Latest news 2009

12/5/09 From Heather Ortega, "Trax placed third Saturday in Open Standard to get his Open Standard title and moved up to Excellent." And Cindy Deubler writes "Don't know if I sent them, but Kimi finished her AX at the Lower Camden/DCKC
trial in NJ on Nov. 29. So she has her AX AXJ OF in AKC. Her titles earned to date in USDAA (all earned this year) are: AD (Agility Dog), SJ (jumpers), SS (snooker), AS (snooker), SG (gamblers), AG (gamblers). Way to go!
12/5/09 Gotcha (Kolster) continues his winning ways! At the Oriole DTC agility trial Gotcha earned his second AXJ leg on Friday with a first place and the 3rd leg and his title on Saturday with a second place. Congratulations Gotcha and Kara!
11/22/09 Kara Kolster and Gotcha made their conformation debut this weekend at the All Breed shows in Howard County MD. On Sunday, a two point show, Gotcha was RWD! Kara groomed and owner handled him. This is quite an accomplishment in the professional handler atmosphere of today's Sheltie rings. Congratulations!!!! I am sure we will be hearing lots more from these two.
11/07/09 News from Sally Cecil. At the obedience trial sponsored by the Bouvier club Zing (Cecil) picked up 6 OTCH points with a first in Utility and High in Trial! She scored 198 1/2 under judge Halle Ray which is quite an accomplishment. This brings Zing's point total to 64 (out of 100) in her quest for her OTCH. Congratulations Sally and Zing!
11/08/09 RyLadd Reunion was a great success. We had families and friends from as far away as NJ and PA as well as all over MD and VA. The weather was perfect, the dogs well behaved and the food fantastic. The costume contest was again very competitive. This years theme was "imagine". We had some very imaginative interpretations! This years winner was Kara Kolster with Kelleigh, Gotcha and Faith dressed as Three Blind Mice and the farmer's wife. Check out the RyLadd Reunion photo section for photos of all the day's events. Thanks to everyone for making it such a great day!
11/08/09 Chipper earns his MACH4! This very exciting news from Tracy Fletcher: Wanted to share my great news. Today Chipper earned his 20th double Q (80th lifetime) earning him a MACH4 to go in front of his name. This was the last weekend this year we planned on trialling. This weekend was a local show, about 45 minutes from my house. We came into this weekend needing one QQ. We were trialling 2 days this weekend.
On Saturday, we Q'ed in standard with a nice ,smooth run. This was our first time on 19 and a half QQs for MACH4. JWW was a nice course, but a tough weave pole entry. Weave poles were the #13 obstacle. We watched several good dogs miss the weave pole entry. We had a nice run, and I got in a front cross that I wanted to get in to help control the weave pole entry, but it was to no avail, Chipper went in at the second pole in spite of my front cross. We ran the rest of the course fine.
Today, JWW was first, and Chipper ran very well. There was one call-off, but aside from that, very smooth, and a 2nd place 14 seconds under course time. Standard was a nice course, but several dogs were having various issues with wrong courses. We had a couple of places where I had to call Chipper off, but in the end, we Qed, and got second place, 19 seconds under course time. WhoooHooo!
We earned MACH3 on Jan 17th of this year, so that's a little less than 10 months to go from MACH3 to MACH4. If both of us can stay healthy, I hope to get the MACH5 next year.
11/07- 08/09 Another busy weekend. Hoax (Hope) finished his Open Jumpers title in style with another first place! (he was second in Open Jumpers on Saturday and first Open Standard) Jordan (Kolster) got another 2Q bringing her total to 15 towards her MACH. Riot (Gaydos) got 2Q number 17 in his quest for his MACH. Gotcha (Kolster) had his first full weekend in Excellent and took advantage of it. He got his first Excellent Standard and Excellent Jumpers legs on Saturday with First place in both! On Sunday he Qed again in Excellent Standard.
11/01/09 Pat Moloney-Harmon writes "Just a quick update about Beckham. We were at the Artful Dodgers NADAC trial this past weekend and Beckham got his Novice Superior in both Jumpers and Regular and his Open superior in Tunnelers. His alphabet soup is now: Ryladd Bend It Like Beckham, S-NAC, S-NJC, NCC, S-TN-O, TNG-O, WV-O, HP-N.
This just got posted - he got the Highest Scoring Skilled Tunnelers Sheltie at the NADAC Championships."
10/31/09 and 11/01/09 Down at the CVAC trial Gotcha (Kolster) finished his OAJ title on Saturday. He had a spectacular run and was first in his class. On Sunday Kelleigh (Kolster) 2Qed with a first in both her Ex Standard and Ex Jumpers classes! Jordan (Kolster) was first in her Ex Jumpers class both days.
