I first became involved with Kerry Blue Terriers in January of 1993 when a small puppy in the home of a friend came and sat at my feet. He looked up at me and said "Hi, I'm Teddy and I've come back to you." Teddy had been a mixed breed dog that owned me for 18 years. When he died I lost a part of my soul, but this puppy had come to give it back to me, within the next month he came to be named Joyce's Notorious Cary Grant, known as Grant, and he was mine. He was later known in my family as my $40K dog!

In the negotiations to become Grant's partner I had to agree to show him. I had never been to a dog show, never seen one on TV, and had no idea what I would have to do in order to accomplish this - but I was willing to do anything to have Grant in my life. Grant came home with me in late January.

The first weekend in February I attended the first dog show of my life, it was the Golden Gate Kennel Club benched show otherwise known as the Cow Palace for the venue in which it is held. My parents and I got there early and walked tirelessly and tiredly through the benching areas looking at dogs; we sat in the stands and watched the judging - which we did not understand; we visited the vendors and I began spending money. On the advice of Grant's breeder I purchased an aluminum Tamarack crate with wheels, a grooming top and grooming arm (price tag about $600). This Tamarack was convertible to the size of a large suitcase and fit very nicely in the back of my Ford Escort when it was closed up. Once set up for the dog to ride in it I found that I needed to buy a larger car so moved to a Plymouth Voyager mini-van! With this I discovered that I had room for a second crate so of course I needed a second dog, what about a little girl this time?

My second Kerry was Kallehan's Forevr In Blugenes or Genie. She was born in June of 1994 and came to live with me at eight weeks of age. My darling Grant was pleased to have her with him and gave up ownership of all his toys to her, but maintained a firm grasp on my heart and soul. Genie is a tough little girl, but all girl. She adores being groomed and from early on would jump up onto an empty grooming table, demanding that you brush her. She is Miss Priss to this day. One vivid memory I have is of an early spring day when Genie had just been bathed and brushed out, we went to a behavioral obedience class in a park along the shore of the bay. The grass was high and green, streams were running, and the sun was shining. As a group we all put our dogs on off leash down stays in the grass and walked a good distance away from them. Then we called our dogs to us. As Genie came running I realized there was a stream between us which she might not see as it was narrow and the grass around it was high. Sure enough, in her gleeful gallop toward me she missed the banks of the stream and fell right in, up to her elbows and hips! Genie extricated herself from the stream and continued on her way to me, stopping every few steps to shake her legs and grumble about messing up her pretty dress. There was nothing for it but to take her home and pop her back in the bathtub - she wouldn't be happy until she met her personal standard for prissiness again.

In 1996 Genie finished her Championship and Grant was campaigned by Bill McFadden. He did well, even being listed as the #1 Kerry in the country in June of 1996 but dropping to #4 by the end of the year. Campaigning a Special is hard work and expensive. I didn't begrudge the pennies, but I did begrudge the time Grant had to spend on the road with Bill when I had to stay home and earn the pennies. Eventually we decided to retire Grant, though he has come out of retirement several times to appear as a Veteran at Specialty shows and to serve as a Junior Showmanship dog for my niece, Ally. Even at age eleven Grant shows great joy on these trips to the show ring. He loves to strut his stuff.

The weighty responsibility of breeding Kerry Blue Terriers was frightening to me. From the beginning I was sure that this was not a responsibility that I wanted to take on, nor did I think that I could ever place a puppy outside of my own home. I was greedy and just knew that I wouldn't be able to give any of them up. As time went by however I owed a litter back to Genie's breeder and the inevitable approached. However, I did not need to accomplish the breeding, whelp the litter or bring up the puppies… I participated in decisions and was there for the great event and the following weeks of watching the puppies grow, but had no true responsibility, nor were the puppies mine. They were all to be sold.

As the weeks went by Genie's breeder made decisions on which puppy would go where. Her pick male and female puppies were still in limbo and she was expecting a litter of Bedlington puppies. At this point she asked if I could foster the pair of pick puppies while she whelped the Bedlingtons and made decisions. After a week or so the male puppy returned to her and the female puppy stayed with me, Grant and Genie.

As time went by I became more and more attached to the little girl puppy. Eventually the decision was made that the female pick puppy would stay with me in return for finishing a championship on her and for a litter back. This puppy became Kallehan's True Type or Trudy. Trudy is a beautiful and joyful little girl. She was late to change color but was shown to Championship by the age of three. Shortly after this she was bred to Ch Torum's Scarf Michael and produced a litter of five beautiful puppies. Trudy proved herself to be a devoted and doting mother. It was wonderful to see.

By this time I had a good deal of experience in how to go about planning a breeding, whelping a litter and bringing up puppies. I had also experienced the joy of finding just the right home for a puppy and being able to give the gift of a Kerry to a family that would love and appreciate that special little soul. I had developed an eye for what I liked conformation wise in a Kerry and what I preferred as far as temperament. In other words, I was now ready to start my own breeding program.

In January 2003, after spending my days and nights with Kerries for ten years I launched my own breeding program when Ch Kallehan's True Type was bred to Ch O'Mara's Kommander-in-Chief. My 15 year old niece, Ally Silva, joined me in this endeavor. As a junior handler she has forged a deep bond with Trudy and was excited to be involved with bringing up a litter of pups.

March 10, 2003 Trudy delivered six pups, three boys and three girls. This is the first breeding I have done on my own though I have been involved in several litters. I have a vision and a plan for future generations and am committed to raising healthy dogs with good temperaments.