Just wanted to give you a few shots of one of your grandpups!  Little Riley (not so little anymore…32lbs!!!) is doing really well and has given us more joy than we could ever have imagined!

Keep up the great work!

I just wanted to send you some pictures of Riley.  Riley turned 2 years old on March 18th--it is so hard for me to believe she's a full-fledged adult now!!  She still acts like a goofball though.  We visit the nursing home down the street from us on Fridays with Therapy Dogs International.  She actually had a visit on her birthday and everyone told her happy birthday and one of the residents sang "Happy Birthday"
to her.  :)  She is so well behaved on her visits.  She knows when she's "going to work" and gets in the zone.  The people at the nursing home just love her to death.  Riley is the only certified therapy dog that visits the nursing home, but sometimes visitors and staff bring their friendly dogs in to visit the residents.  A couple of the residents there have told me that Riley is their favorite dog that visits.  We usually demonstrate all of Riley's different tricks--sit, down, shake, stay, "pretty" (sit up on your hind legs), "say hello" (hit my hand with your nose), "peekaboo" (stick your head through my open legs), and roll over.  I'm working on teaching her some more tricks to show off.  We go to an advanced level class in Williamsburg just to keep her up on her skills and well behaved.  There are search and rescue dogs, conformation dogs, therapy dogs, agility dogs, rally dogs, and obedience trial dogs in the class.

We went and visited the elementary school that my mom works at last month.  We visited with 4th graders.  Riley just loves kids!  She especially loved one girl in the class and even rolled over for a belly rub from her.  She's so silly.

Riley loves to bark at the mail man and the UPS and FedEx men.  The other day the mail man told me that when he has to drop something off at our door that he rings the door bell and then takes a step back.  Little does he know that Riley would just try to lick him to death!  She scared off some Jehovah's Witnesses the other day, so that was kind of nice!

When I first took Riley home from your farm, she threw up in the car twice and she did the high pitched Cattle Dog yip all the way home... 
Then she threw up in my car the next time she rode in it too and yipped a little bit.  What a change to how she acts now.  She LOVES car rides and is the best passenger!  She's quiet the whole time (my parents' dog whines the whole time she's in the car) and hasn't gotten sick in the car since she was about 3 months old.  She's ridden with me from Hampton to Richmond and we go up to Williamsburg once a week for class.  I take her with me if I'm going to run to a drive thru to get some lunch just because she likes car rides so much.

We went to the beach the other week when it was about 73 degrees out and she had a blast.  She would have gone deeper into the water but my leash wasn't long enough and I didn't want to get wet.  She likes to try to bite at the waves as they're crashing.

She's actually a pretty laid back Cattle Dog.  I guess she has adapted to my lifestyle and she has a "job" to do--her therapy dog work--so I think that helps as well.  Don't get me wrong, she LOVES to play...she's obsessed with those orange rubber Chuck-It balls (I've found they hold up a lot better than regular tennis balls, plus they don't have the fuzz on them that can be like sandpaper on their teeth) and likes to play fetch with and shake her Kong Wubba toys.  Her Wubbas have to be outdoor toys because she'll shake them near us inside and whack us in the head, leg, or whatever else is nearby!  Anyway, back to her being laid back...she usually sleeps until about 7:30 AM (she used to want to get up at like 5:30 AM when I first got her--I guess she was used to being up early on the farm), but if I want to sleep in, I get up with her at 7:30, take her out to use the bathroom and feed her, then we come get back in bed and she goes right back to sleep until whenever I want to get up.  She's content to just nap during the day and is a little more active in the evenings when everyone is home, but will settle down if I tell her to "go lay down."

She is nice and slim at 53 pounds (she is pretty tall for the breed actually, about 21 or 22 inches high) and the vet says she is in "perfect condition."  She's all muscle...you can't pinch any fat on her.  She loves to lie up on my bed with me, right beside me and sleep with her head on my chest or shoulder.  I love how she moans and groans in her sleep when she changes position.  I can tell when she's down for the count because she lets out a big sigh and a moan.  Also, when she scratches either of her ears, she lets out a groan as she's scratching them--she's done that ever since I got her.  She's such a goober.

