ❤️😆

15/04/2024

Amazing story of resilience. ❤️

26/03/2024

Almost 13 month old Shazam behaving mostly like a gentleman 😉 with young 7.5 month old Pip at the hotel on Saturday night. Pip was exceptionally good at playing a very lady-like game of “I’ve got your toy!”

❤️🐾

26/03/2024

We took a trek to the BCRA Show in Camrose, AB this past weekend. Big thank you to the judges, volunteers and club for putting on such a consistently great event.

We proved again that it takes a village to show cattle dogs as we had a fabulous entry of 9 dogs — huge for our neck of the woods and entirely as a result of us all collaborating together.

The Reel Crew hosted a Junior Bitch Puppy named “Pip” for her owner Morgan Tainsh who was otherwise preoccupied with calving at the ranch. Pip was a delight to have with us and Shazam is in LOOOVE😍! I think Peaches and Lucky were happy to have some time off from playing with Shazam too! Big thank you to Sarah Shaw from Manitoba for helping me wrangle Miss Pip in the show ring where she achieved her first point towards her Championship with a Winners Bitch award!

I already posted about Shazam & Peaches in Best Brace in Group (Judge Patrick Mudge) on Friday… so super proud and we had so much fun doing it!

Lucky killed it this weekend with a Best of Opposite S*x award Friday (Judge Patrick Mudge) and a Best of Breed on Saturday (Judge Mario Knoll) which finished his Grand Championship in style!

Shazam managed four points towards his GCH with two Select Dog awards (Judges Patrick Mudge & Ana Beatriz Knoll) as well as 3rd place in his Sweepstakes class on Thursday night.

Peaches put forth her best efforts but was not acknowledged by the judges… however she showed me true colours this weekend. Tag-teaming Pip meant that Peaches was ringside in a crate having to share me and not having our traditional ringside warm ups that she’s used to. This didn’t seem to phase her as I got amazing focus, beautiful free stacking and the great movement we are used to.

Many thanks to skilled handlers Terrina Maciborski, Madison Bernardin & Aiden Maciborski who’s firm but gentle hands brought out the best in my boys! Again, it takes a village.

❤️🐾

23/03/2024

BRACE YOURSELF! We did a thing yesterday and got outside our comfort zone in Conformation Brace! It was a first for all three of us and I am super proud of these two red dynamos for rising to the occasion since we just started training a month ago.

For us, Best in Show was not even on our radar but I think we were definitely contenders! Brace is not usually a class with a lot of entries since it is so challenging. I was happy with our success of completing the task without a Cattle Dog Throw Down in the ring… that coulda been between mother & son since Shazam likes to nibble on Peaches’ ear or jump on her back while tied to her… Or it could have been the decision to fun-police the Havenese or Cocker teams. Either way we did not have “an incident” and they showed great restraint and talent, frankly!

Thank you to our coach Jennifer Council (Canine Development and Testing) for her encouragement in the early days that kept us trying (“I’ve seen worse!” 🤣) and to Kathy Hamula for encouraging us ringside and videoing us to document our historic event.

This was a really fun challenge for us and I can see doing it again!

16/03/2024

Gopher hunting at Y-Knott Ranch!

15/03/2024

BREAKING NEWS: Romeo acquitted based on dental record evidence!!

13/03/2024

10/03/2024

I’m surprised Shazam or Peaches hasn’t done this yet! 🤣

06/03/2024

Big thank you’s to Klaudia Senator for her fabulous artwork and Carol Gordon for her magic behind the camera.

06/03/2024

01/03/2024

I’ve been asked to share Shazam’s birthday cupcake recipe, so here it is! To say they were a hit is an understatement!!

❤️🐾