Sheltie Calendars For 2010 - Fundraiser

As a fundraiser for our 2010 Canadian Shetland Sheepdog Assoc.'s National Specialty, being held in Saskatoon, a calendar for 2010 has been produced. Various breeders from across Canada purchased a month, which will feature their dog(s). We here at Shelamo supported it with the picture below of our litter of 4 pups out of our Ch Shelamo Sugar Shack.

Hover over the title, click and you'll be redirected to the Canadian Shetland Sheepdog Assoc's website where at the bottom it gives you details on how you can order these calendars. They are only $22.00 (which includes shipping). Consider extras as Xmas gifts, yes folks!!! believe it or not it's less than 6 months away! One would never know it with the cooler, rainy weather we've had hear in the east so far this summer.

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Agility Stars This Weekend In Ottawa

Ok, based on comments from my last post on how one can change the post date/time ... let's see if it works. This is the original post dated July 23, which I'm now reassigning for July 29.

Starting tomorrow at our Nepean National Capital Equestrian Park the Agility Association of Canada will be holding their National Agility Competition. Our kennel has several dogs competing. (for more info click on the title to go to the AAC home page) Linda Howie who owns "Gryphon" sent me this picture taken of him 2 wks ago at his last agility competition. I just love the SMILE that was captured on his face as he looks to Linda for the next command.

Wishing all the competitors the best of luck!

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Agility Stars This Weekend In Ottawa

Learned something new on how this Blog works.

On July 23, I created a post on the above subject, but had not yet published it as I was waiting for approval to use an agility photo of "Gryphon". So it seems that the Blog dates the posts when they were created, not when they are published.

In order for all of you visiting our Blog I will reiterate so it is right up front and current ...

Starting tomorrow at our Nepean National Capital Equestrian Park the Agility Association of Canada will be holding their National Agility Competition. Our kennel has several dogs competing. (for more info click on the title to go to the AAC home page)

Wishing all the competitors the best of luck!

If you click on Agility on the sidebar of Labels you will see the original post.

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Our Hidden Secret Is Now 4 Weeks Old

Our little "Secret" is growing up. She's now 4 wks old.
Here she is, big enough now to peek over the whelping box for mom. Guess it's time to break it down so we don't find her out with mom one morning.
Here's a shot of her in the little red bed. She is big and bold enough to spend extra time with her 1/2 brothers that are 2 wks older. Oh, I just heard her little 'woof'!

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Swing Bridge At Smiths Falls on Route to the Kingston Show

Starting at our Nation's Capital, Ottawa, you can travel 200 km of waterway/canals that take you to Lake Ontario. Through this waterway you have to navigate 9 different lock systems. One is located just 15 mins south of us in Smiths Falls.

On our way down to the Kingston show today didn't we hit the bridge just as it was opening.

So what do you do while you have to wait? Get out and take pictures!here the roadway has almost swung all the way openOne by one the boats come in. Today there were 3 of them.
They move up into the next set of lifts.Then, by hand on either side, two people start cranking the doors shut.

This is what they look like once closed. They will now open the next lock and slowly allow water in to raise the level where the boats can move on to the next one. I'm not sure whether there is just one or two locks the boats have to go through at this point.

It took about 7 minutes from the time the road was closed, the 3 boats were through and it was swung back in place for car travel.

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A Good Show Day - And No Rain

Today was day 3 at the Kingston show, the rain held off, the sun was out, a bit hot and muggy but the lake breeze made it not bad.

Both our girls won their classes, with Penny taking Flirt back in for Winners. We are proud to say our Chinook garnered the 3pts for Winners Female, now bringing her to 7pts .

Shelamo Riding The Wind

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Kingston Show - A Bit Of This, Bit of That

The drive down to Kingston @ 7:am am was a foggy one, but it soon lifted an hour out. Eventually the sun came out around 10am, only to have it feel like 32 C, hot and muggy.

Row upon row of trailers, tents & canopies lined the various roadways as everyone tried to get a spot close to the rings. One still had to dodge, or carry our shelties across the muddy areas to get to the main show area. This year they had 2 large marque tents up. Here's just 1/2 of one of the areas.By noon with the sun high in the sky, and only a few large trees around the tents it would get crowded as people sought out shade to watch the show.

Chinook chilling out with her stuffed toy.

