I had my first German Shepherd when I was 9 years old her name was Sugar, she was mine and did everything I told her. When I was 11 years old we moved house and couldn't take her with us, so she went to the R.A.F. I said then I was having another ,but it wasn't to be until............

In 1987 there was an advert for someone to rear a litter of GSD puppies, I applied but didn't get the job, about a month later I had a phone call asking me if I still wanted the job because the person who had been taken on was not suitable.

I had never reared pups before,but once I started found I really enjoyed it,the best part was watching their little characters develop and see them learn new things every day.

Whilst rearing the litter a puppy bitch decided she was mine,I had to have her,she was to become my foundation bitch AHLANA OF VENALYN our Tessa and that's when and how things began.

Tessa aged 10 weeks old.

Tessa was litter sister to Lazita of Bedwin (Avinja's) and Lauser of Bedwin in Trinadad. I hadn't intended to show Tessa, but the breeder asked me if I would, I didn't know the first thing about showing a dog, so off I went to ring craft every Wednesday night at Llangefni sports centre, I was living in Anglesey at the time and I don't think they had ever seen the Germanic type, so she was trained the wrong way. When I met up with her breeder, I was very proud of the way I was handling her, all she could say was 'who on earth taught you that, she's not doing it the German way'.

When Tessa was thirteen months old we moved back to Liverpool where I was born and grew up and we started to go to the British German Shepherd Dog Training Club in St. Helens, I did try to retrain Tessa, but didn't succeed.

In 1989 I was granted the affix CHINSAM when I bred my first litter, if you are wondering where that came from it's my maiden name CHIN and my mother's maiden name SAM. Tessa's registered name AHLANA was made up from my father's first name AH-LAN with an 'A' added to make it feminine. All the bitches I have shown or owned have LINDA in their names.

I don't show my Shepherds any more.The arthritis didn't stop me,but I now have the start of cataracts in both eyes and although at the moment they aren't bothering me I feel I shouldn't drive the long distances especially in the Winter when it goes dark quite early.

I will still breed the occasional litter,simply because a home is not a home without a German Shepherd to me.

My son Ian,Tessa,Star,Perdy and Tina the lab.

Some of my trophies and rosettes collected along the way.

Some you win, some you lose most important is the taking part, having some fun ,a good day out, catch up with old friends and maybe make some new ones.

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