Sunnyside ES
​Sunnyside English Shepherds
Laddie
'Laddie'
SSacres Boreland Chisum's Amazn Phoenix
DOB 2017-10-15
Tested clear for 181/181 conditions through Embark, including the 5 health issues known to be pertinent in ES (MDR1 n/n, Trapped Neutrophil clear, PRA-PRCD clear, CEA clear, Hyperuricosuria and Hyperuricemia or Urolithiasis - HUU - clear)
(As well, both his sire & dam have been CAER tested clear & are OFA hips Good, elbows normal.)
Laddie's hips are OFA EXCELLENT!! And elbows OFA Normal
Laddie is a delightful 6 yr old sable & white boy (aka shaded sable) who arrived December 2017 after 3 days of travel from New Jersey at 9.5 wks of age, with several stops along the way. He's more well traveled than I am!
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This handsome boy has worked himself out of a job here and has, with sadness, been rehomed. I wish I could keep them all, but circumstances do not allow for that.
Happily, he's enjoying being an only dog and is still within the extended family.
**OF NOTE, we're considering the possibility of collecting Laddie. And, he's potentially available at stud to the right female for at least the next year (Feb 2024 - 2025).
Terms & conditions apply. Please CONTACT us if interested.
Laddie was big for a 9.5 wk old ES pup at 17.7 lbs! He's likely to be in the 70 lb range like his sire when grown.
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He is a smart boy who learned the significance of the 'yes' marker, and the basics of sit and down, and worked on 'go get it', 'come' and 'off' all within the first 30 minutes of arrival 🙂
He has indicated a desire to retrieve and is very gentle taking the treats from me, often only using his soft tongue.
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On the first day home he met our cat and one of our dogs on his potty excursions and was gentle and thoughtful in his responses. He is more interested in the cat now that he's more rested, but is still responsive to direction.
We took him to meet a dying relative on our way home. He was exceedingly well behaved, but gave us a good peek at his future watchdog abilities when our tall 2nd son (whom he'd never met) came through the doorway to visit said relative too, casting a very dark shadow into the dimly lit room, whereupon our wee boy briefly burst into a deep growling bark until he realized we weren't concerned. Big voice for a 16 lb pup (now 17.7 lbs at 9.5 weeks. He's a biggun 🙂) We introduced him to a collar right away; Laddie accepted it with grace, not even bothering to scratch at it.
I took Laddie down to the barnyard on Christmas day but didn't have a phone on me to take pics. He showed that he's a thinker with some self preservation instincts, which I prefer to a pup that jumps headlong into situations without thought for safety. He basically watched me closely and stayed out of goat range. A good first intro.
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He's been keeping me on my toes with training. Laddie wants very much to work with me (retrieves and focuses diligently on me when I'm training him), sweet, gentle and responsive. We've done some tug play; he's already responding almost perfectly to the 'out' command and retrieving it when it's thrown as a reward for 'out'. He's also sitting with just the verbal cue, downing quickly to hand signal, coming to his name (with no distractions), doing 'touch', 'up', 'on', 'off' almost without fail, and working on 'place'. He's also added 'in', 'out' 'watch' & 'up on' to his repertoire. Today I added 'through' a tunnel and am working on getting him to grasp and pull a line attached to a cupboard door. He's mouthing it, but not pulling yet. I'm also working on touching and lifting his foot, paw, hind / end (hind feet), ears, teeth, and tail without his squirming. He's been very accepting of everything. All of these, of course, will need proofing with distractions, but he's gaining a basic understanding. We've had him for 4 days... Did I mention he's smart?! lol
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See more about Laddie on our Blog; The first specific Laddie training post is here :) There are additional training videos on the blog of him up to 18 weeks of age when we had to put his more formal training on hold while we raised & trained a litter...
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Update July 30/18:
Click the link to see ten month old Laddie moving some of the stock for me yesterday. I think this is his second time ever moving them on his own... and only the third time ever, even with a buddy. (We've done a lot of just calm observation up until now).
Beautiful self rating behaviour. He bumped one recalcitrant kid with his nose prior to me turning on the camera- instinctively, he judged and meted out the perfect degree of force needed. <3
