Welcome

We’re glad you found us!  There’s lots of information here about English Shepherds and how we’re raising them. We hope you find this information helpful.

Who we are

img_0759Bear Creek Ranch is located in northern Idaho about 30 minutes from Moscow, Idaho and Pullman, Washington. We graze cattle and raise heritage breed poultry. We’re big believers in conserving heritage breed bloodlines including the traditional English Shepherd. To that end we’re planning a very special litter in the summer of 2017.

Why English Shepherds?
English Shepherd with chickens
Our Dexter keeping an eye on a broody hen and her clutch.

We were drawn to the English Shepherd (ES) breed after decades of dealing with very ill Dachshunds and Boxers. When we purchased our ranch we realized we needed an intelligent, healthy dog that would be easy on the livestock, especially poultry. There had been plenty of chicken-killers amongst our Boxers and Dachshunds and we knew we needed a different kind of dog.

One of our Speckled Sussex roosters.

We had read the old-time stories of English Shepherds that walked the children to school and back again… stories of ES that knew the difference between the neighbor’s horses and their own, herding the loose horses back to their farm … stories of ES that kept the livestock from escaping a broken fence until the farmer arrived to repair it.  We thought, “That’s one smart dog.” That’s what we wanted.

Dexter and Clara
Dexter and Clara

We keep just two English Shepherds that have come to us from breeders in the Midwest. These dogs have the old-time bloodlines of the heartland. We’re proud to have and to help save these old lines. Our dogs are healthy, extremely biddable (trainable), and of sound temperament. Does this sound like the kind of dog for you?

Please take a look around our site and read about how these dogs live and work, our philosophy of natural rearing, and our breeding goals.  We’re doing things a little differently here at Bear Creek Ranch!

 

 

Best,  Caroline and Daniel Levin