A BIT ABOUT CURIO

Curio Italian Greyhounds began in 1987 with two wonderful dogs from Carl Sanders and Walter Greene of Zebec kennels. These two lovely dogs became CH Zebec's Iron Eyes Cody (Skeeter) and our first Top Producer, CH Zebec's Passionella (Nella).

Nella was bred to Skeeter once, producing CH Curio Ivory Coast, CH Curio Daytona, and CH Curio Savannah d'Salswift.

She was bred to Sally Smyth's CH Salswift's Sucess Story twice, producing CH Curio Sydney, CH Curio Kashmir, CH Curio Sicily d'Dancelot, CH Curio Brunswick O'Montrose, and CH Curio Fire Island D'Carousel. This secured her place in IG history as a Top Producer.

Her litter by CH Salswift San Andreas Curio never finished, due to unforseen personal matters at home, although two puppies from that litte, Curio Gold Coast and Curio Cote d'Ivoir were on their way. You can see these dogs in the section marked Our Past.

The acquisition, from Sally Smyth (Salswift) of the black and white Irish-marked dog who became CH Salswift San Andreas Curio was fortuitous. Richter finished quickly, being a dog that I merely had to place on the table without touching a leg or foot. He became a Top Producer in his own right, siring 13 Champions from eight bitches. Although much of his contribution came after he left Curio, I am still proud to have selected, owned and finished him, and to have shared my life and home with him. He is now living a full retirement life with a wonderful family, at the age of 15.

After having to place my breeding program on a back burner for several years, I basically started over. I acquired a seal and white bitch, Anthony's Tassa d'Oro, from Donna Emmett (Anthony) and a bit later, a lovely red bitch, Anthony's Manhattan, from her as well.

Our second "foundation" bitch is the lovely CH Anthony's Allya d'Willowmere. The dam of two Champions and counting, this lovely black pied bitch has given us several lovely youngsters and grand-youngsters to proceed with. I didn't think any bitch could ever compare in my heart to my Nella, but Piper has carved a large niche of her own next to her.

We were then lucky enough to obtain a stunning seal and white dog from Donna, who finished very quickly to become CH Anthony's Kissing Bandit. Bandit is now retired and living with a lovely family.

Next came Willowmere Kissimmee Curio (Katy), who suffered a severe leg break just before her first birthday, ending her show career. Now retired, she has been an important part of our breeding program.

CH Willowmere Chianti Classico (Kenny) is Katy's half brother. He finished by going WD, including 4 BoW (three to majors) and 5 BoS awards, five days in a row on the June 2004 Montana Circuit. Both Katy and Kenny came from Bill Monohon's Willowmere Italian Greyhounds.

We have a beautiful black pied bitch out of Piper's 2003 litter, Curio Elliott Bay. Her first show outing was at the Willamette Toy Dog Fanciers Specialties in November. She not only won the 6-9 mo bitch class in the Sweeps (against a lot of foofoo dogs)...but went WB and BOS for her first 2 points! She gained 9 points owner/handled before being sent with a handler in the quest for those last few points. She came back to us with a leg so severely broken that she will never be shown again. She remains with us, and has given us some lovely puppies to go forward with.

We were VERY honored to co own one of the three puppies from Bill's FUTURITY NOMINATED litter out of his stunning Ch Piacere's Lavender Blue, sired by Kerrie's Ch Kimson's City Boy of Littleluv. We named this blue sprite Willowmere Lacey Curio. She was so VERY sound and true to type. Lacey is now at the bridge, waiting for us. She was killed shortly after going into a new home in October, 2006. I miss her tremendously.

CH Curio Shasta is a lovely black pied bitch from Katy's litter by Bandit. She is a joy to show, and just OOZES breed type! She is also my heart dog. Her litter sister Am/Can CH Curio Boka Made U Look lives with the Schwartzenbergers in Michigan, and has a son that is nearing his Championship title.

We decided that we needed to go a different direction in order to produce the quality that we strive for. We began with the addition of the "boys from Tennessee", acquired from Sherry Phillips at Logos Italian Greyhounds. CH Logos Afterlife Guarantee and CH Logos Bread Upon the Waters pretty much swept the shows on their ways to their titles, and we look forward to the impact they will make in our breeding program.

