WELSH CHEESE LITTER!

Ivy had 9 healthy puppies on Feb. 28th 2022. 5 females and 4 males. In choosing a naming theme I wanted to somehow incorporate both Ivy and Howie. Howie is named after a Welsh king and Ivy helps us out on our dairy farm where we make cheese. So all of the puppies are named after Welsh cheese's.
Harlech is a tri male he is on the top and Brandi Braf is a tri female she is on the bottom.
Saval is a Seal male on the top. Trefaldwyn is a seal female in the middle. Cenarth Brie is a seal female on the bottom.
Brefu Bach is a ghost tri male on the left. Perl Wen is a ghost tri female on the right top. Tintern is a ghost tri male on the bottom.
Teifi is a sable female.

Puppy Update's

Seren / Teifi
Lives in the UK

"I wasn’t joking they other evening when I told you that she has an ‘aura’. There is something hugely magnetic about this little girl. Every single person she meets has to stop and touch her, and they tell me they have never seen such a beautiful dog (she is by now laying on her back asking for a stomach tickle).  We go to training every week (apart from when we’re at the beach) and she is the youngest dog to have ever been allowed to go to advanced classes. We are training her for ‘good citizen’ award which means she will then be able to visit schools and nursing homes (should we wish) to be used as a therapy dog. She already does the job at my parents house, they are now both out of hospital and slowly getting back to a better health at home. My father can’t remember that he’s ever met her before but she greets him like a long lost friend at sits on his lap!😂. Now she is so big it is really funny! And my mother just strokes and strokes her with much love 💗.  I can’t thank you enough with sticking by me and sending her here to us."

Jasper/ Harlech
Lives in Idaho

Jasper is greatly loved and spoiled by his family, who are dear friends of ours. He spends his day either lounging in the house, playing with the grandkids, or following along side Steve as he checks fences and does other farm chores. A few months back while playing with the grandkids he injured his back and was told to take it easy and not run and jump around. After a few weeks he was back to his normal self.

Kota/Wynn
Lives in Washington

"She looks up to our older dog, Emmy Lou, and EL is teaching her manners and constantly playing with her. Likewise, the cat, Smokey, plays with her lots and puts up with some tough wrestling.
She is extremely energetic and biddable. I’ve never had a dog so easy to train (she does like to challenge though). Her eye contact is excellent. She is good on a leash and understands come, sit, lie, all done, and stay. We are working on chipmunk (sitting up), off , go to bed and stay out of my kitchen. Of course she gnaws on everything.
She is gregarious and thinks all humans adore her. She certainly adores them."
She passed her herding evaluation and is currently in agility and herding training.

Meadow/Brie
Lives in Oregon

On the farm, Meadow is true to her breeding. She has loads of herding instinct and no fear of the animals. I haven't really started herding training with her yet but she is exposed to the sheep daily during feeding and farm patrol and she has helped some with moving them around during which she exhibits plenty of natural talent. Meadow already knows a whole range of obedience commands and tricks. I am currently teaching her herding commands off stock and she works her obedience commands around stock. We began agility training classes a few weeks ago and she is doing fantastic. She is food and toy motivated, attentive, curious, and eager to learn. Meadow has been great with people and loves kids (thanks for that). She loves water of all kinds - lake, river, or coming out of a sprinkler or hose, and she also likes to retrieve. She's a bit nervous/reserved around strange dogs, but she and my 4 YO border collie are great buds. Her personality is more on the submissive and sensitive end of the spectrum. She takes a light touch and has yet to really try to test boundaries.  She's gentle and sweet with a moderate energy level. At about 5 months of age, she discovered her (quite booming) voice and likes to use it whenever something strikes her as off, but she is gaining confidence and feeling less need to use it as often. Overall, she has been a wonderfully easy puppy!

Sully/Saval
Lives in California

Sully got re homed at only a few months old as he was a little to much for the owner. Thankfully he found  a great home , with plenty of stock work to do.

"Thank you for letting us have Sully. He is a normal, energetic, shoe eating puppy. After Liz turned him over to us we talked to a reputable and respected stock dog trainer. He evaluated Sully and us. He accepted us as clients and last Monday evening he worked Sully with his sheep. The sheep are experienced at being worked by dogs. At the end of the session, Al told us he was very impressed with Sully. We were impressed with what we saw also.
Again, Thank You,"

Badger/Tintern
Lives in Massachusetts

I wanted to tell you both how wonderful our Badger is. He is maybe the ninth puppy I've raised, and has to be the easiest of them all. He's a sunny spirit; he likes everything. No anxiety nor aggression in this dog. Loves going to the post office, where the postmaster stops everything to play with him. Loves the UPS man. Loves going for car rides, and rests quietly in his crate in the car without the slightest fuss. Not noise-sensitive. To him, all is a happy adventure. 

