Get to know us

Ceilidh (pronounced Kay-Lee) Flat-Coated Retrievers is situated on 12 acres in Northwestern Pennsylvania near Lake Erie.  Our Flat-Coats live in our home and are members of our family.   We train and successfully compete in conformation, obedience, rally, agility, and field.  As an AKC Breeder of Merit, we breed for quality, striving for excellence when we have an occasional litter.  Each breeding is thoughtful and purposeful… health, temperament, conformation, and type are paramount.  We do health screening on all our dogs (hips, elbows, patellas, and eyes), and the clearances are registered on the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) database.

We entered the world of dogs with a yellow Labrador Retriever named Ben in 1990, training mostly in obedience, field, and tracking, as well as volunteering with therapy dog visits.  Another yellow Labrador Retriever named Morgan followed adding all-breed shows to our activities.  In 1994, at a hunt test fun match in Northern Indiana, we watched several Flat-Coats run in the field that day.  I remarked they were the most elegant retrievers I had ever seen and someday we would share our lives with one. 

We welcomed our first Flat-Coat, Piper, in 1999.  And so it began…our journey with Flat-Coats.  Jet, Piper’s nephew, came next.  Eventually, we found ourselves competing in agility too!  In 2008, Ceilidh Flat-Coated Retrievers was established with the welcomed addition of our foundation bitch Eve.  In addition to having day-to-day fun with our dogs as well as competing in dog activities, we belong to and support the Flat-Coated Retriever Society of America, Erie Kennel Club, Admiral Perry Obedience Training Club, and Presque Isle Retriever Club.

Betsy Cameron Olson & Dave Olson