About McCarthy Ranchette LLC

Thoughtful breeding, working livestock guardians, and a commitment to animal health.

McCarthy Ranchette LLC is a small-scale ranchette in San Diego County, California, raising Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs, Olde English Southdown Babydoll Sheep, and Katahdin Hair Sheep.

Our approach is that we believe responsible breeding requires more than producing animals with desirable pedigrees. Health, temperament, structure, genetics, working ability, and the quality of life we provide our animals all matter.

Our Great Pyrenees

Our Great Pyrenees are both working livestock guardians and valued members of our family.

They live full-time with our sheep and spend their lives doing the work the breed was developed to do. At the same time, they are regularly handled, travel with us, participate in activities away from the ranch, and spend considerable time with our family while we work outside.

Over the years, our dogs have maintained zero livestock loss while working on our property. We have personally watched them deter coyotes, bobcats, snakes, hawks, and unfamiliar dogs. We have also received eyewitness reports of a mountain lion traveling through the property.

Working ability is only one part of our breeding program.

We health test our breeding dogs, evaluate temperament, consider genetic diversity and carefully select breeding pairs. We also participate in conformation events because we believe sound structure matters in a large working breed expected to remain active for many years.

Our goals are to produce Pyrenees with the health, structure, temperament and instincts necessary to become sound representatives of the breed.

Thoughtful Puppy Placement

We do not place puppies according to who joined a waiting list first or who chooses a puppy first.

Every puppy is an individual.

When considering a home, we want to understand the buyer's lifestyle, property, animals, experience and expectations. We evaluate our puppies as they develop and use temperament assessment as one part of determining which puppy may be best suited to each approved home.

Our goal is a successful lifelong placement and not simply a puppy sale.

Our Sheep

We raise both registered Olde English Southdown Babydoll Sheep and registered Katahdin Hair Sheep.

Although these are very different breeds, our philosophy is the same with both: make breeding decisions deliberately and maintain a healthy flock.

We select for the qualities that matter within each breed, including temperament, structure, maternal ability, hardiness, health, parasite resistance and other measurable genetic traits when appropriate.

Biosecurity is also an important part of our flock-management program. We use veterinary laboratory testing and genetic information to help us make informed breeding and purchasing decisions and to reduce preventable risks within our flock.

Detailed information about our testing, registrations, genetics and individual breeding animals can be found on our Babydoll and Katahdin pages.

Why We Do It This Way

We believe breeders have a responsibility to think beyond the next litter or lamb crop.

A breeding decision can influence an animal, its future offspring and the families or farms that depend on those animals for years to come.

That is why we continue learning, testing, evaluating and improving our program. 

We are proud of the animals we raise, but we also believe in being transparent about what goes into raising them.

Whether you are coming for quality Great Pyrenees or breeding-quality sheep, or simply information, we want you to leave better informed and confident about the decisions they are making.

Welcome to McCarthy Ranchette LLC

We appreciate the opportunity to share our animals and our program with you.

Explore the rest of our website to meet our Great Pyrenees, learn about our Babydoll and Katahdin flocks, review our health and genetic testing, and learn more about upcoming puppies and lambs.

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Why Our Great Pyrenees

We breed Great Pyrenees with the whole dog in mind. This includes striving always within health, temperament, structure, working instinct and the ability to live successfully with their future families and livestock.

• OFA CHIC Certified Parents
  Our breeding dogs complete the health screenings recommended for the breed, with results publicly available through OFA. This is called CHIC Certification, and we do it for any dogs in our breeding program. 

• Extensive DNA Health Screening
  Parent dogs receive broad genetic screening for 200+ inherited conditions as well as genetic diversity. 

• Proven Livestock Guardians, Not Only Working Bloodlines
  Our Great Pyrenees live with our sheep and work as livestock guardians. We have personally watched our dogs respond appropriately to predator pressure while remaining gentle and trustworthy with the animals entrusted to them.

• Structure Is Part of Our Breeding Program
  We evaluate conformation when selecting breeding pairs and participate in AKC and/or UKC conformation events to obtain an outside evaluation of structure and adherence to the breed standard. We believe that even working dogs, and maybe even particularly working dogs, should be evaluated for structure in order to continue upon quality breeders who have come before us, and ensure working ability and longevity, to the best of our ability. 

• Temperament Matters
  We select breeding dogs for the qualities we value in a Great Pyrenees. This includes confidence, stability, intelligence, gentleness with their families and charges and appropriate guardian instinct, utilizing the keen Great Pyrenees discernment.

• Purposeful Puppy Development
  Puppies receive daily handling and age-appropriate developmental experiences, including Early Neurological Stimulation and Puppy Culture Curriculum.

• Raised Around Real Life
  Puppies experience people, household and ranch sounds, different surfaces and environments, dogs and a variety of farm animals.

