Rebel, bred By J R McDuffie, is a son of Dunrovin's Ole Shep one of a line of Scotch collies that has been raised by one family in Eastern Tennessee for a century. These dogs fit the standard for English Shepherds and it is likely that down through the years some of the descendants of this line have found their way into the registered genepool. Since Mr. McDuffie began registering them with NKC in the early nineties, descendants have been registered with all of the major English Shepherd registries- IESR, UKC ARF and ESCR.
Rebel is out of Dunrovin's Sassy (not to be confused with McDuffie's Sassy- a different ES.)
Dunrovin's Sassy was bred by Alicia Childress in Ripley TN. This breeding was repeated a lot over the last decade and lots of these Childress Bear out of Childress One-eyed Jackie ES are around. Childress One -Eyed Jackie Was by Butcher's Sam Odie, who sired Foothill's Sam as well as many other great herding dogs of the ES breed.
Rebel was purchased by someone wanting a squirrel hunting dog, but he showed a strong tendency to herd, and his owner was not pleased. While at that first owner's home Rebel was shot- Sheryl told me that they took a pellet out of his hide... Maybe a BB? Rebel still does not like to have a camera "aimed" in his direction. His owner phoned Janice Sallee and told her he was going to shoot Rebel if she did not take him. Janice then told Vivian Flynt, the editor of the ES Advocate, and she posted information about Rebel on the ES list.
Tina Hoffman had been looking for a stud dog for some time, and was located near Janice Sallee, (who breeds wonderful black and tan English shepherds that she uses on her dairy and sells through Progressive Farmer ads) so we passed the info to Tina and Tina went and picked him up.
Sheryl Chesney bought Rebel from Tina Hoffman in late 2002. She has the following to say about him.
January 4, 2003
I haven't sent an update on Rebel in a while as I know my admiration for him "wants" to cloud perspective. I have been continually looking for negatives in his personality and truely haven't found any yet.
This dog amazes me. He minds me as well as Lilly does. I say "no" he says "okay", when I call him he comes immediately. I have had to teach or reteach sit, off and down. He gets excited when he sees me and will not really jump up on me but does jump up and touch me with at least one of his front feet.
First of all he has accepted my whole family,even my husband. (he still loves me best).
He runs and plays well with the other dogs and is fine with the livestock, although I am seeing no sign of wanting to work, yet, he does stay close by watching. He is afraid of a camera "click" making it hard to get good pictures of him. I have been practicing handing him things. At first when I would pick up something he would shy down. Now I pick up something and call him and give it to him, he is much better, doesn't act like I am going to hit him.
He is tickled pink to be fed at every meal and has nearly stopped trying to be so guarding of his food bowl. He has accepted my cats and doesn't bother them at all. He did slobber/lick on a kitten but did not harm it and gave chase one time. I told him "no" and he hasn't chased them since.
He is very aware of our new coyote problem and patrols with Lilly and the 3 young ones. I don't know if he always howled but he does it with our dogs when we hear the coyotes yap. He is second in command to Lilly but is very fair with the rest of the dogs and is not aggressive in the least (not even to the young male).
He has taken to coming up on the screened porch late in the evening and looking through the sliding glass doors at me. I wave (don't laugh) and he wags his tail. I have been waving around with him to get him to overcome his fear of being hit.
Slowly I am going to try to see if he will work for me, move ducks or chickens first then on to the rest. I am seeing a guardian/hunting side to him and it could be that my other dogs are bringing this out. Would be nice if he would gain enough confidence to help with the "moving" and penning.
Sheryl
Sheryl says that Rebel is slowly getting over his timidity and lack of confidence around humans, and that he is very devoted to her and David. He is a wonderful working dog- no telling how good he would be had she had him from a pup...
This is a side of Rebel that is beginning to show more often, puppy playfulness.
He is learning so fast and teaching me a lot about a dog that can be very independent
but highly biddable. He is so willing to please and feels bad if he thinks
you are upset with him. I have watched him out the kitchen window move a goat kid
back to the pasture because he knows I don't like them in the backyard.
He loves babies (children) and toddlers and will gently touch them.
Is standoffish with strangers until he feels they are friendly.
He doesn't solicit their attention but will quietly wait to be noticed.
I am enamored with his gentleness and his rock solid temperament.
He and I have become fast friends.
Rebby gave me quite a nice surprise today. Late this evening a lady came by with her grown daughter and the daughters 16 month old baby. They wanted to look at the young goats. When strangers come over Rebby ususally stands off about 10 feet, watching, and does not readily come up to be petted. He saw this baby and looked just thrilled and came right up, prancing, wagging his tail, smiling and licked this baby's hand so gently. I told the visitors that this was an honor he was bestowing upon them. I really think it was the baby itself that Rebby wanted to befriend so badly. He was as happy as could be the whole time they were here. Sheryl
Chesney's Lilly