10/25/09 This weekend found a mini RyLadd Reunion down in Gloucester at the agility trial. Pictured are Hoax Hope, Willie Grant, Scamp Hammerle, Gossip Hope, Kelleigh Kolster, Faith Kolster, Journey Hammerle, Zing Cecil. Front row: Nikki Grant, Bunni Grant, Jordan Kolster, Gotcha Kolster and Mikey Cecil. It was a very successful weekend with Gotcha finishing his Open Standard title with a first place win (all 3 legs were with first places!). He was second in Open JWW for his 2nd leg. Kelleigh won her standard class and was 1 dropped bar short of a Double Q. Bunni got her first Open Standard leg today with a wonderul down on the table. For those of you who know what a problem she has had with the table this is a fantastic accomplishment. Willie earned another MXJ leg today. Gossip was hot in Excellent Jumpers getting 2 legs in 2 days both with First places!!!! Hoax had a good weekend his first time out in Open with a Standard leg yesterday and a JWW leg today. Mikey Cecil continues his winning ways finishing his AX with a first place!! Tracy and Chipper (Fletcher) are closing in on the MACH 4 with another Double Q! Way to go everyone! News from the NADAC Championships: Here is the recap from Patty Kimball. So Kori placed in 8 classes!!!!! She got 7 Q’s Kori beat the fastest 12” dog in the country in 2 classes and almost a 3rd by one second. She was first place in a Touch and Go class beating ALL the 12# !!!! I will have to get you more specifics. overall there were 15 runs that they used to calculate the total to decide who goes to finals. Usually they just take the regular runs and add them up to get who goes to finals. This year they used all 15 classes..so that made it more challenging. We did not place in jumpers and she FLEW threw the weaves (we did a double shot about killed me, not Kori) but missed an entrance on the first set (which she never does) we q’d in the second run of weavers but did not place… I had MANY people ask me what kennel I got her from….and the owner of the fastest dog in the country in 12 “ said to me that soon Kori will be unbeatable since she is so fast and becoming more accurate. Also did not know if you knew but before we went to champs we went to a trial where they give out an award called the Brother Vincent award……I will forward you what that is.. It was at a trial in Penn. They award it to the team they feel has an incredible connection to each other I cried it was soooo awesome. From Nicolette: You may have already heard through the grapevine that Andy finished his NATCH and Versatility NATCH on Saturday! Also, he got his Platinum Speed Star in august, and you probably heard that he finished 4th place overall in his division at championships! Pretty good for a 9 year old :)
Pat Maloney-Harmon writes: Championships was a blast! It was very hot and humid which we were not expecting and unfortunately the facility was not climate controlled but at least we were under cover as there was lots of rain.
"Our up and coming star Beckham. He was entered in Tunnelers, Weavers and Team. He did well in Weavers, he popped out of the weaves a few times but ran like the wind. His Tunnelers runs were incredible. There were the 2 rounds-the first round was mostly straight tunnels - it was a pure speed class - he was one of the few in the 12 inch class to break 20 seconds - he came in 3rd (he got beat by his sister, Kori who took 2nd). The way it worked was that after you ran Round 1, you waited at the start for Round 2 while another dog ran Round 1. Round 2 was all curved tunnels and you were sending them to the out or the in entrance of the next tunnel - this tested the ability to remember where you are going and getting your commands out in time. Beckham took 2nd!!!!

His team was Barking Babies - another Sheltie and an Aussie - I think we came in 4th - but still waiting for the final results of the team events. Beckham really turned on to the whole event - he loved it and showed it by really upping it a notch."
We had our club's trial this past weekend, Beckham got his Novice Chances title and his Open Touch and Go title.
10/17 and 10/18 Kara Kolster is bursting with pride at Kelleigh's accomplishments! She writes "Kelleigh was very busy this weekend. On Saturday, she competed in Blacksburg in back-to-back rally obedience trials to earn the final two legs for her RAE title. All four Qs were earned with placements in large classes (1st, 2nd, & two 3rds--darn those points lost for barking!). On Sunday, we took a trip to the herding trial in Lynchburg where she earned her HT title. Even more exciting is that this was the final requirement she needed to earn the ASSA CH-VCX award! She is now CH RyLadd Take Note CDX TD HT RAE MX MXJ OF VCX."
Just starting to follow in her mother's pawprints, Faith took her first trip into the ring and won Rally Novice in both trials Saturday, with scores of 98 & 99." Way to go Kara, Kelleigh and Faith! If you are not familiar with the CH-VCX award it is a coveted award given by the ASSA to shelties who are successful in the conformation ring, a performance venue and in herding. There are very few shelties who earn this honor.
10/15 and 10/16 Update from Dana Pierce. "Roxy got her Novice Fast title this week at the SSCGB trial in Westminster with another 1st place finish (after only three runs!)
10/03 and 10/04 Kate Arnsdorf writes "I just got back from the WKC trial and I wanted to let you know that Wicked got his NAJ title!! It was only his third time in the ring, what a good boy! Also Matthew got another Double Q today which is number 15 towards his MACH 2!! What good boys! And at the same trial....Dana Pierce was running with Roxy. "We had another great weekend in Wilmington! Roxy got her Novice Std title after only four runs in the past month! We did the FAST class for the second time, and wow, she outdid herself again! She racked up 73 points in 32 seconds, receiving another 1st place finish!"
