3 Girls Available

I have three great little girls availables.

Happy, Cleo and Jewel

You can read about them and see videos and pics on my new blog at
www.blog.englishshepherdcentral.com

Hope you will visit my website also to learn more about English Shepherds at
www.englishshepherdcentral.com

New Puppies

Birth Announcement

Ringo and Gabby had 7 new puppies born March 13, 2008

There are 6 girls and 1 boy. Everyone is doing fine.

New Pups Arrive Feb 12, 2006

Gabby and her daughter, Daisy, both had pups on February 12, 2007.

Gabby had 12 pups.. 4 girls and 8 boys. Gabby was a perfect Mom and had her pups in a crate in the lab. Everything went perfect.

Daisy had 5 pups ..2 girls and 3 boys! This was a surprise! We diden'tt know she was pregnant till the last minute. She was working cows, jumping around acting normal. And then we realized her teats were swollen. She decided to have her pups under the old bush hog in the woods.. one of her favorite spots as a pup. Unable to dig them out, we had to wait till she thought they were ready to be seen.


At about 3 weeks we moved Gab and her pups to a stall in the main barn. Daisy thought that was a keen idea and decided to move her pups into the next stall down.


What a sight! The pups are now up and about. Yesterday after pictures we built a play yard for the pups and turned both litters in together.

Corley's Jack

Corley's Jack is closely related to Ringo. Both dogs have the same mom, Princess and their sires are full brothers.

Over the years, we have heard repeatedly from Bill Corley about how pleased he is with Jack. Our last update just after the New Year, 2007, is

"We are doing great and Jack is three and a great dog."

For more information about Jack, visit the website

http://www.mofoxtrot.com/twinspringsfarm/shepherds.htm

Drugs to avoid during Pregnancy and Nursing

Here is great source for drugs to avoid during pregnancy and nursing.

My philosophy is to avoid all drugs if I can during the 62 days of pregnancy. I try and vaccinate if necessary prior to breeding. Also I try to deworm prior to breeding but, as we all know, stuff happens..

There is also the risk of drugs passing into the milk and affecting puppies while they are being nursed.

This page, by Dr. Holly Nash, includes all sort of drugs from dewormers to salves to antiobiotics. Note that there is a column for "Safety Studies in Dog not Available" . Be sure to check that column when checking on the safety of a product.

I have found that this information contradicts some of the advise given by my local vets especially when it comes to dewormers.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=0&cat=1303&articleid=856

Whelping Advice

Even though I have been breeding dogs for 35 years, I, oftentimes, feel like the maid in "Gone With Wind" who exclaimed

" I don't know nothing about birthin' Miss Scarlet".

After years of foaling out mares and studying Equine Reproduction, I feel like I know a little about broodmares but brood bitches ... help..

I frequently search the internet for birthing information

For those in the same shape as I offer the successful fruits of my internet search.

RX for Whelping and Ceasarians by Barbara J. Andrews is full of good advise. Ms. Andrews also provides an insight into the natural needs and behavior of the whelping bitch.

Timing Is Everything: Breeding Strategies and the Estrous Cycle, Part 1 Part 2 written by Arliss Paddock is also full of good information for the breeder. It is available on the American Kennel Club website.

I think both these articles dispel the notion that you can pre-determine the breeding date for your girls. I still get calls from folks that want to breed their dog on the 11th and 17th day after they come in heat.

It just doesn't work like that.

Interestingly, some horse folks think the same way. They think they are going to breed their foaling mare on the 12th day after foaling. That only works if she is ovulating on 1th day. It is all about the individuality of the female.

In horses, we are lucky because we can watch the egg on the ovary and see when it is going to ovulate. In dogs, we have to follow our instincts just like we used to have to do with horses.

Listen to the stud dog. He is the best indicator of when the girl is ready to bred. I breed my dogs very much like we bred horses.

I give the male the opportunity to breed the female. Sometimes this is quite a while because some stud dogs like some stud horses only want to breed under certain circumstances. For example, some males doesn't want to bred when people are around or they only like to breed at night.

If the male covers the female, I skip a day and try to bred her again. I continue this program until they no longer are interested in breeding.

If she doesn't accept him the first day, I give them the opportunity to breed every day until the first breeding, then I skip every other day till the end of the breeding period.

