Highland Glenn exists to steward English Shepherds. We’ve been producing healthy, Naturally Reared dogs since 2012. We approach life in a holistic, gentle, back-to-nature manner… and Natural Rearing harmonizes with this seamlessly.
Naturally Reared puppies in general are an elite group – given the very best possible start on all levels – and multi-generation Naturally Reared English Shepherds are very rare.
Our parent dogs enjoy clean well water, mountain air, sunshine, ranch jobs, and lots of love. They rarely, if ever, go to the veterinarian, evidence that Natural Rearing suits them well.
This is not a high-volume operation. We breed to fulfill purpose rather than demand. Every pairing is intentional.
Preservation breeding is a careful, deliberate, thoughtful effort which requires years of steady work. It is rooted in respect for the dogs and the people they will walk beside, and respect for the roles these dogs are meant to fulfill.
Every placement is guided by discernment, not convenience or profit.
Honoring the natural design of the dog, our methods are rooted in biologically aligned care that supports lifelong vitality and minimizes preventable dis-ease.
This is more than a breeding program. It’s a promise.
Explore How We Raise Highland Glenn Puppies
These practices are not optional. They represent the ethical baseline we’ve set for our preservation-focused breeding program.
Keeper Education & Lifetime Support
Each Highland Glenn puppy keeper receives ongoing education and support in holistic health, nutrition, and training. Our approach emphasizes long-term success to ensure each dog thrives throughout its lifetime.
Purposeful Breeding
Highland Glenn litters actually begin long before the puppies are born. We select pairings with rigorous attention to documented lineage, temperament, working traits, and multi-generational health history. Conformation matters deeply to us — it requires knowledgeable selection to produce a dog that is both beautiful and sound. Our dogs reflect many years of intentional breeding decisions.
Every decision we make within our Natural Rearing program is guided by health, temperament, and working traits. When we breed a litter, we do so in the hopes of producing outstanding dogs and continuing the legacy of our Naturally Reared line. Our goal is to raise puppies that are physically capable, emotionally regulated, and prepared to enter the world with confidence and adaptability.
Naturally Reared From Birth
All Highland Glenn puppies benefit from our holistic foundational wellness care.
For healthy puppies, nutrition begins long before conception. Science supports the fact that dogs are carnivores; thus, we feed our parent dogs a biologically appropriate raw diet exclusively. They have bright eyes, healthy teeth and gums, energy and stamina for any activity, shiny coats, and beautiful muscle tone.
Our puppies are weaned naturally, by their mother on her schedule, without intervention. Believe us when we say that both she and the puppies tell us when they’re ready for more food! This is usually around four weeks of age.
From their very first solid meal, they receive a species-specific raw food diet. This means a variety of fresh raw meat with bone, organs, raw goat milk, nutritional herbs, and key supplementation providing optimal nutrition for strong immune function, dentition, and overall development— never commercial diets. Commercial feeds are laden with genetically engineered ingredients and waste/scrap products which are then cooked and extruded with synthetic vitamins and minerals added in.
The meat they eat is whole (as opposed to ground), homegrown grass-fed, or sourced locally, and medication/hormone-free as much as possible. Yes, they eat quite well!
Our puppies ‘dewclaws’ are not removed. On the front, these are actually fully functioning digits used on a daily basis. Even on the rear, X-ray shows they are often attached down to the bone.
Puppies leave our home without vaccinations. We take steps to support strong immune function while they still have antibodies from their mother to protect them. Mild exposure helps them naturally develop their own true immunity. This is the way nature works, without interference.
Our evidence-based choice is that our dogs remain vaccine-free (except as compulsory by law). There is no sound scientific evidence that vaccines are necessary. To the contrary, research has revealed that they are quite harmful.
We support immune strength through homeopathy, medical-grade essential oils, and carefully developed in-house protocols rather than through conventional injections. We are happy to discuss our full protocol with you.
Vaccinations cause many health problems, including allergies, skin issues, behavioral problems, bowel issues, joint development problems, cancer, and more. We have personally dealt with the fallout from vaccinosis and don’t wish that for any of our puppies or their keepers.
This is a decision each animal keeper must face and make for themselves, carefully weighing the risks of all options. Nature knows what to do and how. After all, the body was marvelously designed! A strong, healthy body is infinitely more resistant to all disease than one that has been repeatedly compromised by toxins.
Chemical-free Life and Environment
We avoid all use of drugs and medicines unless in an emergency.
We don’t use chemical de-wormers. Chemically de-worming young puppies on the schedule most breeders use destroys gut health, which weakens immune health. A puppy reared on a raw diet generally does not have an overload of worms. While most puppies likely have a few worms from birth, a healthy system can easily handle them. In fact, evidence shows that this mild challenge teaches the puppy’s system how to heal. If there is a concern, we use effective natural therapies like homeopathy.