09/18 and 19/09 Shelties, Shelties and more RyLadd Shelties! The Shetland Sheepdog club of Greater Baltimore held their annual Shelties only agility trial and the RyLadd Shelties showed up in force and did very well for themselves. I was able to spend the day on Saturday watching everyone run and boy was I proud of each and every one! Running in the Excellent classes were Guilty and Matthew Gaydos, Jordan Kolster, Gossip Hope, Kimi Deubler, Bunni Grant, Cosi Frank and Trax Ortega, . At the open level we had Cosi Frank, Trax Ortega, Kamin Spies and Scamp Hammerle and in Novice Roxy Pierce, Wicked Arnsdorf, Nikki Grant and Hoax Hope. Rae Hart brought Tempe for a visit and Mom Kimi and Grandma Erica got together with her for a photo. Matthew (Gaydos) and Kate Arnsdorf 2Qed on Saturday to qualify for the AKC Nationals in 2010! Hoax (Hope) finished his Novice Fast and Novice Jumpers (4th place) titles! Jordan (Kolster) Qed in Excellent Fast both days winning the class. She also burned up the ring in Excellent Standard both days with first places! Scamp Hammerle earned two Open Fast legs with placements both days. This was Nikki's (Grant) first AKC show and she got her first Novice JWW (prefered) leg with a First place! Trax Ortega finished his Novice Fast title on Saturday. Dana Pierce recaps Roxy's day (only there Friday) "We did awesome on Friday, Roxy got 2nd in Novice Std. She needs some work on her stays at the start line. She is sooooo excited to run! With that said, she dominated in the FAST class, racking up 70 points in 31 seconds! It was her first time in the FAST class and she was amazing! She did all three contacts with gorgeous precision and had no problem with the send out bonus!!! Needless to say, she got 1st place! All the dogs had great runs and lots of fun.
09/12and13/09 Lexi Hope and her dogs are continuing their winning ways. Out at the AKC agility trial in Rectortown this weekend Gossip finished her Open Jumpers title with a clean run and First Place. On Sunday Gossip finished her Novice Fast title, getting a very difficult send that included the weave poles and earning a total of 62 points. She got another First place for her efforts. Hoax was First in Novice Jumpers on Sunday for his second leg. Bunni (Grant) was also there and earned 2 more Excellent JWW legs for a total of 6 towards her MXJ! Congratulations to all!
09/12/09 Dream (Stewart), a Riot daughter, is growing up. Debbie, her owner, writes "attached is a head shot of Dream that I thought you might enjoy. She is doing really well. I took her to visit some sheep on Labor Day and she was very excited and had a great time, so we may have to explore that venue some more."
09/06/09 Here's exciting news from Tracy Fletcher. "You may have already heard, but I wanted to let you know that Chipper finished his UKC Grand Agility Champion title this past weekend. The abbreviation looks comical, U-GRACH, but no kidding, it’s a real title. That title didn’t exist when I was showing Boo and Tess, so Chipper becomes my first dog to achieve that title. That’s the top title in UKC agility, and so he’s probably retired from UKC agility.
I’m not sure how familiar you are with UKC agility, so here’s a little background. The title requires that you get a qualifying score in all 3 classes (called Agility 1, Agility 2, and Agility 3) in the same trial. There are lots of obstacles that are identical to AKC (weave poles, dog walk, tunnels) but there are about 5 obstacles that are unique to UKC. Chipper gets NO PRACTICE on those obstacles, he just does them because he trusts me. Also, there are 2 trials per day, typically. Also, UKC awards a High In Trial to the dog that’s got the highest score and is the most seconds under course time, a High Combined, similar to high in trial but combining the agility 1 and agility 2 classes, and an award for the best score and fastest time of those Q’ing in all 3 classes.
The U-GRACH title requires 5 legs. We came into the weekend needing 2 legs.
On Saturday AM, we Q’ed in 2 classes, but pulled a bar in the 3rd class. We were fast and clean, and got High In Trial with our Agility 3 run.
On Saturday PM, we Q’ed in all 3 classes, which gave us our 4th leg toward the title. Also, we cleaned up the awards, getting HIT, HC, and Triple Crown.
On Sunday AM, we repeated our success from the prior day, and Q’ed in all 3 classes, and again won HIT, HC, and the Triple Crown award. And we finished our title!!
On Sunday PM, we proved we were human, and only Q’ed in 1 class, missing the weave entry in Agility 2 and pulling a bar in Agility 1.
UKC also usually gives nice prizes for HIT and HC, so we won 2 chairs with the trial date and High In Trial embroidered on the backs, 2 clocks with the club name engraved, a photo album, and 4 slip leads. What a wonderful weekend.
While there are aspects of UKC that make some say it’s “easier” than other agility venues, it’s more that it’s different and not so much that it’s easier. It requires much more control, and for me it’s a little harder because there are no training centers near me that have the UKC-unique equipment. I’m especially proud of how well Chipper does those obstacles."
