I did not grow up in dogs. I was introduced to the joy of dogs by my wife, Lesley. We were married in the fall of 1983, and by early spring, she had had enough of living with just me and a cat, so we got a Shetland Sheepdog. Oliver was a fantastic companion, and we did some obedience training together. Then, in the Spring of 1991, Lesley said that we needed to get a Bearded Collie. I had two immediate reactions. First was – why do we need to get a dog? We already have one. And second – what is a Bearded Collie? Lesley had an acquaintance when she was showing horses in upstate New York that had imported a Bearded Collie, and she had always wanted one. So I contacted Dick Schneider and shortly thereafter we had a Ha’Penny Beardie named Annie. We spent the summer and next spring showing Annie at match shows back when they were plentiful and we were hooked on the world of dog shows. In 1992, we got a second Beardie, bought a minivan, and changed residences to a township with no limit on dogs. We have always had multiple Beardies, as many as 13. We currently are at low ebb, with only three Beardies and a Standard Poodle.
We bred our first litter in 1993, and averaged a litter a year for the next 23 years. We are blessed to have bred two National Specialty and multiple all-breed Best in Show winners – Annie’s grandson Skyler (CH Raintree Ha’Penny Behaving Badly) and Skyler’s son Roy (GCHP Tolkien Raintree Mister Baggins).
I was approved by AKC to judge Bearded Collies in 2009, and have judged at 4 regional Beardie Specialties.
I grew up in Ohio and moved to New Jersey in 1981 for a job with Schering-Plough Animal Health. I worked there and at successor company Merck Animal Health for 40 years as a research statistician, finance analyst, and IT professional.