On 12/27/08, the CastleGate shelties attended a CPE agility trial in Washingtonville, OH, and they had a great time! Zelda (CastleGate's Mercy Me) Q'ed and placed on two of her three runs. As an added bonus, the show photographer got a picture of her doing the "happy dance" that she does on her hind legs at the end of each run. Chet (Am/Can CH Kelbren Blue Flame CD, RN, NAJ, AJP, CGC, CTL1-S, CTL1-F) Q'ed and got first place on both of his runs!! It was such a joy to be on the course with him again. He hasn't run agility in almost a year, and I was amazed at how quickly he got back into the groove of things. His Jumpers Q at this show finished another CPE title for him. Geraldo (CastleGate's Daily News MX, MXJ, CGC, CL2-S, CL2-R) Q'ed and placed on three of his four runs. He heads back to the conformation ring soon, so it was nice to end his agility year on such a high note! It was a long day (12.5 hours at the show site plus three hours of travel) but oh so worth it!!

CastleGate's Mercy Me ("Zelda"), our budding agility star, now has her own web page! We've also added several new photos to Bliss' page. Please stop by their pages and check out What's New!! <G>

The CastleGate kids had lots of fun at the Clarion Canine Obedience Club's agility trial in Edinboro, PA on December 5th-7th. On Friday, Elsa finished her Master Agility Excellent (MX) title. In addition to finishing her title, she also earned her seventh QQ and reached the milestone of 100 MACH points. It was quite an exciting day for us, and we can't thank Elaine Mayowski enough for the fabulous job that she does training and showing Elsa. The weekend got even better when Zelda (CastleGate's Mercy Me) and I qualified on the Novice Jumpers course on Saturday and earned Zelda's second Novice Jumpers leg. As an added bonus, Zelda took first place again in the 16" Novice Jumpers class. It was a snowy and cold weekend but well worth the trip!!

On November 30th, CastleGate's Mercy Me ("Zelda") made her agility debut in Novice Jumpers at the Youngstown All Breed Training Club's agility trial in Washingtonville, OH. She ran beautifully and not only qualified but also took first place in the 16" Novice JWW class. I'm very proud of my Baby Girl!!

On November 14, 2008, our newest homebred show hopeful, CastleGate's Seventh Heaven, took a major reserve from the 9-12 puppy class at the Dayton Kennel Club under Sharon Redmer. That was only Bliss' fourth show ever, and we were so proud of how well she showed for Judy Stachowski. Her dam, Shamont Most Unusual Day NAJ, took a major reserve the following day under James Noe. Daily was beautifully presented by Judy Stachowski too. So, we had two big "almosts" at the Columbus cluster last week!

On November 8th at the Admiral Perry agility trial in Edinboro, PA, Can Ch Kelbren Come Hither, AX, MXJ, CGC ("Elsa") QQ'ed, earned her 9th MX leg, and picked up 11 MACH points. She and Elaine Mayowski are on fire!! We're so excited that Elsa's Master Standard title is just around the corner!

At the Clarion agility trial on November 2nd in Edinboro, PA, Elsa and Elaine had a blast!! At that trial, Elsa earned her 5th QQ, her 8th MX leg, 10 MACH points, and a fourth place finish in the 16" Excellent B JWW class. Thanks, Elaine!! We really appreciate the wonderful job that you do with Elsa in the agility ring.

Elsa and Elaine are continuing to burn up the agility rings!! <G> On September 20th and 21st at the Shiba Club's trial in Edinboro, PA, Elsa and Elaine earned Elsa's fourth QQ, her seventh MX leg, and 14 MACH points. We are delighted with those results!

Geraldo and I had an awesome weekend at the Beaver County Kennel Club's agility trial on September 12-14. We Q'ed on five of our six runs which gave us our 13th and 14th QQ's this year. Geraldo has spent more time in the conformation ring lately than in the agility ring, so it was really nice to have such a great agility weekend in between his conformation shows. Elsa had a nice weekend too. She earned her sixth MX leg and ten MACH points at that trial. Our thanks to Elaine Mayowski for the great job that she always does with Elsa.

On September 5th and 6th at the Cleveland Shetland Sheepdog Club's agility trial in North Olmsted, Ohio, Elsa earned two QQ's and finished her Master Jumpers title. She and Elaine Mayowski were burning up the rings! We are so proud of our Elsa Girl! At the same trial, Geraldo qualified all three days in Jumpers and added ten MACH points to his treasure chest.

On August 23rd, Geraldo (CastleGate's Daily News MX, MXJ, CGC, CL2-R, CL2-S) was WD/BW at the SugarBush Kennel Club under Raymond Filburn, Jr. On Sunday, he was WD at the Western Reserve Kennel Club under James Frederiksen. Geraldo was beautifully presented to both of those wins by Judy Stachowski. Geraldo and Judy are really on a roll, and we love it!!