He's developing into a fine little farm dog. Licks the horses' noses. Plays with the goats -- thinks their rearing up and trying to butt him is funny, and neither gets angry or afraid, just dodges and comes back. After a bit of this, the goats turn and move away. Only needs a word to stop bothering the hens (which he barely does any more). This is a dog who will be kind to his stock. 

Hope, my neurotic anxious Aussie who has always had trouble playing appropriately with other dogs, is his best dog friend and they play for hours every day. She has become noticeably steadier and more relaxed since he arrived. 

He isn't busy, driven, or destructive, just playful and eager to do anything we are doing. I have to say, he is still a climber. All my other pups had to be gently encouraged to attempt stairs. Not Badger. I never even bothered. He was up in the hay loft ten days ago, and the steep 18th century stairs to the second story of our house were mastered even before that. He likes to nap in the folding camp chair in the barn. He also finds things, something Hope won't do. He found my pony's rubbed-off fly mask in the pasture yesterday, and where the hens had a secret nest in the hay loft (first thing he did once he got up there). 

I feel truly grateful for the work that went into making Badger's litter. He is a joy to my heart. 

Czareck/Brefu
Lives in Canada

"Took the young man to Canadian Tire (hardware, automotive, sport, housewares) for more heeling, sitting, meeting people practice. He did SO well... focused on the treat dispenser (that'd be me ), tried very hard to not jump on people to let them know that he loved the cuddles, did some "sit in motion" as well as sit/stays and lie downs, passed people in the aisle without breaking focus....
The baby puppy stage is achingly adorable and sometimes exhausting...and I see people with their new puppy and think, "aw, that was my Czarek not so long ago".
However, it is so satisfying and wonderful to see your puppy mature....it is amazing how quickly he learns and absorbs, how much he wants to learn, how freaking smart he is, how much I adore him."

Rafqa/Brandi
Lives in Montana

Rafqa is growing up to be a great dog. She gets to go on long walks almost everyday and has been working on agility and some trick training. It was so much fun getting to see her at the Idaho English Shepherd gathering.

Perl
Stayed with us.

Perl is everything I was hoping for when I was planning this litter. Loving, smart, keen, excellent natural herding ability, and a great work ethic. She has brought so much joy to our farm. I am super excited to see how she continues to mature.

Ivy and Howie getting to know each other.


The Sire: Peaslee's Howell The Good


HTCH Peaslee's Howell the Good ("Howie"), HTAD IIIsd, HRD IIIs, RLF IIIs, HTD IIId, ORT bca, CGC Howie is from Belle's third litter, sired by Summer & Travis Banks' Cody, born in April 2014.

Howie combines strong working drive with a clear head and biddability. As a pup, I watched the easy-going, adaptable Howie lead the puppy pack when I took his litter on field trips. New environments, new people, sheep, ducks, chickens -- he greeted all with interest and unwavering (but not heedless) confidence. Howie tagged along to sheep camp in July, a scent detection workshop in August, a Larry Painter (herding) clinic in September... nothing fazed him. He has continued to demonstrate intelligence, enthusiasm for work, and a steady temperament in training and has earned started, intermediate & advanced titles on three different herding trial courses as well as a "canine good citizen" certification and beginning Nosework titles (ORT on all three scents). As of October 2017, Howie has earned his Herding Trial Championship with AHBA.

Howie is registered with UKC. His sire, Cody, was from Robert Cook, who bred working English Shepherds in Ohio for over 30 years. Cody's mother, Annie, is credited with saving Mr. Cook's life late one night, after he was knocked to the ground by an aggressive bull. Many of Mr. Cook's dogs were registered with IESR. Unfortunately, it is not possible to retrieve those records so there are gaps in Howie's registered pedigree.
Health testing:

Hips - OFA Good and PennHIP DI = 0.32 / 0.35, no degenerative joint disease
DNA tests - Howie is normal/clear for all (163) of the genetic diseases included in the Cornell University research panel. His DNA profile information is available here: Embark Genetic Testing
Inbreeding - measured level of homozygosity (inbreeding) = 3%
MHC genetic testing showed high diversity
Coat color genetics - Ay at, B B, D D, E e, K k, S S - (ie, does not carry brown, dilute, or piebald alleles; does carry sable/fawn allele)

Herding Titles:

HTAD III - sheep & ducks ~ Herding Trial Arena Dog III, is an advanced title on an arena course consisting of take pen/ gather, fetch, drive, obstacles, hold, sort, repen

HRD III & RLF III - sheep ~ Herding Ranch Dog & Ranch Large Flock III are advanced titles on a ranch course including gather, drive, pen work, obstacles, a sort, graze and controlled movement.

HTD III - ducks ~ Herding Trial Dog III, is an advanced title on the trial course consisting of an outrun, lift, fetch, drive, crossdrive, pen & shed

JHD - sheep and goats ~ Junior Herd Dog is a pre-trial class for dogs just starting out; video of Howie's first test -- he's an enthusiastic boy!