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Jersey and I at the April 2011 Flagstaff AKC Dog Shows. Jersey won 2 Best in MISC class wins here! |
I was born and raised in Arizona and have belonged to a number of dog clubs and organizations since my
childhood -- so -- for about 20 years. I've owned Dogos since the mid-90s. My wonderful dogos, Brillante and Detroit, both
sadly passed away in 2009. Bri was 9.5 & battled breast cancer for the last 2 years of her life. Detroit was
only 6. Valley Fever (a fungal disease found in CA, AZ, NM & Mexico) ended his short life. We greatly miss Bri and
Detroit. Bri's great-grand-daughter, Jersey, now lives with us. Jersey is woderful with kids, other dogs and even
the AZ Humane Society Foster Cats we care for for time to time (38 over a 2 year span since Jersey joined our home -- see
the videos of the kittens chasing Jersey's tail on facebook) Read more on my original bio.
As a kid, I participated in 4-H Dog Projects and showed my JRTs at the county fair. The lessons 4-H taught
me in leadership, organization, club responsibilities, and accountability have left lasting impressions. In 2005 I completed
the necessary 4-H leadership training and agreed to take on a 4-H Dog Club for Chandler. Feel free to read up on our weekly
4-H meetings and progress: http://dog4h.tripod.com . Our 4-Hers will not only learn showmanship, Rally-O, and Agility, but will also work towards passing the AKC CGC
test with their dogs. The kids will also learn the ins and outs of putting on dog shows, taking entries, stewarding, keeping
records and reporting and writing about the events.
Besides 4-H, I am also an AKC CGC evaluator, and active member of the Valley del Sol APBT UKC club www.azukc.com where I am on the Education and BSL committees. I am also on the events committee of Good Dog Agility www.gooddog.org (see my picture w/Detroit on the membership page) and will be instructing an agility class from Jan-May 2006.
I have worked closly with National Canine Association for the last few years and am currently on the Rally-O committee.
Specifically Dogo-related, I strongly support the efforts and mission of the Dogo Argentino Association
of Arizona www.dogoaaa.com and feel that the programs offered, specifically the Five Star program, are the most important programs and opportunities
ever offered in the "dogo world."
About this site
This site was not only set up to promote my dogs, it was set up to help potential puppy
buyers and current dogo owners and breeders, regardless of who they purchased their dog from.
I especially want potential dogo owners to become as educated about this breed as possible. I want
them to read about the health issues that this breed is prone to, and I want them to understand that this is a HIGH MAINTENANCE
dog that fits very few lifestyles.
I have come to realize that most dogo owners are "new" to the whole purebred dog world and what it offers.
For this reason, I have put together the information on showing and dog sports. I want people to get out and do stuff
with their dogos.
A few years ago I added a poll to this site to find out why people want a dogo, over 70% of people want
a dogo for companionship, less than 5% want a dogo for hunting or performance purposes.
The irony is that the dogos ending up in RESCUE situations are almost always the ones purchased as companions.
For this reason, I want to encourage the companion pet owners to become active in dog sports. This helps bond owner
and dog, and we all know, a "tired dogo is a good dog."
If there is any important information about the breed that you would like to see added to this site, please
email me: a_dogo@qwest.net
I apologize about all the "pop-ups" this site is hosted for free by Tripod
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