WE ARE PRESERVATION BREEDERS OF THE BERGAMASCO SHEEPDOG
The goal of our breeding program is to carefully breed for breed type, strong herding and work ethic, correct movement, temperament and health.
We are committed to doing our best to maintain healthy Bergamascos for decades to come. Luckily this breed is not plagued with many genetic illnesses, but as they grow in numbers, it will be important to remain diligent to prevent this from happening. We screen our Bergamascos for hip dysplasia using the OFA and/or PennHip method and are careful to look at the entire picture when breeding from such a small gene pool. Our goal is to breed healthy dogs while maintaining breed type. All our current breeding dogs are also DNA tested via Embark for hereditary diseases.
Conformation and Movement
We strive to breed Bergamascos with type and good movement. It is a mix of art and science when selecting prospective breeding dogs and puppies. We pay careful attention to the traits of our dogs and are always trying to improve for excellence. A dog with correct conformation will have correct movement and in a herding breed, this is an important aspect for performing a job effectively. When selecting puppies for breeding, show or work homes, these factors are considered as a whole.
Temperament
The Bergamasco temperament is unique. They are highly affectionate, loyal, quirky, intelligent, protective, comical and stubborn. We try to breed temperaments that are independent enough for working while still encompassing all their beautiful traits and personalities. Bergamascos can be protective and don't always get along with other dogs. They are people oriented and would prefer to be with family over anything else.
Herding
Our dogs have mostly lived on farms with the exception of a few years in a residential neighborhood. They are happiest and healthiest with free space and purpose. We assess our puppies early on for herding instinct. Our dogs have strong herding instinct and drive and we are careful to do our best to produce puppies that can be an asset to a farm or homestead. Bergamascos are tending dogs and have specific ways that they work. We nurture these abilities by providing them with professional training and testing and then implementing some of these skills on our own farm. We are very happy with the abilities of our dogs and continue to train for AKC herding trails in the near future. We appreciate the work of Lynette Milleville of Nutmeg Farm and Susan Willig Sullivan for all the work they have done with our dogs and for their expertise.
BIOGRAPHY
I have been involved with the Bergamasco Sheepdog since 2005. I fell in love with an image of a Bergamasco in a rare dog encyclopedia and lived on a farm in Nova Scotia, Canada at the time with herds of goats and sheep. I imported Lothario, our first male from the U.S.A and one year later imported a female, Mezza from England.
Over the next several years I learned all I could about the breed and became heavily involved in efforts made by the Bergamasco Sheepdog Club of America (BSCA) to promote the breed. On July 13, 2007 the first Bergamasco litter was born in Nova Scotia out of our Mezza and Lothario.
I moved back to the U.S. shortly thereafter and worked with the BSCA to help gain breed recognition with the AKC. This would be a long process and in the meanwhile I attended shows and events and continued to create awareness. For the next several years I served as the BSCA Vice-President and was able, along with the help of my colleagues at BSCA, to gain full AKC recognition for the breed in 2015. I am the former President of the BSCA and have worked diligently to achieve parent club status with the AKC. Before I resigned my position as President due to differences in beliefs and ethics. I helped to organize the club, draft the bylaws, partner with the CHIC registry and set health testing standards for the breed. I have been involved with the AKC Judge’s education program since breed recognition and continue to enjoy long and short term Judge mentoring as well as ring side mentoring. In addition, my husband Joe and I were the founders of the Bergamasco Companion, a quarterly publication of the BSCA no longer in print.
In 2018 I founded the Bergamasco Shepherd Association of Canada and am currently working on breed recognition with the Canadian Kennel Club. I am the current President of this association. I am also a member in good standing of the Bergamasco National Sheepdog Alliance and Societa Amatori del Cane da Pastore Bergamasco (S.A.B.). I fully support these two organizations for their continued work to preserve this breed as it was intended.
I am a AKC open show judge and in the process of pursuing permit status. I have judges several Open AKC shows for FSS and Miscellaneous breeds and have judged Sweepstakes at the Puli regional specialty in Kentucky.
In our breeding program, Joe and I believe in quality over quantity and our current and future litters are carefully planned. We are active in AKC conformation events, agility and herding. Our home bred Faggia set the AKC record for Bergamascos with the most group wins, the most group placements and the most Westminster Kennel Club breed wins in the history of our breed. She did this all while having three litters over those years. We have bred 6 generations of our dogs and continue to strive to meet our breeding goals. Our puppies are out there in the world participating in Rally obedience, herding, agility, scent work, conformation, therapy work and being wonderful companions to their families. We are grateful to our puppy families for exploring these different activities with their dogs. I am also proudly an AKC BREEDER OF MERIT.
More recently we have added our first Chinese Crested to our family and we are in love with the breed and the community surrounding them. We were very lucky to bring CH Kaylen’s Little Did They Know “ Juni” into our family. Juni was bred by Kay Peiser and Virgina Dorris. She comes from some of the top winning lines in the U.S.A. and we can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