09/5&6/09 A busy weekend for RyLadd Shelties in agililty. At the Beardie Club trial in Leesburg Va Lexi Hope was busy showing both Gossip and Hoax. On Saturday, Gossip came away with 2 firsts (Novice Fast and Open Jumpers) and Hoax had a 3rd (Novice Fast) and 2 Firsts (Novice Jumpers and Novice Standard). Sunday, Gossip was second in Novice Fast while Hoax was First in Novice Fast and First in Novice Standard to finish his title! Willie (Grant) was 2nd in Open Fast for his first leg. Meanwhile at a trial in NJ Dana Pierce sends the following news about her Riot daughter Roxy. "Just got home from the TBAC trial and wanted to let you know that our little Roxy is on fire! We took a long break in August but she hasn't skipped a beat. She got 1st this morning in Novice Std and 2nd this afternoon in Nov JWW. So that was her title in Nov JWW!" Not to be outdone by his sister, Wicked (Arnsdorf) started his agility career in style. This from Kate -"I just wanted to let you know Wicked made his AKC debut today in Novice JWW and he took first place! He ran SO well with a time of 20 seconds! I"m so proud of him! Meanwhile daddy Riot (Gaydos) is making up for lost time (after his injury) with a Double Q on Saturday.
08/30/09 From Pat Moloney-Harmon - "We were thinking about you this past weekend as we ended up at a mini-Ryladd reunion at the In the Zone Agility NADAC trial in West Friendship Maryland. We got everyone together (I think I have them all right). We had Beckham, Kori, Andy, Nikki, Bunni, Scamper and Willie along with Becky, Holly, Patty and Nicolette.
Update on Beckham - on Friday he got his Novice Superior Touch and Go title - S-TNG-N and his Open Tunnelers title TN-O. He is going to be running at the NADAC Championships in Shelbyville TN in September - he qualified in Tunnelers and Weavers so it should be a blast. He is also on a team called Barking Babies." Bunni (Grant) finished her Open Tunnlers with a second place.
8/15 and 16/09 Saturday and Sunday found many RyLadd Shelties at the USDAA trial sponsored by TAG. Here is a recap from the handlers. From Karen Gaydos: It was another great weekend for Riot and his daughter, Guilty! Both went into round 2 for Steeplechase this weekend both went into the final round in the 1st place position. Riot finished 2nd and my little Guilty girl hit the weave poles a little too hard (like her Daddy did last weekend) and just could not hold on. When she popped out she ran to the tunnel. Guilty had a fabulous Starters Jumpers run finishing 1st with a 16.2 second time. WOW! After only his 2nd week back to competition, Riot got the 2nd Grand Prix (2nd place) and Steeplechase Q that he needed for USDAA Nationals. I am thrilled!
From Lexi Hope: OK Gossip and Hoax were at Touch and go agility trial this past weekend. Hoax got his very first title ever in Starters Jumpers,along with his 1st standard leg with a 3nd place and his 2nd gamblers leg with a 2nd place. We ran in steeplechase no Q but he was clean !!! He ran pairs even though he was clean a boo-boo was made by our partner. No big deal. we will try again.
Gossip had some great runs. Sat she was clean in standard but missed time. (working on weaves). Gamblers was hard. She did great but I just couldn't get my self in the right place to complete the last 2 obstacles. Clean in steeplechase no placement. In pairs it just wasn't meant to be, handler errors. Nothing new there. On Sunday we got off to a rough start but we redeemed ourselves by getting 1st place in P2 snooker! Great job by team Gossip. Clean in Jumpers but the handler..... well let's just leave it at that. We haven't trialled since April, I was very proud of my kids and received many compliments from several people. From Becky Grant: Willie, who didn't Q on Sunday, had a tremendous accomplishment in that he completed all of the contacts in PI Standard (if only I had fixed his weaves correctly) and came in 2nd place. Bunni, who was competing in PIII Jumpers for the second time, completed her second PIII Jumpers leg (I don't know about placement, as I didn't stick around for ribbons and Diann hasn't sent out trial results info). Nikki ran clean, but over time due to some confusion in the middle of the PI jumpers course. Cindy Duebler has updates for the last two weekends. Kimi earned 2 Starters Standard legs with a 1st and 2nd place. She took 1st in Advanced Snookers and a 3rd in Advanced Gamblers and 1st in Starters Pairs with Guilty. Also at the NJ trial she was 4th in the Grand Prix! Congratulations to everyone!
8/13/09 Thursday evening found Susan Kolster with Jordan, Kara Kolster with Gotcha and Kelleigh, Deborah Krausse with Ian and Mary Galloway with Riddle and Hush (the newest RyLadd Sheltie) at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond Virginia for Fidos after 5. This event, held the second Thursday of the month, features a band, wine tasting and strolling the grounds with your dog. Here we are waiting for a table a the Tea Garden. Hush, Jordan Riddle and Ian. We had dinner on the deck of the Tea Garden with the dogs all very alert to any dropped crumbs. After dinner we started to walk the grounds, Hush was ready to go! After our walk, Gotcha and Riddle had a little private conversation Until Daddy Ian sat his daughter down for a little fatherly advice (which she was not interested in hearing!) Everyone had a great time! Ian Riddle Jordan Hush Kelleigh Gotcha
8/8 and 9/09 Riot (Gaydos) and Guilty (Gaydos) were up in NJ at a USDAA Trial with VERY successful results. Here's the update from owner Karen. "Riot got his AAD title this weekend finishing it with a 1st in Advance Std. Riot was first place going into round 2 of Steeplechase. He had the fastest time of all dogs. Unfortunately, he hit the weave poles too fast in Rd 2 and he went in to pole 2. We lost a little bit of time there which put him in 2nd place.
