Association
of Working Shetland Sheepdogs
Board
We are thrilled to introduce you to the
AWSS board of directors. Comprised of
judges and long term exhibitors from ALL
venues, this board has vast experience in
every venue and is uniquely qualified to
guide the working/versatility portion of
the breed.
Linda
Rorem
Having
long been interested in the history and use of herding breeds, Linda
has written numerous articles, some of which are on her website at www.herdingontheweb.com.
She helped in the development of the herding programs of the American
Working Collie Association (Rough and Smooth Collies), the American
Herding Breed Association (of which she was a founding member), and the
American Kennel Club, and is a judge for AHBA and AKC.
Linda Rorem has trained and handled a number of dogs to advanced
herding titles. Two of her Shelties have earned herding
championships in all three title programs - ASCA, AHBA and AKC, a third
Sheltie (daughter and granddaughter of the two triple herding
champions) is a champion in both AKC and AHBA, and a fourth recently
earned his AKC herding championship. In addition, Linda has
earned advanced titles with four additional Shelties (three of her own
breeding), two Rough Collies, a Border Collie, Briard, Samoyed, German
Shepherd, and an Australian Shepherd, and has worked with a wide
variety of breeds in giving lessons and in clinics.
Linda enjoys practical farm and ranch work most of all, and in trials
the ranch courses are her favorites.
Nina
Plail
Nina is an AKC agility judge, breeder, and exhibitor. After a
Frisbee career with a shepherd mix and a brief conformation career with
Akitas, Nina started showing her first sheltie,
“Charlie,” in 1998. Nina
trained Charlie simultaneously in agility,
obedience and herding. Charlie, with the help of a professional
handler, became a breed champion at 20 months of age, and
soon after became one of the youngest dogs to ever achieve
the VCX-Ch achievement award. Nina’s next dog,
Chase, also quickly earned the VCX-Ch award and went on to
place 5th at the 2004 agility nationals in ISC. At the same time, Nina
learned how to handle in the breed ring by specialing Chase, and
together they earned top 20 rankings 2 years in a row, along with an
invitation to the Eukanubba Classic. Today, Chase, an ASSA merit award
holder, remains the only sheltie ever to compete at
the conformation invitational and the agility nationals.
Chase and Charlie taught Nina that shelties can do it
all…and do it all very well. From the work with
Charlie and Chase, Nina became a strong supporter
of versatility. All of her dogs are trained and shown in
multiple venues. To date she has titled over 15 dogs in
multiple venues, helping her dogs earn over 50
titles. Several dogs from Nina’s breeding
have earned championships, have been invited to the world
agility team invitational, and have competed and won at national and
world agility competitions. The training , showing and breeding
is an effort that has become a lifetime passion. Her dogs can
be seen on her web site at www.sheltieranch.com .
The working/performance venues are Nina’s favorite,
as she believes that the mutual respect and teamwork formed
over years of training and trialing, creates a uniquely strong bond
between dog and owner . While not wanting to see a split in the breed,
Nina believes it is important to identify and select for working
virtues in any breeding program that hopes to be balanced and
versatile. These are virtues as distinct and worthy as any others. The
fully coated, flashy show dog is a beautiful sight, but just
one part of the whole. Nina is proud to be one of the
founders of the AWSS, as this organization will help forge
the future path of the working/versatility sheltie.
Matthew
Twitty
Matthew
has titled dogs in Obedience, Agility, Rally, Flyball and Herding. He
has also handled dogs in conformation. Matt began training dogs when he
was 12, starting with an unruly German Shepherd named Holly. She was a
lot of dog , and nearly weighed what he did! Matthew did manage to
train for 8 weeks at a local dog club where she passed the C.G.C. test
her first try. After Holly, he was given Tyler (his first
sheltie and competition dog) who became hooked on Obedience
Training. Matt began training Tyler when he (Matt) was 13. In 2005
Tyler obtained the AKC's Obedience Trial Champion Title and sparked
Matthew’s interest in Judging AKC Obedience. Now an obedience
Judge, Matthew currently has four shelties who are all working in
several venues and having a ball showing how versatile this breed can
be.
Dawn
began her love of dogs with a Boxer named Alice. Alice was
followed by a very large tri female Sheltie, Kelly. Through
Kelly, Dawn learned patience, sensitivity and an understanding of the
breed. Dawn and Kelly attained a CD when Kelly was 7 years
old.
Dawn later acquired a Rough Collie, Madeline, who taught her to be ever
so watchful and to develop motivational skills. Madeline
introduced Dawn to the sport of Agility and there she became
hooked. Dawn and Mad have since earned their Masters
titles. Mad is now in semi-retirement and currently working
on her Preferred and Performance titles.
Dawn’s most recent Sheltie, Bugg, came into her life about 2
years ago. They have been on a high-speed trip ever since,
and are competing with an eye towards earning the AKC MACh title.
Shelties have always impressed Dawn with their intelligence and
eagerness to learn and work for their people. Dawn has plans to dabble
in Herding, Obedience, Backpacking and Rally, but for now, its all
about the ride. The Agility ride that is!
Dawn wants the Board to know what a wonderful job they have done
getting this new organization off the ground. The talent,
effort and determination these folks bring to this endeavor sets the
foundation for a great organization!
Vonnie Taylor
Vonnie fell in love with collies as a child. She grew up on
"LASSIE" and the Terhune collies. When she finally got her
very own home (ok, an apartment in a hi-rise in a suburb close to the
U.), she immediately set out to get a dog. Apartment life
& a big dog just didn't seem right (OK, she has
learned a lot since then <G>), so she opted for the
"apartment sized" collie. What a wonderful
discovery. Her first sheltie was adorable-looking,
smart, biddable, confident, a great little introduction to the
breed. She was hooked! She loves a few other
breeds, but they all are measured by the Shetland Sheepdog.
