How Did She Get To Know About Dogs?

YOU WANNA WATCH WESTMINISTER - THAT'S OKAY BY ME (Buddy the Lhasa watches from his armchair)

For those of you who do not know, I jumped into the deep end of the Purebred Dog Fancy when I married International All-Breed Dog Show Judge John Devlin in 1977. We owned and bred Scottish Terriers, Lhasa Apso and Shih Tzu. Because we travelled and were often entertained by dog fanciers, I quickly learned as much as I could about as many breeds as possible. That way, I would be able to chat to whoever was seated next to me.

I loved watching dog shows and made lots of friends but showing dogs was really not my favorite thing to do. When I was widowed and ultimately married Engineer Keith Sutton, moving from Toronto to East Texas, I brought my last two homebred Shih Tzu to join Keith's two senior cats.

Having written from when I was about nine years old, it was natural that I wrote about purebred dogs for magazines and newspapers. Of course, I also wrote about the travel we did. I was very fortunate to travel most of Canada, some of the northern U.S. and to Bermuda, Dominican Republic and Venuzeula. As you know, I still love to write - it is my passion!

Buddy, our Lhasa Apso, who is now five, was born in Nacogdoches (Oldest Town in Texas) and raised at Lucas Lhasas on Martha Street there. They have shown fine Lhasas for many years and perhaps held Buddy back, thinking he might be good to show. We first met him when he was 10 months old. I went over him and assessed him and also looked at other Lhasas they had available. Buddy appealed to me and had wonderful color and great structure. I knew he was a little bit "Texas Size" but Keith and I were not thinking of showing him.

When we first brought him home, Buddy was a little shy but he has grown to be a happy, outgoing and very intelligent dog. We have been very blessed with him!

This year, the Canadian Kennel Club has made me a Life Member. I am honored and happy about that!