Sparta Play-Date October 2012!

Since the Sparta website is up and running and we no longer need this blog as a temporary contact page, I thought it would be a good idea to turn it into a Sparta Events blog instead! We hope you enjoy the new content. :)

One of the things I have always hoped is that we would have enough of our pups stay local that we could begin hosting Sparta Shilohs play-dates at our home or the nearby dog park, Wiggly Field. With this last litter we decided it was time and this past Sunday we invited seven Shilohs and one shepherd mix to our home!

In attendance were our Kyrie and Leo, two of the pups from their first litter (Astra and Jax), and Kyrie's daughters from her second litter (Blazie and Benelli). Jax's housemates Cassie (from Strauss Haus Shepherds' Jessie/Siri litter) and Trixie (appointed an honorary Shiloh for the day) also came! Below you see Jax, Trixie, Astra and Cassie hangin' with their people. :)

The day was unseasonably hot for late October in north Texas. The dogs spent a lot of time in the shade (though some frisbees did get chased!). Everyone brought a dish for lunch and Zak grilled burgers, brats and hot dogs. A great time was had by all and we will certainly be doing this again! We hope you enjoy the photos. :)

Below, Astra and Leo playing some frisbee.

Leo and Benelli on the porch. Belli is getting tall!

Kyrie: "Aren't my kids great??"

Astra: "Anyone leave me a burger??"

Zak grills up a tasty storm of meat while Benelli (AKA "The Ravenous Belli" scopes out whether she can get back there behind the x-pen to steal some!

Full siblings Jax and Astra with daddy Leo in the background.

Jax and Benelli: half-sibs with very similar coloring coming from their momma Kyrie!

Half-siblings Astra and Blazie, both hopefuls to carry on the Sparta Shilohs legacy with their own pups someday!

Jax from our Kyrie/Leo litter at a year and a half old.

Jax with owner Mark. BIG boy. Jax is significantly larger than both of his parents!

Benelli: always ready for action!!

Belli claims the water dish. Dare you to try to take it, big dogs!!

Blazie hanging out, getting attention! Her ears are up and down with the teething these days, but they stood up for the play-date!

Blazie meets Cassie. Two very polite, submissive girls!

Cassie gets a hug...

...and gives kisses! The perfect Shiloh temperament and a credit to her breeder Jessica Strauss and to her awesome owners, Mark and Ruth.

A tangle of dogs, kids, stuff and people--and everyone gets along. :)

Thanks so much for reading, everyone!!

Sparta Update!

The Sparta Shilohs official website, www.spartashilohs.com, is fully activated (and has been for a while--I just forgot about this blog, LOL!). Head on over there to find our dogs, links to their blogs, upcoming litter information, to see our past litters and to find out what events we may have coming up if you'd like to meet us. :)

Since I last posted on here lots of things have happened--I'll bring you up-to-date with the super-fast version. ;) Kyrie had three pups--Astra, Saber, and Jax--with our Leo, born in late March of 2011. You can see them below, in that order! You can also see them from birth through one year (and beyond) on their litter blog: http://kyrieleolitter.blogspot.com. :)

In 2012 I wanted to try a match that would further benefit the gene pool and we used Piston for Kyrie. We got six healthy pups--Sammy, Aslan, Bullet McNabb, Blazie, Baxter, and Benelli, born around Memorial Day (almost exactly one year from the date our Breed Founder, Tina Barber, passed away last year). Here are some shots of them growing. You can see all of our photos and follow them as they grow on their litter blog at http://kyriepistonlitter.blogspot.com. :)

Sadly after this litter was born, Kyrie's cervix did not close properly and infection got in. :( We had to spay our beautiful Hobo girl to prevent a life-threatening pyometra (uterine infection). But the good news is--we kept a pup! A new girl to carry on Kyr's genetic legacy. :) That girl is Blazie!

So now you are up-to-date! For more news or to touch base with us about a puppy, coming event, or just if you have questions about Shiloh shepherds, catch us at www.spartashilohs.com or email us at sparta.shilohs@gmail.com!

Thanks for reading, everyone!!

Welcome to the Sparta Shilohs Contact Site!

