Leo at Nine Months!

Yay! Leo turned nine months old on July 12th. Here he is in all his glory! You can really see the red hues in his coat in this picture. We were trying for a show stack but he moved that hind leg forward just as I snapped the pic! He is around 25.5-26 inches at the shoulder and 82 to 85 pounds depending on the scale. Though this is a little light for his age category we are not worried...we know how thin we're keeping him! We are hoping that by keeping him very slim we will manage to avoid stress on his growing skeleton and muscles, very important for giant breeds like the Shiloh. If we are lucky we can avoid a bout with pano...we are crossing our fingers!



Here is another current pic of Leo. I love this one even though it is a little out of focus. It reminds me of my favorite picture of one of New Zion's most famous sires, Grizz. Leo has that same handsome, smiling face, though darker than Grizz's! You can really see his cream-colored "bib" on his upper chest in this picture. We only have one picture of his dam, Holly, but it looked like she had the same kind of bib pattern.

Summer Playtime!

It's summer and that means the dogs are feisty as all get out because they don't get to spend as much time outside...100 degrees = way too hot for long walks or extended periods out in the sun! When they DO get out it's explosive energy time...and time to play keep-away, as you see above! This pic was taken in mid-June. Once Leo gets the toy poor Kyrie doesn't really have a chance, though she sure does harry him! Unfortunately sometimes she gets a little too mouthy. We found a bite wound on Leo under his ear where she hit him harder than we knew! By the time we found it, it was scabbed over and healing already. We are very lucky it was not infected, and playtimes have been curtailed 'till it is fully-healed. The problem is that Leo is such the stoic dog, he's a very quiet one...even when Kyrie hurts him he doesn't let out a squeak. So we had no idea that had happened 'till we found the scab while grooming!

May Showers? Not in Texas!

Here's Leo looking up at the sky wishing for rain. You can tell we haven't had a lot from the parched look of our yard!! Okay, okay, maybe he's watching a bird. Or a plane. Or the ball in my hand! ;)

Later on in May, we went to an awesome event here in our town called the Dog Days of Denton! They have shops, food, booths for the dog rescues here, and tons of activity demos for things like disc dogs, flyball, obedience, and my favorite--agility! We took both dogs, but it was very hot and we only stayed for a few hours. We hooked up with a group that teaches obedience classes here in Denton that we really liked. They don't teach during the summer--way too hot for outside classes--but both dogs will most likely start formal classes in the fall. Here is a picture of Leo and Kyrie at Dog Days!

April 25th - Leo's New Puppy!

Meet Kyrie, Leo's new puppy! Kyrie came to us from New Zion, the same kennel Leo came from, but she was from a co-owned litter. Her daddy was Scout, a smooth white Shiloh, and her mom was Maya, a plush golden sable. Soon Kyrie will have her own Blog, and I will post that update here on Leo's! As you can see, she is absolutely beautiful. Leo was in love right away! He followed her around the yard and when she jumped on him to lick him he fell over! He did have time to pose for an awesome pic, though:



Doesn't he look like a wolf out hunting? I love that photo! :)