Guilty took first place in both Steeplechase and Grand Prix! She also got a leg in Starters Std with a first place and in Pairs (pairing with another RyLadd Sheltie Kimi Duebler) also for first."
Not bad.....qualifying in all her runs with all first places!!!! Needless to say Karen is very excited. Kimi (Duebler) also earned an Advanced Gamblers leg with a 3rd place and took 4th place in the Grand Prix!!!! What a weekend.
8/2/09 Scamp( Hammerle) continues his winning ways finishing his Rally Advanced title today! Two titles in two weekends! Way to go!
7/25 and 26/09 It was a busy weekend for some RyLadd Shelties at a local UKC Rally trial. Scamp (Hammerle) earned his UKC Novice Rally title with scores of 95 both days! Not to be outdone by her 'big' brother Journey (Hammerle) also finished her UKC Novice Rally title with scores of 86 and 95!! Also showing at the same trial was Nikki (Grant) who qualified both days with scores of 92 and 93. Momma (handler) Becky was so proud. On Sunday Bunni showed as well and qualified. The best part for Becky was Bunni doing all her sits and downs without a problem!!! Congrats to all on a great weekend.
7/17/09 Guilty (Gaydos) has started her quest for her MACH in style today. She earned her first 2Q today with a 3rd place in Standard and 2nd place in Jumpers! This little gal has only been competing for 10 months!!!! Daddy Riot is so proud!
7/11/09 Riot (Gaydos) and Karen were both pumped to be back in the ring after a 6 month break due to a shoulder injury (Riot not Karen!). Karen reports he blasted off the start line and just flew around the courses. He was very happy to be running again. He was 2nd in 16" JWW. They are taking it slowly and won't be back in full competition until the fall. Guilty (Gaydos) was 4th in Ex B 12" JWW. Matthew (Gaydos run by Kate Arnsdorf) is getting ever closer to his MACH 2 with another Double Q today! Way to go Kate and Matthew. Roxy (Pierce) and Dana made the trip to NJ and were glad they did. Roxy was first in Novice JWW with another clean run. That is two legs toward her title! People are already noticing the dynamic duo. On Sunday Guilty was running again and took 2nd in JWW!!!
7/3-5/09 Well, the Kolster's had another successful weekend of agility trials. Showing at the Blue Ridge Dog Training club trials, Kelleigh (K. Kolster) finished her MX on Friday and her MXJ on Saturday. Not to be left out, Gotcha (K. Kolster) finished his NA on Friday to finish both his novice titles in 3 straight shows! Sunday Jordan (S. Kolster) Double Qed for her final qualifier for next year's AKC Agility Nationals and her 13th towards her MACH with first place in both classes! See you in Tulsa!
6/26-28/09 was a busy Agility weekend for the RyLadd Shelties. The Kolsters were down in Lynchburg at the Dog Owners Training Club of Lynchburg. Jordan (Kolster) started it off on Friday with a Double Q. Her 12th towards her MACH and 5th for qualifying for the AKC Nationals in 2010! She was first is both her classes to boot. On Saturday Jordan continued her winning ways with a first place in Excellent B Jumpers and finishing her Excellent Fast title with another first place! To continue the familys winning ways, Gotcha (Kolster) qualified in both Novice Standard and Novice Jumpers with clean runs and two first places. Kelleigh got her 8th MX leg and second place and first in Open Fast.. Sunday dawned clear and sunny and the wins continued. Kelleigh (Kolster) got her a Double Q with a third in Standard and a first in Jumpers. Gotcha qualified in Novice Jumpers to finish his title with another first place (3 in a row....way to go!) He also qualified in Novice Standard with another first place. Gotcha was 4 for 4 with all first places. There was a whole lot of blue coming home in the Kolster van!! Gotcha and Kelleigh
Meanwhile at the USDAA Virginia Rough Riders trial in Fredericksburg, Becky Grant kept herself very busy running 3 dogs. Bunni (Grant) had a successful weekend finishing her P2 Snookers title. She also ran pairs with Sydney (Barbara Bicksler) and they Qed and took first place! She also Qed in P3 Jumpers on her first P3 Jumpers attempt and took 2nd place. Nikki (Grant) and Willie (Grant) also ran very well.
6/20/09 Cosi (Frank) got his second Open Jumpers leg this weekend with a First Place! I was able to get to the show to watch and saw Guilty (Gaydos) do an Excellent job in her B classes (4th in Standard). Matthew (Gaydos) and Kate looked great and Roxy (Pierce) and Dana looked wonderful. It was great fun for me to see them all run.
This from Kate Arnsdorf about Matthew - "I just wanted to tell you that Matthew and I now have 4 double Q's toward Nationals and 11 Double Q's toward his MACH 2!! He is such a good little boy, he was 4 for 4 last weekend and 3 for 4 the weekend before!"
