My love for dogs has been lifelong and was fostered by my tolerant parents throughout my childhood.  Appreciating dog shows came when I was a child and a family friend showed and bred Irish Setters.  She often took me to shows and I was in heaven!  I was immediately intrigued by the different breeds of dogs at the shows (since we always had mixed breeds) and decided at age 8 that I would have my own show dog someday.  That day came in 1981 when my husband and I adopted our first show dog, a Kuvasz, named Abbey.  When Abbey arrived, I was determined to learn everything I could about showing in conformation and obedience and in 1983 Abbey became a Champion and received her Companion Dog title in Obedience.  That same year she was ranked the second top winning female Kuvasz in the country and the highest scoring Kuvasz in obedience of all time!  No doubt this early success contributed to my enthusiasm, but the best memories of Abbey are the fun times we had learning, showing and traveling together.

In 1996 we adopted our first Bernese Mountain Dog and we have never had another breed since!  Once you fall in love with a Berner – no other breed can compare!  We have shared our home with many wonderful Berner’s since that time, raised our children and grandchildren with them and have embraced the pure joy that our dogs have brought to us!  All of our dogs live in our home and our puppies are loved, socialized and raised as members of our family from the moment they’re born.  Our dogs are always checked for heritable traits before being used in our breeding program, including hips, elbows, eyes, cardiac, vWd and DM.  Our dogs are bred for temperament, health, longevity and as the photo’s on this web site show, incomparable beauty!  Our focus is to improve the breed with each generation, whether we are producing our next champion or your loving family companion.

Though showing our dogs in conformation (where they are judged on structure, movement, and beauty) is our main focus, we have participated in many other AKC events including Obedience, Agility, Draft, Tracking and Nose Work. Brookhills has produced numerous AKC Champions and many of our dogs have earned their Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog titles which allows them to visit schools, nursing homes, and hospitals. Showing and breeding Bernese Mountain Dogs is not our career, it is our passion!

We are very proud to be involved in the Berner community and have developed close friendships with other Bernese Mountain Dog enthusiasts here at home, across the country and in Europe.  I have served as a board member for the BMDCNI (Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Northeastern Illinois) for two terms, Secretary for two terms and Vice President for one term.  I have been a member of the BMDCSEW (Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Southeastern Wisconsin) since 1997 and the BMDCA (Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America) since 1999.

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