Shiloh Homecoming 2012 Part One!

I've always used Leo's blog to post show photos, even when he's not there, and this is no exception! Leo did win another National Select (meaning he made the list of the year's Top Ten Champions) but this time he stayed home playing with his new puppy Blazie (above). Who can blame him??

Instead I went to accept the award and took a bunch of pictures! We'll start by keeping it all in the Sparta Shilohs family. ;) Here is Leo's lovely sister Ginger, relaxing at camp and then posing with her new boyfriend Piston. Piston together with our Kyrie produced Blazie, the puppy Leo is playing with above. Kyrie is only slightly miffed to be thrown over by a Grand Victrix...

Blazie's brother Baker was also at the show! His name is Baxter now and he lives there in upstate New York. :) His new human mom is Jessica Strauss of Strauss Haus Shepherds. We are hoping that he'll grow up super-handsome, pass all his testing, and be able to contribute to the gene pool in the future!

Several of Blazie and Baxter's half-siblings from the Hemi/Piston litter came too! I got photos of three of them. Here is half-sister Ascari:

Half-sister Noa who went allll the way across the ocean to the Netherlands:

And half-brother Beau who looks so much like a masculine version of our Blazie!

Bet you thought we were done with the cute puppy photos? No way! Guard and Indy from the Suka/Moose litter were also at Homecoming! Suka is Piston's sister and Moose is Kyrie's brother so these pups were very close cousins to Blazie and Baxter. :) Both of them took a LOT of ribbons and trophies at the shows!

Here's Indy:

Having fun in the show ring...

Ahhh, the joys of showing a puppy! BOING!

Guard decided to put on his serious face for me! This pup is going to be one heck of a show-stopper when he's full grown!

Guard showing off his reach and drive with Vanessa in the show ring!

While I was in New York I shared a room with Maya and her puppy Willa. Willa is closely related to two of our other dogs--Kyrie and Thorn! She was a terrific sweetheart and I also got a great shot of her in the ring, showing off her beautiful movement!

I had to share this adorable one of Willa and Jolene: "Hey girl, whatcha lookin' at?"

Willa's white sister Zoey also did a great job in the ring!

Okay, that's it for the smaller puppies...next up, bigger puppies, and more relatives!

Old Style Shepherd?

It's been a while since I've done a Leo update, and I've got a short one to share. :) I thought it would be interesting because one of the things we mention when we talk about Shilohs is that they are bred to be similar to "old style" German shepherds. :)

A few months back a friend of mine sent me a link to a dog-related antiques site she'd found. Normally I don't have much interest in that type of thing. But I DO have interest in pedigrees, and she'd found a real curiosity for me--an antique German shepherd stud card! I decided to purchase it.

This dog belonged to a kennel in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, called Rock Lake Kennels. The reverse of the stud card has his kennel and owner information and a four-generation pedigree. From the information I've been able to find on those ancestors, he was probably born in the mid-1920's, and his sire may have been brought back to the US after World War I (as all the previous dogs on the pedigree seem to have been born in Germany). When this dog existed, the German shepherd breed was not even as old as our Shiloh shepherd breed is today! In his fourth generation he has some of the foundation dogs of the GSD breed: Flora (Berkemeyer) and Roland v. Starkenburg. So we are really talking "old style"!

NOW look at this dog. He is an ISSR Shiloh Shepherd, born in the early 2000's, out of the Honey/Grizz litter. He is full brother to Leo's dam Holly. Compare him to the dog above. :)

The resemblance would be better if Leo's uncle Zeus was stacked, of course, but when I shot the photo we had no idea we'd be comparing him to a dog from almost a hundred years ago someday!

Pretty darn cool, huh? :D

Arizona Visit with Ender and JES!

Well I left Leo at home for this Arizona road trip but while I was in the Phoenix area I got to meet up with Leo's brother Ender, his best girl JES and their favorite people Carla, Kelley, and Pat! It's been a couple years since I've seen them all and it was wonderful to catch up on Shiloh gossip, have some wonderful lunch at Hula's and snap some photos! The restaurant had a huge dog-friendly patio and it was a gorgeous day. Hope you enjoy the pics!

JES has such a sweet face!

She loves to do obedience with her mom, Carla!

JES relaxin' on the patio...

She's turned into such a pretty girl!

Ender with Pat, wondering where his mom walked off to!

What do you want me to do, mom?

Ender showing off the stack that has won him many points! He is our Leo's half-brother. I think you can really see it in his face!

Ender and JES loaded into the car to say goodbye!

Thanks for reading, everyone! :D

February Hutto IABCA Show!

Well we headed down to Hutto this past weekend to hit the shows! Leo ended up taking Best of Breed in shows two and three, but the competition was fierce for Group and Gold Cup and we didn't get any ribbons...this time! ;)

It was overcast and most of my photos didn't turn out, but I got a few. Of course I couldn't get any of the adult Shilohs in the ring because we were in there too! Hope you enjoy the few shots I did get. :)

Below, Kyrie's brother Chester! Chester took Best of Breed in show one. :) I only wished I'd been able to get a better photo of him--but he kept moving!

