Retired Dogs of the decade 2000

When we first wrote this page, it was early in the decade...now we find ourselves in the latter half of the 2000s and several things that were in the present are now in the past!  We have retired several bitches from our breeding program, and have a few new up-and-comers in the wings.  We'll start by talking about the events and dogs that began the decade.

The year 2000 found us moving back to Texas from Louisiana and taking some good young dogs who had been tested on stock but had not been trained.  Possum had whelped what we thought would be her last litter at the end of 1996 by our friends‘ young dog, 45 Ranch Rem's Cody owned by the Burlesons Oklahoma.  Cody was a fancy low heeling dog and we bred to get a daughter to keep.  That daughter is “Whitney” whose official name is  Slash V Bittersweet Frosting.

Whitney (retired)

Whitney was the self appointed guardian of my yard from our sheep and used to lie in wait for them until they almost reached the roses and then take them back to the pasture. This worked beautifully for several months until I guess her fetching instinct came forward and she would turn around and fetch them back to the yard. We started her on cattle and she definitely inherited Cody’s strength on the heels rather than her mother’s strong heading instinct. In the fall of 1999 we would nearly lose her to a "fatal unless treated" fungal disease called Blastomycosis caused by inhalation of spores growing around creeks and ponds. Whitney lost an eye, we spent a lot of money, but saved a really nice dog. She had her first litter at the age of five so their story will be one of this decade. Meanwhile she is our house dog and fits all the criteria I demand: guardian and protective toward strangers, accepting of people when we tell her it is okay, and trustworthy with our cats.  Whitney is now retired and spends her time like she always has...supervising my house cats and shedding hair on my quilt!

The last litter we had from Young Kate (Zia’s Buckeye Charmer STDcs)  toward the end of the previous decade produced some very special dogs.  Sired by Lookaway Luke, the daughter we kept would have many of the working traits we admire in her half brother, Iron Will. 

Slash V Third Charm, "Seeney"

We call her Seeney and named her after her mother and grandmother: thus she is Slash V Third Charm. Seeney resembles her grandmother more than her mother and has more of her grandmother’s working style. She works quiet, strongest on the head but she will heel cattle low with a very strong fetching instinct on sheep . She has quite a bit of eye and will approach standing stock straight on with confidence.

Seeney is like her mother and grandmother also in her attitude toward people - there are no strangers. Like them, she is independent and doesn’t demand a lot of attention but would rather just be around us rather than receiving a lot of affection. Kind of like a cat but much more trainable!  Seeney is also retired from our breeding program.

Seeney’s littermates all went to working homes although we kept her brother, Slash V Jim Dandy for several years. He has a STDc from a couple of trials and now lives in Nebraska. "Jimmie" works very much like his mother, Young Kate, and loves to heel. 

The only blue male was sold to Dicky Renn in Maryland to work on his dairy. The way Dicky describes this dog it appears he has a style similar to Seeney. This farm dog turned Dicky into a trialer and their accomplishment of WTCH Slash V Luke Cowwalker is the result of this transformation!  After a successful trial career including some nice High In Trial wins, Luke works at home and is trialed by Dicky's daughter. Now his puppies are in the trial arena winning. The other two littermates are working on farms in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Slash V Sweet and Innocent

In the fall of 1997 we bred Possum’s sister, "Lodi" HOF Slash V Sweet N Innocent to Diamond S Sam.  Lodi whelped a litter that would include three Working Trial Champions...WTCH Slash V Dark Rider PATDs, WTCH Slash V Sage and Cinnamon, and WTCH Slash V Slide Me Six .  Lodi became HOF Dam #184 in summer 2004.

"Lodi" Slash V Sweet and Innocent	WTCH Slash V Slide Me Six

When we moved from Louisiana back to Texas in the spring of 2000 Key and Lodi brought with them their last litters, both by Diamond S Sam.  We would keep two of Key’s puppies; the only black puppy in the litter, Slash V Skipa Star and a red female, Slash V Latigo Lacing.  Latigo went to live with our friends George and Jo Kimes and had a brief career in the show ring (with some nice class wins), which she found very boring.  Her visit was intended to be temporary, but the attachment between Latigo and Jo’s granddaughter, Shelby, and Latigo’s love of her new home were too much.  Latigo had found her forever home.   Latigo has made a few visits back here to our place and has produced a couple of lovely litters for us.

Skip is a very keen worker with a strong fetching style.  We had three really nice litters by Skip, keeping a son (Smokey, listed below) out of Whitney whelped in the spring of 2002.  Skip has also found that special home in Iowa with Tracey and Amanda MacPherson, C-Me Australian Shepherds.

Back in 1996 we had bred Key to Dude and in 2001 we had the opportunity to get back a daughter from that breeding,  Slash V Cajun Key "Cage."

Slash V Cajun Key

One of the reasons we felt so fortunate to get Cage back is that both of her parents were not only good, but outstanding real life ranch working dogs.  Real serious work is a test that so many dogs do not get and one that is most important to us.

Cage represents the very special maternal line that to me represents the real Slash V dog.  There is a straight line right back through every special female of their time starting with her mom Key and then directly to Possum, Paper Doll, Ticki, Red Fudge and to Martin's Josie whelped in the sixties.  Two strong doses of Paper Doll and Little Rock on her sire's side just add strength to the qualities that make her a true Slash V dog in personality, looks, and working ability.  She is exactly as the Standard states, "reserved with strangers" and "primarily a working dog of strong herding and guardian instincts". 

Slash V Rufus STDs

When we "discovered" the Easy Goer x Kate son, Slash V Rufus STDs, thanks to his family Terry & Margi Layman, we made the cross of Rufus x Cage which is a cousin to cousin mating. 

Rufus was shipped to us from Washington, worked a week later, and could have been on stock all his life. He had never seen a cow or a sheep and was amazing. These puppies will also be part of the future.  His daughter, “Pocket,” is showing a lot of the same instinct we saw in Rufus.

On to the Present Dogs page...