Our Story
Animals have always been a part of my world. Throughout my life, I’ve had a menagerie of pets including dogs, cats, horses, goats, chickens, fish, rabbit, turtle and even a snake, but none of these compare to the love of a dog!
“Until one has loved an animal, part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
Anatole France -
Smuckers becomes our first AKC Champion
Showing dogs became a family affair. We enjoyed going to local shows as well as traveling to shows for mini family vacations. We encountered our first Bernese Mountain Dog at a dog show, and it was love at first sight for my son. He and his dad both had been wanting a big dog, and we adopted our first Berner from Dawn Hitchcock of Tallpines Bernese Mountain Dogs. He was called Potter after J K Rowlings’ book series, Harry Potter and was a perfect fit with our family. Both the Havanese and Bernese Mountain Dogs have similar personalities and temperaments. They are the quintessential family pet. While I continued to show and breed Havanese, Potter became a well-loved member of our family. Eventually dog show weekends were replaced by baseball tournaments.
Upon the passing of my childhood dog, my husband and I began the search for our first dog as a couple. After lots of research, we settled on a Havanese which were not even recognized by the AKC at the time which made our quest for finding one difficult. Eventually, we adopted Oreo from Florence Small of Smallhaven Havanese. She was all we had hoped- a small, fun-loving, non-shedding family companion. She was not only our first Havanese, but the foundation of Signature Havanese. After being bitten by the “dog showing bug,” AKC CH Signature Jam N Jelly, Smuckers, was my first bred by champion followed by AKC CH Signature Whatchamacallit, Gizmo. Oreo was the mother of both of my first two champions.
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Gizmo becomes our second AKC Champion
Libby becomes our third AKC Champion
Fast forward to 2018 …. My husband and I share our home with Libby my retired Havanese champion bred by Lynn Nieto of Los Perritos Havanese and Muggins, our rescue cat. With my son away at college, I was ready to reboot my dog show career. However, this time I wanted to try my hand at showing Bernese Mountain Dogs. I found Sandra Rooks at Whispering Cove Bernese Mountain Dogs in North Georgia, and we adopted Tessie our second Berner.
Tessie a few weeks old freshly adopted from Whispering Cove