June 23, 2010 Warren, MI .Sportsmen’s Dog Training Club of Detroit
Today our Milana (Midnight Solo Unity for Zastava) went to AKC Canine Good Citizen Test and passed it with flying colors!
Milana was excellent at all exercises  and really impressed the evaluators by her results being just 5 month old! We are so proud of you, baby!
We did not resieve a certificate from AKC yet, but got one form the club!

June 12-13, 2010 Durham NC, Carolina Canine Pet and Performance, UKC Rally Trials.
4 Rally Obedience Trials through this weekend were very fruitful for Macha and Riki again. Macha finished her URO1 by getting third QS with 97, then went to URO2 and finished Advanced Rally level in UKC with scores 98(3rd in class),98(4th in class) and 92!
Now Macha’s full name is Multi CH. Zastva Bride of War, CGC, RN, RA, RE, BHI, URO1, URO2!
Riki finishes her URO2 too and at the last trial with score 98 she became HIT(High in Trail- the dog with the best score and time through all classes)!!! CONGRATULATIONS!

June 12, 2010 Mount Bryges, ON All Breed Temperament Test
We are proud to report that our Liza (Russian Pride Midsummer Night, CGC) successfully passed Temperament Test (by Temperament Test Associates) at the age of 13 month old! Congratulations to Liza’s owners Bryan Rains and Julie Allen –Rains!
This Saturday we want to Canada to the Temperament Test which was by Midnight Solo Training Academy. All together 16 dogs of different breeds were participating for TT Certification. We had 8 BRTs and 8 dogs of other working breeds.11 teams passed the test. Our congratulations to all 8 BRT who returned to homes with their TT certificates!

The event that was planned and organized by Zastava and Midnight Solo Kennels for the Black Russian Terrier Club of America turned out great!
BRT owners and people who just wanted to investigate the breed arrived from cities in Michigan, Ontario, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida and even Arizona! All together we had 50 people with 25 BRTs of different ages. Our National Breed Club was represented by BRTCA Vice- President Marilyn Powell and BRT Rescue Association coordinator Chris Maduri.


  All the work which was done- contacts with parks and hotels, letter to companies for donations, organizing, shopping and cooking for Fun Day’s lunch, advertising of the event and of course preparation of many different BRT performances was paid back by the wonderful celebration of the breed and raising of a significant sum for BRT rescue!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW FULL REPOERT ABOUT THE EVENT.

May 27, 2010 New addition to Zastava!
Wa are happy to introduce newest addition to our kennel - Zastava Vesna of Midnight Solo (Anushka)! Anushka is a daughter of our Urs, was born in Midnight Solo kennel  this spring and this is what her name Vesna means on Russian.
Our best wishes to Anushka’s owner Suzanne Smith! Suzanne, we know that Anushka is doing wonderful in her new home, thank you for your excellent care of our baby girl!

May 13-14, 2010 Perry, GA
Crossroads of Georgia AKC Cluster Show.
Columbus Kennel Club, Southeast Alabama Kennel Club.
Our youngest AKC Champion Macha (AKC Ch.Zastava Bride of War, CGC,RE,BHI)was shown on Thursday  and became Select Bitch for 5 points ( one of the three required "majors") toward her AKC Grand Champion title. Not bad for a year and two weeks old puppy! Great job, Macha!!!
Macha’s brother Karu (AKC Ch.Zastava Barhat Nochi) on Thursday and Friday has made first steps toward his working titles. First Karu went and successfully passed AKC Good Citizen Test (AKC CGC)  then after that Karu had two AKC Rally Obedience trials , qualified both times and got two legs for his AKC RN title! Excellent! Congratulations to Karu and William on their first working experience!
Our warmest greetings to Edea Calwell and William Lynn, owners of Macha and Karu, we are so proud of you guys!

May 7 &9, 2010  Middle Georgia Kennel Club UKC Shows.
Our Macha (Ch.Zastava Bride of War,CGC,RE,BHI) started to work on her United Kennel Club Championship.
These 4 conformation shows (2 shows on Friday and 2 on Saturday) were done by Macha with an excellent results- 4 x Best of Breed, 2 x 2nd in Guardian group! Great job!
Macha already earned all 100 points UKC requires for the title and only one more competition win she needs for finishing her UKC Championship! Go, Macha! Our congratulations to Edea Caldwell!

May 2, 2010 London ON.
Urs’s and Sadie puppies are 5 weeks old!
Click here to see the pictures of the litter.

