Copper x Gemma 2023 Litter Pupdate
- Sunnyside ES
- May 4
- 11 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Although all our 2023 pups have been homed long since, I thought it would be good to update with some of the activities we did with a few of them; things we hadn't had the chance to do with previous, younger litters.
At the age of 4.5 months old Hero, Harmony and Hitachi had the opportunity to travel with me and stay with family in the Edmonton area for 3 weeks at the end of January 2024. This gave many opportunities for training, walking and heeling on leash, crossing streets, socializing to a variety of situations including the general noises and scents of the city, the stimulation of other people, children, dogs, basic etiquette in a variety of scenarios, and even the sights and sounds of emergency vehicles. I so wish I lived close enough to a large center to do this with all my litters!
The following are a few of the videos from that time:
1) The pups' FIRST day on the ground with little children Part 1 (my kids are all adults and don't live anywhere near here, so not only were these little ones new, but ALL little ones were)
And 2) The pups' FIRST day on the ground with Littles Part 2:
And 3) The pups' FIRST day on the ground with Littles Part 3:
And then a few of our training sessions in the city:
Hitachi Training Session in the city Feb 7, 2024:
Harmony walking past a school:
Harmony heeling session Feb 11, 2024
And some quick shorts of basic etiquette:
Harmony waiting before going through a door Feb 2024:
Sweet Hitachi and lovely Harmony each found homes while down there (one family from S BC, the other neighbors who enjoyed watching our pups work with me from just across "bowl" (green space) and decided they'd like to have one).
Hero (now Bud) was our only remaining pup and came home with us for a couple more months before he found his perfect match on a cattle ranch in central AB. While in the city he decided he needed to become a bark alert watch dog (He is overall a calm, serious minded, focused boy. Not yappy, just vigilant), so was not as suitable for places with neighbors close by, although he chilled considerably by the time he was placed - and I think that was definitely influenced by both Misty and certain training procedures. (See his 'Sit on the Dog' video session below.)
He's a sweet, loyal, eager to please pup, who is a cuddle bug with his people.
He is reserved with new people, generally taking some time to discern if he wants them to be part of his circle. If so, then he's a sweet lover boy. He met a couple people and a two-year-old boy that he loved right off the bat. But it is rare, and an honor to be chosen.
He also has quite a remarkable persistence in following a scent, so may be good at nosework.
Hero's trip home alone went without a hitch. I expected a sad, lonely puppy, but he was calm, quiet, and good as gold.
Hero - Modified 'sit on the dog' session. I firmly believe that these types of lessons are crucial to teaching a pup that they're not "all that", as well as to help them learn self control and the art of relaxation:
Hero and fire. He was definitely not fazed by fire after the first alert to 'what's that noise?!' In fact, we nicknamed him 'Sparky' because he chased and leapt to catch the flaming morsels.
Individual Pupdates:
Hero / Bud update (Jun 1, 2024 onward) -
Hero's 2nd trip to the city. He had matured a lot since Feb, and had learned that chilling is better than trying to rush the fence.
And, although I wasn't able to catch most of these things on video 'in the moment', I was also very pleased with his entire response to all the new things we came across (like weed whackers, bikes, skateboard, and flapping tarps) which weren't present in the middle of winter... Although he startled when the tarp flapped in his face, he then moved forward to investigate and walked across the tarp with me. Startling isn't an issue, the speed of recovery is key. His recovery was immediate.
I'm convinced that having a few months under the tutelage of zen grandma, Misty, and the couple sessions of 'Sit on the Dog' I did with him were fundamental in this attitude readjustment. Please see Hyacinth (Izzy)'s update below or follow this link: Sit on the Dog Part 2
Hero found a new home Jun 1, 2024 with a lovely family on a cattle ranch. This was bittersweet, but so good for him! He is now called 'Bud'.
