December 25, 2010,  Here's our Sheepdog story.

Sherrie and I have had Old English Sheepdogs since we got married. She got our first (Henry) in 1996. Stanley soon followed in 1997. We lost Henry in in October 2008. We were devastated, and swore that when Stan's time came we wouldn't get another dog because of the grief. Well, we stumbled across Murphy in an ad in the Daily Oklahoman around Thanksgiving, made the three hour drive to Western Oklahoma and came home with a naughty little pup!

Again, we were heart-broken in March 2010, when we lost Stan. As avid OES fans, we had always poked around rescue sites and breeder sites for OES's. I decided to complete an application for the Texas OES Rescue Service when Stanley died. We didn't expect to hear back from Cindy any time soon, as we knew it would be a long process. We were not opposed to adopting an older dog, but did not want a senior dog or a dog with a difficult medical issues because we had nursed our geriatric sheepdogs for the past several years, plus Murphy was still a pup, and needed a young companion.

Cindy called within the week and gave us Tucker's (Max's) story. His owner was an Army pilot stationed at Ft. Hood. He was being deployed to Afghanistan and was unable to find a home for his 10 month old OES. We called Greg and decided to meet in Ft. Worth. We felt horrible for Greg, having to part with his perfect little Sheepdog, but also wanted to provide his pup with a warm, loving family. We brought Max home on April 1, 2010.  He and Murphy hit it off from the beginning, and now behave like litter mates. We changed his name from Max to Tucker because John had a childhood dog named Max. We had a little buddy for Murphy, and were thrilled to have a sweet, blue-eyed Sheepdog!

On October 17, Cindy e-mailed me and said that there was a female OES, about 4 years old they thought, at a kill shelter in Yukon, Oklahoma. She asked if we could take a look at her, and maybe help her find a home. We went the next day as soon as the shelter opened. Fiona was littered with fleas, her coat was in poor condition, and she was underweight. But, she was so sweet, and neglected, that we decided to take her home and foster her. The "foster" part lasted about a week. It was evident when we brought her home, that at some point in her life, someone cared for her. She was already house broken, did not climb on furniture, and most importantly, she and the boys hit it off. She's a little skittish of loud noises, and nervous around brooms and mops. She's probably our best behaved dog, since we've managed to spoil all the good behaviors out of Murphy and Tucker!

We're quite the sight at our local dog park, I'm sure people think we're nuts having three Old English Sheepdogs! We often joke that we could start our own Sheepdog Club in Edmond, OK!

John & Sherrie
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October 2010 submittal

Tucker: (aka Max) was a TxOES referral adopted directly from a US Army serviceman who was deployed to Iraq and could no longer keep him.

Fiona: TxOES Rescue was alerted to Fiona's presence at a shelter in Yukon, OK. TxOES Rescue asked John and Sherrie to evaluate and possibly foster Fiona. They met her and fell in love. Fiona is now a permanent member of their OES family.  Fiona's doing awesome, she fits right in!

    
John & Sherrie