Vonnie has been breeding and showing Shetland Shepdogs since
1977. She currently does mostly agility,
But is planning to get back into the obedience ring &
wants to try rally.
Vonnie tells us that she was delighted to be asked to be part
of the organizing group for AWSS and was thrilled and relieved at its
birth. AWSS will hopefully fill a need, a national
organization that will advocate for a balanced sheltie, that is missing
in the fancy.
Sandy
Walroth
Sandy became interested in Shelties when she acquired her first Sheltie
in 1985. After dealing with problems stemming from poor
breeding for 3 years, she discovered that wonderful thing called
obedience training. Just hoping for a dog that was "livable",
she saw a demonstration that fall, showing all levels of
obedience. She was hooked. Lady went on to earn her
CD, but had to be retired young for health reasons. On her
quest for a second Sheltie, she found Cara in 1991. Through
Cara, she was introduced to many of the different events Shelties could
do - upper level obedience, agility, rally, freestyle, pet therapy, and
even trying scent hurdling, flyball and herding. After a long
break due to serious family problems, Cara brought her back into the
"dog world", going on to UDX and OTCh points, MXJ and MACH points, RAE
legs, and a freestyle heelwork-to-music title. Cara is now
retired at 16, but remains her constant companion. Her third
Sheltie Tristen introduced her to the world of conformation showing,
but unfortunately DM greatly changed his future. Over the
years, she has titled 6 dogs in obedience, 4 in agility and 3 in Rally.
Her love of obedience led her to early interest in Rally.
After discovering it in 2000, she watched and encouraged it to form
into the sport it is today. She started teaching in 2000,
giving seminars in 2001 and judged her first non-regular Rally classes
for the AKC in the fall of 2001. She continues to judge Rally
as a titling sport today, and gives seminars to introduce people to
this "new" sport. She also occasionally writes articles on
Rally for Front & Finish.
Although she has a great fondness for some other breeds, the Sheltie
holds her heart.
Sandy is very excited about this new national club, focusing on the
"complete" Sheltie. Few breeds have the true versatility this
one has, and she feels that should be celebrated. The
Association of Working Shetland Sheepdogs does just that. She
is honored to have been asked to join the founding board of this new
club, and looks forward to helping guide it into the future.
Jeff
Whitsitt
AKC
Tracking Judge
Our ever so
wise advisors:
Jim
Melton
Jim
Melton has been involved in Shelties since 1969 and got serious about
obedience in 1975 when he acquired a Peter grandson from Connie
Hubbard's Astolat Kennels. That Sheltie, Merlin, became the
first dog in the Rocky Mountain region to earn an OTCh, as well as the
third Sheltie in the country and among the first 25 dogs of any breed
to earn that title. Jim eventually became an AKC Obedience
Trial judge (now retired). He joined ASSA in 1992 and then
the ASSA Trials Committee after taking the job of raising performance
trophy donations for the ASSA National.
Jim and his wife, Barbara Edelberg, started Sheltie Rescue of Utah in
the mid '90s and have since rescued several hundred Shelties, spending
every last cent of their savings. Jim says that rescue is the
most rewarding thing he's ever done. He is a fervent
supporter of Shelties in performance events, and believes that every
Sheltie is capable of outstanding work in one or more areas.
He would prefer that a Ch title required at least one performance
title. Done what he could to assist AWSS in its formation,
his ultimate goal is to guide ASSA towards greater appreciation of the
breed's performance abilities, heal the rift, and avoid any possible
split in the breed.
Cheryl
Anderson
Cheryl
has been
exhibiting for 41 years (started in both performance and conformation
simultaneously) and judging conformation for AKC for 23
years.
She first owned an ASCA Aussie in 1961, never bred them but usually had
one around the place and judged for ASCA since 1978 (29
yrs). Pre-dogs she studied, had NSF grants, for work in
Comparative Evolution, had work study grants at L.A. County Museum of
Natural History on Dire Wolf team (where she learned canine anatomy)
and at Cal Tech Pasadena in the chromosome mapping lab.
Cheryl
also bred show fish during this time (yes, they have fish
shows).
When she got into dogs, she worked for a PHA handler in the late
1960's, then agent handled and professionally groomed. She
was
also part of the 1960's group that developed Flyball into a competitive
sport as part of Barbara Weatherwax's Dogs In Sports venue where
they did much promo work on TV, for charity, etc. to interest
people in getting involved with dogs on more than a beauty contest
level. Cheryl always had dogs who were natural
herders,
from her first sheltie on to this year's ASSA's Reserve HIT, and sold
many over the years as working ranch herders. She also has
had
top obedience workers and taught it for a couple of decades, mainly in
4-H. The all purpose dog has always been part of
her
life. Intelligence, biddability, drive, and physical ability
along with beauty have been norms in her dogs. She wouldn't
have
it otherwise. One of the best days she ever had was when the
same
dog went HIT and Group 1 on the same day. So don't tell her
they
can't do it all!
Carolyn
Ing
Carolyn has been involved in showing Shelties in conformation since 1989. Since then, together with a few co-owners, she has bred more than 20 Sheltie champions and finished several more bred by others. In 2001, her foundation bitch, BISS CH Malpsh Penny Serenade ("Penny"), earned her ROM, and four years later, Penny's daughter, CH Foxglove Ashburton Ingenue, earned hers. Penny’s son, CH Foxglove Ashburton Bottoms Up, achieved his ROM in 2007. Carolyn is a provisional AKC judge and is working towards regular status. Over the last few years she has also been training and competing in agility and has enjoyed the challenge of earning titles in a new venue.