May 1, 2010 Happy Birthday to Zastava’s “B” Litter!
Our warmest greetings and best wishes to puppies of our “B” litter who turned today 1 year old! Karu , William, Macha, Izzy and Charlie,puppies of our Nika - Happy Birthday to all of you! We wish you to grow happy and healthy and bring love and smiles to your owners!

April 15-17, 2010 Perry, GA , AKC  Peach Blossom Cluster
Valdosta Kennel Club & Atlanta Kennel Club



This show weekend our  Macha (Ch.Zastava Bride of War,CGC,RA) started to celebrate her coming birthday with new impressive achievements !
Macha finished next level of AKC Rally Obedience- Rally Excellence! Through 3 Rally Trials she earned 3 x QS (88,91, 98 out of 100) has been placed 2 x 1st and  1 x 2nd in Rally Excellence A Class! HURRAY!

April 14,2010 London,ON, Canada
We went to Canada to see how Urs's and Sadie puppies are growing.
They are absolutely amazing and doing great!

Click here to see pictures of 3 weeks old litter.

February 26-27, 2010, Warren MI , Sportesmen’s Dog Training Club of Detroit,Inc., AKC Rally Trials
Our first working trial of this year brought new starts for all three of us: for Liza it was her first Rally trail in her life, for Urs it was first step toward Rally Advanced Excellence (RAE) title, the top level of AKC Rally and for me as a handler it was first trail in B stream which is for experienced handlers.
On Friday  Urs(Strazh Zastavy Urs iz Eniseiskoi Gunernii) went to Excellent B and Advanced B classes and with 2QS and scores 90 out of 100 and 97 out of 100 got his first leg toward RAE title. Unfortunately Saturday morning Urs hurt his foot while walking on ice and could not be shown after that.
Our 8 month old Liza (Russian Pride Midsummer Night) went to Novice B classes both days of the trial and showed absolutely amazing working abilities! On Friday she didn’t make any wrong move and got her first Rally Novice led with score 100 out of 100!We didn’t get any placement in class because of our speed and very high competition (26 dogs in class) but on Saturday we worked it out and got not only her second leg with score 100 out of 100 but also 1st place in Rally Novice R class!
 It was a huge pleasure to work with her! Our congratulation to Liza’s owners Julie and Bryan on Liza’s wonderful results and special thanks for their great job on Liza’s training!

February 20-21, 2010 Marietta, GA  
IABCA 2010 Peach State Sieger Event (4 x International All Breed Canine Association Shows )

 February 13, 2010 Atlanta GA, Grooming seminar and Zastava’s meeting.


I will never forget this flight to Atlanta.Detroit’s airport was totally stuffed after 2 days flight delays and cancellations due to snow storm and going in time, through hundreds and hundreds people in front of check-in decks looked impossible. I only made it probably because I knew that my BRT friends are waiting for me in Atlanta! But after all the difficulties of my trip the rest of my visit went just amazing.


On Saturday, Feb 13, we met with BRT owners and had our grooming seminar which was hosted by Amanda and John Ellery in their house. And though several people could not join because of bad roads after snowstorm, we had absolutely great time! It was wonderful to meet old and new friends and see their BRTs and I have to say that I was impressed by quality of Georgian Black Russian Terriers.
The seminar went in very friendly atmosphere and with many good questions, everybody showed big interest to improve their grooming skills and I was more then glad to share my knowledge in BRT grooming. And what a wonderful dinner we had after the seminar!


One more time thanks to Amanda and John Ellery for their hospitality, to Shar Huffstutler for the pictures I am posting here and to my good friend Edea Caldwell who not only put the event together, but also was taking wonderful care of me! Thanks to Robin and Charles Keeling and William Lynn for coming to the meeting through horrible weather, I enjoyed your company and your dogs so much!


For me very important part of grooming seminar was also meeting with twoof Zastava’s puppies Karu amd Macha and their owners William Lynn and Edea Caldwell.
It was so nice to meet grown up Macha and Karu, whom I didn’t see from last summer.
Now I am happy to know how wonderfully they are turning out and most of all how beloved they are!


Dear friends, it was such a pleasure to meet all of you, thanks for your love to the breed, for your energy and for your dedication! I am looking forward to see you at National in Kentucky this year!

