13/04/2026
Eight years ago today, I should have died.
Eight and a half years ago, we had just welcomed Litter D - The Miracle 16. I would never have guessed that my role as the only Pyrenean Mastiff breeder in Canada would end in an instant.
A speeding car hit us head on, while we were hauling a hay wagon. Combined impact — 120 kilometers an hour. Our lives would never be the same. 🚑
Recently, a guest staying in our Airbnb asked why I no longer breed the Mastiffs. I told her about my neck snapping on impact — thrown all the way forward, all the way back. The same motion as a hanging. It created a double break of my C2 vertebrae. Hangman's fractures.
She said: "You don't get paralyzed from that injury. It's fatal."
But here I am.
Over the past eight years, I have gone from surviving to thriving, still living with a brain injury and the effects of other life-threatening injuries, and choosing to rise anyway.
Last August, we said good-bye to our founding matriarch, Canadian Champion Éowyn de la Tierra Alta. I held her paw all through the night and she passed away peacefully the next morning - at 13.5 years of age. Her daughter Brandy will turn 11 in May and Spotty, 9 next week. Her granddaughter Donnamira is from The Miracle 16. That last night with Éowyn , I made her a promise that I intend to keep. I promised that I would keep her line going - and set out to do exactly that.
Once I made that decision, things began to fall into place. I found the right breeder — one completely aligned with how I raise my animals: raw-fed, homeopathic, and natural. I’ve reserved a puppy from Poland for 2027. It may seem like a long time away, but quality, especially in a rare breed, cannot be rushed.
Since I first discovered this breed in 2011, my dream was to have a PM with gray markings – so beautiful. When I got Gandalf – I thought he would be gray but it didn’t turn out that way. Gandalf the Beige just didn’t have the same ring to it! This time, both parents are gray.
On this 8th anniversary of “not being dead,” I close the chapter on ColourFast Pyrenean Mastiffs and begin the next – Sacred Eagle Pyrenean Mastiffs.
God willing, we will have our first litter in 2029, sired by our beloved Canadian Master Champion ColourFast Araglas. He is the epitome of the breed standard and the very finest dog I have ever bred. I have been chasing the dream of a baby “Rags” for more than a decade and the stars are finally aligning.
We are also launching our new website:
pyreneanmastiff.ca
And, introducing our new online shop, Sacred Harvest Wool Co.,
https://www.facebook.com/sacredharvestwoolco/
The shop is coming soon. Honouring the animals of our past, present, and future.
This is Part 3 of 3 of the story. If you haven't seen the others, they are here:
Part 1 - Sacred Harvest Wool Co - https://www.facebook.com/sacredharvestwoolco/
Part 2 - Sacred Eagle Farmstead & Retreat - Sacred Eagle Farmstead & Retreat
Never give up. 🦅