06/07/09 Here is the latest from Pat Moloney-Harmon about Beckham -" just finished a few trials over the last few weeks and wanted to give you an update. His titles now are as follows:
HP-N (Novice Hoopers title)
O-NAC-C (Outstanding Novice Regular)
O-NJC (Outstanding Novice Jumpers)
O-TG-N (Outstanding Novice Touch and Go)
S-TN-N (Superior Novice Tunnelers)
S-WV-N (Superior Novice Weavers)
The 2 superior titles means that he is now in Open Tunnelers and Weavers. The boy loves his weaves - it is so much fun to watch him seek those entrances and then go through like butter!
You may already know this but NADAC gives you the option of staying at Novice and Open to achieve your superiors. I have always liked that option as it gives you time to work out the kinks in each level."
5/24/09 Memorial Day weekend was a busy one for RyLadd Shelties. Gotcha ( Kolster) started his agility career off in style with a clean run in Novice Jumpers with Weaves for first place! Bunni (Grant) earned two more Excellent Jumpers legs bringing her total to 4 towards her MXJ. This was at the Cocker Trial down at the new Sports Center in Fredericksburg. Guilty (Gaydos) had two qualifying runs in Excellent B Jumpers with Weaves both for placements! She was showing in New Jersey.
Chipper (Fletcher) is busy showing. Tracy writes "Chipper and the gang have all been doing well. We’ve been doing a lot of agility this spring, and trying to get back into a practice routine for obedience to try to make a run at a UDX. But we’re having so much fun at agility, it’s a challenge to find time to go to obedience trials. We now have 9 QQ’s toward our MACH4, and we’re about 2/3’s of the way to the USDAA ADCH-bronze." Wow!
5/16/09 Mikey (Cecil) finished his Open Standard title at the Gloucester Kennel Club agility trial.
5/16/09 Bonnie Frank wrote this about Cosi. "Cosi and I have two wonderful runs today at Westminster. Our teamwork was really on today. Because my back is hurting so much, I didn't run as much as I have been. Instead I directed and got where I needed to be. In Open Jumpers With Weaves we had a dropped bar, which NQ'd us, but his weaves were spectaular. (BTW, **no** dog Q'd on this course in Open JWW in all height classes.) In Excellent Standard the beginning was a tricky part. It was a figure 8 of jumps. The judge had to put a stinkin' double in there; Cosi found it and dropped it. Otherwise, a good run. I was especially thrilled about the end. #1 - He wanted to go weave again. He's seeking weaves like other dogs seek tunnels! #2 - Many dogs were missing the last jump, the tire. With two rear crosses, it was clear as a bell to him where he was going. A.w.e.s.o.m.e."
5/16/09 Roxy (Pierce) started her agility career off with a bang this weekend! They are taking it slow so she was only entered in the Saturday JWW class. Here is the story from Karen Gaydos and Dana Pierce. "Huge congratulations to Dana and Roxy. They made their big debut in Novice JWW today and took first place! I am very proud. Sorry Dana, I was so excited that I had to tell everyone. Please tell us more. That's okay, we are excited too! Roxy was such a great little girl!  I am so proud of her and she seemed to really enjoy herself. Our course was not your average Novice JWW course and I was a little nervous when I saw the course map, but she did fine with it.
We had a jump and a half, very calm, lead out. We completed a front cross, a couple of cross behinds, and there were some very close distraction jumps that she glanced at but never even went close to because she was so focused on me.  We had a very tough soft sided weave entry that she missed the first time, but came right back and completed, then went on finish the course in 25 seconds, standard course time was 40 seconds.  When we finished, she was very happy and received lots of love and treats!
She received her first "Q", Perfect Score and 1st Place Ribbon.  Thank you, Karen, for all of your help and encouragement, we couldn't have done it without you and we missed you very much!   Dana and Roxy
05/17/09 Here is news from Cindy about Kimi (Deubler). "Just wanted to give you an update on Kimi's USDAA record. She finished her Starters Jumpers and Starters Snooker titles today. She had first place in jumpers. She was also first in Snooker. She got her Starters Gamblers title a few weeks ago."
05/10/09 Bunni (Grant) finished her Performance Jumpers 2 title today at the TAG USDAA trial in Sterling Virginia. At the same trial Gossip and Hoax (Hope) both had success in their classes. This same weekend, Jordan (Kolster) and Kelleigh (Kolster) were running in an AKC trial in Gloucester. Both were successful on Saturday in Excellent Jumpers with Jordan first in her class and Kelleigh second in hers!
05/03/09 Guilty (Gaydos) has sailed through her Excellent titles earning her AX last week at the Shetland Sheepdog club of Greater Baltimore trial. Today she finished her AXJ title at Oriole Dog Training Club trial with another first place. Guilty has only been in a handful of trials and she is already competing in the Excellent B classes. Watch for this fantastic team in both AKC and USDAA competition!
