About six years ago, we were needing the same kind of dog you’re looking for. We have a small farm with animals and children, as well as encroaching predators that need scaring off. We had a mixed breed shepherd husky cross that had done an excellent job in his prime, but was too old to keep up his duties.
When we finally found Finley, our male, his litter mates were spoken for so quickly that we almost were too late to claim him! This got us thinking—we are not the only ones that value a good, healthy mixed breed dog! Mixed breed dogs, we believe, are ideal companions. We love a lot of the traits of a purebred Dutch, German, Czech, Belgian etc Shepherd dog: they are people-oriented, trainable, and agile/athletic. However, the hip problems, hyperactivity, overly barky, mouthy, aggressive traits are not generally present in a mixed breed.
And our Finley turned out to be very laid back, healthy, loyal, eager to please, aggressive toward predators, and alert to intruders. And we think he is beautiful! We decided to keep him intact in order to have the option of one day getting a puppy from a litter that he sires.
Then our son had the idea of finding a suitable shepherd mix female (Margo from Ft. St. James) to mate with Finley and have a litter of puppies. Judging by how fast Finley’s litter had disappeared, our son thought he could easily find homes for Margo and Finley’s puppies as well. And boy was he right!
This got us all thinking of eventually starting our own “breed” of Canadian Shepherds, much like the Alaskan Husky began. According to the Kennel Clubs, a new breed can be established after three generations and 150 puppies from the third generation that have documented distinct and consistent traits. We were pleased to see, six litters later, that there is already a consistency present in our first generation of puppies—definitely a bit of variety in looks and temperament, but overall we hear great reports from their families that they have the traits we all are looking for in a good mixed shepherd breed.
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