Up to... 2009!

MICHAEL EWING

'Doonholm', Holm Farm Road
Dalrymple, KA6 6BB, Scotland
website under construction

Michael Ewing, kennel Sommerville.

I live together with my wife Hannah. We have a daughter, Lynn, a son, Leslie, a daughter-in-law Amanda and we have four granddaughters, Tracie and Terri and Stacey and Shannon (twins). All our granddaughters are interested in the dogs so my hope is one day they will carry on my lines but still too early to be sure. 

I live on the edge of a small village called Dalrymple in Ayrshire which is approx 40 miles from Glasgow, Scotland.

I was first owned by a pet sheltie in 1973 but due to having a young family and working long hours it wasn’t till 1980 I really got interested in showing. 

After having a bad accident at my work in 2000 I had to scale down my dogs till all were gone then went on a holiday to Florida with my wife, son, daughter-in-law plus my 2 twin granddaughters of which I really enjoyed seeing this was my 1^st holiday with family outside of UK.

On returning it only took me a week to realize I would rather have my dogs back and going to shows again as my holidays even though I love my family and will do anything for them I still need another reason to make my life worth while, so I managed to call in one of my favours and got 2 of my bitches back a sable plus a tricolour which has saved me years of hard work to get my lines back.

As a young boy I liked bigger dogs especially long coated breeds but my wife liked the smaller breeds so we started talking about what breeds we liked and when we both agreed we liked shelties we decided to buy our first pet dog.

At moment I only have 4 adult shelties as I’ve had to cut back after my accident in 2000 due to continuing health problems. My new hopeful which surprised many is a blue merle dog Sommerville Mr Nice Guy.
I am very proud of him because this is only the 2^nd generation of my own breeding. I was over the moon at Leeds this year when he won the CC at 1 day short of 15 months old.

First thing I do is let my dogs out every morning to run in my large garden weather permitting they stay out till I get my other jobs done.

Then after lunch again weather permitting I take them a long walk but if the weather is not good it’s just a short walk into the village to the shop then again after dinner but if again the weather is against us they love to lay beside me at the computer.

I try not to make any difference between my shelties but I’ll always have a soft touch in my heart for my 1^st champion Allanvail Scarletta of Tegwel whom I believe was the nearest I’ve owned to the standard plus she was a joy to own and would do anything to please me.

I started with a Snabswood brood bitch and still have these lines but only through the male side. I then bought in Allanvail Scarletta of Tegwel at 5 years of age plus an 8 week old pup Allanvail Gold Gift at Sommerville which my sable line now descends from.
I then got a loan of a tri bitch from Mr H McGucken (Colroy) in 2003 and mated her to CH  Hillhead Blue Shadow, I have a small tri bitch from this mating Sommerville Tri A Bit O Magic whom I then mated to CH Shenachie Starling to produce my CC winning dog Sommerville Mr Nice Guy. The funny thing about it all these lines come from family 8 which I’ve discovered after choosing these dogs. All the lines in my kennel I feel they excel in breed type, shape & overall balance plus seem to be consistent passing on these virtues.

It’s hard to only mention 3 as I’ve had many more favourites but I’ll mention 4 and I’m sure you’ll see why as it will give you a better insight of me and my shelties. When I first started CH Snabswood Slainthe was my model for type, shape and overall balance you just couldn’t help falling in love with him.

I wasn’t very keen on tricolours till I saw CH Longdells Petrocelli which made me think one day yes I would like to be owned by a tricolour.

Then after seeing CH Myriehewe Rosa Bleu I knew one day I must be owned by a blue merle.

Ron & Jean Fitzimmons of the Snabswood Shetland Sheepdogs. They both encouraged me to read the standard then paint a mental picture of what I was aiming for plus not to let anybody else push their ideas onto me.

The popularity of our beloved breed has slightly declined from when I first came in which isn’t really a bad thing as we don’t want them to be too popular as this can ruin a breed when undesirables want to breed them due to their popularity hoping to make a vast profit.

When I first started I think overall sheltie people were more relaxed and treated it not too seriously just as a sport with plenty laughter, clapping when people won with their dogs and they never dreamed of leaving until end of judging, many even stayed for the group judging to support the BOB even though shelties never did much in the group then. I feel now many can time it to a tee arriving just in time for their class then leaving soon afterwards unless they win then they feel they must stay for the challenge. I even see BOB not staying for the groups now which was never heard of when I first came into the breed. We are never too old to learn more about our lovely shelties and the only way you’ll learn is by staying to watch.

