We are concentrating on breeding Cockapoos a well known and much loved cross that has been around since the 1950s.

The pure bred dogs that we are using in our breeding program came from an experienced breeders who carefully selected dams and sires to minimize the inherent faults within their breed.

We breed family dogs with hybrid vigor to give them a better chance at long healthy lives. Because around 90% of all genetic health problems in dogs are recessive, both parents must carry if for it to be passed on. When breeding dogs of different breeds there is a much smaller chance of genetic faults in the puppies.

We have owned and loved several dogs over the years, the smallest is Sadie our little lapdog weighing in at seven pounds, and the largest was Elki, a Newfoundland who at her peak weight was over 160 pounds. Scroll down to see some of our past and present family friends.

In the past I bred Cardigan Corgis and Newfoundlands, the Corgi does seem to be a strong healthy breed with few issues, the Newfoundland was not as vigorous.

As dog owners we saw the impact of too close breeding in so called pure bred dogs. Our first devastating experience with the effects of a shallow genepool was with our Newfoundland Elki. She was a much loved family pet, my small children would ride her like a pony outdoors, then use her as a shaggy bear rug to fall asleep on indoors. She was just like Nana the Newfoundland dog in the story of "Peter Pan" a great babysitter, and the children's constant companion. Elki was very large even by Newfoundland standards, her massive frame weighed over 160 pounds. Suddenly she started loosing weight, her muzzle turned grey, she became lethargic and her teeth loosened. Our veterinarian was puzzled, he likened her illness to Progeria sometimes seen in humans when they age prematurely. Elki died of old age at 30 months... her loss hit us so hard, we knew that as a giant breed we could only expect about ten good years from her, but to have her life cut so drastically was a cruel blow.

I contacted her breeders who informed me that the entire litter of nine were all dead, and that Elki was the last to die, they all suffered from the same deliberating, premature aging.

After loosing Elki a friend gave me his Newfoundland Stella, he was going to be breeding her but was so disappointed in the quality of the breed that he decided against it. Stella was a very healthy Newfie with brains, unlike Cookie, the male we bought to breed her to, his lack of brains made us decide one attempted breeding was enough and we had him neutered.

Having said all the above, 26 years later we have another Newfoundland... probably our last. Millie is very sweet, and quite intelligent, we hope that she will see ten good years like Stella did.

I was closely associated with the breeding of British Bulldogs owned by some very good friends and was so disappointed in the way man messed up that breed to the point where so many need to have c-sections to deliver their puppies and can have terrible breathing problems. Before seeing these problems I had contemplated breeding Bulldogs. We so loved Gimli, our pet Bulldog, he was such a sane headed family pet, and a great guardian. I had been looking for a suitable female to be his mate but gave up after witnessing the difficult births of his breed.

The examples I have given are from my personal experiences, there are a lot of other horror stories that I have heard about other breeds of dogs and the faults that have been bred into them.

You don't have to research far to see the problems that plague many so-called "pure" breeds of dogs. In fact modern dog breeds are all man-made and when a breed becomes very popular too many are bred, often with little thought given as to whether the pair are of good enough quality and well suited to produce good quality, healthy, intelligent puppies.

2009- Eight year old Tessa is our Farm Collie, she is the result of intentional crossbreeding between collies. Her dam is an AKC Rough Collie, her sire had a AKC Border Collie dam and a Old Style Farm Collie sire with many generations of farm/family dogs behind him, but no papers. Tessa is registered with the American Working Farm Collie Association. Tessa has been a great asset to our farm, she seems to know where animals belong and will herd them back when needed. She is also a family pet, guardian and great for predator control, all the things that the American Working Farm Collie breed is meant to do.

Roxy is maturing into a level headed, obedient, healthy dog - a great family pet belonging to my daughter and her children. Roxy will be bred to Dillon to produce some Sheltie-poo puppies.