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I have been in Belgian Tervuren since 1976. I acquired my first Terv during the years I spent in Alaska. I was teaching school in Fairbanks at the time. Being single, and looking for a dog as a companion, I happened to visit my friend Tom Downs, who had just purchased a new dog. He had a Terv named "Fleetwood". I had never seen the breed before. I asked Tom if the dogs were trainable. He affirmed that they were and that the breeders still had a dog available. I purchased that dog for $150 as it had one ear that had not risen to a qualifying erect position. A week later the ear came up. Two years later, I was offered $3,000 for this dog by a professional handler while we were both showing our dogs in the ring. No thanks. This dog was my buddy by then. Also, by this time, I had shown him from coast to coast winning breeds everywhere. This dog was Ch. Achates Esprit de Joie, C.D. "Bock" later went on to become Kennel Review's #1 Terv in the United States for 1979. I eventually moved to Yakima, Washington and became a stock broker in 1982. As a result of this move, I scaled back my dog activities for a few years. In 1984, Tamera Nygren moved to Yakima and brought with her a Belgian Tervuren puppy bred by Sue Mills. Tamera and I married a year and a half later in November of 1985. In the ensuing years, we became active in herding, tracking, agility, as well as obedience and conformation. Off and on between 1992 and 2003, I served as an officer for the American Belgian Tervuren Club. I have been a member of the Yakima Valley Kennel Club since about 1985. I have served on the board numerous times and served as president from 2001 to 2004. In 2000, I became an AKC judge. Since that year I have become approved to judge several herding breeds and rally obedience and novice obedience. |