Hi,

I have loved the OES breed since I was a very small child, growing up and seeing the "dulux" dog on TV  I told myself that one day I would have a dulux dog of my own.

It was not until I married and convinced my husband that we needed a dog but only dulux dog would do!!!

At the time we were living in Bath, so my husband sought out dog breeders and the first kennels that we visited were Newfoundland's, as much as I liked these beautiful dogs my heart was set on a sheepdog, so on we went looking for an OES kennel.

As luck would have it we came across the Shepton kennels and were fortunate enough to meet Miss Florence Tilley herself and her wonderful OES Teddy.

We were a very young couple with absolutely no experience of dogs let alone a large long haired breed.

Miss Tilley was wonderful, informative and made sure that we would understand what a commitment we would be making to have an OES as part of the family. She warned us that the darling little puppies we had just seen would not stay that way and it was then that she took us out to the farm yard and called out to Teddy.

I will never forget the sight of this massive great hairy 'thing bounding towards us like a freight train, fortunately there was a pretty high wall between him and us but when Teddy reached the wall he just leapt up and stood looking at us. "This" said Miss Tilley " is what your dog will be like" although I think we were both rather taken aback we (I) was determined and that's when we became the proud owners of our first OES 'Dooley'

Since that long ago time I have had the wonderful experience to know and share my life with two more OES in the USA. Both OES have come from the same kennels  Dandalion OES and  coincidently my  first (USA) OES 'Toppa' shared a maternal dam with Dooley my Shepton dog.

My dog Jasper is nearly 10 yrs old now and next year we are going  'home' to England together.   

Jasper having a rest on a bench in Laguna Beach

God Bless all the canines of this world.

Lyn T