Chinook's foot seemed OK with all the TLC last so we gave it a go and showed her. Both girls placed 1st in their class; thanks to Penny Woodruff for taking Flirt in again for me. No points today, a lovely blue merle from the classes, owned by Cheryl Pike took the Breed and went on to win a Group 4th.

This site/camping grounds has just about everything ....
Upon leaving I captured this rooster strutting his stuff. Do you think he'd turn and face me? nope, not on your life!
We were wondering where the duck was .... then we spotted it under a bush. I say 'it' as I have no idea what kind this is and whether it is a male or female.

Off to soak Chinook's foot again, clean up the puppies and head off to bed.

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Just Not Our Week

Photo- Kim Aston

I am so frustrated this week .... as previously posted our darling Chinook did something to her shoulder/right side and came up lame during the show @ Lombardy. She's had 2 days of crate rest, several times a day with ice pack sittings, no stairs, short potty breaks and meds to help and seemed just fine this morning. Again, a pee break before show time and don't we find she's got a bit of a limp, now and again, only now her left side. Closer inspection we find she's got a little sore between two of her toes!!! What the heck???!! How did this happen, when? what caused it? The walk to ring side was OK, but as soon as she had to move out I could tell she wasn't moving right. She was also busy looking at the ring side spectators, doing little hops so it was hard to tell just what was up. Being the only one in her class, it meant not as much ring time, but when it came time for Winners Female, I could certainly tell she was being affected by it.

Once shelties had finished we were able to examine things more, and sure enough it appeared that the sore had broken and was oozing a bit. Again, the one sheltie exhibitor that is a vet took a look at her and sent me home with instructions.

I tell you ... what else can go wrong this week?! Poor thing, she's now got to lay on the ice pack on her one side, have her foot held in an Epsom water bath, an antibiotic on the sore, then wrapped up and an "E-collar" on to prevent her from 'bugging' at it, and more oral meds to help with any infection. Am just hoping that an evening of TLC, and treating it early she'll be able to show OK for these last 2 days of this show circuit.

Life with dogs is never dull. Am hoping the mail tomorrow will surprise us and we will have her 4pt win photo from her 1st show.

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The Paparazzi - Behind The Lens

The Paparazzi, aka Kim Aston with her mega lens camera was at the Lombardy Dog Show on Wednesday. She captured me in the act too!

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Lombardy Day 3

Yesterday at the Lombardy show, I handed off our 2 dogs, and got to sit at ringside and just watch our girls in action. Kim Wendling handled Chinook, and Penny Woodruff took in our Flirt.

Kim & ChinookPenny with "Flirt" ... nice bite, eh?

Thanks to Kim Aston for taking these pictures.

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Cat Is Out Of The Bag

http://ruffleithshelties.blogspot.com/

Had to wait .... check it out (hope my linking works as I haven't done this before, click on the title)... till Penny, of Ruffleith Shelties got her post up! She finished, in style, Ch Laureate Lancome. Am sure she's off to bed knowing she's made a milestone accomplishment in her short time in becoming a sheltie breeder. This is also her 3rd Champion she's finished this year.

Penny .... another BIG hug from us here at Shelamo on a job well done.

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Dog Shows - A Good and A Not So Good Day

It was a nice day showing at the Lombardy Dog Show, weather was just awesome, NO rain. The bad news was our young girl "Chinook" had to be pulled. When I took her for a potty break just before ring time she wasn't moving right on her right side ... humm ... what's going on? 3 different handlers were around watching her .. it's her right front, no it's her right rear, no it looks like it's her whole right side ... all we knew was once she was moved out it wasn't right. What/when did this occur?? We can only surmise something happened while out this morning. Because she was carried down to the van, carried out to the show xpen, picked up and groomed on the table, thus never saw her actually moving, and at no time did she seem to have problems jumping up on the xpen to say hi to people, we never noticed anything till her potty break. So, we had to pull her. Luckily one of the sheltie breeders showing is a vet so I had her look at her and it seems she's pulled the muscle that runs from her front shoulder through to her middle back. So, crate rest tonite, some anti inflammatory/pain meds and we will see how she is tomorrow. One just never knows what these darn puppies can throw at you!

The GREAT part of the day .... can't let the cat out of the bag yet ....

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More Shelamo Dogs Earn Titles

This just in ....

