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
