Hello, this is me!!!

Hi, this is my first ever time blogging. I'm not sure how well I will be at updating my blog...but with any luck I will try to post at least once or twice a month. So, if there are more postings than that, you all can feel extra special..I know I will. My name is Angie and I live with my husband, 3 boys, 1 cat, and 4 miniature schnauzers. However, in about a week we are adding a new addition, a samoyed. His name will be Nimbus and he is my first show dog. I am excited to be starting this journey with him. I first need to thank Donna Cummings for giving me this opportunity to raise one of her puppies and work with him in conformation and agility.

Many people have asked me why I have 4 mini schnauzers. All I can say is that they are a bit like potato chips. You get your first one and love it so much that you think 2 would be even better. Then you think, "wow, I love my 2 I have, I think I'll get a third." After our third we decided we would try our hand at breeding so we got a 4th. Now we don't have the original 4 we started with, but yes, I still have 4 and don't think that will change for some time. We keep saying that when they start to get older and pass on, we won't get any more, but some how I know I will always have minis. Our first was Chewie. He was a birthday present from my husband to me. Chewie was my love. However, he had some social problems to say the least. He was a pet store puppy. Yes, I know all the horrible stories, but did that sway me? Not with Chewie. He looked at me with those soul piercing eyes and just watched the boys as they looked at the other puppies through the glass and I knew he had to come home with me that night. Chewie was a great dog, even with all of his allergies, social problems, and health issues. Chewie know when my sugars were crazy and would not leave my side if I was sick. However, his life was short; we had to put him down the summer of 2008. His health was making his life awful and we made the hardest decision we ever had to make...put him down. Chewie was almost 7 when he was euthanized. He gave me my first taste of owning a mini and I don't regret any of it. Koda is our oldest now and was the second mini to join our family. He is a great dog. He will be 7 this fall and still acts like a puppy most days. He swears that Brock, our middle son, belongs to him and when Brock is not home, we know because Koda is at the door waiting on him to arrive. Maggie is my "mommas". She was third addition to our schnauzer group. When we first started looking for a schnauzer I always said I did not want a black one. Then one day, I decided I wanted a black female and her name would be Maggie, and so it was. Maggie has been the easiest dog to live with. I don't even think we had to house break her. However, she is an escape artist. We would put her in an x-pen and she would get out, so we tried crating her, and still we would come home to find her running around the house, but never did we find any messes or anything chewed up..so we just let her stay out. We decided that everyone needed a schnauzer, so we thought we would try our hand at breeding. We looked for a suitable stud and could not find anybody with a male I liked or anybody I trusted to use their stud. That's how we ended up with Simon. We don't have Simon any more, but he was great stud dog. He gave us 3 beautiful litters with Maggie. All 3 litters had 6 puppies, and all of those puppies are doing great. We hear great things about them when we go to the vet or the dentist. Well that's because our children's dentist has one of the puppies. When we rehomed Simon, our schnauzer family felt off, we liked having four so we were on the hunt again. Only this time, we were looking for one that would not conform to breed standard, he/she had to be small. That's how we ended up with Harley. When looking for a smaller version of the mini, I found a breeder who bred for toy sized schnauzers. We were wanting a black and silver, but got another salt and pepper in Harley. Harley is now 2 and works with our youngest son in 4H and AKC agility. She has amazed us with her talent and willingness to work with Kolton. After putting Chewie down, we were again back to 3 and I had seen liver and tan colored schnauzers and thought that would be nice to have. Well that's how we ended up with Jozie. Jozie is the smallest of the bunch. She weighs about 8lbs and is a liver pepper colored schnauzer. She is my sugars..but her small size has led to some serious issues with trust and control. We are working through them and making some progress. Well that brings me to my current adventure...a samoyed. I'm not really sure how it all started...probably with Kolton wanting a siberian husky and Jenn telling us that a sibe is probably not the best choice...and started talking to us about a friend of her's sams. Well after reading about and talking to Brandy about them, I decided that a samoyed would be a good fit in our home...so here I am waiting until I find out which boy will be mine and when I can pick him up. Well I know when I get to pick him up...just really waiting to see which boy will end up being my Nimbus.