5-H Stockdogs

[5-Hmama]

I quickly scrolled through the forum to see if anyone mentioned the 5-H stockdogs. My husband and I have had the privilege of using and raising them since 1994. That is when we lost our old dog and my husband went on a hunt to find a replacement. It led him to Montana to the 5-H's and the Grosskoph and Edsall families. Years ago, Australian Scott Lithgow (1932-1992) started crossing border collies with a variety of other breeds of dogs as described in his book "Training and Working Dogs for Quiet and Confident Control of Stock". He named this new composite breed the 5-H Stockdog...with the 5 H's standing for Heading, Heeling, Herding, Heeding and Hardiness. Mr. Lithgow spent over 40 years selectively breeding the composite using those 5 criteria. Mr. Lithgow came to the United States to instruct a dog clinic and he brought with him a male and a female 5-H. Sharon Edsall and Dick Grosskopf bought those dogs and our dogs are all descended from them. The dogs can be black/white, like a border collie, or red/white or black or red roans. Most are short to medium haired. Their tails are long and have never been a distraction causing us to have any reason to want to bob them. Some ears stand up and some flop over at the top. Most are extremely social dogs and seem to truly love children which make them great family dogs, in addition to amazing and consistent working dogs. We raise a litter of pups when we have a sufficient order. To date, we have pups in MO, IA, NE, CO, WY, MT, ND, ID, OR and CA.