Dogs have been a part of my life since birth. I grew up with Border Collies, black
Labs, yellow Labs and rough Collies. Once I went out on my own I got a taste of
the terrier and haven't looked back. They say once you have had a terrier, you
have been had. I was and am. I had Yorkshire Terriers, Wire Fox Terriers and
then I met the Lakeland Terrier. It was love at first sight. I met a breeder
named Janice Gessner in 1983 and with my kids in hand stole her red stud male
Lakie, CH Epic Firebrand. We told her she could keep the breeding rights, we
just wanted the dog. This has led to a long and wonderful friendship between our
families. Brandy bred many litters in western Canada and remained a great
gentleman until his death at age 15.
My next Lakie was a young black and tan
female called CH Laelaps Hecate TT CD TDI Delta PeTS. She was a poor
brood bitch losing all but one pup in 4 litters. But in every other way she was
the greatest. She enjoyed Obedience, Conformation, Agility,
Tracking and spent her later years doing Pet Therapy work and winning a Delta
Award for her efforts. She helped raise my family and
keep the boy dogs in order. Cadie died at age 17. My next pup was a
son sired by CH Epic Firebrand named CH Richmore Firy Finigan Caliente and along
with his breeder taught me how to groom for the showring. I got my first
Champion and won my first Terrier Puppy Groups with this firey male. Fini
retired "at age 5 to become a companion for my aged Father".
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By this time my family was getting older
and I was serious about breeding Lakies. I was lucky to become acquainted with
Patricia Peters of the Kilfel Lakies in Philadelphia. Pat sold me a young bitch
named CH Kilfel Floribunda "Carmi". With Pat's mentoring I made some good decisions
both showing Carmi and breeding her. Carmi was a perfect brood bitch and free
whelped big fat healthy litters of up to 7 pups. She is now retired and lives
with my Grandson and occasionally helps mother the new litters. From her pups I
was able to continue breeding some very nice pups and did well in the show
ring. Her son BIS CH Caliente's Kasey Karoo was No.1 Lakie in
Canada in 2000 with her Grandson BISS CH Caliente's Loyal Lucifer winning the
first National Lakeland Terrier Specialty in Canada. Her Granddaughter BIS
CH Caliente's Lovely Leahy placed second in Canada in 2001 and another Grandson
CH Caliente's Laser Logan placed 2nd in 2002. In 2001 I was presented with
the Breeder of the Year Award for my Lakies. |
In 2003 I felt I would like to enhance my
stock so I decided to go to Great Britain to see Crufts and hopefully meet some
of the older breeders. It was such an exciting time seeing the dogs in
their country of birth and meeting their breeders. I was able to visit
many well known kennels and breeders and continued into Scotland to meet Joe
Thorburn of the Louieville Lakelands. His dogs were wonderful and I wanted
one of his dogs so bad. Joe was good to his word and by that September I
had a 3 month old male pup, Louieville Ace sired by Louieville Ploughman.
The next March I returned for Crufts again and was thrilled to be sitting by Joe
when a bitch sired by his Ploughman took BB (Best In Breed) at Crufts...I would
also like to add that the
2005 winner was also sired by Ploughman! By December 2004 Joe had sold me
a red male, Louieville Bracken, sired by Ploughman, and a black and tan bitch,
Louieville Tradition, who's line went back to Stingray. Such promise!
It took several shows and Ace had his
Canadian Championship winning BW at the All Terrier Specialty. He sired his
first litter of six pups December 19, 2004, three of which were shown to
Championships. Ace’s next litter was born April 18, 2006 and the pictures are on
our site. Two female puppies have been kept and will be shown.
In September we packed up the car with
Ace, Bracken, Adi, Chance and the 2 female puppies, Quillo and Qanso and headed
south for BTTR 2006. Back To The Roots is held each fall at Quansa Kennels in S.
Beloit, Illinois. Pat Muller and Traci put on a fabulous time for terriers and
their owners who come from New York to Texas, from California to Canada for the
terrier games. We set up camp and stayed for 2 weeks. While there we did puppy
imprinting, practiced Manners In Minutes, participated in pack experiences,
Obedience, Conformation, Rally-O, Agility, Going to Ground and just having fun
until the dogs fell asleep exhausted. My desire to learn more about pack
mentality and imprinting puppies was really stimulated when we started working
with over 30 dogs in the back forty and most were Lakies. The dynamics of the
pack and the pack order was incredible!
It was so rewarding to see my dogs fit
in with the packs and it has made me even more determined to raise appropriate
dogs. After 2 weeks of work and fun we headed home leaving Miss Quillo there to
grow up learning all about the skills that she will need to become a great
imprinting bitch.
On Christmas Eve 2006 we delivered 4
puppies sired by Ch. Louieville Bracken. It was different having so many red
heads in the house. February 20th we loaded up the car again with Bracken, Adi,
Chance and the litter of 4 puppies and headed for Quansa Kennels. I felt it was
important to imprint these puppies and make them the best I could. A friend from
Minneapolis joined me with her litter of 5 Lakie pups who were 4 months old. Boy
did we have fun comparing and imprinting the young ones. It was amazing how
quickly the pups learned and by 9 weeks of age were, sitting, standing, waiting,
coming on command. We had them doing agility on small tables, tunnels etc and
being easy around the big Shepherd, Aussie and Deer Hound. The training never
stopped and they never stopped learning. As soon as the snow cleared so I could
make it home, it was decided that Bracken, Adi, Root Beer and Rosie would come
home with me and that 3 of my dogs would stay and make their homes in the
States. Raine and Raisin have new homes and Chance is staying to learn how to be
a good and fair pack leader. You can visit Raisin’s site at- http://raisinp.home.insightbb.com/
. Hope you enjoy it.
April 15, 2007 Louieville Tradition (Adi)
delivered a litter of 4 pups - 3 males and 1 female sired by Ch. Calientes
Louieville Perchance (Chance). June 12 will see us heading south to Quansa
Kennels with a load of 8 dogs including the pups for imprinting. Should be a
great reunion to see Chance, Quillo, Raisin and Reine again.
This has been a wonderful adventure with
many generous, intelligent dog people mentoring and helping me along the way.
Many thanks to you all.
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