Elaine
11-03-2009, 10:02 AM
As many of you know, we are in for a virtual explosion of "Logres" around here, :) with three breedings coming up, two of which have pregnancies confirmed, and a third that we are still waiting on. One of the litters is ours, the other two belong to the bitch owners. We will have details on all three in a very short time.
Like all breeders, we care very much to see that our puppies end up in homes that are well suited to them as individuals. You’d think that’d be easy to do, trust me, it is not. Over the years we've had great success and we’ve fallen short of the goal. We try to learn from each experience and go forward in a positive direction, with the expectation that the future is bright and beautiful. We are thrilled with each new generation… but each litter brings the challenges of finding that "perfect home" for each puppy.
We try to be clear about our goals and desires, we try to listen to what people tell us they want…. sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail. It can be tricky to distill what some people mean from what they say, because at times the two are not the same thing.
You might notice the we do not use the term “show quality” on our website. We do not necessarily seek "show homes." Our feeling is that a show career is but a brief moment in the dog’s life. We seek people who make a lifetime commitment to the dog. We try to avoid people looking for some spectacular success in the Doberman Show ring, and here is why:
The Doberman ring attracts professional Doberman handlers, who are arguably some of the most skilled handlers in dogs. In other breeds people can owner-handle with success, because they are not competing in the classes with handlers like Esteban, Gwen, Michelle, Diego, Carissa, Kelly and Andy… nor are they competing with the antics of people like Jim White, Sharon Pflueger and Jeff Brucker. So, when someone comes to us and says, "I want a show quality puppy that I can owner handle to his/her championship" … I say, “Here is Sharon or Jeff’s contact info… go talk to them.”
We have seen owner-handlers who do spectacularly with their dogs. The Gold Standard in our minds is Tracy Daugherty. Tracy and her fiancé Jason co–own Titus (Logres' Contucci) with us. Tracy and Jason also outright own Rush (a.k.a. Ch. Aquarius Designer Genes v Halo) and Tracy has co-owned dogs with Carmen Pitts and Patience Sassone.
Tracy does all the training on her dogs. Each dog is an individual. Rush does not show like Titus, so Rush was not trained like Titus. Tracy has the skill and knowledge to train each dog differently. If you have ever seen Tracy in the ring with her dogs, you will immediately note that she does a spectacular job with them. They are conditioned beautifully, they are trained beautifully, and they are shown beautifully. And each is shown in a manner that is best suited for the individual dog. Tracy has been showing dogs for well over a decade. She does a fantastic job, few owner handlers can match Tracy’s skill set, yet even Tracy struggles in the Doberman ring because - in the bigger competitions - she is competing with “Professional Doberman Handlers” … and that is a tough thing to do.
So, our new standard is this: if you come to us saying that you want to owner handler we are going to hold you to the Tracy Daugherty Gold Standard. If you can train and show like Tracy, we’ll be happy to work with you, BUT you will need to accept that you may still need to “go Pro” to get the majors.
Like all breeders, we care very much to see that our puppies end up in homes that are well suited to them as individuals. You’d think that’d be easy to do, trust me, it is not. Over the years we've had great success and we’ve fallen short of the goal. We try to learn from each experience and go forward in a positive direction, with the expectation that the future is bright and beautiful. We are thrilled with each new generation… but each litter brings the challenges of finding that "perfect home" for each puppy.
We try to be clear about our goals and desires, we try to listen to what people tell us they want…. sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail. It can be tricky to distill what some people mean from what they say, because at times the two are not the same thing.
You might notice the we do not use the term “show quality” on our website. We do not necessarily seek "show homes." Our feeling is that a show career is but a brief moment in the dog’s life. We seek people who make a lifetime commitment to the dog. We try to avoid people looking for some spectacular success in the Doberman Show ring, and here is why:
The Doberman ring attracts professional Doberman handlers, who are arguably some of the most skilled handlers in dogs. In other breeds people can owner-handle with success, because they are not competing in the classes with handlers like Esteban, Gwen, Michelle, Diego, Carissa, Kelly and Andy… nor are they competing with the antics of people like Jim White, Sharon Pflueger and Jeff Brucker. So, when someone comes to us and says, "I want a show quality puppy that I can owner handle to his/her championship" … I say, “Here is Sharon or Jeff’s contact info… go talk to them.”
We have seen owner-handlers who do spectacularly with their dogs. The Gold Standard in our minds is Tracy Daugherty. Tracy and her fiancé Jason co–own Titus (Logres' Contucci) with us. Tracy and Jason also outright own Rush (a.k.a. Ch. Aquarius Designer Genes v Halo) and Tracy has co-owned dogs with Carmen Pitts and Patience Sassone.
Tracy does all the training on her dogs. Each dog is an individual. Rush does not show like Titus, so Rush was not trained like Titus. Tracy has the skill and knowledge to train each dog differently. If you have ever seen Tracy in the ring with her dogs, you will immediately note that she does a spectacular job with them. They are conditioned beautifully, they are trained beautifully, and they are shown beautifully. And each is shown in a manner that is best suited for the individual dog. Tracy has been showing dogs for well over a decade. She does a fantastic job, few owner handlers can match Tracy’s skill set, yet even Tracy struggles in the Doberman ring because - in the bigger competitions - she is competing with “Professional Doberman Handlers” … and that is a tough thing to do.
So, our new standard is this: if you come to us saying that you want to owner handler we are going to hold you to the Tracy Daugherty Gold Standard. If you can train and show like Tracy, we’ll be happy to work with you, BUT you will need to accept that you may still need to “go Pro” to get the majors.