Our story told by Abika Pavel.
back when I was a little girl, all I ever knew for certain was my passion for animals of all kinds. growing up we always had cats, our neighbors had a couple of dogs who I would play with from time to time. but for most of my childhood, I had outdoor cats. from a young age, my cats would get pregnant and soon after give us a litter of kittens.
when I was just 12 years old I remember watching this movie called Marmaduke. it was about this dog and his cat friend who was moving to Cali. all I really took away from that movie was when we meet this beautiful blue merle female Australian shepherd. I was so infatuated with her the whole movie. when I would want to look up the breed of dog she was, I was at a dead end. the slag sheepdog was used when another dog insulted her and that's what I tried to google on my search for her breed. my frustrations grew when all that would turn up was another herding breed.
however, eventually, I was able to learn she was an Australian shepherd. with access to the internet, I went on a learning spree. I wanted to know everything there is to know about Australian shepherds, I googled everything watched almost all youtube videos about them. it got to the point where I discovered a few local breeders in Arizona. out of all the 5 years we lived in Arizona 2015 was the highlight year. I remember never shutting up about the breed telling my mom every new thing I learned about them.
I remember this one day I was sat on the couch next to my mom, I was showing her this breeder and the puppies she had for sale. there was this red merle female named Rosie, however, she was priced at a whopping $1500 dollars. initially, we only ever had enough to get by. in other words, we grew up rather poor, but I was very content actually I wouldn't have had it any other way. I learned the value of a dollar at a very young age. moving along I really wanted this puppy, but it wasn't the time. my parents were renting at the time and the main rule was no pets allowed. broke my little 12-year-old heart haha.
I was determined, I was going to get an Australian shepherd. if it wasn't Rosie then I was set on saving up some money for her next litter. christmas 2014 rolled around and I got a little bit of money from my grandmother. soon after in January my birthday came up and now I had a hefty savings of cash at just 12 years old. my mom was the only one who took notice of my determination, it was at that time we had a very life-changing conversation.
when she was a teenager, she wanted to breed the very popular breed of dog called Yorkies. she was discouraged and given no support. upon hearing this I had a realization to myself, I calculated how much this breeder was selling puppies for, to how many where in her litter. I knew how often female dogs went into heat and could be bred, so I discovered that you can run a stable business on just dogs. I was overjoyed!
I told my mom this is something we HAD to do together, that alone strengthened our bond and has truly been the best thing that happened in my lifetime. with my birthday money we almost could afford our FIRST Australian shepherd, Zoe. we placed a deposit of $200 dollars quickly and only had a few weeks to make up the money to afford her. we sold jewelry, donated clothes, added with my saved up Christmas and birthday money we almost could make it. my grandmother and uncle generously gave us $200 dollars each and now we could pay $1200 dollars for this beautiful blue merle female Australian shepherd from a very strong working line.
may 15th 2015 we drove up from surprise Arizona to snowflake Arizona on a 3-hour trip. just me, my mother, and father in the car on our way to pick up Zoe. I kept all the cash tucked into the stuffing of my teddy bear at the time. holding so much cash struck something in me, I think i liked to make money, well, I found out I loved it. as a kid, you don't think much of how EVERYTHING will cost you so much. I learned this fact early on in my life so once I had a taste of making money, my 12-year-old brain thought, I'm a millionaire! or would soon become one because Zoe was going to have litters.
meeting her for the first time was unforgettable, truly if love, at first sight, exists I knew it at that moment. I raised her like she was my own little baby, I trained her, loved her, took naps with her in my arms. everyone who would look at her would awe and coo in my direction. I guess we both loved the attention. not only was she getting socialized I was as well, I became a very confident people person. as she grew I learned personally what it was like to own an Australian shepherd, but I also dream for so long to have her and here she was.
her first litter of 5 was born October 6th, 2016, we drove 2000 miles up to Michigan to breed her to a red tri male. this road trip with Zoe alongside me and my mom was unforgettable, we laugh about it to this day! I got to visit with my grandpa on my mom's side and all my relatives so it was a win-win. this litters profits paid us back the investments we put together so far. it was also around this time I came up with the name for our business. the meaning of the name THE GHOST EYED ONES originated from the breed's history when they were shipped to the north Americas on way to Australia, the native Americans saw this dog and took note of the breeds most well-known feature. the blue eyes, this lead them to call these dogs the ghost-eyed ones. or so they say, the true origin of the breed is still semi unclear.
