This beautiful litter was part of an experimental, stage one breeding. As many know, Dipper stands at 16 inches and approximately 30 pounds personally, smaller than my preference, as I favor cattle dogs closer to the breed standard, particularly with him being AKC registered. Flora, on the other hand, is an ideal size at 18 inches and around 50 pounds, nearly double his size
The goal of this pairing was to evaluate whether breeding Dipper to a larger female could help increase overall size in the offspring. The process itself proved challenging, as we were unable to achieve any successful natural ties and experienced only slips, leading us to proceed with artificial insemination
Despite the obstacles, we were blessed with five gorgeous, healthy puppies. There was a runt in this litter the first Flora has ever produced, but she is steadily catching up to her larger siblings. Flora is known for producing very large puppies, so it has been encouraging to watch them progress!
At this time, all puppies are placed in pet homes, as I want to closely observe how they mature and what sizes they ultimately reach.
Update as the puppies went home, the litter resulted in being Dual sired by DSH's Bruce, due to me being ill at the time and having family member care for dogs. But luckily DNA testing revealed the truth, our stud DSH's Bruce is being altered as its easier moving forward with our program and these will be our last litter from him. We are freezing semen for future use!
We are excited to share the arrival of Silo’s very first litter, sired by our in-house stud Bruce. This pairing came about unexpectedly; we had intended to use an outside stud named Pirata and spent three days attempting the breeding, but due to his weight he was unable to complete the tie, and Silo’s heat was nearly over. With limited time, we made the decision to pair her with Bruce instead. Although producing chocolates wasn’t originally planned so early in my program, the moment Silo went into labor and delivered a stunning litter of eight. Our largest litter ever completely overshadowed by pride and excitement. This litter even surpasses Flora’s long-held record for size from her litter of six!
After careful consideration after this litter I decided Silo will not be used again in my program, and she is now been pet homed and is living out her retirement years! All puppies of this litter have been pet homed except one single puppy. When this litter turned 8 weeks old we noticed all are within 4-6lbs and its just not the ideal size, and structure, and color I want to produce in my program!
We planned this repeat litter after falling in love with the structure of the first Flora & Zane combination. I was blessed with my largest of her previous litters, all-red litter of six! Momma Flora did an excellent job whelping and caring for these gorgeous puppies; it also introduced us to new techniques in care for the first time in my program, which will now be the standard going forward.
Litter Outcome Update
As this litter continues to mature, we are incredibly proud of the paths these puppies are taking. One is currently in training to become a certified search and rescue dog, while another is actively training toward earning herding titles through the Australian Shepherd Club of America. One female was returned to us due to unexpected life changes within her original home, however we are thrilled to have found an exceptional co-own placement for her. We look forward to watching both her and our keeper from this litter develop, with hopes that they will become our first homebred champions in American Kennel Club shows
This litter was not supposed to be born so soon; regrettably, we ended up with a dual sire. We lost three puppies shortly after delivery due to fading syndrome even with veterinary care, but the remainder were fantastic. They had outstanding personalities and structures, and I intended to keep one. This litter was the most heartbreaking of all my litters; I had lost all of the puppies but one puppy. It was a unbelievably unfortunate situation with that, I also lost their mother. One puppy from this litter left to his Gaurdian home, but I still miss his siblings & mother, for whom I had high hopes in life.
If you notice there's no longer posts or photos anymore on our socials, its not to keep anything hidden of this loss. It was due to me mourning and seeing the photos everyday hurt more. We trusted a friend into our home and that hadn't informed us their dog died prior to coming over is how this event happened
My third and most successful litter! This litter wasn't supposed to be with Zane in the first place; it was planned to be with a stud named Ruckus, but Zane was a backup stud due to semen shipping complications and a holiday when she was ready! But with that decision, I was awarded with a gorgeous healthy litter of five puppies, with their mass and temperaments being so great to what I had sought since the beginning of my program.
I had hoped to keep a puppy back. However, the stud owner's decision was also my favorite, which is why we planned to repeat in 2025 following this litter. One puppy was given limited rights due to a creeping tan, and one male was given co-ownership; the remainder were given full rights due to no severe faults, full BAER, and passing genetic results!
My second litter, a year after my first, I had hoped that using an outside stud from a mutual friend breeder would help with structure. I didn't want to produce two litters this year, but both of my girls emerged in season days apart. This whelping had a trapped puppy, and she needed help delivering it due to its size; regrettably, it did not survive. Unfortunately, the severity of overbites in Valkyrja's litter led to her retirement from my breeding program, despite the fact that all other puppies were born active and in good health. Every puppy in this litter was sold with limited rights caused by flaws!
This was my first litter; I had never whelped or bred my own female before ever. It wasn't the most precisely planned litter, but I learnt a lot from it, particularly about improvement! Later, following this litter, I discovered that the dam Valkyrja had a high incidence of overbites! It was a learning experience, and all of the puppies in this litter were sold as pets!
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