Aussie Talk

What a year it has been for Dunham Lake Australian Terriers.  We started 2011 with finishing our girl Kaih, to her championship and ending the year with winning the Best Bred-by Australian Terrier and 1st Award of Excellence, at the annual  invitational only, AKC National Eukanuba Dog show with our first Bred By Champion Dunham Lake Gabriella Touched by an Angel "Gabby".

There were many accomplishments and some tragic news along the way. 

The year was full of excitement. Our boy Gch. Dunham Lake Scoutmaster "Scout" who we co-own with the Steinmetz family finished his Grand Championship as the youngest Australian Terrier to accomplish that title.  Scout along with our dog Beckham (who is co-owned with Pamela Levy) and Gabby were all invited to participate in the 2011 AKC Eukanuba National Championship.

Scout had a fantastic year, consistently ranked and finished in the top 10 Australian Terriers and All-Breed for 2011.  He just turned 2 in December!  Scout had multi-group placements, including a few Group 1 placements. In his free time, Scout loves living in the country with his wonderful family and has even started running with his mom. Thank you to the Steinmetz family for their dedication to this wonderful dog.

Our first International litter was born May 18, 2011 with our girl Kaih and Zippy.

Thank you to Jim and Cheryl Mechalke for allowing us to breed to their gorgeous boy Gch. Nellyson's Don't Skip the Zip "Zippy". The Mechalke's imported Zippy from our friend Tina Nordgren's kennel in Sweden.   Five beautiful puppies were born.  We kept one red boy for ourselves named "Jake" who won at his first show. 

We co-own another beautiful red girl "Reba" with our friend Luisa.  The other three puppies all have wonderful and loving homes.

In August our family took a 10 day trip out west and we had our very good friend and dog show mentor, Wayne stay and care for our gang.  What a great trip and how wonderful to have a friend like Wayne. 

While we were on our trip, our first International Champion Dunham Lake Moon Dream "Miles" was in s very serious car accident.  He was traveling in his crate, however, upon impact his front elbow was crushed.  He needed to have two separate surgeries, it was unlikely he would ever walk normal again. Luisa (his owner and our very dear friend) took him to the best surgeon in Florida.  Months later, after physical therapy and the excellent care from his family, it appears he will be completely healed. We can't thank them enough for all the care and expense they endured for Miles.

One of our best friends in the breed, lost her loving dog Alfie in an accident. It was a sad time for her and her family. Sadly, we could relate to such tragedy when we lost our Harley. We were very sorry for her loss. There are better days ahead.

We had a wonderful visit with our dear friends Chris and Brian from the United Kingdom. Chris is an Australian Terrier judge and owner/breeder.  We later met up with them at the Australian Terrier National Specialty weekend in Pennsylvania. What a fun time we had and then to meet their beautiful friend and handler Felicity and spend time with her as well, was fantastic.

My two younger daughters and I rented an RV and traveled 22 hours cross country to the show. That was quite an experience, one I'm not sure we would do again, but we did have a wonderful time and life time memories were made.

At the National Specialty, two out of the four days with up to 70 Australian Terriers present, Ch. Dunham Lake Gabriella Touched by an Angel "Gabby" won Best of Opposite. Handled exclusively by her breeder/owner/handler 12 year old Ellie.

I want to take just a moment to thank my daughters, both Lydia and Ellie, for their dedication to our dogs and their excellent handling skills. I especially want to give credit to my daughter Ellie, for her patience, love and passion for our dogs. Sometimes it's stressful, sometimes is frustrating, sometimes I'm irritating, but most of the time it's exciting and a fun new adventure for all of us!

 The National Specialty weekend was thrilling!  We are very grateful to our many Australian Terrier friends, breeders and owners for their kind words and support, we love you all.

Then the end of the year, the 2011 AKC Eukanuba National Invitational Dog Show. We had not planned on attending, but because it was located in Florida, where our puppy Miles lives with his family, we decided we had to see how he was recovering.  This provided another reason for us to attend the show.

We were happy to have spent time with Miles and his very gracious family and visit with him and his sister Reba. He was very happy to see us and it was great to see him recovering so well.

The Australian Terriers represented at Eukanuba were lovely.  For Champion Dunham Lake Gabriella Touched by an Angel "Gabby" to win the Best Bred-by exhibitor and 1st Award of Excellence was quite an honor. As a breeder it is a positive testimony to our breeding program to be recognized at such a prestigious show.

The Best Bred-by award has such meaning to us, beyond the excitement of this win.  We love our dogs, they will always be our companions first and our show dogs second.  We never have nor ever will, compromise our ethic's or standards.

What a great way to end the year. We look forward to a great 2012. We thank all our family, friends, our wonderful loving families that have our puppies and just website visitors for your support.  The Australian Terrier is a wonderful breed, so dear to our heart and we will continue to maintain and improve the breed as best we can for our future generations.

We hope and pray that you too have a wonderful 2012, filled with everything you seek, including; health, prosperity and fun!

Blessings,

Theresa A. Goiffon