My husband and I both grew up with dogs, but our first encounter with a Swissy was not until we were married and living in Portland, OR. We encountered one while walking in our neighborhood, a large male being walked by a girl of about 12 years old. We knew we wanted a large breed dog for our family, but had yet to settled on a breed. This chance encounter on that fateful day in Portland sealed th
e deal for us, as we observed the friendly nature, the sturdy structure, wonderful size, and who could miss those beautiful tri-colored markings? We began to research the breed, and we were delighted to find that they make wonderful hiking companions- even carrying their own packs (!), fabulous family dogs who are great with children, they love to both be active hauling carts or herding goats or skijoring, while easily transitioning to bumming on the couch with their people. As we hoped to have a small hobby farm in mountains someday, they seemed like the perfect fit for our family. It would be 4 years and a move half way across the states to the mountains of Colorado before we felt we were in a position to bring such an amazing canine into our family, and we were blessed to find Michele Slate, of Ramsgate's Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs in Newberg, OR who was willing to take a chance on us with our first Swissy, Ramsgate's Keepsake, "Pearl." With our love so complete for this breed before we even brought Pearl home, we purchased her with the hope of one day breeding her, and contributing to the magnificent world that is the Swissy community. We stumbled into the show ring, to learn all about conformation and the many other canine events available to Dog Fanciers. We have spent the last year and half showing Pearl in various avenues, from AKC, to UKC, to 4H, to IABCA, earning a UKC BIS puppy, an AKC Owner Handler Group 4th, and an IABCA International Championship. We will continue to show her this summer as we work towards her AKC championship, while also allowing our daughter to continue to work with Pearl on 4H obedience and rally events, as well as being a junior handler for AKC and UKC. We will be performing OFA, CERF, and P2Y12 testing once Pearl turns 2 in June, and pending those results, we hope to breed her this fall. This January, we also added another Swissy female to our family, Houha's Leavin a Legacy in Storm's Wake, "Ziva." We were blessed once again by a fabulous breeder from Rockford, IL, Lori Houha, with this amazing girl! As many will tell you, Swissies are like Pringles- once you have one, you can't stop! We also plan to show and hope to breed Ziva in the future as well. She will just be starting her official AKC show career at the end of May, but has already earned an IABCA National and International Puppy Championship. We thank you for visiting our page, and hope you find the wonderful world of Swissies as amazing as we do!
