Jaiaen's Brenna - Tribute to Rio

Mom, Garrett, and I went to the Northwest English Shepherd gathering with absolutely no intention of getting another dog. I had found out August 7 that my female, Quincy's hips were scored too low to breed again, so I was sort of on the look out for another female, but in the back of my mind I didn't think I would get one until Spring. In the breeder line up, one of the breeders introduced herself and her dogs, then she said "If any of you are interested, I know someone who has pups right now and they will be ready to go at the beginning of October." I was interested, so I talked to her about them, and then we took a detour to go look at pups. Now I had no intention on getting a black and white pup, as I like the other colors that English Shepherds have to offer, and I didn't want to have to answer the "is this a Border Collie?" question a million time. The ideal color that I wanted was clear Sable and White, imagine my excitement when we got there and there was a Clear Sable and White female, among mostly black and white pups (there were two tri, but black and white far out numbered the lot). I was so sure that this little girl was the one God wanted for me that I said ok I will take the pup, if she fits the temperament that I want. I talked with Jaiaen (the breeder of the litter) for quite some time about the pedigree, by then it was dark and we had a long way to go still. Jaiaen very generously offered us a cabin in the back of her property for us to spend the night in. The biggest problem with that was we had 3 dogs with us that are not inside dogs, but we gave it a shot, and they did really well...until about 5:30am. When I went outside to let them go to the bathroom I saw that Jaiaen was up and taking care of the puppies, so I went over to help. That's when I first started to notice this little black and white pup who wandered up to me and sat in my lap for a good half hour and cuddled. 

Anyway when the pups were 6 weeks old I heard from Jaiaen and she said that the best pup all around for breeding was the little black and white girl that cuddled with me. I almost said "well never mind then." But I felt bad because I kind-of jumped in with both feet, so come the first week of October we headed out to go get her. And I am so glad I did. She is exactly what I wanted all the way around for a female.

I had the name Fiona (meaning Fair haired and heart) all picked out for my next female, but it didn't exactly fit so all the way home we were trying to find another name for her. We came up with Brenna, meaning beautiful with hair black as a Raven, it fit a little better.

 Shortly after I got her, I went to help out at a local ranchers elk camp and took her along. She was exposed to a million new experiences and did really good as a whole. She is shy by nature so being exposed to 30+ men, elk, and just having one on one time  was really good for her.

 She was a little scared of the bigger dogs when we first brought her home, but she and Garrett's pup Xavier really hit it off and helped her get over it all. She still doesn't like Quincy and Conrad that much, but now its just pecking order.

I am so pleased with this girl, and am looking forward to watching her grow!

KC'S Xavier the Great

When we first found out that we had Shaded sables in this litter, mom wanted to name one Bronze. Bronze didn't really seem like a girls name, so we decided that the first boy that we saw that was shaded sable we would name Bronze. So he was Bronze for the first six weeks of his life. The week before he was born, a friend down the road had a litter of pups, and we had a lot of fun seeing them grow along with our pups. At week four for my litter, we went over to see the friend's litter. My little brother Garrett decided that he wanted a dog, and this lady was giving her's away for free. He thought, why not get his own dog. On the way home, he asked me about what I would think if he got a dog. We decided that if he could show me that he was able to take care of a dog then he could have one of my pups. I told him that the dog must be fixed, so that there would be no breeding issues, and he needed to have enough money to pay for food 6 months in advance. In my mind I thought he was going to get one out of another litter, but within an hour, he had called 3 vets to compare prices for both spaying a dog or neutering it, in case the dog that matched the temperament he wanted was either gender. So he said he wanted one of these pups as he put the money for the food on the counter in front of me. He filled out the questionnaire and did lots of weighing the options on these pups. He knew what he was looking for, and now he is fast becoming a great owner to a wonderful dog. 

First day!

Xavier is a wonderful, sweet tempered dog, who bonded with Garrett immediately. He loves anybody and everybody, and will do anything for a scratch behind the ear. He has very little interest in herding or anything serious. Garrett and him spend lots of time just sitting in the shade cuddling. He is super smart and is learning to sit and stay by watching his parents.  He's a big, husky pup and will out weigh both his sire and dam. He has been pretty regularly the biggest pup of the litter. I am super excited to see how he grows, and matures!

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 13

Here are some Pictures that didn't make it to Facebook.

This picture was taken by a very good friend of mine. He is in between 3 and 4 weeks old

Xavier from the very start has wanted to be in the middle of attention.

Garrett's best friend really fell in love with Xavier

Shea, one of my brothers, got this really cool picture of father and son.

Garrett and his new Boy!!