Botetot English Shepherds

20/12/2024

Bill's daughter dropped by to visit the puppies yesterday. While most of the pups slept, Lil Brown was the social butterfly. He even figured out how to let himself into the house via the dog door!

18/12/2024

OMG, somebody stop me before I do something stupid! I'm falling for this little guy in a big way. Given the moniker Chappy at birth, his name has now morphed into Lil Brown. This tri fellow is athletic, inquisitive, & one of those few puppies who will look you right in the eye. As James Herriot put it, Lil Brown has that "come hither" look.

10/12/2024

Don't tell him I posted this, but I couldn't resist sharing this photo of Bill sound asleep with two puppies nestled in his arms & one pulling on his jacket. Weather permitting, we've started letting the pups have some outside time, starting with the screened-in back porch. Obviously, being a puppy sitter is hard work, because it sure wears Bill out!

08/12/2024

Scrappy talks to the Complaints Dept (AKA Bill) about her grievance with the Food Lady (AKA me) not giving her all she wants to eat. Now she gets to eat from a separate bowl.

05/12/2024

Introducing the Brown Boys, as Bill calls them. Big Brown is bold & very self-assured, while Lil Brown is whip-smart & the first to figure new things out. They turned three weeks old last Monday. (That's Lil Brown looking at the camera. Nothing gets by that boy.)

01/12/2024

Puppy Bunch takes a sploot nap with her buddy Lambkins after an exhausting supper. A couple times a day we supplement Mom's milk bar with goat's milk puppy formula. The pups like it, but some, like Bunch, have difficulty figuring out the intricacies of going from nursing to lapping. She says it takes a lot out of a girl.

28/11/2024

Feeling especially grateful today: Our English Shepherd dogs have opened up a whole world of blessings & happiness for us. What could possibly be better than so much furry love & joy coupled with an ever-growing circle of friends? Wishing all of our Botetot ES families an extra special Thanksgiving holiday!!

24/11/2024

The forecast calls for widely scattered nappers. The gang is starting to walk, albeit with a stagger, & their eyes are beginning to open. As we round the corner into Week 3, I'm happy to report a bunch of contented wee ones.

17/11/2024

Our Holidays litter arrived earlier this week. Dot delivered 8 surprises in the wee hours of Monday morning: 5 M & 3 F, all B&W with the exception of two tricolored males. Healthy puppies & a good momma with the milk bar that never closes, along with supportive friends, are going to make this winter very, very memorable!

08/11/2024

According to the Therio docs at Virginia Tech, Dot has eight little surprises in the oven! Although her due date isn't until next week, we're setting up the whelping box later today. Poor Dotty is as big as a house!

01/11/2024

Bee, AKA the girl with the flying ears, is from our 2018 Jake-Babe litter & she definitely inherited her parents' love of agility. I watched Marie do a training run with Bee at our local dog club's training field & it took my breath away to see Bee zipping around the ring while Marie stood in the middle & directed her from a distance. Here's a couple of my favorite pics from Bee's latest agility competition, at last Saturday's AADS trial in Blacksburg, VA.

01/11/2024

Wild night at Casa Clark! A black bear broke down a wooden privacy fence to get into the backyard. Then it went to the apples I'd put by the compost pile to bury. (I know, my bad.) That's where Tink & Dot lit into it & chased it out of the yard. The pickets in that gate have metal inserts, BTW.

24/10/2024

For years we were told Tink was sterile. Reckon he didn't get the memo, because we just confirmed Dot is pregnant! Expecting B&W, along with TRI, purebred ES puppies mid-November.

19/10/2024

Available to a new home thru no fault of his own. Jasper is a 9-y-o male English Shepherd whose heartbroken owner must sadly rehome him. The owner suffered a serious head injury while farming. Please PM or call me for more details.

22/09/2024

Busy Bee poses with her latest agility bling, marking the achievement of her NADAC Novice Versatility Award. Congrats to Bee & her mom, Marie! Best wishes to Team Bee, as they pursue Open agility competition.

22/09/2024

We're pleased to announce our Miss Dot is clear for the PRA-ES inherited blindness gene. The test is so new that it is not yet included in any of the all-in-one DNA kits (Embark, Wisdom Panel, etc.) on the market. To test for the PRA-ES variant, we had to submit Dot's DNA to the University of Cambridge in the UK. Worth it having the peace of mind, knowing our breeding program is not perpetuating that awful condition.

Send a message to learn more

19/09/2024

Kudos to all the English Shepherd enthusiasts who contributed to the development of the DNA test for a breed-specific form of blindness. And triple tail wags to all those breeders who are now testing for this debilitating inherited disease.

This is Shola, an adult English Shepherd Dog. She worked for the Edale Mountain Rescue Team before she was unable to carry on due to failing eyesight.

She has Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA) – an incurable inherited disease that has caused her to go blind.

Now a team led by the University of Cambridge has identified the genetic mutation that causes PRA in English Shepherd Dogs, and developed a DNA test for it. By identifying dogs carrying the disease before their eyesight starts to fail, this provides a tool to guide breeding decisions so the disease is not passed on to puppies.

Shola's daughters are clear of PRA. They have just completed their training with Mountain Rescue Search Dogs England. One of them saved a man’s life three weeks ago. Another now works as a Therapy Dog.

Learn more about the test and how you can get it in the comments 👇

Photo by John Coombs.

11/09/2024

Bill & I had a fun time at training class this week when we had a chance to visit two of the male pups from our Chism x Dot litter, Hoax & Jack. Doting grandparents that we are, each pup left with a new toy.