04/18/09 to 04/25/09 Kelleigh (Kolster), Jordan (Kolster) and Riddle (Galloway) represented the RyLadd Shelties in great style at the American Shetland Sheepdog Association National Specialty in Perry Georgia. Kelleigh started things off with herding on Saturday. Sunday found Jordan and Kelleigh in Agility competition. Jordan Doubled Q'ed with a First place in Excellent B Jumpers and a Second place in Excellent B Standard. Ask Susan to show you the silver! Kelleigh, not to be left out, was 6th in Excellent B Standard right behind World team and AKC National winners. Monday found Kelleigh in Rally and Obedience (are you starting to see a theme here?). She qualified in both her Rally classes taking second in one (more silver for the Kolster family). A small problem with the broad jump kept them from qualifying in Open B but they looked great. Monday was also the day for Futurity judging and Riddle was 4th in the 12-18 month bitch class. She is quite the little showgirl! Thursday again found Riddle in the ring with Julie Desy and again she was 4th in her class!(12-18 month sable and white bitches) Such exciting wins! Saturday Kelleigh was in the Best of Breed competition looking very cute. Unfortunately she did not have the coat to make her competitive. Kelleigh was competing for Best All Around Sheltie and was one of only 2 others to compete in all the competitions offered for the week. She came in a very nice 3rd in the competition! We were all exhausted but truly enjoyed our time in Georgia.
03/29/09 Beckham (Moloney-Harmon) finished his NAC and O-TN-N (outstanding novice tunnelers) at the All About Animals NADAC trial in Townsend, DE. According to partner, Pat he "is getting faster and faster!" Watch for him in NADAC and AKC.
03/27, 28, 29/2009 Chipper (Fletcher) represented the RyLadd Shelties at the AKC Agility Nationals in Concord NC this year. Here is a recap of all the action written by the human half of the team, Tracy:
So we started out Friday with the State Team competition. We were in the 16 inch division. For State Team there’s also an 18 inch division that most of the teams who aspire to be on the World Team enter. In spite of that, there was quite a bit of good competition at 16 inches. There were 148 dogs in 16 inch. Jumpers was Round 1. Without running contacts, Jumpers would probably be our better class. We had a pretty respectable jumpers run, very tight and a Q, but there were a lot of fast dogs. I think we finished that round about 40th. Standard was the next round. In Standard he had a GREAT run, and another Q. The State Team finals, at the end of the day Friday, consist of the top 5 teams, and just the top 4 dogs on each of those top 5 State Team. After our run, the leader board showed NC as 4th, and Chipper was in the top 3 dogs for the NC team, so if NC held it’s position, Chipper would be running in the State Team Finals!!! 20 and 24 inch dogs were still completing their round 2 runs, and sadly, by the time all of the dogs had run, NC had dropped to 7th. While Chipper remained the 3rd best dog on the NC team, since the NC team as a whole wasn’t in the Top 5, there’d be no Finals for Chipper. I was a little disappointed, but the final 16 inch individual rankings had Chipper as 9th!!! A Top 10 performance over 2 rounds. I’m so proud of him.
With the State Team competition behind us, Saturday started the National Agility Championship. We had 2 runs on Saturday. The first round was Standard. Chipper was fast and tight, and even without running contacts, we were in very nice shape in 38th place after round 1…out of 185 dogs. Round 2 was JWW, and our 4th Q of the weekend, YAY!!! Although we were in 66th place for the JWW round, our cumulative score raised us one placement to 37th place…yeah, that makes no sense, but that’s the way it worked out. My goal going in to the weekend was to be in the top 30, and we were within striking distance as we got a good night’s sleep after an exhausting day.
On Sunday, we only had 1 run left…unless by some miracle we cracked into the Top 10 and made the finals. In 37th place that was a pipe dream, so my goal was to just run clean and tight, and hope to crack into the top 30. But it was not to be…the second obstacle was the double, and as I moved away for a front cross (which I’ve done hundreds of times), the bar on the front side of the double came down…I guess he turned in the air just a split second too early, and caught the bar with his hind leg. In spite of that, we were tight, and flawless the rest of the run.
We paid a heavy price for that one bar. We dropped all the way to 71st place. Had that bar stayed up, we would have had 25th place….truly a game of inches.
Overall, it was a great experience and most importantly, Chipper’s success was a reflection of what a great dog he is (much more so than our last Nationals). I’m so proud of him.

03/21/09 Guilty (Gaydos) says she is ready to compete with the 'big kids' in excellent. She completed both her OA and OAJ titles at the South Jersey Agilty club trial with first place in both classes!
03/14/09 Bunni (Grant) kept busy with her winning ways at the In the Zone Agility NADAC trial finishing both her standard (NAC) and jumpers (NJC) titles!
03/06/09 Bunni (Grant) finishes her AXJ title at Blue Ridge Agility Club trial with a First Place!
03/01/09 Beckham (Maloney-Harmon) was very busy at the NADAC Pawzazz trial in Lothian, MD. He finished both his Novice Tunnelers title and his Novice Weavers title. Stay tuned for lots more from this team who are just starting their agility career together.
03/01/09 Trax (Ortega) had a great weekend up in New Jersey, finishing his Novice Standard Title and earning his first two legs of his Open Jumpers title. Trax qualified in 3 out of 4 of his runs! We will hear lots more from this team.
