Our life has been first a story of faith. So our Samoyeds alone are not the story of our lives. But they have been with us in every scene, at almost all important events and turnings, and always uppermost in our hearts at every crossroads along the way. We cannot imagine, nor would we want to experience, what the journey would be without them. Whether in good times or bad, they are the best part of most days. We have learned many good things from them, and living with and loving them has made us better people. Luckily for us, we are still a work in progress, and both God and Samoyeds still have work to do in our lives!
LUMINOUS
SAMOYEDS is the result of a 25 year love of the breed shared
by my husband and myself.
We
began with companion Samoyeds whose attributes sprang
primarily from imported English lines in my husband’s native
land of Canada.
From studying the breed we learned a respect for the
enriching effect of imported bloodlines and a predisposition
for good breed type.
We
joined the Samoyed Club of British Columbia in 1984. With our interest in the breed firmly set, our emotional
investment in Sams was reinforced by our being unable to have
children. Our
Sams are our family. After
our first two females, first one and then a second show
prospect male were added to our household.
Sadly, both had genetic defects and required neutering.
One died of bone cancer at 11 years.
The other developed cardio myopathy that was taurine
responsive. With
medication he lived almost two years after his first two heart
attacks until succumbing to tumors due to the medications at
9-1/2. These
lovely boys did not become show and breeding dogs.
However, together with our first Sammy girl(who lived
to be 14-1/2), they taught us the joys of life with Samoyeds
and they did instill in us a firm concern for health in our
breed.
It
did not occur to us until 1997 to have more than two Samoyeds
at a time. In
this year we joined the Samoyed Club of Washington State and a
beneficial change in our circumstances coupled with a shift in
priorities allowed me to become a full-time Samoyed mum.
At that time we had six adults, two of whom were not
part of our breeding program but who were trained as therapy
dogs. We
currently have our foundation female, Tirzah, two girls and
two boys from the Danish side of the tree, two girls from the
English side of the tree, and are working on integrating them
into some good North American lines.
We also have the occasional dog to re-home, since all
Luminous Samoyeds come back here if their owners experience
severe life changes which require them separating from their
Sams.
We
have lived an adventurous life with our dogs, having resided
on boat-access islands in British Columbia’s relatively
pristine wilderness, as well as in the wilds of one of the
world’s great cities, Vancouver, B.C.
We have lived many other places along this continuum.
We currently reside in a tiny community straddling the
US/Canada border that we refer to as a drive on island, as it
is 10 square miles of land surrounded on three sides by salt
water, and the fourth by an armed-guard border.
We maintain a place and status in both countries, as
John’s family lives in B.C. and I was born in the US.
We live near 400 acres of wooded land with several
miles of beach on which we can walk daily and run the dogs at
liberty. We feel
very fortunate for all this, and of course, more importantly,
our Samoyeds love it. Crossing
the border for most services, we have enjoyed activities such
as agility, obedience, therapy and conformation showing with
our dogs at various times.
Our
interest in breeding integrates my granny’s tutoring in
equine conformation and bloodstock, my training for beauty and
formal functional relationships in painting, and our concern
to contribute to the breed we love in matters of health and
temperament. We
began our breeding program with great caution, lots of
research and a willingness to take big risks with our program.
We were blissfully ignorant of all the political issues
rampant ‘in dogs’. We
obtained our foundation bitch from two co-breeders who are
both very passionate about the breed and who decidedly do not
get along. We
have been grateful to them both for their contributions to us,
to the breed in their respective countries, and to God for the
healthy, lovely, and showy girl their brief alliance produced
for us. Their
examples have taught us more than we could ever say, and their
differences and the consequences of them for many people have
likewise been a very valuable lesson to us in our conduct in
the breed. We
endeavor to put these many lessons to positive use.
We will remain grateful to them always.
More
recently, in conjunction with beginning our breeding program,
we have entered into conformation events to qualify our dogs.
We found that we do not so love showing as to desire to
be one of those pursuing the title for a mediocre dog.
Instead, it is our goal to produce good quality in
small quantity, and to put an emphasis on a more rounded
picture of our well-rounded breed.
While making improvements in aspects of conformation
according to our breed standard, we endeavor to preserve in
our breed a combination of independent intelligence,
biddability and athleticism to ensure working ability.
As a responsibility to the future of the breed and to
the humans with whom Sams live, we research carefully and keep
up a breadth and depth of health records.
An extremely gifted dog physically will be passed over
it has not the probability of robust health and lovely
temperament to contribute.
Finally, we give the lives we help start the best
beginning possible by raising pups with intense attention and
devotion, and by giving great care to the selection and
support of the owners of those placed.
In addition, we strive to make a small, but we hope
significant, contribution to the fancy by good sportsmanship,
respect for the necessarily diverse efforts of our peers, and
ethical conduct in all aspects of kennel practice.
We
have the good fortune to be able to focus on a longer term
perspective and to channel the resources necessary to
diversify the available gene pool in our region by bringing in
and proving up new lines. We have begun to integrate a blend of European working and
English show lines into our foundation bitch’s North
American bloodlines. God
willing we will be able to sustain the effort to further do
so. Our initial
efforts have been blessed, encouraging us to continue.
Michelle
and John Edmondson