Joyce and Alan also brought their other boy, Travis! Travis is from the Venus/Big Jake litter. He really resembles his dam...except for that HUGE wide head of his! That is pure Big Jake!

Blair brought her two boys all the way from Louisiana! Here is the extremely handsome Torren, hanging out in his crate. I love his face and he has a wonderful friendly temperament! Torren really never met a person he didn't like. :)

Blair's younger boy, Killian, is just a pup still! He is from the second Laska/Timba litter, brother to the very handsome Jaxx. :) Here he is soaking up the attention and hanging out in his crate. Getting a shot in the crate was difficult because he kept coming over to me to see what I was doing!

Blair tried to stack Killian for me but he wasn't having any of it!

...until he got in the ring, that is. Then he stood like a statue! A little more work and that boy will be taking home some ribbons! Here he is competing in Herding Group:

Along for moral support was Blair's mom with her new Shiloh pup from Solace! Here is Mato from the Asia/Aslan litter. :) No show is complete without a super-cute pup to get all the attention. ;)

Thanks for looking everyone--I hope you enjoyed our photos!

Summertime Leo!

It had been a while since I got some new photos of the boy, so early the other morning (while it was still ONLY 85 degrees outside!) Leo and I had a photo shoot! Above, he's doing the handsome over-the-shoulder pose; below, he's getting his running in before it hits 103 degrees!


Pretty profile shot!


THERE'S that pesky frisbee! As you can see, our frisbees are all rather abused.


Alert face!


And a Leo in the sun! Thanks for looking, everyone! Hopefully we'll have some new show photos for you this fall!

MAC Show, June 2011

Unfortunately Leo wasn't able to come to this show with me--but that was okay, because I got to show his sister, Ginger, to two Best of Opposites awards! We always joke that Ginger and Leo look a LOT alike, so everyone probably thought I was showing Leo anyhow. ;) That's her lovely face, above, and below she's resting with one of Michelle's other girls, Jolene, in the x-pen.


The BIGGEST puppy (yes, still under a year old!) at the show was definitely Bravo, from the Shamira Shilohs Tanna/Shadow litter. Look how huge this monster boy is! He won a well-deserved Puppy Best In Show at this event.


Winning his Best in Show:


Taken standing next to some handy humans for size reference:


Olga working with Bravo before ring-time:


Though Bravo was biggest, one of the CUTEST pups at the show had to be April's new boy, Cutter, from the Snow/Bear litter!


What a foxy little face!


And a nice profile...


Cutter and April in the ring. What a happy puppy!


There were lots of pups at this show--it was great to see the upcoming generation! Three of them were even Ginger's pups, from her litter with Kuma--Thor, Ender, and Bronte. Here's Thor in the ring:


And doing an awesome Rally demonstration for us--just try to beat me, big dogs!


Ender being a lap puppy--getting too big for that!


Ender scoping out the possible playmates...


He found one! Cutter and Ender playing. :)


Olga posing her beautiful Bronte for me:


At the end of the day Ginger and Kuma and their kids got together up on the hill for a family photo!


Another puppy who came was Meesh's Gracie, from the Ruffy/Malone litter. She obligingly posed for the camera. :)



Finally, there was another Gracie puppy who couldn't make it. Michelle's new little Gracie girl from the Snow/Bear litter broke her toe right before the show! Here is a photo of her with her mom...more on her later!


There were also some awesome adults who attended the show! Evie brought her Shadow, Yoshi and Scout's brother.


The Magnificent Iso, Leo's half-brother, posing for me outside:


Iso's profile. What a majestic boy. Can't wait to see how his pups with Shawnee turn out!


Iso hanging with his favorite people, Shani and Mike. :)


The lovely Hemi looks more and more like her daddy Buckshot every time I see her! Here she is in the ring:


And posing with the judge after her wins!


Michelle's Jack (also Leo's half-brother--they share the same dam) was just over a year at this show and had his work cut out for him competing against the two and three year olds! But he gave it a great shot and was a joy for me to show. Give this boy another year or two to mature and I think he'll give 'em a real run for it! Here he is looking up at me--what are you doing, Auntie Anne?


Jack's profile. Such a handsome boy!


Michelle's Jolene, sitting pretty for me. By the end of my visit Jo was my new best friend!


Often I think the candid shots I get at the shows are better than the posed ones. Here is a wonderful shot of Margaret with Piston. I love how he looks at her. :)


Pistol Pete performed at the top of his game this show and walked off with an Adult Best In Show! I love his facial markings--they remind me so much of Kyrie's, even though they aren't any closer than very distant cousins. :)



And finally, after the show I got to spend a few days with Michelle, Don and the dogs at their lovely home. We picked little Gracie up from the vet and took her to lunch with us. Here are some more photos of her from that outing. What a face!


Posing pretty with her human momma in the big chair:


Thanks so much for reading, everyone! Sorry for the lag on these photos. Next up...new Leo shots!