Hi, we are Jim and Marlette Goodnight and we share our lives with four Shiloh Shepherds (Kiera, Ashlinn, Brenna and Rhian) and one SPCA Special (Maja). We live on two acres nestled in the northern outskirts of Sacramento, California. We hope to have puppies in a couple of years, but for now we share information and lessons learned.

We found out about Shilohs over six years ago. I was involved with Schutzhund training at the time and I was looking for a puppy to start. I was told Shilohs rarely have enough drive for the sport, but I decided to try an outcross puppy and see how things went. We flew to New York in March of 2000 and that started us on the most amazing journey and it continues today. Although breeding was not my primary goal at the time, I did purchase a puppy classified as “breed/show quality.” Kiera was diagnosed with moderate dysplasia at 8 months and was degenerating quickly so we had a bi-lateral Triple Pelvic Osteotomy performed by an orthopedic surgeon. She is classified as severely dysplastic today. I saw potential and liked the size of Shilohs so Jim and I figured we could produce better than this and we purchased Ashlinn based on temperament first but with conformation in mind. Ash was diagnosed with loose hips at 8 months and later developed serious dog aggression. Overall I was happy with Ash’s working traits (good nose, will to serve) and with most of her conformation (she definitely has some conformation faults). So Jim and I decided we would try again and purchased Brenna who is a sibling to Ash but 16 months apart. Alas, Brenna was diagnosed with one loose hip at 8 months and Enzyme Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) at 12 months. You can learn more about these girls on the Our Shepherds page.

We were literally 3 for 3 and no dogs in our breeding pool. I started a chat list for Shilohs called the ShilohZone™ in 2000 about a month after we bought Ashlinn. (We tried another host forum for awhile and then went back to Yahoo in 2003.) I continued to study the breed and to research German Shepherds as well since they are the founding stock of Shilohs. I believe in the scientific method, and I could not find enough data to suit so in 2004 I made it mandatory for members of the chat group to share their data. I combined the Zone data with what I found in the OFA database and what I gleaned from PennHIP and started to formulate some theories. Also in 2004 I founded the SZ World Class Breeders, World Class Puppies (SZ-WC) Program™ as a support network for developing breeders and breed enthusiasts. The SZ-WC program™ opened up to all breeds in 2005. Currently the majority of our breeders are or want to be Shiloh breeders but we hope to add more breeds in the future. Using the criteria we established for the WC program, Jim and I purchased a puppy in June of 2006 named Rhian. To date Rhian has passed all her preliminary testing, and we have high hopes for her and our breeding program. In keeping with our goals of providing education in 2006 we launched web sites for both the ShilohZone™ and the SZ-World Class Program™.

If Rhian passes all the health and temperament testing required by the WC Program, and we find a mate that will qualify her litter for either World Class status or Litter of Merit status, we plan to breed Rhian in 2008. Until then we will continue to work for the protection and honest promotion of this breed called Shilohs we have come to love—warts and all.