In 1986, we established a reputable equine facility where we bred our own stallions (performing Artificial Insemination ourselves), shipped equine semen from our stallions, showed and excelled in state and national competitions (Halter, Western Pleasure, Showmanship, Trail). We created an equine 4-H Club and promoted several youth exhibitors at the local, state and national level in 4-H and later in Quarter Horse and Paint Horse Competitions.

All during the time when our emphasis was on the horses, we dabbled in breeding dogs. We subconsciencely used the same criteria for breeding the dogs that we did for breeding horses. We found or bred the best animal that we could afford or could produce and selectively crossed that animal with another nice specimen.

After much hard work, a large majority of our time and lots of dollars later, I began to burn out on the horse scene. My philosophy on doing anything is either all or nothing. So...I sold all of the horses. If I wasn't going to go at it full speed ahead, then I wasn't going to do it at all. (For now). Horses are like a drug and I will probably get another (maybe 1 really nice one) sometime in the future.

About the time that the interest in horses finally went downhill, Todd and I realized that we had a really nice group of dogs that had taken us almost 15 years to develop. Of course, I always need a project to occupy me. So, I had an excellent basis on which to continue building. I wanted to add to my stock, but no one was giving up any really nice dams, so I began building up my own brood dams by breeding my already excellent females to a few outside males and keeping the pick of the litter females. I added 2 more top notch stud dogs and am really proud of my stock. I will continue to add to and upgrade my stock because that is what breeding is all about. The money is always nice, but to me I have to be proud of my animals whether they are horses or dogs and know that when someone comes to see our operation, they will be impressed. We put a great deal of the money from our pups back into improving our facility, upgrading our stock, and educating ourselves in the areas of testing, bloodlines, breeding methods, and basic canine research.