On August 22 at the SugarBush Kennel Club dog show in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Kelvington's Once 'N Blue Moon (Solomon) became Chet's first champion by going WD, BW, and BOB under Judge Sonny Ambrosio. Solomon's dam is Ch Kelvington's Elec Tri Fying, and Solomon is her first champion too. At the same show, Solomon's tri litter sister, Salma, was RWB. We're so proud of both of them!

On August 14th in Muncie, IN, CastleGate's Daily News MX, MXJ, CGC, CL2-R, CL2-S was Winners Dog under breeder judge Sue Christie. The following day, he was Winners Dog again under F. Susan Godek. Judy Stachowski showed Geraldo to both of those wins, and we're delighted with how well she and Geraldo are clicking in the ring.

At the Greater Pittsburgh Golden Retriever Club's agility trial in Cheswick, PA on July 19th, Shamont's Paden Blu CD, RN finished his Novice Agility Jumpers title with another first placement. Ellis is a Daily son, and I was delighted to be on the course with him for all three of his Novice Jumpers qualifying legs.

On July 11th and 12th at the CABTC agility trial in North Olmsted, Ohio, Elsa earned her second and third MX legs and picked up five MACH points along the way. At the same trial, Geraldo earned two additional Excellent Jumpers legs and eight MACH points. If we could have just combined those four runs, we'd have had two QQ's. <G> We want to thank Elsa's handler, Elaine Mayowski, for running Elsa so beautifully this weekend!

On June 26th at the Warren County Kennel Club's show in Lebanon, OH, CastleGate's Daily News MX, MXJ, CGC, CL2-S, CL2-R was WD/BOS under Judge Tom Hale. Two days later at the Dayton Kennel Club's show in Lima, Ohio, Geraldo was WD/BOS again under Judge Carl Liepmann. Geraldo was handled to these wins by Judy Stachowski, and we're very grateful to Judy for presenting him so beautifully. Geraldo is coming home for the remainder of the summer to grow some new clothes and do agility with me. We're looking forward to having him back in the conformation ring in September!

At the TRSSCGP agility trial in Cheswick, PA on June 14th and 15th, I had the privilege of running a Daily son (Shamont's Paden Blu) in Novice Jumpers. Ellis is from Daily's first litter (Kent x Daily). Ellis qualified and got first place in the 16" Novice B class on both Saturday and Sunday. Those were his first agility legs, and his Grandma Lynn was thrilled to be the one to put those qualifying legs on him. Ellis ran incredibly fast, especially in view of the heat and humidity in the building that weekend. He was 18 seconds under course time on Saturday and 19 seconds under course time on Sunday. Ellis is trained and owned by Debbie Miller-Gurchak (Hollybush Shelties).

Bliss, our show hopeful from the Rainy x Daily litter, is five months old, and she now has her own web page. Please stop by and take a look at it! CastleGate's Seventh Heaven ("Bliss")

At the YABTC/GSCA agility trials in Washingtonville, Ohio on June 6th and 7th, Geraldo did his mama proud by earning his 11th and 12th QQ's. It was incredibly hot at the show site, and Geraldo gave me his all on both days despite the heat and despite having to get up at 3:30 a.m. each day. We have five weeks off before our next agility trial, and I'm already looking forward to the next trial!! <G>

On May 30th at the Clarion Agility Trial in Cheswick, PA, Geraldo earned his 10th QQ and seven MACH points. It's exciting to be half way to the number of QQ's that we need for his MACH!!

Geraldo and I decided to spend Memorial Day at the Golden Triangle agility trial in Cheswick, PA, and boy did we have fun!! Geraldo celebrated the holiday in style by earning his ninth QQ and seven MACH points.

On May 18th, Geraldo finished his second CPE title at an agility trial in Washingtonville, Ohio sponsored by the Four Seasons K9 Athlete Center. He now gets to put a CL2-R at the end of his name along with an MX, MXJ, and CL2-S. He ran great for me today and got second place on both of his qualifying runs! The club that sponsored this trial gave out peanut butter bones for Q's instead of toys, and Geraldo heartily approved of that change of pace. <G>

We had a great Mother's Day weekend at CastleGate! On May 10th at the WCOTC agility trial in Delmont, PA, Daily was entered in agility for the first time in almost two years. This was an outdoor trial, and the weather and course conditions were less than ideal---lots of rain and mud. Daily ran beautifully for me and finished her Novice JWW title. As icing on the cake, she got first place in the 12" class too!! Daily is almost eight years old, and she's now happily retired to her donut bed. <G> Geraldo really rose to the occasion as well. He Q'ed on three of his four runs on Saturday and Sunday and picked up nine MACH points and two fourth placements in the process. We're very excited about the fact that he now has eight QQ's. Finishing Daily's Jumpers title and picking up another QQ for Geraldo were awesome Mother's Day gifts for me!

