We kept Roper from our 2016 Holly/Zeke litter for our next generation of English Shepherds. Roper is our fourth generation of ES being raised here. In general Roper is a very loving girl, a quick thinker, a carrier of objects (like her grandmother Kira), has proven herself to be a varmint eradicator, listens well and has excelled as my agility partner. She is quite a talker (not barker, but talker) and does like to greet and lick. I am still working on the extra licking part.

Roper interacted with puppies from both Holly's & GG's final litters here and did well with them. She also raised a 2 pup litter back in 2018, as well as a 7 pup litter in 2020. Roper earned her UKC AG1 title at 17 months of age and earned her AGII title in March 2020 right when all the COVID 19 stuff started shutting things down in NC. This was only the second trial that she had participated in. At her third trial in October 2021, Roper earned 56 of the 100 points needed for her UACH title.

While we do not have livestock here, Roper & I attended a Cathy Hartley herding clinic over the summer of 2018. Roper showed drive, and tended to be a heeler, not a header. She also did some barking, but it did not remind me of force barking to make the stock move.

Since her grandfather Dillon has passed on, Roper has become my main varmint eradicator and will go after snakes, moles/voles and anything else that doesn't belong in her backyard/woods. She does seem to keep her barking limited to what she feels is important, so I may find her barking at a deer, or other pests, but not usually just because one of the other dogs is barking. It seems that she needs a reason to bark.

As I have watched her mature, I can see that she is an appeaser - wants to maintain the peace in the family. As I have stated before, I see a lot of her grandfather Dillon in her make up and personality, which is a very good thing to me. She also took over as Riker's main playmate & teacher, following Kira's death in 2019. She is super fast, super smart, wants to please more than anything and is truly an enjoyable dog to have around.

Riker is a tri-colored male and is also a Dillon grandpup with some other lines mixed in from his father's side of the pedigree. I knew after Dillon passed, that I wanted to find a grandson to bring home. Tri-colored was what I really wanted (if all the stars aligned) mainly from the standpoint of not constantly comparing him to Dillon. Dillon's paw prints would be a mighty tall order for any dog to fill. There are some things that do remind me of Dillon, especially since Riker has matured at the age of 3.

Riker is my main agility partner these days. I love his focus, how he seems to read my mind and how he is so willing to be my partner. This was a lot like Dillon. He is on the smaller side of the male ES spectrum, which makes him smaller than Dillon. What I admire most of all with him is how he will stick with you going out into the unfenced front yard, or to the garage with Brian or to the corn patch and lives to be right there beside you. He does alert to varmints (squirrels mainly & deer), cars approaching on the drive and more. He is the first dog I have owned that will self regulate his food & chews every single bite. In general, he is quite a love bug. He is a super rules oriented ES. Things are supposed to happen in a certain way, dogs are not supposed to talk back to their owners at class, etc.

BTW, Riker has won Holly over to his side. For the first year and a half he was here, Holly didn't want to have anything to do with him. Once he was grown, she began to accept the fact that he was going to stay. They now will play together. Life is good!

Riker participated in his first agility trial in March 2022. He came home with both his UKC BA & IA titles (formally known as AGI & AGII). It took him a little while to acclimate to the trial setting, but all in all, I was very pleased with how he performed.

He also sired a litter earlier this year with Joy Berry's Roxie. There were 5 females!

I expect this litter to produce tri-colors, sable & whites (like Roper) and possibly clear sable pups. I believe that these will be eager to please pups, but will also need owners who will set fair & consistent rules and be willing to work with their pup.This litter is linebred on Dillon, so I am eagerly awaiting to see how these pups grow up.