Our dogs and puppies are not subjected to chemical flea and tick preventatives or heartworm drugs. These medications are toxic. We prefer to focus on building genuine resilience through nutrition, environment, and natural support.
Chemical products of any kind are not even used in the personal care, laundry, and dog grooming products we use. Nor are synthetics, fertilizers, or chemical ‘cides’ used anywhere on the ranch. This is beneficial for the environment and wildlife, too.
The science of epigenetics is informing us that environment is just as important in triggering genetic predispositions as are the inherited genes themselves. This is an exciting science that offers hope for those who want to avoid triggering genes that may cause symptoms of dis-ease.
That is one of many reasons why we eliminate all toxins from our home/ranch, feed a raw diet, and avoid the use of antibiotics, steroids, flea/tick/heartworm poisons, and vaccines from our program.
For cleaning, we only use non-toxic, environmentally friendly products made from natural, harmless ingredients such as essential oils, vinegar, etc. The #1 choice for our home and in the nursery is Young Living Thieves Household Cleaner. It is completely safe for newborns and mothers.
Homeopathy & Essential Oils
Our females are given homeopathic remedies, even though they are healthy, to undo any damage inherited from previous generations done by commercial foods and vaccines to decrease the chance of chronic disease in our puppies as much as possible. This is called “constitutional healing”, a unique method that helps our puppies to release epigenetic damage.
Gut health, gentle detox, and parasite monitoring for all of our dogs are ongoing.
We welcome each puppy into the world with essential oils to support their immune health and immediately raise their frequency.
Raised Underfoot, Not in a Kennel
Born and raised in the heart of our home, our puppies spend the first four weeks of life with their mother in a clean, warm nursery area. Next, they move to a large playpen for more space. We spend a great deal of time with them each day! They go outside each day for grounding, play, and exploration as the weather permits.
Imprint Handling and Scent Introduction
From the critical development window of days 3 through 16, every puppy is handled in gentle, intentional ways. These slight stressors have a positive effect on the developing brain and immune function.
During this same time, they are carefully acclimated to scents in order to stimulate the areas of the brain primed for development spurt.
All the while, they come to know human voice and presence as we talk, read, and sing to them.
We begin handling our puppies’ feet and trimming their nails before their eyes open. By the time they go home, nail trims, ear touches, teeth checks, and full body handling are simply normal parts of life — not stressful moments.
These protocols build the kind of calm confidence that lasts a lifetime. This can only be done by the breeder during this narrow window. We do it with every litter, every time.
Early Development & Environmental Stability
From birth through placement, puppies are raised in a dynamic, multi-species farm environment that supports neurological development, confidence, and adaptability. Early-life experiences are purposefully structured to prepare each dog for modern life while maintaining the grounded temperament essential to an English Shepherd.
Our little ones experience a variety of situations and people of all ages and appearances. An outing to town with adorable puppies always garners lots of attention! This helps them be adaptable to new experiences and develop the confidence to perform whatever tasks are required of them as they mature.
Puppy Culture
Our puppies receive the benefit of modern early socialization methods during the crucial weeks they are with us.
Beginning at around three weeks of age, and as each developmental stage is reached, litters are introduced to a structured enrichment program based on the Puppy Culture protocol as well as some features from Avidog. They learn to face novel challenges, navigate obstacles, recover from startling experiences, and engage with positive training markers. They are never corrected or punished — only redirected, rewarded, and encouraged. By the time they leave us, they are already primed to learn. All puppies complete our foundational puppy training.
As they grow, the puppies’ play spaces are thoughtfully designed for neurological development and to build confidence, coordination, and strength in growing puppies, all in a safe environment under our watchful eye. They navigate obstacles for development and great playtime fun.
Puppies are socialized naturally with livestock and other dogs on the ranch. They get to see chickens, sheep, and dairy goats while accompanying us on daily chores. Everything an English Shepherd puppy could wish for!
They have constant access to an open crate, coming to view it as a secure haven and yet another enjoyable place to be. This eases stress while the puppy settles into its new home, lays a solid foundation to complete housetraining, and reduces anxiety when left alone for brief periods of time.
The puppies also start to learn basic commands as we feed their meals and take walks along with their parents. Of course, as with any puppy, it will be up to the new keeper to continue appropriate socialization and training.
Sound Habituation
Puppies hear the television, vacuums, vehicles, and many sounds unique to our ranch life. This is intentional — a puppy growing up in a real home arrives at your home already comfortable with the rhythms of human life.
We run a daily loop of sounds — doorbells, appliances, barking dogs, children laughing/shouting/crying, fireworks, crashing noises, city traffic — starting at very low volume and gradually increasing to normal levels over the course of the litter’s development. The result is a puppy that processes these sounds as merely background noise rather than threats.