According to his owner: Bud is very loving and is much loved. He's in training on the cattle farm he moved to around 8 months of age. He appears to have high cattle handling intelligence. He also enjoys playing some ball with our kids. As well, "We have a full brother to this (2026) litter - he is about 31 months and we are very pleased with him. We use him to help with cattle on the farm and he is a great family dog as well. If people have questions they can reach out...
Bud around the Farm
Hawk / Dash update - Dash is around 60 lbs. He is the first owned dog for a teen who grew up around many family owned and board 'n' train dogs in a dog savvy family. He's an intense dog but has been the right fit for that pairing as his mom says that 'G' is a hard grit kind of kid; they do everything together.
Dash is the most reserved of all the pups in this litter. He is extremely loving and very oriented towards HIS family - always inserting himself into whatever is happening - but has no desire to make friends with others. Rather, he's quite protective, although:
he behaves well in public and on walks. Dash obeys commands but just has no desire to please anyone other than his family. He is a super sure-of-himself stubborn cattle dog with the speed and intelligence of a border collie; he has lots of drive and thinks for himself. He is tenacious, has grit, tough as nails, feels no pain. That boy is made of titanium; the hockey puck shots he takes, it's shocking... He retrieves pucks and broomballs every day (and so far still has all his teeth! They changed the netting so he'd stop catching them with his mouth). He is motivated and very biddable, wants to please, and is a "loving dough bag." He works mostly for praise yet is not needy.
At around 7 months old, Dash observed, voluntarily took action, and successfully returned a bull that had escaped from the pen.
He can move full grown sows and boars. A few times G has gone into the sow field to do something and suddenly Dash will decide that the sows are too close, so jumps in and saves his person.
Very nurturing, Dash is patient toward young animals:
Dash loves the water... Even mid-winter he will swim - puddle, lake, water trough.
This is what G wrote about Dash :
Dash is an extremely handsome (and he knows it) athletic family dog. He loves hanging out with his family, needs to be the center of everything. Is obsessed with his ball and retrieving pucks when we practice shoots. He has an incredible herding drive, just needs to mature a bit more so he can focus and work safely with the sheep. Also has a great tracking ability, we will do more nose work in the future. Overall, a great family dog for our very active, outdoorsy, dog savvy family.
Hitachi / Max update - Owner says Jul 2024: Max ( Hitachi) is doing well. He is settling into the family more and life is more routine! He is amazing with my kids and for that I am grateful. He is amazing with all dogs. His energy levels grew with him. We went on our first horse trail ride off property and he did amazing. It was slow and only about an hour but his off leash commands were impressive for his age. (10 mos at the time)
He comes with us everywhere with the successful aid of natural ginger pills.
He is kind with all of our critters who all free range and shows a natural protective side for us all.
We still have a lot of training to do but we're happy with where we are and look forward to the summer (2024) and more fun activities.
He is turning very dark!
2025 update from owner: Valentine's weekend 2025 marked our one year anniversary together. {N- The kids find him hilarious as he loves to roll and will tumble off anything.} He has a real lack for personal space! He just loves to be loved and once you touch him he melts into you. He is a true mamas boy and his level of dedication to me for being such a young dog is pretty amazing! He would never think to leave the farm and just sits by the door if I'm inside.
Since our last post on FB (with multiple vids of various tricks) we have continued our training! This winter he got a ski-jouring harness from Santa. We started packing it and by the end of the winter we started to introduce some small weight to it. He ended up pulling our son (5) for a couple meters by the end.
We have slowed down on trick training with him to make sure he has all his practical farm skills up to snuff. He is starting to do all his commands off leash while on the farm, and out and about. I'm starting to transition what he already knows to different scenarios and he's doing very well.
Our goal is to have solid commands when biking, riding the horses and doing farm work by the end of summer (2025). My son is really into mountain biking and Max is the perfect biking partner! We are hoping to get him out on the paddle board to see how he likes the water.
