WE LOVE OUR ENTLES, THEY ARE OUR FAMILY SHARING OUR HOME AND BED. x
We love our Entles, they share our home and bed.
We hope to help you find your perfect new family member.
About Swiss Arsenal Entlebuchers
Our Story
STUD AVAILABLE - PUPPIES IN A FEW YEARS!
Swiss Arsenal Entlebuchers’ Our Purpose:
NEMDA and BCOE - We decided to join this dedicated group of Entlebucher breeders because of their desire to produce well-considered offspring for future generations of Entlebucher matching our goals. We have had some experience with breeding and genetics, in rare breeds of horses, in the past. We have seen the results of tightening the gene pool due to the popularity of particular stallions due to their “type” in various “mainstream” and the “boutique” breeds. We have also seen others who just practiced economy, inbreeding their stock to a disastrous degree. The pursuit of type, sacrificing long term health is unwise. The horrors that are produced when a small gene pool that is not bred with consideration for health, temperament, type and function are devastating. If economy is the sole driver in breeding practice, there are often dreadful results. You must do your bloodline, health and personality research. The health concerns with this breed are addressed by NEMDA/BCOE in conjunction with OFA and AKC. We are impressed with the tools made available for NEMDA members to research bloodlines and coefficients of relationships.
Our passion is to produce the true breed type without creating the silhouette caricature some breeds have been reduced to. This and with our love of the breed, especially Ruger, is our main driver in this pursuit.
The testing required by the BCOE along with NEMDA’s education of the membership and potential owners of the breed on the incredible benefits of Entlebucher ownership, overall outreach of the website along with their educational events and breed shows is above admirable. NEMDA’s continued success will result in the healthy continuation of the breed. This guidance to us makes our small contribution to this purpose a worthwhile endeavor.
We have been impressed with our interactions with all the individuals who have mentored us: Anna Wallace, Jen Shaul, Eve Tetzlaff, Alex Ilnytskyy & Oksana Ilnytska along with many in the BCOE community listed on the NEMDA website that we have called to inquire as to the availability of puppies and for continuing guidance. We hope to continue to learn and contribute to the preservation of this incredible and unique breed of dogs, unlike any other in temperament, ability and intelligence.
We come from a history with Labradors, Great Danes, mixed breed rescues and our beloved Greater Swiss Harley (who died much to early). Harley, our Greater Swiss inspired our search, a year after his passing, for our next family member looking again to the “Swiss” breeds but seeking longevity. With great care and diligence, we decided that perhaps the Entlebucher would be the next step we were now prepared for. Were we ever surprised, delighted and challenged with this wonderful addition to our family, Liberty Run’s Ruger Hughes, who fulfilled the hole in our lives left by Harley and brought to us a very special beloved family member even more amazing to us is his personality and enduring unconditional love.
When considering our female Entlebucher we were guided to accept the “carriers” to not eliminate too many from the overall gene pool. We understand the need to keep open-minded to not limit the gene pool, to a degree, but decided that the somewhat flashy white color markings were a much safer hill to concede than potential eye disease in future generations. Ruger is a bit splashy with his chrome points, but his extremely correct conformation, breed type, sweet temperament, protective prowess and intelligence far exceed this small detriment. Meeting a Florida dog show judge in the “Publix” parking lot was what sent us on this final step towards breeding. Her impromptu evaluation of how perfect his conformation and presence were and her empathic guidance to show him left a lasting impression on us. She gave exacting accolades to his correct leg, shoulder, topline, attachment and presence along with temperament that meet what every judge is expected to award. When we talked about his excess white markings, she stated that was trivial by comparison to what he could contribute to correctness overall. That was before we decided to go through the rigors of the BCOE testing, our final review as to “if” Ruger was worthy of breeding, to “our standard”. As each test was passed, we became more resolved to move forward into finding his perfect mate. Now a puppy, we will hope to have Beretta pass all her testing at the appropriate time in the future. Her bloodlines provide some assurance that her genetics are up to that task and are a great guide to future potential.
Entlebuchers are NOT a large breed, we know this. To stress this point again, our gene pool is quite small which means that we could soon run the risk of recessive diseases arising. We need to keep infusing bloodlines from offshore who are healthy, tested and contribute new vigor to our domestic stock. Recessive diseases show up when both parents seem fine, but each carries a gene for the disease. Many diseases have not yet been sufficiently studied to predict how they occur. For these, our best practice is to breed dogs that are genetically different. Once you have good health then it is safer to breed more for type and more specific “characteristics”.
We want to positively contribute with our dogs passing all health tests with “clear” or at minimum “good” as appropriate for each specific testing result.
As new owners, remember puppies that are well socialized (provided positive exposure to many items) generally thrive in their new homes and can accept new people and experiences easily. Some portion of temperament is inherited from parents, so we never want to breed dogs that are not stable and happy themselves, and we begin this socialization from their first awareness hoping that it will continue with their new owners throughout their life experience.
FUN FACTS - ENTLE'S ENJOY BOAT LIFE AND RV LIFE TOO
After Trisha prepared to retire from Government Service in November we sold our home in Colorado and moved in December 2021 to Florida. It was time to relive our former life on the water. We searched for a good sized boat to live on and found our Sea Ray 500 Sundancer that was quite a change of pace. Ruger fell right into the new way of life on the water, life in the marina along with lots of shore walks at least three times a day for exercise and his daily duty.
After a year on the boat we decided that was not our cup of tea, maybe a sailboat would have been better but the noise of those huge engines was not what Trisha liked so we decided to try RV life. We sold our boat and bought a nice Fleetwood Providence and called her home for the next year. Again, Ruger took the change in stride and quicky adjusted to RV life. We spent time in a beautiful park in Daytona Beach on the incredible Atlantic coast and then another nice one in Riverview Florida on the Gulf coast. Take it from me the Atlantic is so much cooler and dramatic. During this period in Florida we went through two hurricanes in two years. IAN and Nicole while in Daytona. We had some up close and personal with the severe flooding from both and again even with all our slides in to reduce our "windage" during the hurricanes Ruger was fearless and a joy to be with.
Now (renting) back in a home with a large yard looking for property to create our new forever home on near Bristol, Tennessee our Entles enjoy the latest in our adventures with ease. Their family is their "pack" and as long as the pack is intact, life can take as many twists and turns as it may...as long as Mom and Dad provide the Anchor in their lives.
Snapshots of Swiss Arsenal Entlebuchers in Our LIFE !
