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| Miqelon Shetland Sheepdogs Perm. Reg. is unique in that it is located in both Alberta and Saskatchewan. Denise Cornelssen heads up the Alberta side and Rhonda and Jenna Cruthers are the Saskatchewan side (the "real" working end of the relationship!). Miqelon was originally created by Denise and Joyce Wastle in 1981 and became Permanently Registered in 1984. Joyce passed on in April 1990, leaving the Canadian sheltie breeders with the Canadian Shetland Sheepdog Association as her "legacy" to the breed. Through her difficult times, she founded and ensured that our wonderful breed would be represented on a national basis. At this same time, Denise had already begun her education towards becoming a Canadian judge. She carried on with the breeding program in a limited fashion. Denise never did enjoy the "exhibiting" end of the dog show and had relied on Joyce for her expertise in this area. In 1986, Rhonda and Jenna Cruthers acquired a "show prospect" from Miqelon. From that day forward, Rhonda and Jenna became a large part of Joyce and Denise's dog show life. When Joyce died, Denise realized that she would no longer be able to show and judge as well, she approached Rhonda and Jenna to see if they would be interested in forming a partnership under the Miqelon banner. This was accomplished in 1993. A very young, but enthusiastic Jenna entered the ring as the "exhibitor" at this time with Rhonda's support and her family's encouragement. As a result of her 1st. experience at the age of 8 years old in the show ring, Jenna was "bit" so to speak. This experience was winning Best in Show with her bi-blue bitch Quicha. Since then, Jenna has gone on to finish many Miqelon champions and represented Canada as our top junior handler in 2000 at Crufts. Miqelon is very proud to have bred several Best in Show and High in Trial Dogs in all colors. The first Canadian bred bi-black and bi-blue Best in Show dogs carry the Miqelon name. The first Canadian bred Am./Can. Ch. bi-black Sheltie was Miqelon bred. He was also an OT Ch. in Canada and had acquired his CDX in the US. Another of the Miqelon dogs was an 8X Best in Show winner. Miqelon acquired their first sable-merle in 1994. He has since gone on towin the most awards ever, by a sable merle in the history of the breed. We hope that Miqelon will carry on through Jenna, who at the end of her handling career plans on entering veterinary college and carrying on her interest in that field. | |||||||