03/01/09 Kimi (Deubler) has been busy in the Agility rings. This news from her partner Cindy about a show in New Jersey. "In jumpers she had a really good run and got her first Ex A JWW leg and a first place." Cindy and Kimi have also been showing in USDAA and February 14th they qualified in Starters Gamblers for 2nd place, Starters Snookers for 3rd place and Starters Jumpers for 3rd place. Way to go!
02/28/09 Kelleigh (Kolster) continues to amaze all with her versatility. Today she earned her first leg (of 2 needed) for her HT (herding tested) title. The trial was sponsored by the Shetland Sheepdog Club of Greater Baltimore. This was Kelleigh's first time in the herding ring.
02/22/09 Chipper (Fletcher) finished his USDAA Agility Chamipionship today in Chapel Hill NC. This makes Chipper an Agility Champion in 3 venues, AKC, USDAA and UKC! Way to go Chipper and Tracy.
02/07/09 and 02/08/09 Mikey (Cecil) qualified in all four of his novice runs at the Merrimac Dog Training Club trial to finish his Novice Agility and Novice Agility Jumpers titles. Mikey finished his NA NAJ titles in 3 straight shows with all first places!
01/31/09 and 02/01/09 Kelleigh (Kolster) earned her first two legs in Open A in back to back trials at the 3 Rivers Shetland Sheepdog Club trial. She also earned two RAE legs qualifying in all four of her Rally classes with many more first places!
01/23/09 Willie (Grant) earned his NADAC Open Tunnelers title at the Breakaway Actions dog Trial. He and his handler/partner Aly both had a great time.
01/23/09 Bunni (Grant) earned her NADAC Open Tunnlers title and her Open Weavers title at the Breakaway Actions Dog Trial.
01/25/09 Cosi (Frank) finished his NAJ at the Williamsport Dog Training Club agility trial. He had a clean run with a time of 17.8 seconds on a 39 second course!! To quote his owner Bonnie "what a thrill!"
01/17/09 Chipper (Fletcher) finished his MACH 3 in style on Saturday with a 2nd place in Standard and and 1st place in Jumpers! Tracy and Chipper are a fantastic team to watch and are getting ready for the AKC Agility Nationals in March.
12/07/08 Kelleigh (Kolster) earns her Tracking Dog title on her first try at Capital Dog Training Club's tracking test at Oatlands in Leesburg VA She had no trouble with her track in spite of temperatures in the 20's and heavy winds. This makes the 6th title Kelleigh and Kara have finished this year!
12/06/08 Cosi (Frank) finishes his Open Standard title at the Oriole Dog training club agility trial. He was first in his class!
11/29/08 Matthew (Gaydos) finishes his USDAA Advanced Agility Dog title at Ruff Rider's agility trial handled by Kate Arnsdorf
11/29/08 Gossip (Hope) finishes her USDAA Performance Agility Dog Title at the Ruff Rider's agility trial
11/29/08 Riot (Gaydos) wins the 16" Grand Pris at the Ruff Rider's agility trial.
11/16/08 Bunni (Grant) finishes her USDAA Performance Jumpers 1 title at the Hog Dog Productions agility trial
11/16/08 Scamp (Hammerle) finishes his USDAA Performance Gamblers 1 title at the Hog Dog Productions agility trial
11/09/08 Guilty (Gaydos) finishes her NA title and the Capitol City Cocker Club agility trial in Woodbridge VA
11/08/08 and 11/09/08 Riot (Gaydos) Double Q's both days.....now has 14 2Qs towards his MACH
11/02/08 Jordan (Kolster) gets another Double Q with 2 first places! This brings her up to 7 2Qs for her MACH.
11/01/08 and 11/02/08 Cosi (Frank) has a banner day at the DOCNA (Dogs on course in North America) trials in PA. Placing first in all of his 5 qualifying runs he finishes 3 titles! (Beginner Standard, Beginner Triagility, and Intermediate Snakes and Ladders)
10/31/08 Wicked (Arnsdorf) dresses up for Halloween and wins 3 costume contests! He was dressed as a campus security officer (appropriate since mama Kate is in college) and everyone surrendered to his charming good looks!
10/18/08 Zing (Cecil) earns another OTCH point at the Merrimac DTC trial bringing her total to 50 pts! She's halfway there!!
10/12/08 Cosi (Frank) finished his Novice Fast title in style at the York County Dog Training Club Trial with another first place!
10/11/08 Jordan (Kolster) finishes her Open Fast title at the Charlotte Dog Training Club trial with a first place. The next day she gets her first Excellent Fast leg with another first place!
10/04/08 Kelleigh (Kolster/Galloway) finishes her Championship in style with a 3 point major! She was WB, BW and BOS (over 3 specials) under Judge Mr. Stephen J. Hubbell at the Fort Steuben Kennel Association, Inc show in PA.
09/20/08 Cosi (Frank) finishes his Novice Agility Title with a First place at the Baltimore Shetland Sheepdog Agility trial. He also took first in his Novice Fast class.

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