Hello and welcome to our temporary contact page! Our official site, spartashilohs.com, is under construction right now, but I wanted to provide a way for you to see our dogs and contact us if you're interested in learning about Shiloh Shepherds!

My husband and I are ISSR (International Shiloh Shepherd Registry) Licensed-Breeders-in-Training. What this means is that we are being trained by the Breed Founder herself (Tina Barber of New Zion Shilohs) and our other Licensed Breeders on the subjects of genetics, pedigree research, Shiloh structure and temperament, and how to raise a healthy and happy litter of ISSR Shiloh Shepherd puppies! No other canine organization I have ever seen has a program to educate and support new breeders like we do, and we are very proud to be a part of it.

Our contact info:

EMAIL: sparta.shilohs@gmail.com
LOCATION: Denton, Texas

OUR DOGS:

LEO (bCh. Zion's King Leonidas of Sparta) is a plush (long-haired variety) dark brown sable male born in October of 2007. We have had Leo since he was nine weeks old. He comes from New Zion, the kennel of the Breed Founder, Tina Barber. You can go to Leo's blog by clicking here.


KYRIE (Zion's London Twin of Sparta) is a smooth (standard German Shepherd-like coat) brown sable with cream. Kyrie is one of very few Shilohs born with the coloration of one of her famous movie dog ancestors, London the Littlest Hobo. The Shilohs are actually descended from both the Hobo lines AND the Rin Tin Tin German Shepherd lines. You can go to Kyrie's blog by clicking here.


WHERE TO FIND US: We firmly believe that a responsible breeder needs to be involved in the canine community, so we show and train our dogs and participate at festivals, shows, and expos when we can get to them! We show our dogs often in the IABCA dog shows, as they allow rare breeds. You can often find us and our dogs at the shows in Hutto, Texas, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, if you would like to meet us! We also sponsor a Meet The Breed booth at Dog Days of Denton here in Denton, Texas, a large canine festival in the spring. It's a lot of fun, and you can find us near the breed Rescues! We are active in our local Obedience Club, Golden Triangle Dog Obedience (aka GT Dog). GT Dog offers classes in Puppy Obedience, Basic Obedience, Rally Obedience, and Therapy Dog training. Our girl Kyrie is training in Rally and hoping to go into Agility; our boy Leo graduated from his basic Obedience AND the Therapy Dog program at one year of age!


HEALTH: Our boy Leo has passed his hip x-rays with flying colors, scoring a rating of "Good" at one year old with the OFA. At two years he rated a .28/.38 PennHip rating, with elbows, heart, and thyroid okay'ed!

Our little girl Kyrie had her PennHip x-rays done this year and scored a solid .31/.41. Her elbows, heart, and thyroid all came back normal! Kyrie's mother had excellent hips so we have high hopes that Kyr will pass along those genes to her progeny!

TITLES AND ACHIEVEMENTS: Our boy Leo achieved his Breed Championship in 2009 at the IABCA show in Tucson, Arizona. In total he has won six Best in Show awards--one of them at our National Specialty--and two Reserve Best in Shows, as well as numerous other ribbons and a Best of Opposites trophy. He took Best in Specialty at our regional show early in the fall of 2009. He has also graduated as a full-fledged Therapy Dog and is starting to make his first visits!

Our girl Kyrie won her first Winner's Bitch (best female) title at the 2010 OKC IABCA show, beating three other girls to score her first Major win toward her Championship! Kyrie is the brainy one, working on her Rally Obedience skills, and we hope to start Agility work with her after her litter is born this year.


PUPPIES: Kyrie passed her health testing and was bred to Leo in January of this year. Pups were confirmed via ultrasound at five weeks and x-rays taken in mid-March showed a small litter, due between March 20 and 27th! We are expecting brown sables in rich colors, with the possibility of some dual pups or bi-colors as well. There is a very small chance of pure black pups or pure white pups being born. We are expecting smooth coats. There is an excellent chance of plush coated pups as well, but we will not know if Kyrie carries the plush recessive until the pups are four or five weeks old!

WEBSITE UPDATE: Sparta Shilohs is LIVE but under construction!