The About Us Page

About us at Thomas Ridge Kennels

Owners: Eli & Ella Shirk, Dunnville, KY - (606) 448-4351


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Who we are:

In 2014 I (Ella Mae) was headed to KY to help a cousin get ready to move. An enroute to KY the first step was in TW, where I spent the weekend. An then caught a ride to the Bluegrass state.

This certain young man (Eli) has a job with his uncles and cousins working on a silo crew. Thus, bringing them off times to KY which he also got to spend days here for the weekends.

It was during these youth weekend singings and volleyball games that we got to meet each other. Therefore, we got a lot of ribbing as I had to swallow my words about never making up with a hillbilly. And in OH where I come from the state tree is a Buckeye and a buckeye nut is a worthless nut. Oh dear! He’s ending up with a worthless nut!

For better or for worse we got married in February of 2017. And settled on Thomas Ridge in the Hills of Kentucky! Eli spent the first few years working in a barn shop, building mini barn.

Our Children

Judith Elaine was born on December 4, 2017 on her grandpa’s birthday. Then 13 months later Larose Pauline joined the clan. We had so much fun with our girlies.

Soon after our 2nd girlie, Eli finished his new shop and started a carriage shop. Several years later, he’s still busy with it. Building new ones also rebuilding some.

On a late afternoon in September, our first son Jamie, entered the world. Then and now he inherited his Daddy’s easygoing and calm mannerism.

Our Work: 

We had a garden with a few fruit bears here and one horse. We had no chores. And me coming from a dairy farm missed my chores. When friends suggested buying some dogs. We reluctantly started searching for dogs however, we are still hesitant of raising dogs. At least there will be chores to attend to and since we have a small place we couldn’t do much else.

Well anyway, we finally settled on some dogs and guess what? It was like love at first sight! The children simply adore their dogs and spend a lot of time in taking care and doting in them. I love to stroll out the puppy kennels, a simple kind gesture for the dogs.

And guess our excitement when we discovered our first one who had her puppies. The children were enthralled when we told them hopefully there will be more several batches of puppies and they can’t wait. Why can’t we have them now?

Anyway, enough of us! If you end up buying a puppy, please love them and give them a good home to live. Because we love our puppies and they will be greatly missed.

May God bless your day!

~ Eli ❤ Ella Mae


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We are located near: Dunnville, KY 42528