I purchased my first standard poodle (Caesar, R.I.P.) at Thanksgiving in 1982. Shipped from Florida to Washington D.C. sight unseen it was the beginning of a lifetime of love and devotion to the breed. Prior to my first poodle I had always owned German Shepherds and Dobermans. Although great breeds they both presented challenges for me in my lifestyle. By this time I already had 4 of my 6 children. As an Army officer and a helicopter pilot I traveled a great deal. I wanted a dog that was as intelligent and loyal as the previous dogs I had owned and one that did NOT shed. I also wanted a dog that would be protective, but not to the extent that I had to worry when dozens of neighborhood children would run in and out of the yard and house. Over the years I started showing my poodles in obedience, obtaining a Companion Dog (CD) on Caesar very quickly, while my husband, at that time, showed in confirmation obtaining AKC Champion titles on two American Staffordshire Terriers. After our divorce it was too time consuming for me to continue to show my poodle and be a working single parent raising 6 children. So over the years I only bred on occasion, trying to keep what I thought was the best representation of the breed.

In the summer of 1998, after 23 years in the service I had the opportunity to acquire one of my boys that I had previously sold and a couple of girls from a friend who's husband had passed away. Before I made the leap from three standards to six I made the decision to breed and show standard poodles full time when I retired from the military. Although I have not retired and now have 33 years in service, I needed to do two things right at the start to be successful. One, was to compete my dogs in confirmation, not just obedience and to find a handler to do it for me as my career still keeps me too busy to show for myself. CH. Shipps Anani Keanu was my first champion and although I can not take any credit for his breeding he has a wonderful pedigree and was expertly finished by handler, Paula Ford of Aldea Kennels. Ulysses, my first home bred silver champions is the result of 5 generations of selective breeding and good luck. Ulysses was shown by Stan Voge and took 3^rd in the American Bred Class at the annual Poodle Club of America competition in 2003. To validate any good breeding program it is a must to finish some AKC champions in the pedigree. It is not enough for me to say that I have great dogs, a judge must also think so.