Oshie, a MAS from Magrath, Alberta, won the 2022 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show last month with a commanding victory.
At the famous competition in New York City, the puppy, formally known as Alta Oceans Symphony of the Seas, took home the best of opposite sex award in the best of breeds division.
To perfect a lineage and win a title at Westminster, Valerie Nilsson, owner, and breeder of Alta Miniature American Shepherds said it takes years of breeding.
“You want to confront good dogs, and if you can defeat the good dogs, that’s saying a lot,” Nilsson said.
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Four other dogs had qualified for Nilsson’s previous Westminister champion titles, but this is her first.
Having bred champion MAS for more than ten years, Nilsson remarked, “It’s been incredibly thrilling and satisfying.
“This breed has been in my family since I was a young child, but they weren’t the lovely animals I’m rearing now.”
She began breeding miniature Australian shepherds after falling in love with the somewhat larger toy breed. The breed couldn’t compete or have its category in shows because it wasn’t registered with the American Kennel Club (AKC).
The renowned Westminster Dog Show will feature a Calgary dog on June 1, 2022.
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She was responsible for getting them registered with the AKC from 2011 to 2015. The certification process required a name change to tiny American shepherds.
She hopes that soon the breed will be recognized by the Canadian Kennel Club so that they can compete on home soil.
Since she began competing in 2011, her dogs have taken home more than 48 championships. They have received prizes in South America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia, and the United States.
Nilsson added, “That’s telling me that my breeding program is heading in the right direction. “I suppose I’d have to redesign the entire program if they weren’t winning.”
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In five years, Nilsson hopes to retire and find a successor who shares her love for the business.
You need to know your lines and how to breed, so I suppose that’s where I have to have some confidence that someone will accept it and use it, said Nilsson.
Via: Global News