She always makes me laugh.  When she was a puppy and would find a pair of socks, she would chew them up.  Now if she finds a pair of socks, she likes to go hide them somewhere.  She also tries to hide dog bones and cardboard toilet paper rolls.  In fact, I found a toilet paper roll underneath my pillow the other day.  So far, she's caught a bunny, a bird, and found a dead mouse somewhere (I don't think she killed it because it was as stiff as a board).  She tried bringing the bunny inside but that didn't happen and she succeeded in bringing the mouse inside and was headed right to my bed to hide it under my pillow...gross!  Glad I caught her in time.

Hey there Guys, just thought I would send you an e-mail to let you know that our little girl is going great. All is well in every department. She loves the farm life. She has become best friends with our miniature donkey - they play pretty rough together, but it is all in fun. She comes for rides with me and the horses every day, and loves the exercise. She went to the beach for the first time last weekend, she loves the water and loves to swim, whether it be a creek, pond or the ocean. She is so good with obedience, a very smart dog. Thanks again guys, Andrew Chippendale.

Hello from Illinois! We are finally getting to sending you some pictures of our dog Duke. We picked him up last summer from your farm. He was in the April litter of Kid Rock X Shela. We were very impressed by how clean and organized your facility was. I have included several pictures ranging from when we first picked him up to present.
Duke has been everything that we hoped for and more! My husband and I are both quite active and Duke loves coming with us everywhere. From the grocery store to running a couple of miles to swimming in a lake, he has loved every minute of it. Duke has proved himself to be an incredibly smart dog! He usually can pick up a new command in about a day. We have taught him everything from the basics to ringing a bell to let us know he needs to go outside. Today we have 15 inches of snow outside and he has completely worn himself out running all morning in it. It is so much fun to see the pure joy in him! We have enrolled him in a Home Companion class locally. We are hoping that he can go on to Agility or Flyball. Duke is our little buddy and we are so glad that we got him from such a quality breeder! Thank you! Sara and Joel Burgener

Hi Janice, How are things? I saw from your website that you had 2 new litters and a few
available pups. Makes me want another one sooo bad. =) I have been playing with the idea of
getting Sydney a brother, however it is just the beginnings of a thought. I'm writing to update you on Sydney. She is doing very well and obviously continues to grow. If you remember from my last e-mail she was displaying some fear aggression toward small children. We're still working on it but I think we will be able to get it under control and hopefully give her more positive experiences. My 4 year old nephew is helping by feeding her hotdogs and cheese on occassion. She is presently going through a more extensive 3 week training program in my area. It's like doggie day school with on the street training accompanied by weekly owner training. It's wonderful and her skills are becoming finely tuned. Her attention and focus on me improves with each day. She presently is a very well trained dog and I can only imagine how she'll be after I work with her more.
I was hoping we can come and visit in the next month or two. I would love for you to see her. She of course loveswide open spaces. (You should've seen her trying to herd Eric's 4 wheeler =)Your farm is on the way to my parents house in Williamsburg and we visit them a lot in the spring and summer. I've attached some pictures.
Hope you are doing well and I hope to hear from you soon.-Best Jennifer

April 04 - Fuego is like our fifth child--he gets the good treatment. He is a beautiful ACD--we constantly get compliments after we're asked, "What kind of dog is that?"

July 04 - I'm emailing from Baghdad, Iraq. Maira sent me a photo of Fuego--he's 6 months old and he's beautiful. Maira and Fuego are getting settled in our new house. Maira says that Fuego is now very protective and wary of strangers coming around her. He's very active and fortunately Maira spends a lot of time with him keeping him busy. Fuego likes to go everywhere she goes--he loves car rides. Before I deployed, we were in Florida staying with family. Every day, we took Fuego to the local park on the baseball field (fenced in) and had a big ball for him--he would chase that ball until he was totally tired out--he loves it.

Hello Janice, It's been awhile since we sent you something on Fuego. We are now stationed at Dyess AFB, Texas. We've been here about six months. This is a bowl a thon (link is attached) we did in his name to raise money for Rescue the Animals. I was away when the photo was taken but you can see Maira and Fuego. We took him to the bowling alley on base and he had a blast playing with the kids. He weighs about 50lbs and he is an exceptional ACD. He's 2 years 4 months old. Just thought you would want to know how he is. Regards, Paul and Maira