On April 25th at the Cleveland Shetland Sheepdog Club's agility trial in North Olmsted, Ohio, Geraldo finished his Masters Standard (MX) title. Friday's trial was dedicated to the memory of Jean Clodwick, so finishing our title on that day was even more meaningful to us. Completing our MX title would have been more than enough excitement for me for one weekend, but Geraldo had something else in mind. He decided to kick things up a notch or two by qualifying on five of his six runs in North Olmsted which gave him his sixth and seventh QQ's of the year and some MACH points too. I'm incredibly proud of my baby boy, and I love doing agility with him.

Geraldo QQ'ed on March 15th and 16th at the YABTC agility trial in Washingtonville, Ohio. We've never had a perfect weekend in the AKC agility ring prior to this one, and I'm in total awe of my baby boy. We're now just one qualifying leg away from his MX title and 25% of the way to the QQ's that we need for our MACH. I'm so excited that I could just pop. Geraldo truly out did himself this weekend. That trial will be our last one for almost a month, so it's really nice to be heading into the break on such a high note. In addition to our back-to-back QQ's, we also accumulated enough MACH points this weekend to break the 100 MACH point mark. That's a milestone that I was really hoping to reach prior to taking our break from the agility ring. Color me happy!! Elsa and her handler had fun too!! On Saturday, Elsa picked up her eighth MXJ leg and three more MACH points. She's closing in on her next agility title!

On March 8th at the Butler Dog Obedience Club's agility trial in Edinboro, PA, Geraldo and I earned our third QQ and six MACH points. As part of that QQ, we also picked up our seventh MX leg. It was a very challenging weekend from a weather perspective. We had almost two feet of snow from Friday to Sunday!

After our specialty show in February, I asked Mike Fine to take some new head shots of Geraldo. I am delighted with the photos he took. You can see my favorite new photo of Geraldo at the top of his individual page.

At the Splash and Dash CPE Agility Trial in Washingtonville, OH on February 23rd, Elsa competed in Level Two for the first time, and she qualified and placed second on both of her runs that day. Elaine Mayowski was with Elsa on the course for both of those runs. As usual, she did a great job from start to finish with Elsa!

Geraldo and Elsa had a great time at the Border Collie Agility Trial on February 16th and 17th in Edinboro, PA . Elsa qualified in Jumpers both days and earned her sixth and seventh MXJ legs. She also picked up 10 MACH points in the process. We're so proud of Elsa, and we're very grateful to Elaine Mayowski for the fabulous job she does with Elsa in the ring. Geraldo and I had an awesome weekend too!! On Sunday, we picked up our second QQ and nine MACH points!! As part of that QQ, Geraldo earned his sixth MX leg with a fourth place finish. After we moved into the Excellent B class, I didn't ever expect to place again, so that was a nice surprise. I've never been prouder of my baby boy than I was this weekend. He gave me his all!!

At the Tamarack agility trial in Edinboro, PA on February 9th and 10th, Geraldo earned his fifth MX leg. He's now half way to his MX title!! <G> He also qualified in Jumpers and earned five additional MACH points on that run. After having taken three weeks off, it was really nice to be back in the agility ring with him.

The Rainy x Daily puppies arrived as expected on January 28th!! We got one of every possible color combination from this breeding: » Blue merle girl » Bi-blue girl » Bi-black boy » Blue merle boy » Tri boy We're very excited about this litter, and we'll be posting photos to the Litters page on a regular basis.

On January 19th and 20th at the Admiral Perry Agility Trial in Edinboro, PA, Elsa qualified both days in Jumpers and earned her fourth and fifth MXJ legs and five MACH points. Geraldo also qualified in Jumpers both days and added another eight MACH points to his point total. It was a very cold and snowy weekend, but we had fun anyway. Our thanks go out to Elaine Mayowski for handling Elsa to her exciting Q's!!

Shamont Most Unusual Day (Daily) has been bred to CH. PaRay's Make A Splash (Rainy), and we're expecting those puppies to arrive around January 28th!! We have the possibility of bi's, tri's and blue merles in this litter. Please check our litters page at the end of January for more updates and photos of the newborn puppies. <G>

We had a fabulous time at our first agility trial of the New Year!! At the Erie Kennel Club's agility trial on January 4th in Edinboro, PA, Geraldo got his first Double Q and nine MACH points to go along with it!! Two days later, it was Elsa's turn to shine. She got her first Double Q, her first MX leg, and her first MACH point that Sunday. As always, Elsa was beautifully handled in the ring by Elaine Mayowski!! Elsa loves to run with Elaine. Our Sunday got even better. Nicky, one of the tri males from Elsa's first litter, qualified and placed in Novice Standard that day. It was his first agility leg, and we thought it was very cool that he earned it on the same day and at the same show where his dam got her first Double Q. Nicky is loved and trained by Lou and Janet Norman of Erie, PA.

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