Ultimately, it is about knowing a lot about the breeding attitudes of your stud dog and the breeding females.

Foothill Sam (Ringo's maternal great-grandfather)

Foothill Sam died December 30, 2001. I had the pleasure of spending the last six weeks of his life with him. He was the epitome of what an English Shepherd should be.

Linda Satterfield was generous enough to let me have Sam for his final days. We hoped that he might be able to father pups out our our female Tessa. Unfortunately it did not happen. Instead Sam spent his last days on our farm helping us feed horses, gather cows and train cutting horses. He always asked if he was doing what was right. If he was making an incorrect move, he was always ready to learn how to make it right.

He never complained and tried to get along with all the rest of the dogs. At nine years of age, he could jump into a wagon stacked 3 hay bales high and balance on the top bale. He would drop down and "shepherd crawl" around the cows. We saw nothing that would indicate that he was in any way impaired in his movement.

Sam began to go down shortly before Christmas - and was diagnosed as having kidney failure. Still every day, Sam would come to the arena and help work the cows however he could. Some days he would hold a corner. When that got too much, he would come and lay in the middle of pen and bark at the cows if they tried to escape past him.

Sam did not want to die. He fought hard and would not give up. I would be proud for someone to say that I had as much kindness, generous, willingness and heart as Sam had. Sam and I worked hard to overcome his condition. The day Foothill Sam died was the day the breed lost one of the great ones. He is a dog I will never forget.

Libby, Queen of the Universe

Libby is Ringo's sister and owned by Karen Cline. Here is what Karen has to say about her:

Libby is certainly not the dog for everyone, but she is an incredible dog, in my opinion! She is a complex mix of traits with a very dominant alpha personality at the top of it all. She is the bossiest, most courageous dog I've ever known. However, her very wonderful biddability offers balance and makes her easy to work with - so long as you're someone for whom she has respect. She is exceptionally friendly toward all people, but she will not work or "perform" for just anyone. If she's not going to work for you, you'll probably think she's deaf. I have a son that she can't hear unless he has food in his hand. Sometimes she can't even see him if he doesn't have food in his hand. He doesn't understand much about dogs and Libby knows it and exploits it. LOL

If you don't know Libby, you might be inclined to think she didn't listen to anyone. When I correct her, she doesn't cower or give any physical sign of submission. It does not matter how strong the correction. Her response is more like, "Oh... gotcha!" However, it is obvious that she takes the correction to heart, as I rarely have to correct her twice. She would do just about anything to please me.

Her bossiness and dominance is reserved for the animal kingdom... and not people. She is incredible with children, despite the fact that we do not have any kids in our home. She proved herself as a protector of children when she was just 12 months old. We were at the ranch and out in the middle of the pasture, when she stopped my border collie from attacking my five year old neice (totally out of the blue). Libby saw what was happening and placed herself between Chim Cham and Maddie, and made Chim Cham back down. However, before the adults could get there, Chim Cham decided to try one more time. I yelled "DOWN!" but Chim Cham did not obey. Libby's enforcer personality came out immediately, and she put Chim Cham into a forced down and held her on the ground until I could get there. Chim Cham is much larger and more stockily built, but Libby had no problem putting her on the ground.... and no problem holding her there. By the way, Libby had only seen Maddie once or twice before... so this was about protecting "a" child rather than protecting "her" child.

In obedience class one night, a young, goofy golden retriever escaped from his handler and was doing "zoomies" all over the ring. We had an Aussie in the class that had dog agression issues, so many people were trying to catch the golden before he got too close to the Aussie. Libby watched several people dive for the golden, then in exasperation, ran across the ring (she'd been on a "wait" while I walked across the ring for a recall exercise), grabbed the golden, and held him for his handler. I was really afraid that she'd hurt him... but he didn't have a mark on him. She just wanted him to know that we *do not* run in class. LOL

Because Libby has such a strong enforcer personality, we have to be very careful of disciplining (or even correcting) other animals in front of her. She will take it upon herself to discipline the other animal for you. Heaven forbid you tell another dog it's "bad". She'll offer to spank it for you. She reminds me a bit of a mafia hit man... "You want I should handle it, boss??"

