ALL ABOUT US

Kenny and I live in Spotsylvania, Virginia on six acres of mostly open pasture land. We have a nice size comfy home where we have raised two great sons and now raise our seven four-legged canine friends and our two equine friends.  Of course numbers change from time to time but so it is with being a breeder. At this time we have 5 adult AHTs, two AHT puppies and two horses. We also have a few "barn" kitties, and a "barn" mouse, but they come and go as they please. They don't stay long enough to even give them a proper name.

We began with  showing and breeding back in 1987 with a slightly larger breed...Great Danes. But after finally getting that hard to find "perfect" pair, Kenny and I found out that we were allergic to dogs <frown>. This was a great disappointment as we both absolutely adore the Gentle Giants. So no matter how hard it was to do, we had to sell our Danes and move on to something we could "breathe" with.  We went through several different small and tight coated breeds with little success until we came across the Chinese Crested. A strange looking kritter but we felt we had found a breed we liked and could live with.

For some time we enjoyed showing our hairless critters and raising a few cute litters. Then things began to change with the breed and we simply didn't want to go with those changes which certainly were not for the betterment of the breed. I still hold that a hairless breed should be hairless naturally....not be shaved to make it so....

Now, the search was on for another breed that we could live with. Asthma is not something to take lightly, but we just had to have a canine kritter in the home. I remembered what it was like growing up without a dog in the home because my brother was so allergic. As an adult, canines have always been a part of my life.....I didn't want to give up now for my boys or for myself.

Fortunately, this time, we had a computer and internet service to help with the search. I had remembered the American Hairless Terrier from my Chinese Crested book and decided to start the hunt.  With the help of the fast speed computer world we found all of one owner on the net and I quickly made contact with her to try for more information. After a few phone calls, I was on my way to getting my first aht.

July of 1997, I had my first tiny naked wonder, TinkerBelle. She was tiny smart and extremely lively. She turned out to be much harder to handle than we expected and eventually her behavior became impossible and unsafe to live with. We were assured this was not typical of the breed and decided to try again. So Tinker went back to the breeder and thankfully we found two more darlings while we were there. We quickly scooped them up and headed back home. These guys were terrific in temperament and we were now on our way to getting our breeding program started.

We have worked hard for the breed....from bringing the original AHTC club back on its feet (as President) and then bringing the club through its first Specialty after being brought back to life. I designed my first website ever for the AHTC and the breed and also put out the first and only Newsletter for the club and breed. It was great fun being in on the ground floor of a new and coming breed. Then things got a bit topsy turvy with political aspirations of others and we resigned from the AHTC and founded a new club, NAHTA, the National American Hairless Terrier Alliance. This club would join with UKCI as the parent AHT Club. Again, a new logo, new website, and new Newsletter for the club and the breed, but a breed we truly loved and felt was worth all the trouble. Times have been difficult through all of this,with many changes happening in the breed, the registries, the clubs and the people involved. So we have dissolved NAHTA and choose to stand on our own. We totally support the Founder of the American Hairless Terrier and use only Trout Creek Kennel bloodlines, but we do not go along with the clubs and their new ideas of pulling away from the Founder's stock and start mixing other breeds into the lines.

Now rather than being in the middle of all of the politics and tensions, Kenny and I have decided to step back and enjoy our dogs and family. We feel that we can actually do more for the breed that we have come to love dearly without a club affilitation than being so involved.

All of our dogs are dual registered. They are registered with UKC for now though we do not like where they are allowing some of the breeders to take the breed.  With UKC coated dogs are being allowed to be registered and shown as American Hairless Terriers and over the last five years other breeds have been allowed to be introduced into some of the other breeders bloodlines.

So now we have decided to register our dogs with UKCI where no coated dog will ever be allowed to be called American Hairless Terrier and will be registered as HYBRIDS.  Our breed will be protected because only true American Hairless Terriers that meet the standard set forth by the originator of the breed will be enforced and pictures will be required to register the AHTs.

Though we promote the breed when we can and register with UKC and UKCI, we personally will not have direct involvement with any American Hairless Terrier club. We have found that the involvement and politics takes too much time and energy away from the enjoyment of our dogs and has also put a strain on several wonderful friendships we had made. So our goal now is to keep this website non political and filled with information for all AHT fanciers and newcomers.

You will not find "club" talk on this site. I will not get into the views and opinions of the different AHT clubs out there or even have links to them. As past President of the American Hairless Terrier Club...I've been there and done that...politics only gets in the way of what this breed truly is...a delightful little dog that the average "I don't care about politics or showing person " is looking for. The only "club" link you will see is to the United Kennel Club or Universal Kennel Club International which registers our breed. There you can learn more about registering your puppy or dog or get information about showing.

You will only see links to two other breeders on this site.  I have made small websites for them and you will see their links on the index page.  Other than myself these other two are the only ones that still breed the foundation lines of Trout Creek Kennel.

Yes, there are several other breeders out there, but too many that I cannot in good conscience recommend. So, in my site I try to give you the tools to search out a good breeder rather than to unknowingly link to a not so good breeder that you could possibly get involved with.

I have written a section on "Buying A Puppy". This section will inform you as to what you should look for in a breeder and also lists the many questions you should ask in order to get the best possible puppy to fit your family and its needs.  I hope this makes up for my unwillingness to link or be linked to possible unfavorable kennels or breeders.

Now back to our plans.....we will still be out there representing the breed whenever and where ever we can and are always happy to meet with anyone interested in meeting one of our cuties in person. We also will constantly be adding and updating material on this site to keep visitors up to date on what is happening with the breed. We plan to show our dogs whenever we can and breed a few nice litters per year.

With only having four quality breeding females and one quality breeding male, we do not consider ourselves a kennel. Our dogs are treated as members of the family and are not kept in cages. Yes, they are crate trained and yes, at times they are put in their crates, but seldom...not day in and day out, like most kennel dogs. All of them sleep with us and all of them are right by my side all day long.  In fact, they are all curled up in a chair right next to me as I type this.  And when I get up to move from room to room, I can always count on a little parade of pooches right behind me.....I wouldn't have it any other way. Hey, if I had my way.....the horses would be in here with me too...<grin>.

As I stated, I do not consider us a kennel in any way. We only wish to add a few quality puppies to the small American Hairless Terrier population and at reasonable prices for some nice folks to be able to afford and love them. Now that is not to say we wouldn't "like" to have an entire house full of these little cuties. They are like potato chips...one just isn't enough. But in the not so distant future we have plans to begin full time RVing and more than the number of kritters we have now in a travel trailer going cross country would be a bit too much. I'm still trying to figure out how we can pull a travel trailer and horse trailer...<grin> .

So a few quality dogs we will settle for in order to raise a few quality  pups. And we will always be one of the biggest fans and promoters of the American Hairless Terrier.

So if during one of your travels you make a pit stop and see two middle aged folks walking or holding some rather odd looking hairless critters...stop and say howdy doo. There is a very good chance it is Kenny and I on one of our many trips around these beautiful United States. We love to say hello and chat awhile about our funny little friends and they absolutely love the added attention while they stretch their legs.

We hope you enjoy this site and that it covers everything you can think of about the breed.  If you have any further questions, by all means contact us. If there is anything on this site I have missed and you would like to see just let me know and I would be happy to consider adding it to the site. Thanks for dropping in and please sign the guestbook and let me know what you think.

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