Beyla Is available
She is a Spirit/Toby daughter from the MM litter. 
(Toby is Justice‘s sire, too.)
She is currently in Anchorage, Alaska.
When her owner (Amber), contacted me about her being crabby with their toddler, I asked if she had had her checked for any arthritis that might make being bumped by the kids part of the problem. She immediately took her to the vet and got an excellent bill of health.
Contact me if you’re interested (307-752-5413, celhaus@vcn.com), and I will put you in touch with Amber.

from her owner:
Hello Beyla’s Future Family!

I am in search of an amazing home for my trusty companion, Beyla. I’ve had Beyla since she was a puppy, and she is now 7 years 8 months old. Beyla is an incredible dog – she’s protective, derpy, sweet, enthusiastic, and playful. Together we have moved from Washington to Alaska, and have travelled to Costa Rica, Mexico, Chile, and had a lot of local adventures in our home state. We’ve been on countless dog walks, bike rides, hikes, camping trips, and backpack trips. She’s even been packrafting! (she was not really a fan, but I think with a life jacket she would enjoy it more). She’s also barely not a kid dog (specifically the 1–4-year-old unpredictable toddler stage) – and with regret that is the only reason I am writing this letter. With our family plans there will be a toddler in our house for the rest of Beyla’s life, and after now 2.5 years of deliberation I’ve finally come to terms that that is an incompatibility that we cannot get past.

Beyla is a very versatile and well-trained companion. She travels well in a vehicle, is crate trained (loves her crate actually), and does well flying. She does well in public places, and I actually rarely have her on a leash as we’re usually biking around town or the mountains, or on a hike-like walk. When I walk her on a leash, I use a pinch collar only because she likes to pull a little (depending on if we’re on our way out or headed back). If I forget it though I don’t stress, she is actually very gentle on the leash (just not perfect ). She’s got amazing recall and stays close; I never worry about her running away. She’s non-reactive to dogs outside (we often go to the dog park and she’s defnitely an ambassador for the breed, unless a dog rudely tries to mount her in which case she will correct them). Her commands are leave it (most important ), sit, down, off, wait, free, shake, heel, fuss (I had wanted to do IPO but it never worked out), closer, find (for scentwork), place, crate, and fetch. I don’t often use “no” with her and have instead opted for the “ah!” command, which is effective.

This girl has a fun personality! People LOVE her (I’m dreading all of the people who will be sad to learn she’s not with us anymore). People love to play fetch with her, see how high she can jump (I try to discourage this one, but it happens), and take her on their adventures with them (she once fat-biked from Kenai to Homer with my friend Wes, and my sister loves to bring her backpacking with her). She loves and collects sticks – minimum 2, preferably 3 (I’ve seen 1 ball and 3 sticks before). When she comes across a better stick she will trade up. Trading up will take a minute because she has to decide which of the three already in her mouth she’s going to leave behind She’s never sad, always excited for an outing, always enthusiastic. She loves to get pets and kisses. She likes good food, and is discriminating. It’s funny to see what she does or does not like. She will get a little cuddly at night and in the morning. She talks to you, and you often know what she’s thinking. At nighttime she loves to come into my daughter’s room and participate in our family bedtime routine. She is such a sweetie.

I feel so safe with Beyla. When my husband is out of town I don’t worry – Beyla is there. She is protective of her people (and even her people’s other dogs). She’s had more than one run in with a moose and did just the right thing in each scenario – whether that be staying still while we’re hiding, avoiding the moose altogether, or challenging the moose to protect her companions from being trampled (which she did for my sister and her dog). I have never once seen a bear here in Alaska – because Beyla’s always ahead on the trail checking stuff out and I presume alerting anything that we’re on our way. Once in an airport in LA she alerted me that this sketchy lady was eyeing my then-baby daughter, and intimidated the lady just enough that she walked off without further incident. She is brave and loyal and wants to be right by your side at all times. I look forward to my work-from-home days because I get to spend them with Beyla.

Beyla does great with strangers, and will also give them a complimentary heart attack before they realize that that scary-looking dog is barking with excitement (or they notice the stick or the ball she’s wanting them to throw). For initial meetings I put her in the back yard or garage for initial arrival or meetings and then let her greet them. After someone has met her once I don’t worry about it, they know and love Beyla. Shas a way of endearing herself to people, even if they were originally intimidated. Recently we had a windstorm that broke our fence, and I had forgotten. We had a new babysitter and I put Beyla in the backyard, and she about scared the sitter off the porch to the point she was about to leave. By the time the babysitter left she loved Beyla and last time she was over seemed a little sad that I was going to take her with me that day as Beyla had been such a good companion for her. For as energetic as she is she is very calm and even therapeutic when needed. She once sat on my sister’s lap for 45 minutes after sensing her panic attack and stayed there until my sister was ok again.

Beyla would be best in a home with plenty of mental stimulation, exercise, and either no or older kids (probably 8-10+). She’s got her ORT in nosework and if I had more time, we would pursue that and she would dominate at it. Agility would be right up her alley as well. She would be better off in a home where she is the only dog, but this also will depend on the owner and the owners experience with shepherds. Beyla is an alpha female. I think she does well with submissive males of a similar size. I also don’t recommend a home with a cat, unless you’re prepared to work with her to not chase it (not impossible, but something to consider). She actually gets along with kids quite well; it’s just the poking/prodding/grabbing/crawling/random-and-unexpected-collisions from 1–4-year-olds that she doesn’t do well with (which is why it took me so long to make the decision).

I hope in reading this you realize what a special dog Beyla is and how much I love her. I’ve never given away a family member before, and this is/will be hard. I know it’s for the best and I want to find the home that Beyla deserves. I’m not sure what else to say. Please reach out if you have any questions about her.

Thank you, Amber