|
We are very proud to be the remaining founding members of the Tampa Bay Area Shetland Sheepdog Club, which we were instrumental in starting in 1976. We also are charter members of the Mid-Florida Shetland Sheepdog Club and life members of the Shetland Sheepdog Club of Southeast Florida. We also have been members of the American Shetland Sheepdog Club since January of 1970. We are both from Ithaca, New York, originally, although Bill was actually born in Miami Beach. We met in junior high, but didn't date until after I cam home from school in Buffalo. We started dating in February, became engaged in July and married in August of 1963. In January of 1963 we moved to Florida so Bill could go to school. Bill is an environmental teacher at an outdoor classroom called "Nature's Classroom." He earned his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Tampa with a double major in Elementary Education and Sociology. He then went on to get his Master's Degree and his Educational Leadership certification from the University of South Florida. I am an Executive Secretary for the General Manager of the Student Nutrition Department of the School District of Hillsborough County. I obtained my Associates Degree in Secretarial Science at the University of Buffalo and have also earned another year and a half towards my Business Education Degree from the University of South Florida. As well as breeding and showing Shelties, we also breed and show a few golden Retrievers. Bill has been a professional all-breed handler since the early 70s and is a member of the Professional Handlers Association. We are licensed to judge Australian Shepherds and Miniature Australian Shepherds. We have shown in all the southeastern states as well as Ohio and Texas, Canada, Bahamas (first two Sheltie Champions in their history), Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. This year we went to Crufts in England for the first time and loved it. In addition to the Champions we have bred or finished, we have a Century Club winner and have had a Best in Show, multiple Best in Specialties, and numerous Group Placements. We have earned CDs, CDXs, UDs and a tracking certification as well as High in Trials and a perfect 200 score. We have bred an ROM male and came close with a female. The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared about us in the June-July 1999 issue of the Sheltie International that tells you more about our beginnings in Shelties: Bill's first involvement in Shelties came at a very young age. His parents bought him one when he was eight or nine years old. His name was Pal and he was every little boy's dream. He could sit up, roll over, bark on command, hold a pipe, and wear sunglasses and silly hats. As is typical of a Sheltie, he would do anything to please. It was a long time before his next Sheltie. We were married, just finished college and were both working. Bill as a teacher and I as a secretary. Buying a home, with a fenced yard, was a first priority because I wanted a dog. I went and looked at a couple of litters of Cocker Spaniels, because that is what I had when I was growing up. I wasn't really happy with what I saw. Our Mothers were both here visiting and Bill's Mom suggested a Sheltie as Bill had enjoyed his so. I had never heard of Shetland Sheepdogs. At the time, Bill was racing motorcycles, but when I said I wanted to look at Shelties, he was willing to go along. We looked for an ad in the paper and ended up at, as close as you could come to, a local puppy mill. However, I was enchanted. I thought they were so beautiful. There was this one little sable male puppy that was real cute and all the others were picking on him. So, we were convinced that taking that one was the right thing to do and for $50 how could you go wrong. My Mother gave me a copy of Blanche Saunder's book on obedience training. I read it and started our dog in training classes. We didn't get to do much work with "Shawn" as a puppy due to tonsillitis, etc. But when we finally got to take obedience classes, he tied for First Place in his graduation class, so I was hooked. Bill continued to race motorcycles and I continued to train. Bill was very supportive and took me to all my classes and when it came time to show for our C.D., he went along for support. Shawn and I got our C.D. in three shows with scores over 195, placements and a Dog World Award. At our 6th show, I suggested Bill handle him as I felt Shawn could do better - 199½ and High in Trial. Not a bad start for a motorcycle racer. To keep his interest, I suggested we get another Sheltie for him to train. We traveled around the Southeast looking for that special puppy. We ended up buying a sable bitch from Don Combee, Chisterling Kennels. Her pedigree had burn marks on the edges from when Don had his kennel fire. My dog, Shawn, became Munsey's Shawn, U.D. and Bill's dog, "Shannon", became Munsey's Lady Shannon, C.D.X. (note the original kennel name). Our first experiments at breed showing came when we entered obedience at an all-breed show and noticed you could enter conformation for just a dollar or two more. So we thought we would try it. It was fun, but obviously we didn't have the right stuff. At this point, we had no idea how
to go about getting a breed dog. However, there wasn't anybody
around to help us. We now had Shawn, Shannon, Shay and Shane
and lots of obedience titles. It became obvious that this could
get out of hand if we didn't get a lot smarter, quicker. Enter
"Dee" - nine points, C.D., High in Trials, tracking
certified. Close, but no cigar. Please note we dropped Munsey as a kennel name and started using Donlyn after our daughter, Donna Lynn. As soon as she was old enough to show, all three of us were handling dogs. Occasionally all three of us would be in the Bred-By Class. As a young teenager, Donna had helped us finish several Shelties and other breeds as well. She qualified for Westminster a couple of times and was Number One Junior Sheltie handler in the country several years. She even started giving us a run for our money by developing her own clientele, but as luck would have it along came boys, along came marriage, and along came family. So, the threesome became a twosome. |
Back to Meet Our Members
