For me, raising these dogs
is a dream come true. As a little girl all I ever wanted was my
very own shepherd. I fell in love with The littlest hobo and
would dream of having a companion like this. Not a birthday or
Christmas went by without me asking for a puppy. In high school I
was asked to write an essay on how I envisioned my life as an adult,
and I wrote that I would love to be married with children, living on a
beautiful property in the country surrounded by shepherds. I
feel so blessed that this is now my reality!
We (my husband Todd and myself) lived in the
Bancroft area for 12 years. In 2006
we moved to the country outside of Belleville Ontario where Todd is a
teacher. We love our new home and have a fenced in acre for our dogs.
We are blessed to be surrounded by forests and have acres of trails behind
our home where we walk the dogs down to the Moira river to swim. I purchased Oliver (my BIG male shepherd)
for my son's 9th birthday. Oliver has proven to be the most amazing
dog. He is incredibly obedient, and very gentle with
everyone....the thing people notice the most about Oliver is his intense
devotion to me....when we are out in public he never takes his eyes off me.
When Oliver was younger him and I took time to volunteer at the local youth
drop-in centre in Bancroft where he was a very popular guy.
Back in October (2004) I decided I wanted to add
another shepherd to our household, so I started doing internet research.
I knew Oliver was an exceptional German shepherd, both in size and
temperament. I knew that my chances of getting another dog as gentle
and HUGE as he was, without major health issues was going to be difficult.
During my research I stumbled upon the shiloh.....and was hooked. I knew I wanted a
shiloh...or maybe more than one... I went out to Kingston
to view a LER (litter evaluation) on a litter that Jayne from Atlantic sable
shilohs was having done. That was it! My mother came with me
that weekend....and she went home with her very own shiloh baby- Autumn!
Within a few months I became the owner of Faith and Hope from another
breeder who due to illness found herself unable to keep them.
Since that time our shiloh "family"
has grown to include Faith, Hope, Trinity, Winter, Zeus and now baby
Envy. Each one of
our dogs is special and unique. Hope is Todd's "girl"....she is very
gentle and soft tempered which you can see in her eyes...Hope likes to
"talk" to us, especially in the morning when she brings us anything she can
find to carry in her mouth. Hope is happiest if she can follow
Todd around and she loves going for walks. Faith is an incredibly
athletic girl....she is a large female who loves intensely...Faith has
produced some of the largest, most incredible shilohs I've personally seen. Trinity is my special
baby...she is extremely affectionate and will cuddle beside me on the couch,
she has an extremely high retrieval drive and never goes in or out a door
without a ball in her mouth. Trinity is also an avid swimmer.
Zeus is a young buck full of energy and mischief.
I think of Zeus as the spoiled baby as he gets away with things I'd never
allow my older dogs. Zeus has a huge imagination and is bored
easily...if left to his own devices Zeus can figure out a way to get into or
out of most anything. He is always happy and loves everyone..he
loves to give kisses and will cuddle (for a few minutes) on the couch. It is very hard to get or stay mad at Zeus
as he is always wagging his tail, even when being given a stern talking to. Winter
is a lot like her mom (Trinity), she is extremely affectionate and is always
happy but prefers to be in the area of her "people"....even when the other
dogs run out the backdoor to play Winter hangs back to see if I am going
outside too...if not she prefers to stay indoors to follow me around.
Winter is also a huge retriever and fantastic swimmer. Winter and Envy are best friends. Envy is our
"little"
baby though she's not too little anymore...she is the largest girl in our
pack and the most impressive smooth female shiloh I've personally ever seen....Envy
is a talker she has more to say than our other dogs combined...if we tell her
"no" she stops what she was doing but also complains to us about it.
She is cuddly, easy to train and affectionate. Envy is a fantastic
retriever and avid swimmer.
It is my belief that dogs should be
treated with love, which to me means a healthy diet, daily exercise,
obedience training, proper grooming and affection. You will never come
here and see an underfed, dirty, unkempt dog who is desperate for
attention-I take pride in how my dogs live, all loose together, all in our
home. As a breeder I believe I should set the standard by which I want
my pups to live. My dogs are never crated except at bedtime when
housebreaking, are all leash trained, have good manners and are well
socialized. I believe puppies are best if raised with lots of handling and
as a result I stay home with my dogs/pups to give them the necessary time
and attention I think they deserve and crave. My pups are kept
immaculately clean, are weaned on goat's milk and quality food and are
well socialized for their first 8 weeks. The pups are raised in our rec room with us and also spend time outside if the weather is warm.
We feel privileged to be able to share our lives with these beautiful animals..to have met so many incredible people through our extended shiloh
family via our puppy buyers and the show venue and to have had the most
amazing opportunity to be a part of bringing new babies into the
world...many thanks go out to all my wonderful puppy buyers who share in our
joy!
Michelle Bowler
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