Long before I had gotten into the breeds I am in now, I had always had a passion for dogs. Though I was never able to compete as a junior handler, I longed for the day I would be able to have my own dog to do dog sports with, but never knew the ins and outs of finding classes or competitions, let alone having a dog who met those standards or had the drive to compete with me. Then Dixie came into my life.

Dixie was my first service dog, a lab/golden mix. I had gotten her from an organization who trained assistance dogs, and I loved her to death. We trained all the time together, and through a friend started attending agility classes together, and I was hooked. She was my intro sport dog, and we competed in a bit of everything. She had agility, obedience, rally, dock diving, and fastcat titles, and I loved competing with her. A couple years into competing with Dixie, I started looking into getting a more competitive sport dog that I could also show, and as luck had it, I ended up wth Pocus, my first Miniature American Shepherd.

A month after bringing Pocus home, Dixie tragically passed away at the age of 4 1/2 due to a blockage. I was devastated, but Pocus helped get me through it all. He became my heart dog, and I fell even more in love with the breed than I already had, Unexpectedly, he ended up taking the role of my service dog, which had never been intended, but he rose to the challenge beautifully.

Pocus and I have competed and trained in many different disciplines, including herding, agility, dock diving, fastcat and coursing, obedience, scentwork, barnhunt, disc, etc. I showed him while he was a puppy, but unfortuantely he went oversized. He was my do-everything dog, and to this day I still love this breed’s versatility. One of my favorite things with him in particular has been herding. I loved seeing the natural instinct come into play, and working as a cohesive team to achieve our work. True instinct is hard to find in the MAS breed, and I knew as I started my breeding program that I wanted it to be a main staple of my program.

About a year after Pocus came home, I got my first female Miniature American Shepherd puppy, Flare. She was a little spitfire, and though she went through her rough patches, has turned out to be a beautiful show dog. Millie came into my life not long after as an older dog from my mentor, who had already had a litter with her, and she was bred to Pocus not long after he turned two. Their puppies ended up having phenomenal work ethic and good structure, something I strive to continue to produce.