Fall 2009

We didn't camp and hike as much as the dogs would have liked, but we did get some in. We had a big snowfall early in the season in late Oct, but the big news for the fall is that Sunny had her Pennhip x-rays done on Oct 23rd, and while we have to wait for the official results, the staff came out full of praise for how good Sunny had been in the procedure and how tight and good her hips looked, so we are expecting great results.

The next big thing was that at 2 years and 3 weeks old Sunny finally came into her first heat on Nov. 3rd! Our little girl is growing up, but as she is breed-quality and has the right stuff to contribute to the continued betterment of this fantastic breed, that's a good thing.

Fun weekend

We had a fun weekend the last week in June. On Sat. we took the horses and dogs and rode a beautiful trail above Aspen (yes, above! We were riding at around 11,000ft.)






The next day we went to the Vail Farmers market where Sunny did a lot of socialization last summer.

The Versatile Shiloh

Even though Sunny is my second Shiloh and I know how amazing these dogs are, I am still surprised by how versatile Sunny is at such a young age.
At exactly one year old, Sunny took and passed her Delta Society Pet Partner (Therapy Dog) exam, and soon after started hospital visits and the Read to a Dog program at a local elementary school.

At only 9 months we did the Fun Match, where Sunny took 1st in novice obedience, 3rd in rally and 4th in group conformation. Her first time doing any of those competitions! She also passed her Canine Good Citizen exam at that show. Since then she has also gone to two IABCA conformation shows and won her puppy National Championship and her adult International Championship with them.
She's also a great trail dog for off-leash hikes or trail rides, as well as just being a good ol' family dog!

Colorado IABCA Show

Sunny went to her second IABCA show May 9th and 10th. She did really well, considering what a low drive dog she is for anything but walks and chasing her ball. There was a mini-Aussie specialty at the show and there were 43 mini-Aussie's there so things ran quite late and, as the mini and toy Aussie that came to Group and BIS had won against 43 other dogs, they won 1st or 1st and 2nd in all the Best in Herding Groups and Best in Shows, which cut our chances of winning.

That I'm still such a novice handler didn't help us either, though I'm learning a lot at each show and can see improvement. I got some great tips from a couple of pro handlers (showing in herding group - how nice was that!) on getting her to run better in the ring - by show 3, that was MUCH better.

I don't remember the judge cutting the field in the first show herding group, but in show 2 and 3 Group, they excused about half the dogs after the first run, and Sunny made it through both cuts. In the Best of Rare Breed Show, Sunny took reserve best in rare breed.

Even though we didn't win group or show, Sunny got V1 cards from international judges in all 3 shows (excellent judged against breed standard) which gives her an adult International Championship!

Sunny goes to her first show

March 7th and 8th the IABCA hosted a show in Tucson, AZ - a very long drive away from west central Colorado! Motivated by Anne and Leo (Sunny's litermate brother) driving all the way from Dallas/Fort Worth area in TX and by Michelle, Sunny's littermate sister's (human) mom staying in Tucson and offering to host...well the whole family packed up for a whirlwind road trip and headed to Tucson.
We were lucky that the weather was mild - almost cool - high 60's, low 70's, as the drive and the show were much easier on our winterized Colorado dogs!
Other than one fun match, this was a first real show for Sunny and me. I was very proud of how attentive and obedient she was in the ring. She couldn't have done better, but the competition was stiff. Ender was also entered in all 4 shows, a 3-month old Shiloh pup from Phoenix, who took 3 out of 4 best in breed. Quite the impressive pup.
We only entered in three shows and in the third show, it came down to Sunny and her brother. The judge put them both thru their paces - three times around the ring, twice diagonally and two physical exams on each dog. As she did her second exam on Sunny, she told me "They are both really nice dogs," but gave the Best in Breed win to Leo.
Sunny did get three SG-1 cards, which means the judges felt she was an excellent representation of the breed judged against the breed standard, and those three cards gave Sunny a National Puppy Championship with IABCA - yea! (IABCA considers the large and giant breeds puppy until 18 months.)
It was great meeting Michelle, Anne and Ender's mom, Carla, as well as Leo and Ender. 1650 miles later, it was a great trip and a great experience and I'm already excited about the Loveland, CO show coming up in May :-)

Sunny's busy winter

Sunny has a pretty busy social calendar this winter. We have continued with the Read to a Dog program at the local elementary school, started our orientation at the hospital as a registered Delta therapy team, and are doing another obedience class.
We hopefully have some IABCA shows coming up over the next couple of months but, to practice up, we participated in a local "fun match". This was our first time ever in a show or obedience ring and she took a first in obedience, fourth in rally, third in conformation (with many handler errors) and a first in showmanship (well, only because there were only 2 of us and the other team were first timers too!). They also had Canine Good Citizen testing at the match, and Sunny passed with flying colors!
She also went on a trip to Colorado Springs in February and enjoyed playing ball in the park with my mom's Border Collie.

Fall Update

Late October brought Halloween. I let the girls go to the door with me and both were very good with the kids and the costumes and parade of people down the sidewalk. Wish I could have gotten pictures, but not enough hands. The end of Oct also brought the last of the late season rides in the mountains.

In November the annual ISSR Shiloh Shepherd calander competition took place and we found out a puppy picture of hers from last spring will make Sunny 'Miss May' for 2009. -grin- Sunny got her annual physical about this time too and was confirmed to be a happy, healthy one year old. She was even happier in mid-December when my winter layoff started!

In December winter started in earnest on the Western Slopes of Colorado, and really kicked in the week after my layoff began right as we were moving to our new house (about 45 min west). Our older dog, Cupcake, was nervous about the move, but Sunny loves both the snow and new things to see so had a great December!

(No, she doesn't have an underbite - she just makes funny faces for the camera sometimes!)

Now it is January and we are all settled in the new house. We start a new obedience class this week, and there are a couple of IABCA shows within traveling distace in the next couple of months, so looking forward to showing her in conformation.

Sunny's Delta Pet Partners registration became official just as we arrived at the new house. I contacted the local Pet Partners group and we were set up right away in the Read to a Dog program at a local elementary school. Last week was our first visit to the school and I was so proud of my girl! Only a year old and such a new setting for her, and she did SO great. She was calm and relaxed the whole time. She settled on the dog bed set out for her after greeting the other 2 volunteer teams, and lay quietly for over an hour while different children came in every 15 minutes to read to the 3 dogs. She enjoyed meeting them and gave kisses to the ones who got their faces close enough :-)The kids were very sweet and enjoy reading to the dogs (the children with reading problems sign up to be in the program if they want to participate and there is a waiting list of kids wanting to join.) The purpose of the program is that chilren with reading problems can read out loud to a non-judgemental doggy audience and be motivated by the unique setting for reading. The program is nation-wide and has shown to be effective at improving reading skills.
We are doing the orientation for the hospital next and hope to be doing hospital visits soon too.