First off let me tell you how we fell in love with Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs. Both Ray and I have always had and loved dogs. We were both raised with medium to large breeds, mostly Labs but with a Husky, a Bloodhound, an Australian Shepherd, and some mixes thrown in here and there. I (Megan) have always loved the "big" animals. I've built my professional career around big horses, Percherons and Belgians mostly, and of course, always gravitated to the large dog breeds as well.
When we got married I told Ray that I wanted big dogs. We met because of our first dog, Jim (Choc Lab/Pitt mix), so this was no surprise to him. One of the breeds I was very in love with was the Bernese Mountain Dog. I had read all about them, met a few in person and I was convinced that was the next dog for us. Ray, however, is not particularly fond of long hair so he vetoed that breed, but I never stopped secretly wishing for them. I did, however, give in and moved on temporarily to other breeds (Mastiffs, Danes, Weimaraners) and in a moment of emotional weakness :-) I ended up bringing home the most adorable blue eyed pudgy Chocolate Lab/Weimaraner puppy who we named Remus. With a new puppy and my thoughts turning to training said smooshy lump of brown dog, I discovered and latched onto a local dog trainer named Bethany Tracy (Wasatch Canine Camp). She was kind and did not tell me to get lost but took me in and became my go-to dog guru. Around this same time Ray decided he had found just the dog that we needed (like we 'needed' more). He proceeded to show me pictures of Swissys and indeed I was smitten. I started researching and reading all I could find about them. I was in love with the idea of my dogs pulling my children around in a cart. I swooned over the thick robust size. I drooled over the beautiful markings and colors. I liked the idea of a big guard dog who was really an oversized teddy bear. Having worked on farms for years I was so excited about an all around farm dog that could and would earn its keep. I had never seen one in real life and could not find any nearby so I resigned myself to a good long wait before the dream became reality. All of a sudden people around me started feeling the Sennenhund bug. Bethany and her husband acquired their first Berner and another friend got an adorable Berner /Swiss cross puppy and then BAM! it was nearing Christmas time, Remus was a year old and suddenly there was a litter of Swissys online... be still my heart! All but 2 were gone... they were 5 months old so she was selling them for lower than the original price... the next thing we knew, we were driving out to the middle of nowhere, Utah and oops, came home with dog #3, the lovely Cinna. :-)
The rest is, as they say, history. We are in love. Everything about the breed is awesome and unique. So here we are and we are so excited to bring you along with us.
Now about the dogs:
Cinna is amazing with our one year old daughter (better than our happy go lucky Labs actually) and is the best family dog ever. Rory climbs on her and rides her like a pony and she just grins and bears it.
She is a little shy of strangers at first and is protective of her yard and family. (Here is where I enter my disclaimer: I do not want to bad mouth Cinna's breeder. She has wonderful dogs with awesome lines and great breeding. However, we feel she is severely lacking when it comes to socializing her puppies. Cinna is a direct result of that. The most crucial time in a puppy's social development is from 4-14 weeks old. This is when they need the most exposure and socializing to be well rounded, confident adult dogs. We weren't as educated back then and did not ask enough questions or even know the right questions to ask. Long story short, Cinna was very poorly socialized when we brought her home and it was quite a shock to her that we expected her to trust people in general. She still struggles with strangers and it takes her a while to warm up, but warm up she does. She is a quick learner and already exhibits good mothering tendencies. She is great with other dogs, cats, all sorts of animals and people when she gets to know them.
Cinna has ongoing training with Wasatch Canine Camp and often helps Bethany with other clients’ dogs. A letter of recommendation for Cinna is available from Bethany upon request.
Cinna's markings are very symmetrical and her conformation is good—she’s built just like a good Swiss dog should be. As soon as she was old enough we started training her to pull and this winter she had a blast pulling the kiddos around on a sled. Ray is in the process of building her a sweet little cart and we will post pictures when the time comes.
We love our Cinna, especially when she flashes her winning Swissy smile.
Doc is the Stud we will be using for this summer 2012 litter and is an almost
3 year old GSMD/BMD cross.
He is big, handsome, happy go lucky and willing to
please. Doc belongs to Joseph Randall of Bountiful Utah and is an all around
good ‘ole boy type dog. He loves to play, cuddle and has looks to die for. Doc
is great with dogs, other animals, and all people young and old. He is
medium/short haired, tall and blocky. We are sure Doc will pass some great
qualities on to his puppies. Doc is available to meet if requested.
Cinna will be
bred to Doc sometime around May (whenever she comes into heat) so we hope to be expecting puppies in
July. They will be ready to go home with you at 9-10 weeks old and become part of your family.
We will be having an x-ray done on day 55 of the pregnancy to determine the number of puppies and we will work from the top of the hold list down until that number is reached. I will only be taking 8 holds until the time of the x-ray.
As of now we have filled that quota and the hold list is as follows:
1. Joseph Randall
2. Cliff & Nicole Sermon
3. Jason & Emma Neff
4. Jane & Brad Turner
5. Megan & Jared Barney
6. James & Margarita Rasmussen
7. Ammon & Jennifer Hellewell
8. Amanda & Livingston Panhorst
If, at any time, you wish to be removed from this hold list please let us know ASAP so that we can re-fill your spot.
We will not be offering
registration for this litter as they will be ¾ GSMD, ¼ Bernese Mountain Dog. Puppies
are $900. If you purchase puppy training from Wasatch Canine Camp there will be
a $50 discount. A $200 deposit will be required to
reserve your spot on our hold list, and the order is determined by the order the deposits come in. You will not be able to choose which puppy you want until the temperament tests have been done at 7 weeks old. If you have any questions
about our dogs, about getting a GSMD puppy from us, or about Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs
in general please feel free to contact us. We look forward to getting to know and working with all of you! I will try to post anything of interest on this blog to keep you updated and excited. Are we excited? Yes, why yes we are! :-) Until later-
yours,
Megan & Ray Lewis and all the dogs too!
yours,
Megan & Ray Lewis and all the dogs too!
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