Janet Flick, owner of Flickennel Dachshunds, has made a well-deserved international reputation for her lovely dachshunds, but in the summer of 2019 expanded her horizons to include Colorado Mountain Dogs, a newly-recognized breed of protective guardian dogs. According to the website of the Colorado Mountain Dog Association:

"The mission of the Colorado Mountain Dog Association® is to promote the Colorado Mountain Dog as a devoted and reliable guardian of livestock, as well as a faithful and loving family dog, perfectly suited to family farms and ranches. The most unique trait of the CMD is its predictable acceptance of human visitors to the farm."

Since Flickennel is located in Colorado's Wet Mountains, the property is frequently visited by bears, cougars, bobcats, coyotes, rattlesnakes, and other predatory creatures, making it mandatory that we have at least two protective "big dogs" on the premises to keep those predators away, safeguarding our equines, goats, occasional pigs, and of course our dachshunds - as well as our family, staff and visitors. We are very conscious of the fact that large dogs can be quite intimidating, especially to children and people who aren't accustomed to them, so Janet began searching for a breed that would be protective but also friendly and gentle with people, especially strangers.

We've had a string of different big white Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGDs) over the years, usually with Great Pyrenees breeding, but also adding Anatolian Shepherd and Akbash to the mix. However, the dogs were rather stand-offish and could be less than friendly, so in casting about for a more benevolent breed, Janet came across the Colorado Mountain Dog, or CMD, which met all the standards she required. Subsequently, she found a breeder and obtained Sugar, her first CMD puppy. Dual-registered with the Colorado Mountain Dog Registry (CMDR) and the American Rare Breed Association (ARBA), Sugar was bred and gave birth to her first litter on July 7, 2019 - 4 girls and 3 boys - they looked like a big pile of snow lying next to their mother! The sire is also a local dog, and this was his first litter as well. Since big dogs usually produce big litters, this litter of SEVEN is actually "average" - Sugar's mother had 15 her first time, and 12 in her second litter. So, we are keeping two of these canine Yetis with us (one male, one female), and sharing the rest with some special folks who need a big, friendly, protective dog or two. Another great feature of CMDs is that they don't drool or shed as much as most other large-breed dogs, and their fur doesn't get as matted, either!

The photo at the top of this page shows Sugar in front, with Kahuna, our Pyrenees/Anatolian/Akbash (he's neutered); the photos below show her and her CMD mate, Leo - he's the much-bigger dog! He and his owner are also shown here.

                                  |-

              _Yetozzi---|

              |                   |-Iris of Red Gate Farm

              |

 Sugar -|                    

              |                   |--Caspian

              |_Delilah---|                   __Caspian

                                  |--Aravis---|

                                                      |__Snow

                   _ Caspian

                   |                                  

 Leonidas-|                  _ Tirian

                   |                  |

                   |_Tovah    -|               _ Caspian

                                      |-Aravis -|

                                                      |_Snow

Colorado Mountain Dogs are such a new breed, started in 2005 with the first breeding of Caspian & Snow (both Sugar's and Leo's great-grandparents) and officially recognized on Dec. 4, 2018, that pedigrees are very important to the few folks breeding them, emphasizing the great positive aspects while minimizing any recessive negatives, or accidentally inbreeding. The full pedigree information on Sugar and Leo is limited because of the newness of the breed - but far from being detrimental, the back-breeding helps set the wonderful traits of the breed, and is what every registered breed of animal looked like in the beginning. (These are just their call-names; their registered names are much longer!)