• Puppies Are Matched
  We don't use a traditional first-deposit/first-pick system. Volhard Puppy Aptitude Testing, our observations throughout development and what we learn about each prospective home all contribute to puppy placement.

• Working and Companion Homes Have Different Needs
  We consider whether a puppy will be a family companion, livestock guardian or both — including the type of livestock, other animals, property and experience of the prospective home.

• Education Before and After Pickup
  We want families to understand the realities of Great Pyrenees ownership, including secure fencing, barking as a deterrent to threats, roaming tendencies, 2 years to full mental and physical maturity, training and realistic livestock-guardian expectations.

• A Relationship with our Homes
  We are serious about being here through the life of the dog and remain available if needed as a resource.

Why Our Katahdin Sheep

Our Katahdin program emphasizes hardiness, efficiency, disease and parasite resistance, maternal ability and useful genetic information. These are Katahdin breed traits intended to produce sheep that perform well rather than simply carry registration papers.

• KHSI Registered
  Our breeding program is built around registered Katahdin stock with documented pedigrees with Katahdin Hair Sheep International.

• NSIP Genetics Incorporated Into Our Program
  We have intentionally incorporated genetics with strong NSIP indexes, adding objective performance information to the decisions we make about breeding stock. We can discuss your specific breeding and seed stock needs with you.

• Selection for Parasite Resistance
  Parasite resistance is an important part of our breeding goals rather than relying solely on routine parasite tests and deworming as a management strategy.

• TMEM Genetics
  We incorporate TMEM 1,4 or 1,1 information into our breeding program, with some lines carrying genotypes associated with reduced susceptibility to Ovine Progressive Pneumonia.

• Scrapie Resistance
  Breeding rams are tested at Codon 171, with RR genetics prioritized in our program.

• Biosecurity Is a Breeding Priority
  Our flock undergoes laboratory biosecurity testing for diseases including OPP/CAE, CL, Johne's, Brucellosis and Q Fever. Biosecurity testing is a responsibility of a sheep breeder that we take seriously to mitigate further spread of diseases.

• We Select for Low-Maintenance Sheep
  Our goals include early and complete shedding, heat tolerance, hardiness and reduced hoof-maintenance needs.

• Maternal Performance Matters
  We select for good mothering, lambing and milking ability rather than choosing breeding animals on appearance alone.

• Muscling and Growth Are Considered
  Early muscling and functional body structure are part of our selection goals.

• We Provide the Information Behind the Animal
  Registration, applicable genetic information, testing and records accompany our breeding stock so buyers know more about what they are adding to their own flock.

Why Our Olde English Southdown Babydoll Sheep

Our Babydoll program focuses on preserving the qualities that make the breed special while selecting for sound structure, breed type, friendly temperament, maternal ability and flock health.

• Registered Purebred Breeding Stock
  Our Babydolls are maintained within recognized Olde English Southdown Babydoll registries with documented pedigrees. In fact, most of our breeding stock is registered with all four registries, allowing for ultimate flexibility in future breedings with new Babydoll livestock for buyers.

• Eligibility Across Multiple Registries
  We maintain animals through NABSSAR, BSSBA International, BSRA and OEBMSSR, with most of our breeding stock quadruple registered.

• We Breed Toward Recognized Breed Type
  Registration alone isn't our end goal. We evaluate conformation (topline, shoulder, hips) and the characteristics expected of the Olde English Southdown Babydoll. Incidentally, these are generally the characteristics that make the Babydolls so adorable. 

• Temperament Is Important to Us
  We intentionally value the friendly, manageable nature that makes Babydolls appealing to small farms, homesteads and families.

• Maternal Ability Influences Our Breeding Decisions
  We pay attention to how our ewes actually perform — including mothering ability, udders, milk production and successful lambing and keep a good record of this data. 

• Structure Matters Beyond Appearance
  We evaluate traits such as overall balance, body capacity and functional structure when deciding which animals remain in our breeding program.

• Scrapie Resistance in Breeding Rams
  Breeding rams are tested at Codon 171, with RR genetics prioritized.

• The Same Biosecurity Standards Apply to Our Babydolls
  Our flock undergoes laboratory biosecurity testing for diseases including OPP/CAE, CL, Johne's, Brucellosis and Q Fever.

• Lambs Leave Prepared for Their New Homes
  Lambs remain with us through appropriate weaning age and leave with applicable vaccinations, husbandry completed and registration/health information through buyers preferred registries.

• We Help New Sheep Owners Prepare
  We provide extensive information about feeding, minerals, fencing, hoof care, shearing, parasite management, predators and general sheep husbandry.

• We Care Where Our Sheep Go
  Because sheep are flock animals, we require lambs to go in appropriate companion situations rather than selling a single sheep into an unsuitable home.