I started my venture into shetland sheepdogs in 1983,, when I was 13 years old.. My first sheltie,, Cottonwoods April Showers CD was an angel to me. She kept me out of trouble and gave me responsibility and compassion. After April's success in obedience I was hooked on showing. Shortly after, in 1986, I obtained my first Champion. CH. Kimrem's Grin An Bear It. Bear and I had a lot of fun in Junior handling,, ranking 2nd and 6th in the nation the years that we competed.

Since then, I sought out dogs to develop a line. At first,, I was so taken by the stunning Macdega dogs, so I set out to get stock for my AOAC line and obtained a Ch. Macdega The Piano Man ROM daughter and grandson, (By-Golly Once A Symphony and Sunebank Thriller). Together, those two dogs became my foundation in AOAC. They also gave me my second homebred Champion,, Am/Can CH. Akadia Sivad Foot Note CGC. Much later, in 1997, I started to develop my sable line.
I used a small portion of my AOAC lines and combined them with the prettiest red sables I could find. I was always drawn to the CH. Dorlane's Kings Ransome ROM look, and I also loved the soft faces of CH. Sunnybrooks Heritage Spirit ROM. My sable line now shows the development of those dog's lines combined together with the recent addition of Benayr and Zion breeding to the mix.
Ironically,, my heart lies in my black dogs, particularly biblacks but my sable line has been very successful. I always thought that sables would be my sideline and that my concentration would be the AOAC's but destiny has led me in other directions and I am happy with the result. I still passionately pursue my black, and blue, dogs though.

My dogs in 2010 are an accumilation of years of work and dedication. Each one is special to me for something and that is why they become part of my breeding program.
Balance is pivotal to me and even though I may give in a some ways to acheive it,, I have always felt that balance will outlast many other virtues.

Our kennel today consists of about 15 adult dogs and a rotation of puppies being grown out. I have set goals for my dogs that I actively pursue. My real passion is presentation and I take great pride in showing my own dogs as well as ones owned by others. I have very strong views on ownership for the lifetime of my dogs and their care is put above all other things. My puppies are raised in the house and the adults rotate in and out of the kennel giving us a full time house crew of at least 4 or 5 at a time. Our dogs are individually crated at night in 400 or 500 size crates where they are fed. Mornings, everyone runs together in large yards for over an hour at which time they are seperated into seperate kennels on wood decks. Old dogs and retired dogs remain in the yard to run all day unless weather does not permit it. Show dogs being conditioned for show are not left out in wind and sun or harsh weather elimates that could damage coat. At about 3 or 4 every afternoon all the dogs are let out again into the yard to run while select ones are brought out for training. Feeding begins at 9 pm and everyone is put to bed by 10:30 pm. We get up early (5:30 am) and the regimen starts over.
I work as a dog groomer so I take 1 or 2 dogs to work with me daily for grooming as well as puppies go for socialization and training.

BACK