My first Australian Shepherd came to me when I was still a child. Shadow was so smart, sweet, and willing. I would stand in front of the TV watching Eukenuba dreaming that one day Shadow and I would be there under the lights. I jumped him over broomsticks and chairs, pretending to be in agility competitions. He wasn't registered, well bred, or show quality, but, he was my best friend. He passed away at 13 years old and to this day I get teary thinking about him. He fueled my passion for dogs that still burns in me today and I thank him for his loyalty for all those years. I grew up, went to collage, and got married, telling everyone in my path what an amazing dog he was. I promised myself I would get another Aussie.
Shadow at 13 years old
I remember laying in bed looking at Aussie puppy pictures trying to find a way to convince my husband that we should get a dog. I popped the question, and shockingly, Tim, my husband, was open to it. I immediately began looking for breeders. I emailed several and found out that there was an ASCA show the following weekend. I bit my fingernails at 2am researching every breeder, so excited to meet them and see the dogs that could potentially be the parents to my new little one. The following weekend we went to the show, met each of the breeders and I instantly connected to Laura Diebold. Now all I had to due was wait the excruciatingly long 4 months for the puppies to be born!
Warwick at 8 Days Old
On September 14, 2013 I got a text message from Laura. Five puppies had been born, all healthy. I could come see them on on Saturday, 2 days away. She sent pictures of each of the puppies. One of them being a fat black tri boy. It was love at first sight. I had told Laura that I wanted to compete in conformation, agility and obedience and we knew that there was no way to tell if a puppy was show quality until much later. On Saturday, I met all of the puppy's. My husband and I fell in love with the black tri male and decided that day, regardless, that was our boy.
We had no idea how lucky we had gotten.
My husband and I have been blessed to have Warwick (Wiki) in our lives. He is inquisitive, full of energy, keen to learn, independent and thinks EVERYONE loves him. Hard lesson when he meets people or dogs who don't share his self confidence!
We know have 3 dogs that live with us, Wiki, Maui and Tiki. They are apart of our family and bring a ton of joy and laughter to our family along with a decent amount of mischief! We welcome you to ask questions and learn about our family.
- Blessings from the Phillips family: Elissa, Tim, Grace, Lily and the wigglebutts!
