Double Moon

Skunkbo and her pups are UKC registered as Miniature American Shepherds and she is cross-registered with the AKC and ASDR as Australian Shepherds. She's just under 18", with striking crystal clear eyes, and a softly curly ebony coat. She has a muscular and heavily-boned build, but a extremely laid back for her breed — she's smart and easily trained, but perfectly happy to just spend all day cuddling and doing caregiving. Most importantly, she has the ideal "emotional intelligence" for her job as a task-trained disability and autism support dog whose jobs include providing full body contact for anxiety attacks and meltdowns, and "bracing" to assist in wheelchair transfers. She loves hard full-body hugs and excels at climbing onto laps and giving full-body contact while being very careful to avoid causing injury or pain to a physically fragile person. Skunkbo also adores cats, and actually works as a team with our resident barnyard cats to hunt any rodents that dare go after the chicken coops or sheds. Skunkbo does tends to be reserved towards strangers and protective of her home, flock, and handler. She's responsible for the welfare of every living being in the house, and she takes this seriously. Both Skunkbo and her pups tend to have the traditional "shepherd" approach to humans: they keep a careful eye on strangers, but are very gentle and nurturing towards people and dogs that they already know and can easily be trained to do "greet" and "trust" on command. This introverted trait does need to be managed appropriately with training and lifestyle choices -- with training they do amazingly with public access and make ideal handler-focused service dogs who excel in task training, dog sports, and obedience. They're not social butterflies, but given clear instructions and expectations they easily navigate social events. Regardless of training, they are generally not going to enjoy dog parks or "therapy dog" type work where they're expected to welcome handsy strangers (even if they learn to tolerate it). Generally they feel better if they're crated when guests come over (at least until they've been introduced). They should be allowed to retreat from chaotic social functions, especially ones involving large flocks of unfamiliar children or drunks.... even if they can be trained to ignore the festivities, they usually won't like them. IMHO, the strong desire to be a guardian and "assistant manager" should be appreciate as a breed trait, as it's perfect for people who want a handler-focused dog who will have their back in a pinch.

Our "Itsy Bitsy Ashi" is 12" and ~14 lbs of pure resilience, love, and high octane energy. She came to us from a kennel-based breeder who was shutting down their program, and quickly adjusted to having a more dog-centered, family-style life. She's undergone comprehensive health and wellness checks and passed them all with flying colors: full panel clear!