ABOUT US

Ellie at 8 years old

Hello and thank you for visiting our site.  Please allow us to tell you a little about us, how we got our first Estrela and our approach to animal rearing.... 

We are Jason and Julie and we have had animals of one kind or another all our lives.  We currently live in Suffolk in England, near to the town of Colchester. 

Several years ago, we decided to look for a large breed puppy as a canine companion for our Newfoundland, Ellie, who was then seven years old, to keep her young, and we considered many different breeds by reading about them, going to Discover Dogs and, most importantly, by visiting them in their homes. 



  

Around 2005, we met our first Estrela, a beautiful brindle girl called Lixa, as her owner was local to us and kind enough to bring her to our house. When he opened the boot of his car and we saw her wolfish face looking back at us, it was simply love at first sight.

We then arranged to visit other Estrelas, to see more examples of the breed and to find out more about them by talking to their families, to make sure it was the right breed for us, something we are now happy to do for others who are facing the same decision.

  

25 April 2007, Luna & two of Missy's litter at 6 weeks.

Ellie & Missy (at 8 years & 14 months old respectively)

When we visited Nichola Marshall (Drimbea and Bestellar affix) some two years later, we discovered that her beautiful girl, Luna (Clerafora Lucena), was Lixa's sister and we absolutely adored Luna's mischievous personality, so we were unable to resist having one of her puppies, which is how we came to get our first Estrela, Missy (Drimbea Misconduct of Adephagia). 

Later, we were priviledged to be able to offer a home to Ébano (Ébano da Ponta da Pinta, a superb dog bred in Portugal by Manuela Paraíso and Rui Garção).  

Nowadays, we take a natural and holistic approach to our animals' care. For years we fed allegedly good quality "pet food" to our dogs and our cats, ensured they had annual vaccinations and regular veterinary care, thinking we were giving them the best.  However,  the result was a very sickly dog with continual health issues (two ruptured cruciates, a major kidney infection, allergies, continual skin, eye, and joint problems including spondilosis, and finally bone cancer), two cats with renal failure (one of whom eventually succumbed to FIV, the other to cancer after the renal failure and resultant high blood pressure had caused her to lose much of her eyesight and, with it, her confidence), and periodic veterinary dental treatment on top of which we we had to brush their teeth regularly.    

Toffee, May 2008

Ulyxes, 13 weeks old

When Toffee (one of our cats) fell ill with cat flu after a booster vaccination and then Ellie's chronic health problems took a turn for the worse after she received a booster vaccination and chemical flea and worming treatments within a period of a few weeks, and we then suddenly lost our beloved Toffee to cancer, we started questioning the cause of such illnesses.  We finally picked up and read a book which had been sitting on our bookshelf for a while - The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat by Juliette de Baïracli Levy, and it was truly a lightbulb moment.  That was the basis for much further reading by us on holistic animal care and we've not looked back since.   

From both our research and our own experiences, we now firmly believe that a toxic overload caused by the wrong kind of food and a constant assault on the body from unnecessary, repeated and combined vaccinations (with toxic adjuvants), antibiotics, toxic anti-parasite chemicals, and so on, was the cause of our animals' ill-health.

Walkies over the local fields. Anti-clockwise from the left: Missy's best friend, Kailey, Missy, Ellie, and Ébano, 21 December 2009

Ébano introducing himself to his new friend, Lottie, 14 September 2012

So we have now gone back to basics and we feed what we believe our animals have evolved over thousands of years to eat and which is therefore best for their long-term health: a raw diet. We avoid chemicals and allopathic (suppressive) drugs wherever possible and prefer to take a holistic approach, making use of homeopathy, flower essences, kinesiology, herbal medicine, chiropractic, and other therapies to complement the natural diet.

We believe the overall approach has had a highly beneficial effect on our animals' health and wellbeing, and have received numerous compliments about how young and healthy our Estrelas look for their age; we therefore hope our Natural Rearing approach will be reflected in our animals' future health and longevity, and give the pups we breed the best start in life.   

Needless to say, the health of any pups we breed is our top priority, but we breed also for temperament and structure and conformation to the Portuguese breed standard.

Our long-term aim is to achieve multiple generations of naturally reared dogs, free from interference by vaccines, processed food and other pollutants, thereby improving their long-term health and lifespan, as has happened in other breeds whose families have adopted the natural rearing approach.

Ulyxes at 7 weeks of age

Ellie & Missy puppy, 27 May 2007 (approx. 7 years and 10 weeks old respectively)

Introducing the new cat, Nutmeg, who was terrified of dogs, to Missy & Ébano (5 & 9 years old respectively)

Ellie, 05 May 2008 (8 years old)

Ulyxes, relaxing (14 months old)