Q: When did you first
become interested in breeding and
showing dogs? Why did
you choose Shelties?
My late husband, Keith, and I are
both California natives. He
was starting his third year of
Veterinary School at UC Davis, and I
was an Underclassman there when we
met. We lived in the same
off-campus apartment building.
Love of animals "introduced us."
I had a Chipmunk as a "smuggled in"
pet, since I could not stand being
without something live and furry,
and pets were not allowed in the
building. She had stopped eating,
and knowing Keith was "almost" a
Veterinarian, I sought his
expertise! We started dating, and
married when Keith was in his last
semester of school. We lived
in married student housing, and
added another "smuggled in"
Chipmunk, so were a family of four.
We knew without a doubt that we
wanted a dog as soon as he
graduated. We easily chose a
Sheltie, since we had both been
attracted to the breed prior to
meeting. Conveniently, a
classmate of Keith's raised Shelties
for "book-money," and had a litter
every semester. We had no real
concept of how to go about getting a
quality, well-bred Sheltie, and this
seemed just perfect. A litter
was ready the week after he
graduated, and we got our first
Sheltie, "Robbie," the only male in
a litter of 7.
Q: How did you establish
your kennel?
Robbie was, of course, the most
beautiful red, full-collared
specimen of the breed ever born.
When we'd had him a week, we went to
watch a puppy match we saw
advertised in the paper. What won
was, naturally, nowhere as beautiful
as our Sheltie. So, a few
weeks later we entered our puppy in
a match, and got BEST OF BREED!
Of course, we didn't care that he
was the only Sheltie entered, we got
the bug. Many matches later,
we realized that we had a wonderful
pet, and not a show dog. He
excelled in obedience, however, and
taught me a lot. He went from
his 1st C.D. leg to his 3rd U.D. leg
in 8 months. It would have
been faster, except we had a winter
month or so of few Trials. He
got High Score in Match at his first
match after 2 weeks of classes, and
tied for HIT at his first Trial
before he even finished his
beginner's class: a true
whiz-kid, and the pride of our
lives. We lost him at 3 years
of age, due to inherited problems.
After this devastating loss, we
studied more about the breed, and
went about hunting for a well-bred
real show Sheltie. We started
attending more shows, and watched
and watched, and waited and waited.
We, like almost all beginners, had a
difficult time getting what we knew
what we wanted. We bought several
puppies offered to us by small,
virtually unknown, breeders, but
nothing turned out the quality we
wanted for show. I trained
these dogs for the Obedience ring,
but quickly got discouraged after a
C.D.X. or two, because none could
come close to the drive of my first.
I also showed them in Conformation
matches, and even won a BIM or two.
In the meantime, as we attended
every show we could, and continued
on our search, we were befriended by
one of the top California handlers
of the breed, Don Doltz. He saw us
at so many shows watching, that he
soon offered to help us in our
search. Many of the dogs he
was showing and finishing were bred
by Valerie Daniels, Dan-Dee
Shelties; who was at that time the
top breeder in the State. He
convinced Valerie that we were
sincere novices, and persuaded her
to sell us a puppy bitch by Ch.Elf
Dale Golden Legacy, out of a
daughter of Ch.Pixie Dell Bright
Vision. We named her Dan-Dee Study
In Scarlet ("Susie.") Before the
puppy was many months older, we got
a call from Valerie. She offered us
Susie's dam, Dan-Dee Petite Regards,
who needed two points to finish. It
was a tough decision, because we had
just opened a Veterinary Hospital in
Carmel Valley, and money was tight.
Her asking price was very steep, but
she let us pay her off monthly, so
we made the move. In 1967, I
finished Petite at her first show
with us, and she became Champion #
1. We were thrilled.
While Petite was raising a litter,
and growing a coat to compete for
her final points, I started showing
Susie. She was a cute little bitch,
but had her definite faults.
Nevertheless, I showed her to some
wonderful wins, including some major
reserves, and a 5 point major. She
never finished, but earned 12
points, 1 major, and she was a great
learning experience. Although she
was a lovely bitch for that time,
Petite unfortunately never produced
anything to keep and show in the
three litters she had for us
Q: What were you looking
for in your foundation stock?
Temperament was very important,
since our first pet was so superior
in that department. We liked good
movement, having watched the
top-winning Ch. Elf Dale Viking
float around the ring so many times.
We also liked pretty, and that
Sheltie-wise look of intelligence.
We loved balance and showmanship.
Moderation is a good word for what
appealed most: nothing rangy or
extreme in any way. Color was never
important, and although I have
mostly sables now, we have finished
Champions in all three basic colors.
What I want now, has changed just a
little, and I'll go into that later.
Q: How long did it take you to
breed your first Champion?
While Petite was not a producer for
us, her daughter Susie was, and
essentially became our foundation.
She's behind pretty much all I have
at this time. Susie was moderate,
had nice balance, decent movement,
and a super temperament. In planning
her first (and only) litter, we
didn't want to lose what she had,
but wanted more neck, more elegant
bodylines, and a stronger rear.