Libby can get along with other dogs if they are willing to accept that she is the reigning Queen of the Universe. The "problem" is that not every dog is willing to bow and scrape. :) She generally does not start fights - at least not in a way that is obvious to most people - but she will not back down from one. She does have a way of ticking off other dogs just by her presence, however, so I always have to watch with new dogs to make sure that things don't get out of hand. This was demonstrated recently at Lynda's farm when Libby accompanied us to pick up Melody. Things where going along pretty well, then all of a sudden there was a donnybrook with Gabby and Libby... and Ringo and Daisy jumped in to help. There are just signals between Libby and other dogs that are about impossible to see... until suddenly a hockey game breaks out. Lynda's lovely girl, Gabby, ended up with a pierced lip courtesy of Libby... but she gave as good as she got and Libby went home with a third nostril punched in her nose leather. LOL Fortunately, everyone was easily called off and it was over as quickly as it started.

Libby is not bothered by sights or sounds. She sits in the back yard watching fireworks on the 4th when all the rest of the dogs in the neighborhood have gone to hide. She'll look over at me with excitement as if to say, "Hey, did you see THAT one??" She's also not bothered by guns. I have only found one thing that frightened her - a 5' timber rattler and I think that it is a good thing of which to be afraid. However, even with the rattler, she did not run or back off - she just kept her distance while making sure that no one else accidentally got too close to it.

Libby has so many "gears" I don't know if I can describe them all. I have used her to move bulls that my border collie could not begin to work. She has all the grit you'll ever need for close work with large, rangy stock. Libby is a naturally low heeler, but she will go to the head when necessary. She doesn't bark much when working, but will if it is needed and will grip when it's appropriate. She definitely takes it down a notch when working sheep. She has caught and held chickens and rabbits for me when I needed help catching one. In those instances, she is super gentle and does not use her teeth, but holds them with her paws and/or lays on them. She tends to use her front feet a lot like hands. She uses her feet to open and close gates (and crates), which is quite funny to see. My son calls this tendency of hers "being foot-y". She also passed this trait to her daughter, Sera.

Because of Libby's strong personality, I have some challenges in choosing mates for her. I have to choose a dog that will temper the Queen of the Universe tendency, but maintain the excellent working qualities and the biddability. The combination of Boo and Libby was excellent in this respect. Boo has subsequently been neutered - and so there won't be more from that match. (No, despite a friend's attempts at starting a funny rumor, Libby did not neuter him herself ;) The combination of Libby and Sir is still in the "wait and see" stage since the pups are just now three months old. However, my initial observations of the litter and reports from their new owners are encouraging.

She is an incredible mother and it doesn't matter the species. She tried to raise the cat's kittens at the same time as she had a litter of 12 pups. Obviously, the lowly cat was just not equipped (in Libby's mind) to be as good a mother as Her Royal Libbyness. ;) We are very fortunate that our cat tolerates Libby being Libby. Libby has also been known to attempt to resuscitate a dead newborn rabbit, and when she failed to do so, she openly grieved for it.

While Libby is always friendly to people, there have been two times when she made it clear that she would take no prisoners if she thought I was in danger. On two different occasions, while walking along Tulsa's Riverparks trails just after sundown, I've encountered men that seemed to have bad intentions and they gave both Libby and I the "heebie geebies". She immediately went into protective mode and made it clear that if they got any closer, they might lose a limb. In both cases, they turned and went another way. I've never known if she was reading the men herself or if she was keying from my interpretation of their actions. It doesn't matter to me.... she's proven that she'd protect me, and I won't walk in the park without her unless is it broad daylight (and even then I take one or more of the dogs "just because").

Finally, I have to comment on her intelligence. She seems to understand **everything** I say... and she watches everything I do. I recently had told Sera (out of Libby by Rott's Boo) to go outside, but Sera had found something interesting to sniff and seemed not to hear me. I turned to Libby and said, "You need to go tell your daughter that I said to get herself outside!" I really didn't expect Libby to do anything.... I was just talking. However, she immediately left my side, went straight to Sera and gave her "the look". Sera dropped her head in submission and skeedaddled for the back door. Libby just looked at me and grinned. Smart alec!

I'm very grateful for having Libby in my life. Like I said, she's certainly not the dog for everyone, but we adore her.

--
Karen in Oklahoma
Concharty English Shepherds http://www.concharty.com