Family Photo Collage!

Just as human babies often turn out to resemble a grandparent or aunt or uncle, puppies will often resemble an ancestor even more than one of their parents! Below you can see several of the relatives of these puppies, who we hope they will turn out to resemble.

This is an illustrious family tree! Here are some details about the relatives:

ACER and WARBA were studs at New Zion Shilohs, the home of Breed Founder Tina Barber. Tina believed that these dogs were close to the pinnacle of what she wanted in an ISSR-registered Shiloh Shepherd. Their pups display huge size (both have produced progeny over 31" tall and 130 lbs in weight), several are breed Champions, and of course they produced many phenomenal family dogs.

LEO is our Sparta Shilohs foundation stud and we are tremendously proud of him. He was certified as a Therapy Dog with our local club and is AMAZING with kids and other animals--he is a gentle soul. Leo completed his Championship before he was even two years old. He won a National Award every year until 2014--Top Plush Male Puppy in 2008 and a National Select every year after until he retired from showing in 2013.

GRIZZ was one of Tina Barber's top dogs of all time and beloved by her daughter Lisa, our current club President and Breed Warden. Grizz was a Grand Victor (top scoring show dog of the year) but more than that he had a wonderful stable temperament and exuberant energy even into his later years. He produced some of the largest and most impressive Shilohs of his time. Many of we breeders today are in this breed because we fell in love with Grizz, myself included!

NESTA, Piston's brother, is a true working Shiloh--he is a Search and Rescue dog, helping to find lost children and adults and return them to their loved ones! Astra's grandsire Scout was also a SAR Shiloh so it's possible we may get a prospect for this in our litter.

KIT was a New Zion stud who produced many wonderful progeny--some of them even solid black, which is rare in Shilohs! His progeny that I have met possess some of the gentlest temperaments I have seen in our breed.

ASLAN is out of our previous Kyrie/Piston litter. He is an up-and-coming young stud who has started earning points toward his Championship. Better than that, though, he is a tremendous breed ambassador, attending pet expos with his mom Diana to promote the breed! Aslan's stable, friendly, laid-back temperament is EXACTLY what I hope to see in these puppies.

GINGER is Leo's look-alike littermate and her achievements have surpassed even his. :) A Champion and Grand Victrix (top-scoring female Shiloh of the year), Ginger's sweet disposition, beautiful expression and effortless flying trot have won her as many hearts as ribbons. I would love to see a baby Ginger in this litter!

With all this list of illustrious relatives I would be remiss if I left out some that are just plain GREAT family dogs. BARRETT, Astra's uncle, and SABER, Astra's brother, are wonderful family pets that still turn heads wherever they go! I would be proud to produce many more like them. :)

Announcing: The Astra/Piston Litter!

Sparta Shilohs is proud to announce its first breeding in over two years!

Our dam will be ASTRA, above, the sweetheart white plush girl from our Kyrie/Leo litter! Our sire will be PISTON, below, the wonderful Grand Victor who gave us such great pups when he was bred to Astra's momma Kyrie.

This litter will be born and raised here in our home in Denton, Texas, where Astra herself was born three years ago!

We are expecting some very large dogs out of this match as Astra is a 28" female, over breed average. She has two brothers over 30" at the shoulder and over 110 lbs. Piston himself is HUGE and his pups with Astra's momma Kyrie surpassed our expectations with all males 30" or larger and one out of two girls over 28". you can see those pups at our Kyrie/Piston litter blog here:

The Kyrie/Piston Litter!

For temperaments we are expecting quite the range! Piston himself is a confident, outgoing boy who's more independent; Astra is a sociable marshmallow softie, who loves to be with her people and will roll over for belly rubs from complete strangers! Both dogs have a strong submissive streak and we expect submissive, people-loving pups.

We also expect a range of energy levels. Astra is a couch potato who is happy with a walk a day or a game of frisbee in the park. Piston loves an adventure but is likewise laid-back and relaxed. With these two we expect a couple of nice medium-energy pups who love to play, but I expect some potatoes too.

All these pups will be plush (long) coated Shilohs, since both parents are. Even though Astra is white, though, we aren't expecting white pups because Piston didn't produce white with Astra's mom. Instead I expect a mix of light and dark brown, golden, and grey sables with some black-and cream and black-and-tan duals likely--very much like the colors we got in Kyrie/Piston, only all-plush. It is also possible that we will get a darker bi-color pup like Sammy from Kyrie/Piston or Astra's brother Saber (below).

Astra is due for her heat this fall around October-November. We hope you will join us in anticipating a litter of healthy Shiloh pups! Stay tuned for more information and a litter photo collage of these pups ancestors!