About Isengard

Background

I purchased my first Belgian in 1977, Ch Brenna v Siegestor UDT TT WD-C ROM, from the Siegestor kennel in Southern California. Brenna was the foundation of all my early breedings. Early in 2003 we lost a great granddaughter of hers who was a good friend and who produced many outstanding offspring, Ch Greenfields Zibelle OA NAJ CGC TDI Select '96.

In 1995 I reserved a puppy bitch from Dennette Cockley of SumerWynd Belgians in New Hampshire as the start of a new breeding program. I had changed careers, married, and started a family and, at the time, did not have any bitches that went back to my old lines, Zibelle had not come into my life at that time. I wanted to find the right pup to provide a new start and that would be fun show and train.This little girl has exceeded all my expectations. Dana is now, Am/Can/UKC multi BISS CH SumerWynd's Dana of Isengard CDX HX MX MXJ TD TT Conformation HOF Agility HOF WDC-X WD-H ROM.

I could not have found a better dog to provide a foundation for what I strive to acheive in breeding and training, a versatile Belgian that is sound in temperament, sound in structure and that has lovely breed type. Dana is a 3 time BSCA Versatility Award winner in performance events, a 5 time BSCA Select in conformation, she has gone HIT in Herding at the BSCA '97 National Specialty and won the Top 10 in conformation at the 1999 BSCA National Specialty under a panel of breeder judges, and at the 2000 and 2002 National Specialties, she was Best of Breed under respected breeder judges Marcy Spalding and Barbara Swisher. At 8 years old she won the Veterans Class at the 2004 National Specialty and went on to go Best of Opposite Sex to her son, Ch Isengard's Joe Cool RE CGC HIC HOF. At this show another son, Justin, was HIT at both Herding trials and also won the BSCA Versatility Award. Jax, from Dana's N Litter won HIT in Agility. At over nine years she went to the Canadian National and was again BOS from Veterans. A top winner and a top producer, Dana was truly a once in a lifetime dog!

Since I attended my first BSCA National Specialty in 1979 I have attended 24 BSCA National Specialties, several Canadian Belgian Specialties, 2 French Specialties, a Dutch Specialty and a Swedish Specialty. I have been privileged to visit breeders and their dogs in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Finland, England and Australia. I still feel I have a great deal to learn about the breed and indeed learn something new with each dog I own and train and each litter I raise.

About my kennel name.... I had read the Lord of the Rings one summer in college. It was a good book but I never was as into it as some. That fall I was playing with kennel names that would work for both Dobermans and Belgians. While looking through the glossary of LOTRs I came across 'Isengard'. I liked the sound and didn't recall too much about the nature of the place and thought no more about it until the movies came out.....not exactly the 'image' I was going for! I did resist my son's suggestion to name one of the O litter Isengard's Orc!

Brenna

Zibelle

Dana

Breeding Philosophy

I breed for stable and biddable temperaments and strive to combine European type with sound structure and movement.

Health is extremely important and all my breeding stock is OFA normal hips and elbows. Eyes are checked annually and CERFd. I post the results of health checks openly on my website, good and bad.

I've used stud dogs representing top bloodlines from around the US and the world and they are all related, and there are always pros and cons to each and every breeding which have to be weighed once you have researched a pedigree throughly looking at siblings and their offspring, aunts and uncles and half siblings and grandparents, the whole family, or as much as you can find information on as many health problems are recessive and skip generations or are due to the interaction of many genes possibly with environmental influences. Thankfully Belgians have a far lower incidence of health problems than many of the more popular breeds and we want to keep it that way.

I hope if anyone ever has a sincere question about one of my dogs and a health issue that they contact me directly and just ask!

I occasionally have used an outstanding and proven stud dog from a country where all health checks are not routinely done but it is only after extensive research into what the stud dog has actually produced in his litters. I called breeders in over 8 different countries before while researching one stud dog and email breeders in even more countries prior to breeding my female to him.

I work my dogs in agility and herding, some in tracking and obedience too. This gives me a much better understanding of their performance capabilities and drives as a breeder. Plus I just plain enjoy training dogs, that is why I selected Belgians in the first place, they enjoy being trained! I have always wanted to be able to 'do it all' with my dogs. I've never been satisfied just doing conformation or just performance. It is certainly a challenge, but I am committed to developing a line that consistently produces dogs that are fun to train in agility, herding, obedience, and tracking and that you can live with, as well as can compete successfully in the conformation ring. Not all puppies turn out exactly like their parents, or as planned, so I temperament test each litter using the Puppy Apptitude Test to help me evaluate what type of home will be the best fit. I try to be as honest and objective as possible in evaluating dogs I am breeding and have bred. I learn something new with each litter!

My first litter in 1979 produced three champions, all finished easily owner or breeder handled. One placed in the Top Ten obedience Belgians and another of the champions went on to become a working police dog for the Tucson Sheriffs Department. A major pointed half brother from my second litter joined him soon after. This was a great start to breeding dogs that could perform and were also lovely breed representitives. Since 1979 we have bred a total of 21 litters. We have produced 31 conformation champions, with others major pointed. Isengard Belgians have won the BSCA National Specialty in conformation as well as HIT in Herding and Agility, and they have been Best in Show, Group winners, Westminster and Eukanuba Invitational Best of Breed winners and top ranked Agility and Obedience dogs.

We have 4 adult Belgians in residence, plus my husband's Australian Shepherd. We recently moved to several acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains from Washington state. I have been a member of the Belgian Sheepdog Club of America since 1977 and a founding member and officer of both the Barbary Coast Belgian Sheepdog Club in California and the Northwest Belgian Sheepdog Club in Washington.

All of my breeding stock are OFA clear of Hip and Elbow Dysplasia, eyes are CERF'd annually and are OFA Thyroid Normal.

Click here to view Health Information in Litters

Click here to view Isengard BSCA HOF recipients.

Thank You James!

My husband loves my dogs and has supported me in all my activities. None of my current success would be possible without him.