08/10/2025
The curtain has come down for the last time on our matriarch, “Ellie”,
CH Thistlepatch’s Leading Lady at Shadowhills, RN, JE. Ellie lived a long and wonderful life of 17+ years, mostly with Alice who I will let do her own posting.
Ellie is the foundation of Shadowhills Border Terriers. She came to us after our first girl, Kate, was diagnosed with pyometria prior to ever being bred. I looked for over a year and one evening received a call from Betsy Kirkpatrick about a litter that Mary Ellen Moehler had bred. There were four girls in the litter.
On August 14th, 2008 I was on a plane flying to DC where my life was to change big time forever. As I drove up the street to ME’s home, there was a car in the driveway with its hatchback open and a puppy inside a crate. My first meeting with Ellie.
I was third on the list for a puppy. The breeder and stud dog owner had the first choice. Betsy had the second and I had the third. They had been sending me photos of the litter and I had them pegged correctly as to conformation. Betsy couldnt make up her mind and took two girls home for the weekend prior to my trip. She chose Reed, my #3, leaving me with my #2 which was Ellie. I was thrilled!
Ellie became my third Rally dog earning her RN at 7 1/2 months of age. She was the first in her litter to earn her CH as well. I remember driving back from Palm Springs calling her breeder to let them know Ellie had finished her CH.
A year or so later Ellie became the Shadowhills foundation with a lovely litter, the last one sired by “Patch”.
Ellie went to the 2009 National Specialty in MD. with Kyle and me. There she and her sister, Tilda, placed 2nd and 4th to two Meadowlake sisters at 1st and 3rd out of a huge class of 23 young girls.
Ellie and Kate one day decided they didn’t get along and we had to decide which to place. Fortunately, Alice came into the story at this time and we gave Ellie to her. I had kept a daughter from Ellie’s first litter.
One day Alice asked if Ellie and Kate had not fought, would I have bred Ellie again. I said, “Of course!”. Alice asked if I wanted to breed her. It was about this time that we were first having problems getting her daughter bred successfully. So I agreed to breed Ellie again. We chose a dog owned by the Bonds, “Harley”, and I trundled Ellie up to Silverdale, WA to be bred. That breeding not only gave us great friends in Wayne and Marion, but also produced “Charly” our first National Specialty BOB.
Ellie was also the key player in the famous trip to S Ca to breed to Sgt Pepper. I had tried to breed Ellie’s daughter without success to Pepper and was going to use Ellie on the return breeding. Alice and I drove to LA only to find Pepper unable to perform due to a medical issue. We were given a choice of another dog or one breeding vial of frozen Dagon semen, which we chose! Unfortunately, we were in LA and the semen was in Grass Valley in N Ca Sierra foothills. And Ellie had to be bred by the next day. So bright and early we drove all day to GV where Ellie had a TCI and eventually produced the first successful litter from that batch of the Dagon frozen semen.
Ellie was a great companion not only for Alice but also her father who Alice cared for in his later life. Ellie also accompanied us all on the great trip to and from Purina Farms in 2014 where her daughter, Charly, won BOB at the Specialty.
Alice was more successful than I with Ellie at Earthdog and together they earned her JE title. And probably the finest win of the many Ellie had in the show ring was her BOS win from the Veteran class with Alice on the lead at one of the BT regional Specialties in N Ca.
Ellie had a gorgeous rock hard coat. And with that the usual scarcity of facial furnishings until she was finished as a CH and until about 3 years old. The renown terrier handler Wood Wornal once commented on the quality of her coat. A ball fanatic, Ellie loved to fetch a ball for you to roll or toss. She passed that love to many generations of her offspring.
At her passing, there are six generations of Shadowhills dogs that trace back directly to her. All but three of our 30 CH trace to her. Not only does she have a daughter who was BOB at the National, her grandson was also BOB at the National.
Ellie taught me how to groom and how to whelp and raise puppies. She also showed me that dogs sometimes have very important jobs to do like taking care of their owners or family members. And that placing young adult dogs in homes can bring blessings not only to the new home, but also to the dog and to you. She was a good, faithful and loving dawg until her last breath. I was blessed to have her in my life, to have learned so much from her, to have been given so much by her, and to have held her in my lap with Alice as she went peacefully to sleep.
THANK YOU, ELLIE, FOR EVERYTHING! I will see you across the Bridge. Now go find Kate and Devlin and run free and play. I see you everyday in all our puppies.
Ellie, CH Thistlepatch’s Leading Lady at Shadowhills, RN, JE,
May 30, 2008 -Oct 7, 2025.
Sired by CH Greenroom Curtain Call out of CH Thistlepatch’s Tangled Up In Trillium.
