My mother started breeding silver toy Poodles in 1967; she started with Pamela Ingram’s Sassafras lines. In 1970 she was given a standard Poodle from Top Brass lines, and from there is where we went with the big guys. In 1975 I graduated High School and went straight to work for Bob Walberg, in Indiana. That is when handlers were licensed with the AKC, so I got my assistant's license. 1976 is when I got Lou-Gin’s Kiss Me Kate, and my mother bought Lou-Gin’s Solitaire from Lou Dunson. I worked for Bob and Jean for 4 years until I was in a serious RV accident in December of 1979, and went home to recover. In 1980 Kate retired with 140 Best In Shows and I started handling on my own and helping with the breeding of the SWAG dogs.
At SWAG Poodles we strive to breed Poodles with proper, happy Poodle temperaments and excellent conformation. What does SWAG stand for? Scientific Wild Ass Guess (a name my dad came up with for our Poodles). What is breeding dogs, but GUESS work! You can try very hard to breed the best show dog, the best companion, obedience, therapy, hunting dogs with a great temperament and no health issues. We believe in and perform genetic testing to help ensure we are breeding the best that we can. You can test all the parents and the generations before them, but sometimes things happen that are out of our control.
I do still plan on breeding standards but I am working with toys once again. I love my Poodles, that is why I breed them, because I want other families to be able to have a big or little clown to make them laugh. I can’t stress enough that Ppoodles are extremely intelligent, funny, they love you no matter what. They are great hunters, herders, therapy, obedient, and if they are with you, they are happy.