Ebony…

After the heartbreaking and unexpected loss of my Dexter (see treasured memories page) I was unsure whether I should go and collect the bitch puppy I had chosen a couple of weeks earlier from Su and Steve at the Settle in Wellingborough. It wasn’t that I had changed my mind about having her, just that I felt quite numb and didn’t know if I could give this little girl the best of me so soon after losing Dexy; he had died on the Wednesday after a week long illness that came out of nowhere. I decided to go ahead as a house with no dogs was torture in itself, so on the Saturday as planned I travelled down to collect her.

The rest is history; she was my rock and helped me get through the hardest part of losing an old friend. I kept telling myself I owed it to Dexy to give this girl the best of me as I had always done for my other dogs. As Ebony is descended from the same lines as Dexter I felt like I had a little part of him in her too.

 So there is the story of Ebby's early days, and now; what can I say. She is a streamlined girl built for speed; my Dad always says that saying hello to Ebony is like trying to catch a bin bag full of eels. I tend to agree, she does love to lick you, every morning when my boys bend over to put their shoes on the cries of E-BON-Y GET OFFFF!!! Can be heard from all over the house, but she just loves to kiss and it doesn’t put her off at all.

As Ebony has grown up she has been, and still is maturing into a lovely kind girl, as I said she adores the kids and see’s it as her very important duty to make sure visiting dogs leave her cats alone. She sleeps next to my bed and is really my constant companion.

We are looking forward to the arrival of Ebony’s first litter of puppies this summer with a mating to Sonny from Tony and Brenda Fox at Foxfold GSD’s. Sonny is descended from the same lines as my very first GSD Zach If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t even be writing this now.

 Elvis…

I had been looking for a big cuddly black long coated dog for a little while and from the moment I first met Elvis at four weeks old I was smitten. He has always been enormous and he still is, as you can see from the photos. One of a small litter of four pups from the lovely Graham and Sandy Burrett at Bozeta GSD’s.

       

He is lovely big clown, tests the boundaries on a regular basis and keeps me on my toes. Like most young shepherds when he gets excited he forgets to control his big backside and inevitably things go flying. Ebony thinks he is quite ridiculous.

At almost two years old he is still very much a big puppy and we love and enjoy watching him grow and mature. In my experience dogs tend to be slower to mature than bitches and Elvis the big lovable goofball is not doing anything to change that opinion.