Melody is our matriarch, the cornerstone of our canine family. She comes from the McCall line in Mount Holly, Arkansas, and came to live with us at about 10 weeks of age. She comes from a long line of great working dogs and has made a perfect addition to our family.

Melody works in our family as a companion dog, her jobs are protecting the home and watching the kids – both at home and at the soccer field. She knows what time her kids should be home; she knows where we are going next from the shoes we wear.

As an English Shepherd she has a very clearly defined set of rules that order her life, and ike all English Shepherds, the primary rule is that no one, ever, is allowed to harm a child. This certainly applies to her kids, but we’ve seen her equally protective of other kids in her territory. One day while the adults were out of the house our daughter was playing in house with our next door neighbor, the friend’s dad came to pick up his child. This dad opened our front door, stuck his head in and called for his daughter. He then stepped through the door. Melody was immediately on him, and grabbed hold of his pant leg, growling a message that was clearly understood by all.

Melody rarely needs to display her prey drive, living with Ronon The Mighty Warrior, but has done an excellent job of protecting her home when called upon to do so. On one occasion, we discovered a family of racoons in our garage. Melody and Ronon worked as a perfect team to dispatch all five racoons. One dog would chase the racoons from their hiding place; the other would catch them and take them out into the front yard. Four raccoons were killed, and one was chased out of the garage, across the street, across the field and into the creek. We were amazed that although neither dog had hunted racoons before, each of them took instruction about when to attack, and when to wait. Very quickly they realized how to work as a team. This skill has been useful several times since.

Melody was instrumental in training our most recent foster dog, Trooper. According to her Supreme Rules, she taught Trooper that our cats are her pets and shall not be bothered; and other cats are not allowed in the back yard. One day a young man (a friend of our oldest daughter) followed a family member through the back yard. Young Trooper decided this looked like a rule violation, and ran up to bite the back of 'the intruder's' leg. Melody came like a shot, across the yard, intercepted Trooper’s snout before he made contact with skin, and turned him away from the visitor. Just that simply, she had protected those in her charge and educated the newbie.

Similar stories occur daily with all of our dogs. It’s why we love the breed.

Buddy comes from Red Bank Shooter and Kozar's Omega (Meg), and is an amazing dog. He has recently gone through some life changes, as his previous owners could no longer keep him. Since Buddy and Melody produced such great pups last year, it seemed natural to bring him into our home.

Buddy has made quite an impression on us. We have known him to be a smart dog, but he has far exceeded our expectations. He is an exceptionally smart dog with a huge desire to please. He learns new rules quickly, and obeys them willingly. Within a few months we have begun to build a vocabulary, and he has been a quick study on applying his new words to new situations. What is most impressive is how willing he is to apply that vocabulary to obey our will.

He is a big boy - bigger than the average English Shepherd. He is a gentle, sweet-mannered dog. We have often thought he should be called Bear, because of his size. Truthfully, he is a great big teddy bear. He loves to love.

Although we are just getting started with his training, he is a very quick study. His desire to please is so strong that all is involved in his training is getting him to understand our intent. Once he understands, he obeys very well. He has learned his boundaries and respects them better than the natives.

His daughter Aggie has taken the lead on teaching Buddy the "really important things." She really believed he needed to learn to play. Honestly, it took a long time for him to catch on. This was probably the hardest concept to teach him! But Aggie did not relent. After about two weeks of frequent pressures from Aggie and encouragement from our youngest child, he discovered he loves this play thing!

We are currently looking for one last home for Buddy; a family who will finally be his forever home.

Aggie was born to Melody and Buddy in 2010 and promises to be an absolutely amazing dog. Not surprisingly, she is as smart as her parents - perhaps cumulatively.

Even when she was a few weeks old, she was a thinker. We could just watch those wheels turns as she was watching, listening and figuring out the solutions to the world's problems.

She loves to play in the water. She dives under the waer in her puppy pool to catch the end of the hose. She plays in the sprinkler. One afternoon when she was about 8 months old she was playing in the sprinkler and one of her kids covered the sprinkler witha big lid. She stepped back, looked at the problem, grabbed the hose and pulled her sprinkler out from under the lid.

She is an amazing problem solver. She has learned how to open doors, and the garden gate (she really likes watermelon). She finds her toys on command and plays hide and seek with her kids. She also gives great hugs. She is super smart, inquisitive and loyal. She is very energetic, playful, and loving.

One thing that makes her so intriguing is that she never settles for the easy answer. She fears nothing, and always searches for new answers.

On the down side, all of that energy and intelligence must be harnessed into continually rewarding challenges. Her current challenge is to learn the names of her toys.

Ronon was found abandoned on the side of the highway near Keystone, Oklahoma. He sat on the side of the road for six days, presumably waiting for the owner who abandoned him there. On the sixth day, a dear lady relented and decided to rescue him. She sacrificed her breakfast burrito to a dog who she feared would become her eigth foster dog. We picked him up from her farm, with the intent to offer a foster home. It took us about 25 seconds after meeting him to know he was actually our dog. It took him less time to recognize our kids as his own.

Ronon’s primary responsibilities are putting the kids to bed at night and patrolling our property for intruders. He has a serious prey drive and has successfully protected our garage from an invasion of raccoons, (with Melody's help) our front yard from squirrels, and our kitchen from a mouse. He also protects the empty field across the street from an overly enthusiastic band of Canadian Geese. He frequently protects the house from invading spiders.

One of his favorite jobs is serving as Guardian in Chief of our puppy litter. We have a group of turkey buzzards who spotted and hunted the puppies outside when they were small enough to be in danger. Any time the puppies are outside he is there with them, always alert. We had one close call when one of the birds landed on the roof of our two-story house. Ronon spotted it immediately and began barking and jumping as if he intended to catch that bird. He chased it ‘out’ of the yard, and returned to the puppies, watching the sky, ever vigilant. In fact, this is his constant state. If his kids or his puppies area outside, he is watching out for their safety.

In addition to his guardian duties, he is also Playmate in Chief to the puppies. He lets them chase him, catch him and attack his big head - tail wagging the entire time. They pull his tail, chew his paws, hang from his ears and he responds in gentle play. What an amazing dog to be so fierce to intruders, and so gentle with babies.

For Melody and Buddy's 2011 litter, Ronon seemed to know when the puppies were about to be delivered, and he was very excited. Pretty sure he knew he was about to have another group of playmates. He remembered Melody's rules from last year, and has given the newborn pupies the space momma requires. But that wagging tail tells us he knows the day is coming when he gets to play with the puppies again.