Click here to view more pictures

January 22-23, 2010 Novi, MI OaklandCounty Kennel Club,Inc., AKC
These days became a show start for our youngest Zastava’s BRT, Liza (Russian Pride Midsummer Night).And even though she was only the BRT entered at the show and didn’t get any points, she did excellent in the ring and got not only many good comments from judges but also A LOT of attention from spectators!
But beside of show practicing we also has an important event for 7 month old Liza- AKC Canine Good Citizen Test (AKC CGC) which Liza passed with flying colors and spectators applauses!
We’d like to thank Liza’s owners Bryan Rains and Julie Allen for spending so much time and energy on Liza’s training, I went with Liza to the test ring and was really enjoying working with her! Great job!

January 3, 2010 Malibu, CA  Drummond Ranch ,”Instinct Test” for herding
Very interesting news and pictures we have got from Mark Uhalley, owner of our Izzy (Zastava Bright Star of The North,a daughter of our Radzivil’s Dominika Sasha) who live in sunny California.
This Sunday Mark took Izzy to the Drummon Ranch to famous AKC herd judge Janna Duncan to do an “Instinct Test” for herding.
This preliminary evaluation to see if the dog is capable to herd is necessity before a real herding training
Mark said: “This was her first time to ever see a sheep, but Izzy did do very well! She naturally went out there and was able to herd the sheep. She really had a great time, so I am considering going back for the lessons!”
Thank you, Mark, for sharing your experience and photos with us, they are really showing us one of many BRT’s versatilities! I know many people will enjoy the pictures and may be somebody will go with their BRT and try herding!
to view full photo report about Izzy's adventure, click here

Zastava’s 2009 annual report
2009 was a busy and interesting year for us. We, with our BRTs, were part of many events, shows and working trials and are happy to report our achievements:
Pink and Urs both successfully passed an official Temperament Test (TT),
Urs excelled in AKC Rally and finished 3 levels of Rally -Rally Novice(RN), Rally Advanced (RA) and Rally Excellence(RE) and gets ready to go on the last level of Rally- Rally Advanced Excellence.
2 BRTs of Zastava kennel- Nika and Urs  passed all 5 health tests : Hips, Elbows, Patellar, Cardiac and CERF (eyes) in OFA and had earned their CHIC(Canine Health Information Center) numbers.
Nika was bred this year and delivered an absolutely wonderful litter in May of 2009. Nike proved herself as a excellent producer and her owner Johnna Bradfiel did a great job on raising the litter!
Two puppies out this litter- Macha and Karu became amazing additions to our kennel and we were happy to greet new members of our Zastava team Edea Caldwell and William Lynn!
Macha has started her show/working career immediately at 6 months old and by the end of 2009 beside her first show wins and first points toward AKC Championaship had passed AKC Canine Good Citizen Test (AKC CGC) and finished first title in AKC Rally-Rally Novice(RN)!
Karu was working hard in his training classes in the end of the 2009 and already has made his first steps on show ring in January of 2010, we have very high hopes for him!
Another great addition to our cannel is Liza (Russian Pride Midsummer Night). Liza, the second BRT of Pink’s owners Julie Allen and Bryan Rains. Liza is a successful student of Sportsmen’s Training Club of Detroit, has finished several classes and gets ready for her show and working career.
And even though Pink’s owners were busy with raising Liza, Pink didn’t lose her shape and successfully passed TDI test(Therapy Dog International).
Zastava BRTs introduced the breed in Pet Parade of Dog Bowl 2009 (MI) and were a part of BRT Fun Day in Canada(London, ON).
For me personally in  2009, besides work with Urs, was a lot of work for BRT Community and National Club (BRTCA).
There were 2 grooming seminars-one in Canada (May 2009) which was done by Midnight Solo and Zastava Kennels, another grooming seminar I have done for BRTCA National Specialty Show (September 2009 in OR),ther at the National I was also a part of AKC Judges Education for two days.
I finished and published BRT Grooming Manual “Shaping the Shadow” on which I was working for many months.
In summer of 2009 AKC recognized the new breed standard for Black Russian Terriers and being a Member of Standard Committee I am very proud of our work.
In October 2009 I signed BRTCA Cod of Ethic and became MEMBER OF BRTCA ETHICAL BREEDER PROGRAM
Yes, 2009 was eventful and fulfilling but also extremely sad. Me and Alex had a great loss in our family - our beloved William (Multi Ch. William Edward Dale )passed away this summer…There no words to describe our grief. But beside of my loss, beside the fact that I am missing William in every single day of my life, I will be always proud of him. William served to the breed very well and will live on in his progeny.
All I can say is that I’ll do my best to keep William’s legacy in our kennel.

I’d like to thanks all the owners of Zastava BRTs for their dedication , care and endless love to their blackies! It is joy to work with all of you, guys!