Goodwin Shetland Sheepdogs

Goodwin Shelties is a small kennel located in the country outside the small town of Wilmington, IL. My mother, Chris Goodwin, has been breeding collies for 40 years with a major focus on health and producing non-carriers for CEA, PRA, MDR-1, DM, and CN. A lifelong animal lover, I obtained my B.S. in Animal Science from the University of Illinois with a concentration in pre-veterinary medicine. After graduating from U of I, I decided to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming a professional horse trainer of hunter/jumpers after college instead of going to vet school. As fate would have it, while I was attending the University of Illinois the building where I lived wouldn't allow me to have a dog over 20 pounds, so that's when this crazy sheltie addiction began!

I found a beautiful sable merle girl that I named Elsie and just absolutely fell in love with the breed... While pursuing my career in horses, I also began the long road of learning everything I could about breeding shelties. I was able to find a couple of very knowledgeable sheltie breeders in the midwest to help me with choosing a stud to breed my first girl to. Unfortunately, while Elsie is a beautiful dog with a lovely temperament, she is a sable merle that has a partial blue eye so she couldn't be shown. Luckily, I was able to breed her to a couple of very nice males to get a daughter so that I could begin the long process of learning how to show shelties in the conformation ring.

I began my dog showing journey later in life than most... I had never stepped foot in a show ring until I was 28 years old and a single mother to a toddler to boot! I have always been an incredibly shy person, so the prospect of showing dogs was incredibly daunting and definitely a struggle in the beginning - it can honestly still be a struggle... But showing drove home to me just how much I love the Shetland Sheepdog breed. I often joke that Shelties are my and my son's spirit animals... We're often shy, but we are people pleasers and would do just about anything to make "our" people happy. That's a sheltie. Since I began showing in 2016, I am proud to say that I have finished the AKC Championships and Grand Championships on a number of dogs that I not only own, but have also bred and raised from birth.

It has been a long road, but I've been able to acquire and breed some very wonderful dogs that are becoming successful in the conformation ring - even as puppies and owner handled. I breed with an emphasis on structure, movement, temperament, pretty heads, and elegance. Every puppy raised here is extensively socialized in different places, around kids, on different surfaces, and we pride ourselves in the health of our dogs. We occasionally have pet/performance puppies available to qualified homes as we are very selective in what is kept to show. I hope you enjoyed your stay and please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have!