Pastore della Sila / Sila Shepherds USA

When we realized that our travels to go pick up (last?) Sila female, Regina, was getting delayed, we also realized that we would miss Regina’s heat. I was so disappointed as I had looked forward to Apelle (our purebred bear for a Sila male) puppies. I know, it’s only 6 more months, but Regina is already 4.5 years old and I didn’t want her to wait longer. I had the crazy idea to talk to Roberto, her owner/breeder in Italy about maybe getting her bred there. After speaking to our repro vet here, a friend/breeder and Roberto, we decided to go ahead and try. Roberto had a local friend with a suitable male, Tuco, and best of all, Tuco and Regina had had a previous litter of 11 and Roberto had a picture of one of their grown up sons. We were sold!

This Beautiful boy is Tuco. He is one of the original foundation dogs- so if you look at his registration paperwork he has no listed ancestry. That’s pretty cool.

And this is one of the boys from Tuco’s and Regina’s first litter!

In the time leading up to Scott going over to pick her up I worried about the pregnancy, if the stress during travels by car and flight would cause her to lose her litter, would she fit in with our current pack, would she be able to settle in quickly and in time for her babies? Tons of questions, and no answers.

When she arrived she was NOTHING like our first two. Apelle was a big goof ball, lots of energy and althoug very insecure about the recent changes in his life, very active. Calabria basically shut down for the first whole week after she got here. With time she has become a “real” dog and is settling is wonderfully, showing off her happy and loving nature, but it took time and patience. Regina was calm, walked with Scott on a leash, jumped into our car without any fuss and laid in the back seat all the way from JFK airport and home. Once home she settled in the barn, picked out her favorite spot and just laid there. She wagged her tail every time we came to check on her, and clearly showed that she apppreciated company and tummy rubs. She greated all our othe dogs in a freindly, laid back and calm manner. She didn’t mind the cats coming into her space or drinkin of her water. She studied the sheep and was generally just laying there, watching everything. Until one night when she jumped the fence in defence of some wayward chickens who had a run in with the fox. When we came home she was calmly patroling the propety line and met us with a wagging tail.

On Valentine’s Day it was time for her ultrasound. I told myself that it had to be a good omen to have it done on that day. I was certain that her tummy felt a bit rounded compared to the other dogs. And it WAS! Yippee!! The first USA born Italian Sila Shepherds are on their way. Our veterinarian counted 6 but was fairly sure some where hiding, so a week prior to her due date she’s going back for an x-ray so that they can more accurately predict the number. Due date is somewhere around 3/12 – 3/17. How can you get a better Valentine’s gift than puppies on the way????

Look at that! That little oval shape is one little chubby puppy! The vet kept saying “oh it’s swimming around” so they certainly seem to be active. A dog only has about a 9 week gestation time. That’s a lot of action under a short time, and now Regina’s pups only have one more month until they are all here!