All in all he is an absolute joy and we really love how our kids are starting to connect with him as they are getting older.
Max videos:
Hyacinth / Izzy update - RIP, Dec 2025. Izzy was injured in her hind leg as a pup (unknown, may have climbed the barrier and caught her leg as she went over) and needed extra TLC and protection from her larger, boisterous siblings so, since I still had several other pups to raise and train, I placed her with a friend. Her whole family fell in love with her - so we arranged a co-own as a potential breeding gal IF she passed her OFA exam when old enough to test.
She didn't live far away. However, I was remiss in getting many pictures of her in 2025, but they sent me a few. She was very helpful on their multi-species farm and herded the poultry with finesse. We did a couple of joint training sessions in May 2024 before my health took a dive for the rest of the year, and enjoyed a joint trike walk with her in the city.
She remained quite petite and dainty.
Sadly, in Dec 2025 while her owner was away visiting family, her children back home left to board the school bus and forgot to lock Izzy inside... she followed them and was hit and killed on the highway. Heartbreaking :'(
Hyacinth 2025
Harmony / Callie update - I haven't had a lot of contact with Callie's owners, but have run into them a few times on walks when I've been visiting family in the city. According to them, Callie "loves to be brushed, loves to fetch the ball, and is very smart." She's also grown to be a big girl - 70.5 lbs by last summer... (she was almost evenly matched with her brothers for size while with us, so not a major surprise there.) She also thoroughly enjoys wrestling with her massive doggie sister.
Here are a few pictures of her while I was working in the city with her in Jan/Feb 2024:
Callie (Harmony) summer 2025
Handsome / Aldwin update -
Aldwin is owned by a retired veterinarian. He's turned out as handsome as I thought he'd be when I called him that :)
His owner writes,
"Aldwin has turned out to be a wonderful friend. He's my velcro companion. Eats, sleeps, and plays around me constantly. He always wants to go in the truck with me and he's a great traveler. He just lays down and puts his head in my lap. He hates it when I have to leave him to go to work though... You must have sure made an impression on those pups. Every time he hears your voice on an old clip he drops whatever he's doing and comes over to investigate... Speaks volumes to the amount of work you did with these guys!!!... He loves weird foods, including all sorts of fruits and veggies. One of his favorites is broccoli!! He just loves it!... One of the things I can't get over for his size is how strong he is in the shoulders. I would expect that from a Rottweiler or German Shepherd that was much bigger than him, but I swear he would do well on a sled team....he's a cherished and extremely devoted friend. His personality is fantastic and I'll say it again, you have done a wonderful job in the breeding and early conditioning of these guys. I hope all the other littermate owners are just as thrilled with their best friend as I am !!!...His temperament is first class... extremely biddable and intelligent...He's lived up to the breed's hype. We have him in (competitive) obedience... and even "Rally"... and he's learning just fine... He's befriended the cats. He's never met a person or animal he doesn't want to be friends with... all the neighbors love him."
We currently have a full sibling litter to the above crew on the ground from Copper x Gemma - DOB Apr 8, 2026.
We currently have 2 male spots remaining (and potentially 1 female spot if I end up retaining a male rather than a female).
Anyone interested in a pup from the 2026 litter, please contact us & fill out our application form.
Please NOTE that this is Gemma's LAST litter. She, heartbreakingly, developed milk fever this time around and the vets have advised that for her safety we not breed her again.
We have some BIG decisions to make about future breeding plans. At this point in time it's up in the air whether or not we'll be able to breed again as we currently do not have a replacement for Gemma (her pups are Copper's so... we need a suitable unrelated gal. There are some ideas, but things must work out for that... and no guarantees on final outcome).
So, if you want a pup from us... now is the time.
As an aside... ES are very rare in Canada... Lets not lose these good genetics while we have them... Copper is still available at stud, and Laddie could potentially be made available to the right match... however, the years go by, so act sooner than later if you are considering them.
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