Shelamo Dogs, Gryphon owned by Linda Howie, and Panda owned by Kate Freeman had a great day at Dogz Canine Sport Centre in Ottawa on Sunday.

Panda, the tri, now 11/2 yrs of age, was entered in 2 Masters events, qualified in both, with a first and "Best Run" for veterans in Snookers (50 pts) and came 2nd in Jumpers with a time of 39 seconds, almost 30 seconds under the time allowed!!! He just needs one more Jumpers Q to earn his "Expert" title. Gryphon, at 81/2 yrs of age, the sable, qualified with a first and "Best Run" for Specials in standard and had a qualifying run in the Steeplechase, both well under time. He earned 53 pts in his gamble run and was just a flick away from qualifying in the final gamble.

Now, I get lost in all these agility possibilities, but having been to the recent Regionals in Ottawa, it takes a lot of dedication, training and a love of the sport to go this far. Thanks Linda for passing on the info and the pic of these two boys!

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Let Sleeping Pups Sleep

How time flies! Tyme's 2 boys are 5 wks now. We just got home from a day at the dog show and it was time for everyone to have their supper. The pups got fed 1st, then on to the main crew, then let everyone out for potties & playtime. When I came back up the 2 pups were resting on the 'hump' to their potty area.

Grabbed the camera from the show bag and captured this darling pic of the two of them. Their heads popped up after the 1st couple of clicks, but then .... slowly .... they started to fade ...
and then in slow motion the puppy on the right in this photo, just 'fell' over.
A few more camera clicks that nudged their brains ... then that was IT! Sound asleep.

Well, guess I'd better run, dinner is on the table for us .... OH, I will get pics of our "Secret" soon, for those that are keeping an eye on her.

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More Titles For Shelamo Dogs

Just got off the phone with Pam McGeachie and her boy "Dusty", Shelamo Excuse My Dust CGN, CD completed today his Novice A Rally O in three straight trials with scores of 97/98/99 out of 100!

(BPIS Am/Cdn Ch Shelamo's Prospector x Ch Shelamo Burleigh Casino Rama CGN)

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Kars Dog Show - 4 Points for Chinook

Today we started the 1st show of what is called the Golden Triangle Circuit, which comprises 3 kennel clubs, holding 3 days of shows each over 10 days. Luckily the weather held out and we didn't get rained on.

Some of the sheltie gang waiting at ring side.

Here are a few candid shots Mary-Anne captured ... getting the hang of moving dogs through the lens of a camera is a learning curve in itself. Not a bad movement picture Mary-Anne! This was "Chinook's" 1st time in the ring and I was proud of her behaviour @ 10 months of age. She was entered in the 9-12 mth puppy class.Wouldn't you know it, "Flirt' decided she was going to blow her 1 yr old coat! She was entered in the 12-18 mth class and came 1st. Mary-Anne did the honours of taking her back in for Winners Female.

Well, didn't "Chinook" surprise us by going Winners Female for her 1st 4 pt win! Here she's pictured in the Best of Breed line-up.

Several of our sheltie friends showed up to cheer us on ... Steve & Jan who co-own "Ch Nino", Linda Howie who owns an agility star "Gryphon" and Marylou who owns "Harley". Thanks for your support.

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Puppy's First Mush

Tyme's puppies are getting stronger by the day. Time to start them on mush plus this past weekend their 1st pen stage was broken down, so they now have an area to start their potty training.

Life with puppies will really start to explode exponential in their abilities in these coming weeks.

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Oh!!! NO, Skunk Be Gone

It was another trip into town last night to pick up Mike's car that has been in the shop for 3 days. On the way home dusk was settling in, air cooling off. Not far from the picture of the bails of hay taken the other day, don't we see a SKUNK waving its tail by the side of the road.
I was edging up, trying to drive and capture this guy as he waddled along the side, all the while hoping he wouldn't decide to diverse out into the road.

The pics didn't come out very good as while I was taking them through the windshield it was starting to fog up with the lower evening temps. Try driving slowly, watching for country traffic, get the heat turned up a bit to remove the windshield moisture, and hold the camera steady ... needed more hands!

We didn't hit it, it slowly wandered off into the bush, but, don't we drive in the driveway and find a dead raccoon :( It looked like it had been hit on our road and had been able to just get up our lane way before it succumbed to its injuries.

