Romeo

The boy who inspired our breeding program

Romeo

RCH Romeo RM3 RAE5 CD HSs RATI SDIN

Although Romeo is a neutered back-yard-bred ACD and not officially part of our breeding program, he truly inspired it. His haphazard breeding and poor rearing as an infant puppy landed him as a hot mess in my lap. Now I can joke about the $400 to buy him and the $4,500 to train him over the first 3½ years of his life being in constant classes so we did not kill each other. It’s not that he was dangerous. He. Was. A. Lot.

We have worked a lot on his bad habits and OCD tendencies which has resulted in him being a pretty balanced dog today with many achievements I never dreamed of. He remains the “Fun Police” in the house. He’s been aging prematurely physically due to his poor conformation, early onset cataracts (age 5) and now dementia. Again, poster boy for why good breeding choices, health testing and a thoughtful rearing is important.

In 2017 at almost 5 years old Romeo was headhunted for the subplot on CBC’s Heartland (S11:E11) where he thrilled his TV Handlers with his stamina and drive. Though his film career started late he was still blessed to work on a UFA commercial, background on Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock and a few episodes on Fargo S5.

In competition he was ranked #6 all-breed dog in Canada in the CKC Rally Obedience standings for both 2018 and 2019. He was the first ACD to achieve a Rally Championship. Besides Rally, he also achieved his Obedience CD, Herding Started on Sheep, and base titles in Barn Hunt and Scent Detection. We had plans to continue our journey in herding as he loved it, however it became evident that his erratic behaviour in trials was due to his cataract vision impairment. It seemed that the combination of new environments and bright sunny days would cause him to panic with the movement of the sheep and he would grip inappropriately to control the movement his brain could not understand. This was an epiphany that came after many, many struggles not only in herding but other dog sports as well.

This boy has taught me so much about ACD “problem children” and dog training in general. I will be eternally grateful for the wild journey he took me on over the years.

PEDIGREE – Unknown

Titles & Awards

2017