in 2017 Zoe had her second litter to a local stud in Arizona. we began to learn so much that we couldn't have possibly googled for. very novice at the time it happened that one of our puppies was stolen on our account of trusting people too much, lesson learned! it was this year however that I began my first year of high school, my grandpa on my mother's side passed away, and I lost my dad to su***de in October. it wasn't the best year but we had to push on!
in May of 2018, several things happened. my mother, younger brother, Zoe and I took a trip up to Colorado to breed with this champion bloodline Australian shepherd male. Zoe was now pregnant and after the passing of my dad, we had to move, out of state back to Michigan where I was born. with so much drama from the year prior, also including at my school I was very happy to move away. it was on our trip to Colorado however when I found a breeder in Oklahoma. from the day we got Zoe, I had dreamed and wished for a very specific male for our little business.
blue eyes, full white collar, black tri male. Romeo, I looked all over the internet for a puppy just like him. in 2016 a puppy just like him slipped between our fingers, upon seeing Romeo only 4 weeks old for sale, I cried tears of joy in the car ride back to Arizona! it was a long process to be approved by the breeder, but I was very honest and expressed I would like to purchase him with the right to breed. this doesn't come cheap, Romeo was marketed with breeding rights for $3000 dollars. how in the world would we afford such a big investment? the year prior my dad had worked, the government was giving us income tax returns back from when he worked. he was a truck driver and would travel all over the USA. I swear sometimes on our road trips with Zoe I would think while on a highway, dad traveled this road. keeping my mind on the business I share with my mom helped me thru some grief I felt after my dad died. it just so happened that this timing was so perfect for us, the money would come just at the time we had to pay and pick up my baby boy.
we had our things packed up around mid-May 2018. on May 24th we arrived in Oklahoma and picked up Romeo in a car packed with our essentials to live on our way up to Michigan from there. Zoe and Romeo got along great together and once we moved into a house previously owned by my mom's parents that now belonged to the 12 Pavel bothers and sisters. we had our male, our female, a very large yard, and a place at we could actually keep pets haha.
just a month after we got Romeo I came across an ad online of a blue-eyed red merle female from a litter of 13 in Michigan! my mom had talked just the day before that this is the type of female we needed to add to our breeding program next. what do you know she shows up the next day. we had no money to buy this female, who would soon be given the name Honey for her sweet loving personality and warm cream tones. by some merical even though we were broke from moving, Romeo, and the Colorado trip for Zoe. our family that we now were able to reconnect with gave us some money to afford honey, who was priced at $1500 dollars with the right to breed. I feel i should also mention Zoes breeding rights were an additional $500 dollars a year after we got her. now some people would see our investments dates and costs together as very risky, I would happen to agree with you! we are very blessed to be able to say that we made it that far with The Ghost Eyed Ones growing in popularity more and more every year.
Zoe gave birth to her 3rd litter on June 19th of 2018 and the profits from that litter significantly helped us settle into our new home. an uncle of mine that I respect wholeheartedly fell in love with a blue merle male with a brown and blue eye who would then on be called Cutsu, meaning doggie in Romanian. the son of Zoe herself.
if you think we stopped here with already 4 dogs, you'd be mistaken. just a month after every puppy was sold at 8 weeks old, my uncle told me, if I happen to run across a female red tri, the last color of Australian shepherd needed to our breeding program he would be paying off Cutsu’s marketed price by buying her. she, is Mocha, our blue eyed red tri female Australian shepherd. her breeder was located in Michigan much like Honey, the distance wasn't far. we placed a deposit on her and soon we brought her home. for her eye and coat color combo, I found a remarkably low price of $850 dollars! she is the youngest of the pack currently but is by far the boldest of them all.
Zoe, Romeo, Honey, Cutsu, Mocha are adored by all and are the founders of many generations to come. a true pack lead by their alfa Zoe. all my dogs are co-owned between my mother and me. if I can raise and sell, love and enjoy, the same little fluff balls that changed my life and bring me so much happiness and fulfillment, then I will do so.
thank you for reading, regardless if you stumbled across my page looking for your Australian shepherd. regardless if you're my family reading this, I would like to take this time to thank you so much for your support at times financially, my aunts and uncles, and my grandmother on my dad's side. All I desire for my passion to inspire people. the true rewards I've gotten from The Ghost Eyed Ones are these. the close bond I share with my mother, the only parent I have. the undying love from all these silly dogs. the life long lessons I've had that have shaped me into who I am now. and lastly, the community of Australian shepherd lovers who have given us their business that financially helped us thru the years. today I'm writing this, March 7th, 2019. thru all our struggles, we are established. I'm 16 years old, and I breed Australian shepherd dogs.
