Sages Family

It would be safe to say that Sage has no memory of his birth parents. His only family has been me, and now my wife, for the last 11 years of his life. And since the Shiloh breed is not recognized by many canine organizations, I thought I would help document the breed by giving a brief history of Sage's family.

Sage was sired by "Storms Night Reconnaissaince (Recon)" and "Storms all the Jazz of Zion (Jazz)" on October 30th 1997. It was Recon (pictured left) and Jazz's first liter.

Recon was a beautiful "King" shepherd and you could tell early on he was going to be a great dog. Here is Recon at 6 weeks of age.

You can see in Recons eyes the true nobility represented by all Shilohs. My wife Nina thinks they look like the cuddly "Ewok" characters from the Star Wars series of movies.

Recon and Jazz were part of the, now defunct, "Southern Shilohs" and ended up siring 3 liters before Recon eventually passed. None of these liters were officially registered with the ISSR, but they were beautiful puppies nonetheless.

You can definitely see a lot of Recons characteristics in Sage and also in Sage's siblings.

But before we talk about some of Sage's brothers and sisters, we have to mention his grandfather. Recon was sired by a regal Shiloh turned King, whose name was Chateau de Chiefs Shiloh's Thor. His mother was Chateau de Chief Panda Betcher.

Thor was Recon's father and one of the most recognizable names in the Shiloh ancestry. Here is a nice photo of Thor on the left.

I can't tell you how many awards Thor received during his life, but I can tell you that he was a beautiful example of all Shilohs during the early to mid 90's. I am sure you can find many photographs of Thor at the home of the ISSR HERE.

Sage's mom "Jazz" was born in the Zion kennels before finding a home in Alabama. Jazz was a beautiful, dark female who was the perfect match for Recon. Just check out Jazz and her gorgeous coat.

Jazz was a protective Mom when I first met her, but also proud of the 8 puppies that followed her every move.

I sometimes wonder how Jazz felt seeing her first born's given away to strangers. If she was alive today, she would be proud to know that Sage turned into a fine protector himself.

Jazz also came from some pretty famous blood lines. Her father was Pinewood Lazarus Comforth Zion and her mom was Mountain Sheba of Zion.

Some of her other ancestors include; Shilohs Easy Rider, Apache Warrior Valley Wolf, Shiloh's Captain-Caliber Baker, Secret Samson-Woo and Shiloh's Grand Elizabeth. Here is a great photo of Jazz's father Lazarus.

Lazarus boasted a height of 31 inches and weighed 140 pounds. Being a proud New Yorker, I bet Lazarus never realized he would be the start of a new Southern Tradition.

And that Southern Tradition found its way to California when I found Sage in the latter part of 1997. Here is a great photo of Recon and Jazz together.

When I found Sage, he had many brothers and Sisters. Seven to be exact. Sage was by no means the largest of the liter, but I would argue that he is the smartest.

Afterall, how many of his brothers and sisters can claim to know another language? All of the basic commands learned by Sage were done with Japanese numbers.

A dog doesn't know the difference between English and Japanese, and the mono-syllabic nature of some of the Japanese words made it easy for Sage to pick up commands at a quick pace. So commands like "Sit" or "Stay" are now "Chi" and "I-shi". Besides, I didn't want just anybody to be able to command Sage.

Eventually I got lazy, and some of Sagee's more advanced tricks like "Bow" and "Pray" were not taught in Japanese.

And of course Sage learned other English words like "Treat" and "Beach" on his own.

So if Sage wasn't the biggest in the liter, which sibling was?

It's a toss up, but Sage's brother Wolfie (pictured left) was the biggest of the bunch. Wolfie and Sage look alot a like, but Wolfie definitely had some size on his younger bro.

The breeders ended up keeping Wolfie to stud, so he spent many happy days with his parents Recon and Jazz.

Sage also had a very big sister, aptly named "Sissy". Sissy was the first born in the liter, and arguably the most beautiful.

You can see her here on the right with her pappa "Recon". I don't know if any of Sage's siblings are still around, but it would be great to know that they are still alive and doing well.

So that's a brief history of Sage's family. I know all of you reading this are as proud of your "children" as I am of the Great Sage. Here's to all of you who take the time and energy to raise such great companions.

Sage of Oxnard

Well here it is. My first Blog about the Great Sage of Oxnard. So I guess the best way to start this is to tell you about how I found this great friend.

In the 1990's I had gone to Alabama to meet my biological father for the first time. I actually ended up living in Mobile, Alabama and going to school for a couple of years while I got to know my family on my Dad's side.

I had actually been looking for an Akita, when I came across an advertisement for the Shilohs. I ended up going to the breeders house and for the first time getting to see what a Shiloh looked like. I was intimidated at the size of Sage's father "Recon" who came from champion "King Shepherd" blood lines. Sage's mother "Jazz" was an almost all black Shiloh who came from the Zion clan.

I first saw Sage, when all 8 puppies of the litter came out to play. All the puppies were relishing the attention they got from this stranger, when all of a sudden Jazz and Recon came out of the house. All the puppies followed suit, and then, out of the blue, Sage stopped following his siblings, and turned around and came back to me as the rest of the puppies continued to follow their parents. Sage in fact chose me!

Not long after I got Sage, we made the trek across I-10 from Alabama back to California. It was Summer, and it was soooo hot. Sage made a mad dash for the Colorado river, once we stopped there to cool off, and dove right into the water with no fear whatsoever.

Sage now lives with me and my wife in Oxnard, California about 100 yards from the beach. He is definitely the King of the sand and every other dog knows it.

When he was younger he would tow me on my Skateboard and loved to run as fast as he could. Now he is happy to just go to the beach and play with some of the other neighborhood dogs.

I'll be sure to add more photos when I can find them, and possibly a video to show you how smart this guy truly is.

For now I will leave you with one of his classic "wolf-like" howls.