About Crosswood

 

Crosswood Shelties is a very small hobby kennel in Northeastern South Carolina. My breeding goals are to produce Shelties as close to the breed standard as humanly possible. The rest is up to the Good Lord. I strive for beauty, intelligence, soundness, good conformation, and great temperaments to name a few of the qualities I breed for. I show in conformation in both the UKC and AKC, but encourage all events. Since Shelties are a part of the herding group, I feel that movement is highly important. If a dog is conformed correctly, the movement should be smooth and effortless.

I have owned Shelties all of my adult life. Like a lot of others, my interest in Shelties started with a Collie named Lassie. As a child I always wanted a Collie just like Lassie, however, my folks didn't care for dogs. I grew up with horses and was very active in the 4-H competing in horse shows and judging contests. It is amazing how much judging the conformation of a horse is like that of a dog. Through my extensive training in judging horses, I seem to have a natural eye and appreciation for a well conformed Sheltie. My goal is to become a judge someday. I won several judging contests and brought our club to the top at a state level. Therefore, when picking out a Sheltie for show or breeding, I have very definite ideas of what I am looking for in a well conformed Sheltie.

The first thing I purchased when I got married and moved from home was a Sheltie. The Collie dream was downsized to a smaller dog because we first resided in an apartment and a smaller dog was in order. Once I had my first Sheltie, I fell in love with the breed. My first Sheltie was the great CH Halstor Peter Pumpkin's grandson. Back then I didn't realize what I had, however, I wasn't into the showing aspect of Sheltiedom just yet.

After raising my two oldest children, however, my youngest son started showing an interest in dog shows and wanting to show. I really didn't get my interest for showing until I met one special person, Debbie Martin of Celestial Shelties. Listening to her tell me her experiences in showing brought out that desire to once again enter the show ring, only with a Sheltie this time instead of a horse! I am in my third year of showing and loving every minute of it.

Since we are committed to the betterment of the breed and strive for excellence to produce quality, beautiful, sound Shelties with excellent temperaments, every breeding is well thought out ahead of time. A good breeding program is through careful planning based on genetics, pedigrees, and cross faulting and not an accident. We health test our dogs for Hips, Eye CERF, and vWD though VetGen. All puppies are lovingly home raised in our home and well socialized to a variety of different environments.

Companion/performance puppies are sold on AKC limited registrations (no breeding) and spay/neuter agreements. Before any of our puppies go to a new home, they are vet checked and UTD on shots and wormings. Please do your homework when looking for a reputable breeder of any breed and make sure they health test their breeding dogs. Also, a dog is a forever friend, so please be sure that adopting one into your home is a commitment you can live with for many years to come!!

Mary Bryant

         

©2007 Crosswood Shelties, all rights reserved.  Unauthorized copying, reproduction, republishing, posting, or duplicating of any of the material on this website is prohibited without express written permission from Crosswood Shelties.  This website was created and is maintained by Debbie Martin of Celestial Web Designs.