I was over the moon getting 3^rd out of 6 dogs that really helped me get the show bug.

My first litter was great I got 3 dogs and 2 bitches but sadly all were bigger than my own ideal. I kept the 2 bitches that made 37 cm then through Ron and Jean I sold one to Norway. The bitch I kept then produced Sommerville Dusty Boy who helped bring size down to the ideal in most his offspring and is still behind my sable bitch line.

Hopefully that is still to come but I believe Ch Sommerville Sunrise was my best.

My vision must be to keep trying to breed the perfect sheltie. When starting to breed you need a good bitch line that‘s consistent for producing correct breed TYPE! Then you are also looking for a dog that also good at throwing offspring correct for breed type with no know serious health problems behind them. When selecting a puppy my first consideration is always do I think it will be good enough for breeding then if it turns out good enough for the show ring that’s an added bonus. When selecting I look at the whole dog to see if I can double up on any virtues which is a plus then I try not to double up on any of the faults, it also helps if you can remember ancestors virtues plus faults. I also like to make a trial pedigree for the mating to see what dogs I’m doubling up on plus what dogs I think are compatible to my own lines. With health problems I again treat them with respect to the degree I hold them like a missing tooth or cea clear wouldn’t stop me using a dog if I think it has more to give me with his virtues then it’s worth taking the chance none of the pups will have these minor faults.

That I have bred consistently as near possible to the standard plus consistently bringing out shelties of excellent breed type with lovely shape and overall balance.

Loyalty, Brains and Beauty.

When I judge or choose my future show dog I put good breed type first because without breed type you don’t have a sheltie which is then closely followed by construction, shape and over all balance.

Yes only slight with the countries that have been importing regular from UK but with some of the other countries especially ones that have imported many American then kept doubling up on these imports I feel they have lost the sweetness.

A definite yes on this question, we all have our own opinions on what fits the standard which is only correct but surely our interpretation shouldn’t be that far apart. You ask in what way, my answer must be to criticize my fellow judges that don’t judge to the standard but put up dogs that they think will do better in the groups.

The only way to truly learn about our breed is by being owned by a sheltie, I would then encourage them to read the standard over and over again so they can paint a mental picture of their ideal. Also to go to as many shows as possible to watch and listen to more experience breeders also go to as many seminars as possible even for other breeds because I think we appreciate our own breed even more after studying other breeds. After being in the breed several years then reassess what your ideal sheltie should look like and not to wear blinkers then to be honest with one self about their own shelties.

I only wish the internet had come sooner when we were all a lot younger then I think we would’ve been even more wiser on our lovely breed. Through the internet we are now seeing more photos, pedigrees plus show results which all paint a picture for me, firstly the photos are giving you a better idea of what other countries qualities are in their dogs and not just left to hearsay from the few lucky people that manage to see these dogs in the flesh. From the pedigrees which is one of my other hobbies trying to find every sheltie ancestors it then tells me about the history of their breeding program then I can relate to how they got that type from the ones I liked in the photos. From the results I can then paint a picture in my mind of what type seem to do best in that country show ring plus what judges I would respect more for their interpretation of our breed standard. 

Our old time breeders experimented with their breeding to get our beautiful shelties that we have today, by passing on what they learnt, I feel we are still improving and learning. Yes I can believe we could get our UK type shelties from early crosses of UK type with the American type but I would advise not to put all their eggs in the one basket because most people that are experimenting with our lovely breed don’t know enough about the American shelties and it could then be too late to get back the lovely type we have managed to achieve in this present day. I personally think the gene pool for shelties is too small but I still wouldn’t be tempted to use the American type as I’m lucky enough to stay in the UK and feel there is still plenty lovely stud dogs with the virtues I want in UK so no need to take chances with stud dogs that I know little or nothing about but I will watch with a open mind to see what develops from these crosses.

I must answer yes to this question. Also I recommend we all read as much as possible about our breed plus listen to others views then take from that only which we believe to be correct and never let others force their views on us.

Anything relating to shelties I’m always willing to talk but also willing to listen as you are never to old to learn and always learning new ideas even from the novices.

Life is too short so make the most of it while you’re still fit to do so with your family plus of course I class my shelties just like one of my family.

I think you’ve done an excellent job of thinking up these questions and only hope the readers can get something positive from my answers. To be honest writing isn’t my best subject, I think I’m more suited to a open discussion were I can air my views plus listen to others. At the seminars I really enjoy because you’ll always get someone saying they’re only novice and hope we don’t think this is a silly question, all questions whether people think are silly or not always have a positive side as they will make us think and usually help us gain more knowledge.