Health of the WSS is for me the most important part if my breedingprogramm. I don’t cut corners and I am committed to my mission statement. And I am always looking for ways to contribute to the longevity of this beautiful breed.

One way to improve the health in the breed is to outcross with anothet breed and breed back in. You bring in more diversity and decrease the degree of inbreeding. I was thinking about doing that with Jane in two or three years. But then a breeder of a Tamaskan female was looking for a WSS male to breed with and I thought ‘let’s see if Mojo is suitable’ for their programm. And he is. The International Tamaskan Register has approved Mojo as a foundation dog.

And end of October/begin November Mojo will have a date with Callie (the Tamaskan female). If one of the pups is a solid white I have the option to keep that pup and breed with him or her. I feel really committed to do more for the breed then ‘only’ breeding. A lot of breeders disagree with me, but luckily some of them not, especially breeders from The Netherlands and Sweden are also working on longevity of the breed.

For the future of Mojo’s and Jessies pups this has no consequences at all. The pups can and will be registered as WSS with the FCI, bc both Mojo and Jessie are registered WSS with the FCI as well.

The White Swiss Shepherds are working dogs. This has some implications, one of them that they are always finding themselves a task to do. That can be always guarding, keeping the pack together, reassure the others, etc. Jessie has given herself the task to help me wherever she can. To be my ‘wingman’. This first dawned on me when she was always correction the others whenever they didn’t do what I wanted. Jessie herself listens very very well and so I guess she decided that the others should do that also. Sometimes I let her have this roll, but not when she also physically corrects them.
And yesterday evening, she came to sit in front of me and stare at me. It means she want something and I’ll ask her ‘do you need to go outside? No? Do you need some attention?’ Etcetera. But yesterday she didn’t react to any of my regular questions so I let it go. But then I heard it. Mijne was crying and barking. With us staying in the B&B because of the girls heat and the boys still in Little Sunnyside it’s harder to hear them. And so when Martijn checked it out, Mijne was vomiting and needed to do his business.

Once again Jessie had played my wingman by trying to get my attention an go to attent Mijne. I love this wonderful soul so much❤️❤️❤️ I only wished I would listen better.

I like to write, a lot about our Flock and about my other passion, genealogy and my ancestors. I also sometimes write poems, because I feel I need that outlet. One poem form I really like is the Haiku. So what I do is I take of get a picture of one of the dogs or all dogs and write a haiku about it. My haikus are always 3 lines, first and third line 5 syllables and line 2, seven syllables. One line always makes a reference to nature or a season. These days I publish the haikus on Instagram.

Jane must have thought 'shared sorrow is half the sorrow' and joined the club.  Jessie and her are both in heat now. What is not uncommon with multiple female dog households. It's Jane's first time and she is adjusting just fine. They sleep more then normal and are a little bit less high energy. And I? I am getting a lot of kisses and cuddles which compensate for me sleeping on a floating bed:-))))

Jennifer Snell, a local dog trainer and who I know personally, organizes once per month here in the Occoneechee State Park a socialization walk. Walk on leash, not to close to each other so that the dogs can walk without being to much distracted. It was our first time and if went very well. Jane is of course used to the pack, and she has met other dogs before, but she didn’t bark, she didn’t pant and she just was curious. The only thing that we need to train on is loose leash walking because now my arm is a mess bc of her constantly pulling. But we’ll do that and hopefully next month that will go a litlle better. For now I am really proud of this sweet and easy going puppy❤️❤️❤️

Today reminds me of the time that Jessie just arrived and she and I slept for over 3 months in the downstairs back room of our Bed and Breakfast. She came to live with us when she was 4 months old. At the end of January she and one of her sisters traveled together in one crate from Serbia via a country in the Middle East to Washington DC: over 24 hours in a cramped crate, they were so filthy, so skinny and both were traumatized. This wasn’t my choice, but due to Covid I couldn’t pick her up myself. So the first months we slept together on a floating bed, every day I had to pump some air in it. And we bonded, Jessie became to trust me, and we grew very close and she turned into my shadow.

And today we’re back in the same room, because Jessie is in heat and the boys are getting crazy, and we as well. So again we are sleeping on the floating bed, untill the worse is over which will probably in two weeks. This time the room has been renovated and has a private bathroom. It’s absolute much more luxurious then when we stayed here in 2021.

We, Jane and Jessie are having a day off tomorrow. Because of Labor Day. So we decided that we’ll go ‘coach hanging’ all day tomorrow but we already started practicing🤣🤣🤣

Happy Labor Day y’all!!!