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Hair Be Gone!

What does half a sheltie's undercoat look like?

Got an urgent plea from one of my regular customers yesterday ... 'Please can you do my two, I can't keep up with them! Kids are home from University and they are keeping me busy in other ways.' Well, I squeezed them in, started last night on them and finished them off this aft. The one girl, well she was almost naked after I took this pile of undercoat out of her.

Yes, once a year of getting their blowing undercoat out can be a daunting task, but once done, that's IT for the year!!! No constant little hair 'pins', no 'needle' like hairs stuck into fabric, chairs, sofa, cars like many of the short coated breeds. A warm bath after removing all of this, and wow, they have a waist again! Happy, happy client ... she didn't even bother putting a blanket in the back seat of her car.

Hummmm ... now I have a few of our own to do.

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Hay Fields With Evening Fog

Last night Mike and I had an errand to run in town. As we travelled the back roads, the farmer's fields with the bails of hay tell the story that summer, well, it's 1/2 over. The temperature varied, rain in areas, dropping from 22C down to 16C as the cold front was going through and causing ground fog to appear. There was a smell of freshness in the air ...

BUT, GOSH, would the real summer please step foward!!!

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I Think I'll Just Laze Around And Grow

Sibelle's puppy in this picture was taken when she was 5 days old and against her 'surrogate sister' you can see how much she's grown from the 1st post like this. Amazing how cells reproduce at such a fast rate!

Look at that fat tummy!

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Kids And Puppies

Saturday was puppy visit time for one of my clients. Tyme was more than willing to show off her two boys. The kids learned quiet feet, quiet voices & touche doucement.

Tyme checks in and ensures she gets some of the googling.

A child's first puppy 'kiss'!

Puppies are getting more mobile and exploratory.

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Help With Perennial Name

Maybe some of our Blog friends can help me identify this beautiful, vanilla smelling-like white plant. It was present when we moved in to our last home and I made sure to take some with us when we moved 2 yrs ago. It is slowly making its presence in the garden with an increasing night time smell.
It has these multi-small flower burst heads on long stems. The leaves are lower on the stem and are almost fern like. It flowers at this time of year, the fragrance is more noticeable at night and you can certainly have a bouquet of it if brought into the home.

I took these pictures earlier in the week, and now with the persistent rain am sure most of the flowers will be gone. Anyone might know the name of this plant?

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Might It Be A Smooth Sheltie ? - I Think NOT!

Can't believe how much our dogs are blowing coat so early in the summer this year. And then there's the post puppy shed ... the females we'd just like to hide away for 8 months till they are back in coat. I caught a picture of our girl Flicka, standing with such an alert look ... she had puppies back in the middle of March.She looks awful without her coat, but I just love her elegant outline.

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Shelamo's Hidden Secret

On Sunday our Sibelle presented us with a little 'Secret' she'd been hiding away ... a little girl! She had been bred at the same time as our Tyme, but never showed signs of being preggers. She never went off her food, never burried her food, nothing! I am usually pretty good at palpating the girls, but Sibelle must have been carrying this pup high up under her rib cage. There were days I'd think I could feel 'something', others, nope maybe not. She was moved up to our "Canine Suite" just to make sure ... and sure enough she was!

What a little might, all of 6.3oz!

Here she is snuggled in with her 2 1/2 brothers that are 2 weeks older. It is hard to believe just how fast these little munch-kins put on weight.

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Deer Oh Deer

Was headed out yesterday morning around 9am to take Mike's car into town for servicing, and I no sooner pull out of the driveway, a few hundred yards down and doesn't a doe walk across the road. I slowed down to where she went into the bush, at the same time scrambling to turn on my camera, put down the passenger window, hoping she didn't go too far in. I'm trying to go slow, not to spook her, hold the camera up, find the zoom ... no such luck .. here's the 1st shot ...

Crop out the extras, enlarge the pic and you can see she's eye balling me ...
then she walked a little deeper into the bush, nibbled a few leaves and took one last look at me before she headed into deeper brush.

It must be about 2 weeks ago now, just about at the same place, a doe & her new born crossed the road not too far in front of me ... shucks, I didn't have my camera! Next time I'll remember to have it on and ready ... we are very well treed in and you have to be spot on time wise to capture the hidden wild life that surrounds us.

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