Staying Longer, Leaving Better
Our puppies usually stay with their litter for 10 weeks while the adult dogs teach them what they know and the lessons of life. This is the natural way puppies learn canine social skills and is extremely important in the formation of a well-adjusted temperament and good canine communication.
Studies show that puppies removed from their mother and littermates much before 10 weeks often have not learned how to be submissive or cautious. Puppies require this time to learn the skills of getting along with strangers, both human and animal, without any diminished ability to build a strong bond with their new family.
It is much more expensive and a lot more work for us, but the social education a puppy receives from its mother and littermates during this window is irreplaceable. Puppies are more confident, calm, and well-adjusted when they learn to communicate, navigate, and share in a dog family for as long as possible.
Positive Training
We train our puppies using only scientifically sound positive training methods, including a Clicker, praise, and treats. We do not advocate corrections; they are not only unnecessary but harmful to dogs. We never raise our voices. Science supports this approach and so does every puppy we’ve ever raised.
We introduce crates early. Puppies come to view their crate as a safe den and are comfortable with the confinement that makes housebreaking easier.
Health Screening
Healthy, sound dogs and puppies are the primary goals at Highland Glenn, with temperament on equal footing, along with correct type and working traits in accordance with the historic breed standard.
The English Shepherd is primarily a healthy breed. Here are some conditions that do occur:
Heritable Cataracts: not a widespread issue.
MDR1: fairly common in the breed. This is a mutant gene resulting in a defect in the blood-brain barrier that allows certain drugs, such as Ivermectin, as well as some antibiotics and other commonly used parasiticides/insecticides, to pass through. Although we do not personally use such, we feel it is important to know the status of parent dogs for the sake of puppy families. Their MDR1 status is determined through lineage or DNA testing. All of our dogs are normal/normal for this gene.
NOTE: It is important to realize, however, that even an MDR1 normal/normal dog can be adversely affected by chemicals and drugs.
Canine Hip Dysplasia (CHD): found within the breed. Science says improper nutrition, inappropriate exercise, and low hormone levels are the main culprits in the development of CHD, contrary to the commonly held view that it is solely genetic. Paying close attention to such in our holistic rearing methods, we have made the personal decision not to expose our dogs’ reproductive organs to radiographs.
Health Test Limitations
It is important to understand that there are limitations to health tests in respect to genetics. Some health problems known in the English Shepherd breed are known to be influenced by genetics, but researchers do not yet know how many or which genes are involved.
Proper joint formation of hips and knees, for example, is affected by several factors, from nutrition of the mother to whelping box surfaces to available hormones and appropriate exercise in a growing pup. Instead of exposing our dogs’ reproductive organs (and thus future generations) to harmful radiation, we support every aspect of canine development through Natural Rearing.
Lifestyle, environment, and diet combined play the largest role in health. The scientific field called “epigenetics” is informing us that environment is just as important in triggering genetic predispositions as are inherited genes themselves, that the expression of genes can actually be turned ‘off’ or ‘on’. This exciting information offers hope to those who want to avoid triggering genes that may cause symptoms of dis-ease. This is one of many reasons why we eliminate all toxins from our home/ranch, feed a healthy raw diet, and avoid the use of antibiotics, steroids, flea/tick/heartworm poisons, and vaccines from our program. Health certifications cannot predict the health of a particular dog’s offspring.
In any case, no human can guarantee perfectly healthy dogs. Barbara J. Andrews in her article at thedogplace.org stated: “Until we have solid statistical data to back up rhetoric, and until we can be assured that a test is definitive and not interpretive, we can only regard health certifications as a professional but personal opinion, not a scientific fact. Health certifications should be encouraged but duly noted and weighed as just one factor relating to overall health, temperament, and quality when breeding decisions are made.”
The health tests we perform on our parent dogs are:
DNA Panel – Canine HealthCheck through Paw Print Genetics; this is done once at any age and tests for 250+ heritable genetic markers.
APPLY FOR A PUPPY
Would we ever return to a chemical-laden life, commercial pet food, or vaccination schedules we’d previously been told were good for our dogs? The answer is unequivocally no. Our beloved companions deserve the best; after all, that is what they always give us. It fills our hearts with gladness to see them thrive in this natural life.
The poetic words of Juliette de Bairacli Levy speak volumes:
“I pray you who own me, let me continue to live close to Nature. Know that: I love to run beneath the sun, the moon and the stars; I need to feel the storm winds around me, and the touch of rain, hail, sleet and snow; I need to splash in streams and brooks, and to swim in ponds, lakes, rivers and seas; I need to be allowed to retain my kinship with Nature.” – The Complete Herbal Handbook For Dog and Cat.
Eating a raw meat meal
Manding – part of Puppy Culture
Puppy Adventure Box – part of Avidog