Meet Mom.
Tilly is a first-generation (F1) miniature Sheepadoodle, bred from an AKC certified Old English Sheepdog and AKC certified Standard Poodle. She has a beautiful, thick and curly black and white coat which we trim every 4-6 weeks. Tilly is approximately 2 years old, making her a pretty young mom. Evenso, she took on the huge task of rearing nine puppies admirably, ensuring they were always well taken care of. Even today, Tilly regularly plays with the puppies and is teaching them basic pack manners to ensure they are well rounded pups by the time they reach your home.
Tilly is a very affectionate dog that loves nothing more than cuddling and playing with her hoomans. It's a little comical how excited she gets when she knows its time to cuddle or play. A smart cookie that always aims to please, Tilly performs basic obedience commands such as Sit, Stay and Lay Down. She understands the word "No", though she sometimes tries to act like she doesn't. Tilly is protective of her family, regularly keeping the chickens, roosters and geese at bay while we're out on the field.
Tilly is a little more slender than Toby weighing in at 49lbs, while being slightly taller than Toby at 22 inches from paw to shoulder when standing on all four. She doesn't shed anything in the home except for a wonderful personality and pure, unconditional love.
To date, Tilly has no known health issues, genetic defects or behavioral disorders to speak of. She's never bitten anyone or even come close to it, but if she feels her pack is in danger she'll let you know with a big bark and growl that she's willing to do it if you leave her no choice.
Meet Dad.
Toby is a first-generation (F1) miniature Sheepadoodle, bred from an AKC certified Old English Sheepdog and AKC certified Standard Poodle. Toby has a thick, curly coat of black and white hair which we trim every 4-6 weeks. Toby is approimately 3.5 years old and is a highly obedient and intelligent dog that would spend his entire life playing fetch if he could. You might notice that Toby has a bonus feature of complete heterochromia (each eye is a different color). He's not blind and its nothing to worry about. You can learn more about heterochromia by clicking here. Lightning fast, Toby likes to be chased by anyone and anything foolish enough to try and catch him, easily keeping pace with our friend's greyhound when she comes over.
Respectful of personal boundaries and aware of his place in the pack, Toby waits patiently for explicit permission for pretty much everything. Toby is very smart. He solves dog treat puzzles quickly and reliably performs basic obedience commands such as Sit, Stay, Lay Down, Roll Over, Paw and more. Toby can even open doors with lever-style handles on his own which he taught himself to do just from observing his hoomans. Toby understands the word "No" and dutifully obeys it when given.
Like Tilly, Toby is also protective of his pack. Every morning and evening, he likes to go on patrol around the homestead perimeter to make sure everyone and everything is secure. He has a loud bark that will let you know if something is amiss. First to the door if he thinks something needs to be checked out, Toby is not afraid to go investigate on his own in the dark.
Compared to Tilly, Toby is slightly shorter but bigger overall, weighing 53lbs at a height of 21 inches from paw to shoulder when standing on all four. Like Tilly, Toby doesn't shed anything in the home other than unconditional love, obediance and respect.
To date, Toby has no known health issues, genetic defects or behavioral disorders to speak of. He's never bitten anyone or even come close to it. That said, if he thinks his family is being threatened, all bets are off. He'll give fair warning with a loud, thunderous bark that will grab your attention.
What to expect from the Puppies
Bringing home new puppy is an exciting and wonderful experience but please consider it carefully as it is a big commitment. More than anything else, our goal is to land each puppy in a home that will love and care for them as much as we do. When they are young and still learning, you should fully expect that they will have an accident. They will more than likely chew up something you wish they hadn't. They will probably dig a hole at some point. They might chase an animal. They're not leash trained currently so they will almost certainly pull on a leash until you train them not to. They will pine for your attention at inopportune moments and they will absolutely cost you some amount of money for some reason at some point. Even with all of this, they make up for every frustration, every penny and every exasperation muttered under your breath with unconditional love and a genuine happiness that you're there that is usually unmatched by your blood relatives.
We've outlined Toby and Tilly's personalities to provide a frame of reference for the personalities and traits that each puppy is likely to have the potential to inherit. That said, every dog's behavior is what you make of it and you will only get out what you put in. Toby and Tilly have the benefit of almost always having someone home with them to interact with, meaning we are working with them every single day, rewarding the behaviors we seek and ignoring the behaviors we want to suppress.
Despite popular belief, dogs do not speak human languages. They learn the individual sounds that we call words, and they understand cause-and-effect so long as the effect is realized at the same time and location as the cause. Translation: Dogs live in the moment and are not able to make the connection between something they did 15 minutes ago and the punishment being received now. Once you understand this, it becomes much easier to understand how to effectively and efficiently train a dog to exhibit the behaviors you want. That doesn't mean you shouldn't tell them "No" or scold them if you witness poor behavior. Its perfectly fine to do that - so long as you express your displeasure with their actions in the moment they are exhibiting the undesired behavior. If you scold them inside the house for digging a hole outside 15 minutes ago, they will have no idea why they are being scolded and are more likely to associate the scolding with whatever they are doing in that moment, which might be something that is perfectly fine for them to do, like playing with a toy or laying in a particular corner.
A dog that is experiencing what it perceives as inconsistent corrections will become frustrated and eventually lose trust in their pack leader - you. When the dog no longer trusts its pack leader, it doesn't follow the pack leaders directions and that can lead to unpredictable behaviors. Hiring a dog trainer to "fix your dog" for you won't help either, because the problem isn't the dog. It's the owner. If you want to avoid or correct behavioral problems, you need to frame your communications with your dog in a way that they can readily understand, and that means correcting poor behavior on the spot, or accepting that they got away with that one because you weren't there to correct it. Do that, and your dog will trust you and when your dog trusts your leadership, they'll do whatever you ask.