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We are both originally from suburban Philadelphia, PA. We met at a high school dance and started to go steady on a bet in 1951. (Ask Bill about that!) Bill graduated from Ridley Township High School and I graduated from Notre Dame Academy For Girls. We were married in January of 1954. Bill was in the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, NC where we lived for 2 years. While there, our first daughter Debbie was born. Later down the road we had two more children; Linda and then Kim. When Bill got out of the army, we lived in an apartment in PA. At that time we began breeding Collies. After Collies, we had German Shepherds, but never really got into breeding on a large scale. We moved to Florida for health reasons in 1970 and became involved with our two younger girls in amateur roller-skating. They both did dance and figures and Kim went on to the National Championships in Texas. We already had our first lessons in spending money traveling to shows and getting up at wee hours in the morning. Then boys came along and that ended that. Bill worked for a furniture company
called "Helmlys" in Clearwater and I did waitress work
for many years. Then I went into banking (15 years) and now work
at Beltone Hearing. After Helmlys closed, Bill decided to open
his own business of Upholstery along with Photography on the
side. He finally gave up the Upholstery business and now does
Photography along with furniture touch up and repair work. Our favorite sheltie was Binkie. Because of him, we fell in love with the breed. But since he is gone, Jazz seems to be taking over his spot. I show the girls in conformation. I like agility but don't think I could handle that. I may consider obedience showing later down the road. What we most like about shelties is their temperament and readiness to please. We also like their perfect size and their beauty when in full coat. What we least like about shelties is their barking, but we have learned that it can be controlled. Our most memorable "sheltie" moment was when we drove to Alabama to pick up our first real show dog, Jazz. Our advice to newcomers is, yes, shelties do bark and shed, but they have so many wonderful qualities as well. We as humans couldn't begin to match their desire to love and the friendship that they so easily give. Just be patient with their imperfections and give them back the love they so deserve. |
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