Welcome to Whistling Ridge! (The story behind the name, and our breeding history)

Whistling Ridge's Princess Willow

What's in a name?

Welcome to our site, Whistling Ridge, and our blog! Let me start with saying that we don't have a physical kennel. Whistling Ridge is the name we have chosen to identify ourselves as breeders. And the story behind it dates back, long before we adopted the name. I cannot whistle, more than a quiet airy squeak that one dare not even call a whistle. One family member, however, learned to whistle as a child -- much to their siblings' chagrin, at times -- and has been whistling ever since. 

Starting with our first litter, they would whistle to the pups, and by the time the pups left us -- having been raised in our home, as we still do -- they would hear the whistle and come running. And in that very first litter, one little female started 'singing' along. Whenever they started whistling, this little female would 'sing' (howl... whine, call it what you dare, but my wife would declare she sings), trying to match the tone of the whistling.

Several years ago, we placed a stud in a guardian home. Some time later, we sent a little audio or video of whistling a pup to sleep, and shared it with some friends. One of those friends was the guardian family. When they played the clip, the stud immediately recognized the whistle, and started running around the house, trying to find us.

Whistling created a connection between our puppies and our home. So, when it came time to choose a name, it just made sense to have 'Whistling' in the name. We have pine trees along the back of our property line, so we considered Whistling Pines, but that domain wasn't available. We tried a few different ones before we settled on Whistling Ridge. After saying it out loud a few times, we decided it has a much nicer ring to it than Whistling Pines (the story of sour grapes, comes to mind), and we made our choice.

This darling little girl is the offspring of Sadie Aspen (now retired) and Winston Churchill, 2025.

Our breeding history

Way back, in the early 2000's, we adopted a dog that we intended for breeding. She was a sweet little cockapoo. But our girl never went into heat until she was 11 years old, at which time breeding would have been foolish. So we never did have a litter with her. In 2018, having lost our cockapoo to old age, we decided to get another female with the intent to breed. In the meantime, we had discovered the Australian Shepherd dogs, and having long loved the collie and poodle breeds, we decided to breed Border-Aussie cross and Aussie-doodle pups

Our knowledge of farming and caring for animals was strong -- both my wife and I grew up on farms -- but our knowledge of breeding was limited. Training dogs wasn't the hardship. But understanding the value of purebreds was lacking, initially. We learned about health testing, and immediately incorporated this into our breeding program, with the border-aussie cross breed. As we learned more, we moved to breeding only Aussie-doodles and Miniature American Shepherds (MAS) from purebred stock and healthy lines. When we first transitioned, the MAS -- formerly known as Miniature Australian Shepherds or Mini Aussies -- was not acknowledged in Canada, so we had AKC registered (AKC-MAS) stock.

Over the time that CKC started to recognize the MAS breed, a family member had a health crisis, and we missed the news that we had waited anxiously to hear for several years. In summer 2025, we spoke with the CKC team and educated ourselves on what is required of CKC members. At the time, our one girl was pregnant with an Aussiedoodle litter, which we immediately disclosed. They advised that we wait until this Aussiedoodle litter finds home, and then become members, so that we can be members in good standing from the start. In the meantime, they informed us, our breeding stock could be CKC registered to begin the process, which we immediately did.

We are excited for the next step in our breeding journey. We are in love with the Miniature American Shepherd breed. They are highly intelligent, easy to train, and very gentle dogs. We choose the pups we hold back for breeding based on breed standard, health and temperament, and offer pups of exceptional quality. We seek first the wellbeing and best interest of our puppies, along with the wellbeing of their adoptive homes, and ensuring a good fit.

There are many misconceptions about what it means to provide a good home for a Miniature American Shepherd pup, how much exercise they need, and their energy levels. We have written a pamphlet that we offer every adoptive family, with simple advice on transitioning your puppy to your home successfully. To date, we have never had one of our MAS puppies returned for health reasons, or lack of trainability. One was returned because their elderly cat could not adjust to having a puppy in the home, making the cat physically ill. The adoptive couple was heartbroken. And some years ago, we had one Border-Aussie returned when the family realized they were not able to care for the pup. Within 36 hours, she was in her new home, fully trained and settling in well.

Most of our puppies are housebroken before they leave our home, and the remaining few are usually fully housebroken within three days to a week of leaving our home, if the guidlines in our brochure are followed. We always receive high praise for our puppies, and special appreciation for how well trained they are before leaving for their new homes.

Breeding MAS puppies is our pride and joy. We are a small breeder, with two to four females active in our breeding program at any given time. All our studs, as well as any dams that do not live with us, have families they live with, as pets, where they are well loved and cared for. We do not believe commercial kennels are a good environment for any dogs, let alone the MAS breed. Currently we have three females living with us, and one living with a guardian family.

In future blogs we will address a variety of topics, ranging from what to look for in a breeder (and what to avoid), interesting facts about the MAS breed, and much more. We invite you to check back frequently, share with your friends, and send us topics (via our CONTACT page) that you would like to see addressed in future blogs. Together we will explore, learn and grow.

If you are considering adopting a MAS pup, we would love to hear from you and answer your questions. Visit our "Current Litters" page to see what litters we have available at this time, and any upcoming litters.

© Whistling Ridge 2025