New Arrivals

The first batch of English Shepherd puppies has arrived - Fahey and Ailagh are the proud parents of Ten beautiful, vigorous babies! Born on October 21st there are 6 females, 4 males, in Tricolor and Black & Tan.

These are very special Puppies to us, being our 2nd generation of Naturally Reared dogs. We are accepting applications, so contact us to request one if interested.

Follow the weekly PDF updates at http://englishshepherds.webs.com/2013litters .

Danger of Ashes

We feel impelled to issue a warning, to spare other dogs and families this heartbreak.

Many people have recreational fire pits around which they enjoy relaxing time with family and friends. In the country people also have burn piles where wood and debris from around their property is burned. What most people aren’t aware of is the danger the resulting ashes present to one’s dog. It was our tragedy to learn this firsthand in the recent death of our precious dog Liam.

Consuming ashes is, at the least, extremely harmful to dogs. Most folks do not know that the old time way of acquiring lye for soap making is to leach water through hardwood ashes. The leachate is lye, a dangerously caustic substance, both internally and externally. However, even the ash of non-hardwoods when soaked with water will produce a severely caustic substance. If an unknown quantity of wet ashes and/or the soil underneath is ingested by a dog it causes acute alkalosis. In other words, the dog’s ph drops too low, too fast for its body to recover and acts like a toxin, killing the dog within a couple days. The dog suffers miserably. We know.

What can you do to prevent it? For fire pits- keep it cleaned of ashes, being extra careful after rainfall or if the fire pit gets saturated from a sprinkler. Keeping it securely covered so your dog can’t rifle through it would work also, especially if food is roasted in the fire there could be attractive smelling drippings in the ashes. For burn piles- do not bury anything that might attract a dog, like bones or spoiled food of any kind since dogs are scavengers. If possible, somehow block off a dogs’ access to it completely.

What if your dog does ingest ashes? We were told if you suspect your dog ate ashes to dose him/her internally with hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting. This will not be easy or pleasant, but it’s the only thing that can be done. If your dog acts ill or vomits before you suspect, it’s too late to do anything. That’s what happened to Liam.

Please, spread the word about this danger. Safeguard your dogs without delay. 

And then give them an extra hug in memory of our sweet Liam. Cherish every precious moment with them!

Sweet Liam

As the morning sun kissed the treetops greeting a new day, our Sweet Liam went to sleep for the last time. It was July 18, 2013, he was two years old.

There is an enormous hole in our life and hearts.

Souls come into your life touching it so deeply in such a short period of time that you are never the same again. Liam was just such a Soul.

He was an “old Soul”, wise beyond his years. He could look right into your heart with those amber eyes! Those same eyes could see your pain, and without so much as a glance his way hinting to the need for it, he would come in his quiet manner and gently give comfort.

There is a flower called Sweet William. The name Liam is the Irish form of William. Our nickname for him was Sweet Liam. It fit. His name also means “guardian”. From the beginning we said he was the guardian of our hearts. He knew he came to heal our broken hearts and he did, on a daily basis, bringing joy with his beautiful happy face. Now our hearts are broken over the loss of him.

He was the most loving dog we’ve ever known. Sure, he wanted attention, but he also gave it readily. “Loves” we called it, leaning in and burying his head in our chest (or armpit), or resting his chin on our shoulder, cheek to cheek. He loved being kissed on the head!

Liam appointed himself the Ranch guardian. He had the most amazing resonating, booming bark! We could literally hear him 1 mile away at our friend’s house! He warned off coyote many times, cougar, and also black bears. When Liam was on duty they dared not come close! We feel a little less protected and cared for without his presence. We listen for that reassuring voice to no avail.

Every time we realize we’ll never see him again it feels like a sickening punch in the gut. At the same time, we have his son Fahey who resembles him in many ways. In fact, all of Liam’s puppies have a strong resemblance to him. It is bitter sweet to catch glimpses of him through them. Oh, are we ever thankful he gave them to us! Fahey learned by his side to be a good guardian, and he has been from the tender age of 10 weeks. We know he will carry on in his sire’s footsteps with pride.

The death of two truly amazing English Shepherd males in as many years is a lot to endure. Humbled with gratitude for sharing life with them for a spell, in their honor and memory we forge ahead to give back to this incredible breed in the way of healthy, happy pups.

Sweet Liam, we miss you boy. You will always be in our hearts and a part of our life.

Introducing...

... the newest addition to our English Shepherd pack… Highland Glenn’s Blackrock Ailagh! 

Ailagh is a beautiful Black & Tan female who came to us by way of her owner/breeder whose life circumstances changed dramatically. She needed to find a home for Ailagh in which she could blossom contentedly. Interestingly enough, we had hoped to get a female from Ailagh’s litter (knowing the cross with Liam’s lines would be a good one) but decided to keep one of our puppies. Isn’t it funny how things happen? 

We are simply tickled pink to have her! Ailagh (pronounced AY-la) and Fahey met last fall, hitting if off right away. Well they are the best of mates now!

Ailagh is Naturally Reared like our dogs so will expand our line of Naturally Reared English Shepherds.

Mild Weather

  

  The winter, and 2012, is officially upon us. In our area winter begins around the end of October with temperatures in the teens at night and the thirties during the day. Yet, it’s been surprisingly mild. It began like gangbusters the first part of November with 10 or so inches of snow in November and high temps in the mid 20’s. Then in December, and even this month already, we experienced a couple days in the 40’s (at night barely below freezing), which melted much of the snow, except of course the snow in the trees like where our trailer is parked. Even pouring rain and a couple nights we were too warm for sleeping comfortably! The freeze at night however turned the now slush into a sheet of ice, everywhere. Thankfully it then snowed enough to get traction with both boots and tires. So staying warm in a t.t. hasn’t been too difficult thus far.

  The straw bales help enormously! Even on the lowest morning of 5 degrees. Although that morning the water lines to the kitchen sink did freeze because they run right under the front door and we didn’t have a bale there. Tom remedied that immediately. And the valves to dump the tanks froze up so Tom wrapped them with heat tape. Problem solved. A 7-8 gallon tank of propane lasts about 1-1/2 weeks, that’s with all of our cooking, baking, and hot water usage. Not bad, eh. If need be we have a portable camp wood stove we could set up for cooking, etc. out of doors.

  We sure miss wood heat, though. That’s OK; it just keeps us looking forward to when we’re in our snug little cabin home relying on good ole Stanley for all such needs.    ;)    There sure has been some gorgeous hoarfrost, though (in the photo).

  The new pup, Liam, is doing wonderfully! He is going to be such a good dog. The cattle are well; the cat is good; our dog Greer is great. In short, we're all just fine! Hope you are, too!