Elaine Samuels had sent her Ch.
Apache Of Karelane (a tri-color) to
California to stand at stud. We bred
Susie to him, and she had a nice
litter of 4. We kept a tri-factored
bitch from this litter (Ch. Jade
Mist Twilight Song---"Cricket,")
that was to become our first
"homebred” champion, although she
finished at 9 ˝ years of age. But,
by then, we had finished many
Champions before her! So, first
homebred, first with our kennel
name, but definitely not the first
to finish.
Q: How was your kennel name
conceived?
Not many years after we were
married, we moved to the beautiful
Monterey Peninsula in California,
and opened a Veterinary Hospital in
Carmel. I still feel that the
whole general area is the most
breath taking in the world.
It’s very green year-round, and the
weather was never very hot, nor
cold. We had summer fog often
blow in from the Pacific Ocean,
which was not far from the valley
where we lived. So, GREEN AND FOGGY=
Jade Mist! It just seemed
fitting at the time. There was an
automobile dealer in nearby Monterey
called Arnold Green's Dodge.
Keith used to tease me by calling
our kennel Carol's Green
Shelties!
Q: Did your husband share your
interest in the dogs?
Absolutely! Before we opened
our own business, we'd be at a show,
match or trial every weekend. He
always watched, but never groomed or
handled. He was a great puppy
socializer, spending hours on the
floor while the puppies” mauled"
him. He chose a song for every
litter, and whistled that song to
the pups while they all went nuts!
They loved it, and many pet owners
told us that their dog recognized
that song years later. I can't
whistle, so that tradition has
ended!

(Keith playing
"Whistle Time" with the puppies)
Q: Did you have any problems
with the issue of your spouse's
involvement?
While many of my friends were
complaining that their husbands
"wouldn't let” them add any more
dogs, my major argument with Keith
was that he never wanted to sell a
single one. He wanted them all
around him. Now, 11 years
after his death, I can't even
picture him without seeing a Sheltie
(or two, or three) in his lap!
After we built and moved into our
new (and my present) home, Keith got
his long dreamed-about "herd" (of
three) Horned Hereford show cows.
That kept him home, but he always
encouraged me to go to shows as
often as I could.
Q: What has been the biggest
problem to overcome in your breeding
program?
Early on, I was very satisfied with
what I had, and how they looked. The
more I read, and the more I
exhibited, I knew that I wanted a
typier dog with a prettier, smaller
eye. I also wanted to keep the
soundness we had, and keep improving
on rears. I wanted shorter hocks,
and that nice letdown little rear,
which stacks naturally. I wanted to
get a nice neck more routinely, and
those beautiful flowing bodylines, I
so admire. Dorothy Kerwood of
Dorlane Shelties in California sold
us the small littermate of her top
producing Ch. Dorlane's King's
Ransome, just before we left
California and headed East to
Maryland, twenty-some years ago. We
finished his title, and he became
Ch.Dorlane's Scalawag. He was
definitely a turning point in our
breeding program. He barely hit 14"
but was very typey with a pretty
eye. But, his shoulder was just
adequate, and his rear was not his
fortune. Nevertheless, we got our
beautiful Ch. Jade Mist Wood Chimes,
HC ("Windy") by breeding him to our
very sound Ch.Twilight Song. We were
lucky. Windy got her Mom's beautiful
shoulder and nice rear, and her
Dad's pretty eye, type and coat.
Knowing that the faults we were
trying to eliminate were close
behind in our pedigrees, we were
careful not to breed to larger eyes,
or weak rears just to get the neck
and body-lines we still yearned for.
Linda More (Severn Shelties) was
standing Ch. Barwood's Weather
Report at stud in CT., and we bred
our Windy to him. She had already
produced two Champions by Ch.
Wayanet's Dallas Cowboy, so we knew
what we still needed to improve
upon. From the breeding to Weather
Report, we got the rear and eye we
wanted in Windy's son, Ch.Jade Mist
Suntide; and the neck, eye and
bodylines in her daughter, Ch.Jade
Mist Windspell. Years later we bred
Windspell to a Suntide son, Ch. Jade
Mist a Case In Point. That breeding
gave us the dam of our
"once-in-a-lifetime" producer, my
beloved Ch.Jade Mist Beyond
Tradition, ROM/ROMC.
Type, and the qualities I have
worked so hard for, can be lost in
one generation. It is so frustrating
to plan the ideal genotype, or
phenotype, breeding and then end up
with nothing at all worth keeping.
Sometimes entire litters go as pets,
which is always a "downer" after the
dreaming and the planning. Then,
sometimes I keep the best in a
litter, which is the closest to what
I had hoped for; but there are often
some other faults I had not
expected. So, it's try, try again.
You keep the best, and breed to the
best, with your IDEAL in mind. In
this breed, perfection is seldom, if
ever, achieved. So, it's always a
compromise. You keep the pups with
the faults you can live with. And
you breed again with improvement of
those faults in mind. It's an
endless circle.
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