In late 2015, we began looking for a dog that would suit our families many different needs. (Help in the pasture, with chickens, companionship, etc) We studied through many breeds and their characteristics. We’d already had an Aussie/Lab who had wanted to nip at everyone heels-we knew we didn’t want that!
We didn’t want another dog that did nothing but annoy the neighbors (like the beagle/Jack Russell cross we’d had!) We wanted a dog with reason and purpose who would also be a part of our family.
We also like Heritage breeds of animals. We raise Nubian Goats, Tunis Sheep, and Brahma (We’ve had dark, light and buff) Chickens. We like the old varieties and enjoy preserving them.
One day while looking on the local Craigslist, we saw a female English shepherd and her pups. Someone commented she was pretty, but we thought nothing of it. Later on that week, Dad had been googling something along the lines of “farm or herding dogs breeds.” We couldn’t tell you what site we found it on, but somewhere the name “English Shepherd” popped up.
Dad asked, “What is that?” A couple of us remembered seeing that earlier ad and went to the site it had listed. We were pretty impressed with what we read! Not only were they beautiful, but they seemed like exactly what we were looking for!
After much, much more research, we called the breeder on that first ad -her puppies were all spoken for. We had the same experience several times. These puppies didn’t last long. We set some alerts and waited to get instant notifications from them.
We also happened to see a dog when we went to town, who was a beautiful tri color. We had a hunch, and turned out, yes! She was an English Shepherd. The owner told us (“You’ve probably never heard of this breed before, but she’s an English Shepherd…..”) she had gotten her from a friend, a breeder in Xenia, OH. The owners just happened to be traveling through IN! She was beautiful and had a great temperament. We were excited to meet our first!
Finally one day, in February 2016, we got a notification…and the breeder wasn’t but a couple hours from us. We immediately got on the website, looked over the available puppies, picked our favorite (which was restricted, as we all wanted a full tail, and most were bobtailed) got on the phone and reserved a 3wk old puppy. We made the mistake of not getting to know or talk to the breeder very much beforehand. We didn’t ask much about her socialization techniques or rearing of the litter. We hadn’t even thought of asking these questions.
This was the beginning of a disheartening experience. No matter how much time and energy we put into our puppy, we could not seem to reverse the socialization she missed in the first months of her life. We talked to several different ES Breeders and members of the club. We even did “puppy probation”, which Tish Toren suggested we do, with her.
After 2 hard nips on our 2yr. old, we decided enough was enough! We found her a childless home where she had lots of room to run and live out her life helping on a goat farm. (She was great with animals!)
But now we were ‘dogless’ again.
We had a decision to make- try another breed, not get another dog at all, or give the breed another shot.
Needless to say, we decided to give them another shot, and we’re glad we did!
After some searching, we found a family who raised them fairly local. We asked LOTS of questions and looked over the pedigrees to see what the lines were known for. We chose our pup, “Muddy Paws” who we renamed ‘Hevra Josephine’ at six weeks old. After a visit to the farm (we did not bring her home then) we did a thorough look over of the litter and chose which pup seemed like it would best suit our needs. We also asked to breeder to give her some special socialization, including putting her on her back daily, taking her about doing chores, etc, which they gladly did.
Around that time, the original breeder we had seen, announced another litter. The parents were both still some of our favorites we had seen in all our research. And they were only an hour away. So, after some reading and consideration, we visited, looked over that litter, and chose our male, “Henry” whom we renamed Ranger. Neither breeder we chose matched pups with new owners. We had to figure it out. We thought Ranger would compliment our other pup and that he suited our family well.
In Ecc. 4:9 it says, “two are better than one”. We heartily agree! Although there is some controversy on this, we have had a good experience. They are not ‘inseparable’ or ‘unstable’ without the other. We also have 16 people in our family, so we had the time to train them separately.
About a year and a half later, we traveled to TN to bring home a little red sable female, “Blessing” who would become “Cheyenne”. We wanted to bring in some different bloodlines that weren’t abundant in our area, (which was Indiana, at the time) and really like her 3rd great grandsire, Carol Greet’s Lucas, as well as her grandsire, Joanna Phillip’s Banjo. Her dam is from the Guy Wilson line, which we had also heard good things about.
We’ve enjoyed our dogs, and sharing them with others through their puppies. They assist us daily, whether is it morning and evening chores, dispatching varmints, or just giving comfort to someone in need. (Ranger is so good at detecting someone having a hard day!)
In the spring of 2022, we decided to add another ES to our farm.
We knew we wanted this female to be a helper with the livestock, as well as a good companion and future breeder, with strong, working bloodlines that were not too closely related to Ranger’s, but still carried the traits we like in our dogs.
Both in the beginning of our search for an English Shepherd, years ago, and over the years, we have liked the look, and temperament, of the De Butcher line of dogs, particularly Julia Downs ‘Under the Rainbow’ strain out of Kansas. We would see an ES we thought was a nice-looking dog, and it would be from that line! We’d also had other folks who bought pups from us, who had her dogs, or their descendants. We talked with another breeder whose family bought their first ES from her, and loved him, for all the reasons we find our dogs useful! We would have loved to get one from her, but sadly, Julia died from cancer a few years ago. So we were on the lookout for one with her lineage in the parent dogs.
Each litter we checked with, didn’t end up working out for one reason or another! One had all females spoken for at birth; another the dam lost her pup, minus one, who the owner decided to keep. Eventually, we thought we would just get a grandpup from one of our favorite daughters of Hevra’s. But……
After a long series of events, Mia, “Miracle Mia” was born in June of 2022. “Miracle” because of everything that happened in the events leading up to her arrival here! From the way we found her breeder, her location, to her dams age (9), her breeder being willing to ‘naturally rear’ her for us, to her being the only surviving female in the litter of 8. God answered our prayers in every way, to bring her into our program, and we are very thankful to Mia’s breeder for the time and effort she put into raising this fine pup. And yes, she has the ‘Under the Rainbow’ lineage…..her sire was bred by Julia. We wanted to reflect this lineage, which is the reasoning behind that part of her registered name. She, like Ranger, also carries the Beebe bloodlines from her dams side, as well as Cedar Creek. Both Midwestern bred lines. She is already showing a lot of interest in the stock….we are trying hard to hold her back until she is 6 months old to start her training!
That’s our English Shepherd Story! We want to continue this breed that has brought much joy and been a blessing to our family…All for the Glory of the Father!
Town & Country ES 