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Proud member of: The German Shepherd Dog Club of Southern Arizona, Inc. And The German Shepherd Dog Club of America

How I got my start in the breed:
I bought my first Shepherd back in 1974 with my very own money (50 bucks)… I was almost 12 years old at the time and “Desert Star” was the name I gave her on the ride home that night. She had big HUGE ears, a cute little short tail and to top it off, she was as square as square could be. Star was my obedience dog, my junior handling dog and best of all... she was my best friend. 

When I was a kid we lived in Chicago and my brother John found a long coat Shepherd mix in a trashcan. Heidi was a sweetie and lived a long rich life. In the late 60’s (1968 I believe) we took Heidi and Chiquita (our Chihuahua) and moved back to Tucson. We lived on the Eastside of town for a couple of years then we moved way out West (4 miles West of the Desert Museum). It was then that my parents decided to start raising animals and the memories that I have about that time of my life are irreplaceable. At one point we had Horses, Sheep, Chickens, Pigeons, a steer, Golden Pheasants, a herd of Pigmy Goats and an indoor aviary that was full of birds. I joined 4-H and started showing animals. While I was in 4-H I showed dogs (of course!) chickens, pigeons, goats and sheep. My first year in 4-H I had the GRAND CHAMPION lamb at our county fair (1974). My folks had German Shepherds before I was born but it was in 1975 when they decided that they wanted to start raising and breeding German Shepherds. In 1976 I was 14 and I began showing our dogs as an Owner/Junior handler. I primarily showed locally here in Arizona and occasionally got to California for shows. Every Wednesday night we’d drive into town (30 minute drive to Tucson from our house) and go to the park and meet everyone from the Shepherd club. Our clubs’ obedience training classes would be going on and there was always a group of us there that would spend our time training our dogs for the conformation ring and socializing the puppies! Gail Sprock was usually there every week. I'm tellin' 'ya, I had to be one of the luckiest kid in the country at the time. Image this… It's the late 70's and Gail Sprock is at the park working her dogs and taking time with you to show you tips and tricks on how to handle a dog to the best of your abilities. Gail Sprock. When I say her name it makes me smile… Gail Sprock<g>. It was very cool... and she's an incredible person. If you know her, you know exactly what I mean. Here’s another great person from “back then”, Kathy Casteel. When I was a kid, Kathy gave us a rescued ‘Yoncalla's Mike’ daughter by the name of “Jenny” (I'll find her picture and post it soon). She was a neglected and abused bitch that ended up being one of the most loving and sweetest dogs I have ever owned. I could never understand why someone would have treated her so badly. She ended up being one of our base-line brood bitches. Here's a picture of “Haase-Haus's Nightwind's Shelby” Jenny was her Great-Grandmother! 

A true highlight of my career has been being able to judge the 4-H Dog project junior and senior handlers at our local County Fair. Some All-Breed show friends of mine found out that I got my start showing dogs in 4-H and they got me into judging at the fair. Because of them, I now have had the opportunity to not only judge at the County level twice but also I have judges at the State Fair twice. That's really turned out to be one of the proudest moments that I've ever had in the ring.

I took a short hiatus from showing and all dog-related activities when my brother got sick. I tried to spend most of my weekends and extra time with him. What seemed like a only a couple of years, actually ended up being a little over 6 years. I went to one of our local specialty show and a good friend of mine Will Guerry asked if I wanted to take Trixi around the ring for ‘old times sakes’. (I use to show Trixi before my semi-retirement). My little Trixi was now Ch. Olymous' Tricks o' th' Trade of GoldSkys and man it felt good to be back in the ring!

On that evening I realized that I WAS addicted.

I missed the dogs, I missed the life, I missed the friends and I really, really, really missed being in that ring showing German Shepherds!

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