Sherry blessed us again by sending her lovely dark angel, CH Logos Ark of the Covenant to us. Named "Faith" in honor of the faith that Sherry continues to have in us. She finished her Championship in fairly short order under the age of 2 years.

We looked for nearly 7 years for a red Italian Greyhound nice enough to show. We had quite a few misses, but are very pleased with the acquisition of the stunning dark red Irish bitch, CH Logos Manna From Heaven. She is awesome and all we hoped for, beginning her show career for us at the IGCA National Specialty, and finishing her championship in just 14 shows with four majors.

In 2007, we added a clown of a red boy, CH Logos Judgment Tree. Oakley finished in double-quick time, winning a Best of Breed from the classes over ranked Specials at his very first show.

Our latest "homegrown" beauty is CH Curio Natchez Trace, the BLACK son of our CH Curio Shasta. Ipod finished his title very quickly once he finished growing up. The puppies from his first litter (Alfheim IGs) are VERY nice, and should finish quickly.

2008 brought some really exciting possibilities for us. The addition of two littermates that combine the Logos bloodline with the Wondoan bloodline from Australia will hopefully prove to be a fortunate move for us. Logos Crosses and Crowns and Logos On the Wings of a Dove joined our family in June or 2008. The boy, Echo is well on his way to being a Champion as of July 2009.

In 2009, we added two very nice youngsters from a litter that we had from a Champion bitch we leased from Logos. Curio Sesame Street and Curio Great Muppet Caper are the dog and bitch we kept from this breeding. The litter-brother, Logos The Ransomed of the Lord Will Return, is with Sherry, and will be shown.

2009 also brought us the addition of a very exciting young lady, Logos Whatever is Pure. Icey is a solid WHITE bitch, and is absolutely stunning!

We also brought home one of the puppies from the litter sired by CH Curio Natchez Trace and out of CH Kimson's Charmed I'm Sure, co-owned by the McLeod's of Alfheim IGs and Steve. This little wild Irish seal girl is knows to the AKC as Alfheim Dairy Queen Curio, and is known to her cohorts as Oreo.

We have some exciting breeding plans for the winter of 2009!!

Our 2006 hopes were dashed with the untimely loss of our two very promising litters to parvo in May. In 2008, we lost Katy's litter due to an extremely rare condition called "uterine hydropsis". An emergency C-section and spay at 48 days of gestation, and the sacrifice of her litter, was the only way to save her life. These tragedies are proof positive that breeding is not for the faint of heart, and also that no matter how careful you are, sometimes life has a way of throwing you some pretty painful hardballs.

We have been fortunate to have bred our bitches to some wonderful dogs, including: Ch Zebec's Iron Eyes Cody, Ch Salswift Sucess Story (Top Producer), Ch Salswift San Andreas Curio (Top Producer), Ch Salswift's Secretariat (Top Producer), Ch Anthony's Stompin atthe Savoy, Ch Cana-Hora A Lesson Learned, Ch Kimson's City Boy of Littleluv (Top Producer), BIS Ch Ciel-Rohan's Sizzlin Hot (Top Producer), CH Logos Through a Glass Darkly, CH Salswift's Dragon Fly, CH Anthony's Kissing Bandit, CH Logos Bread Upon the Waters, CH Logos Guilty As Sin, and our most recent breeding to CH Logos Bought at a Price (Top Producer).

My sincere thanks go out to all the breeders that have helped make Curio what it is today, through allowing us to own dogs from their bloodlines, and to breed to their stud dogs. The list includes Carl Sanders and Walter Greene (Zebec), Sally Smyth (Salswift), Donna Emmett (Anthony), William Monohon (Willowmere), Kerrie Schlag (Kimson), Carole Wilson (Cana-Hora), Mark Lucas (Integra), and most especially Sherry Phillips (Logos).

Our philosophy of "Quality without Compromise" is one that we take seriously. We know that there are no perfect dogs. However, we do believe that one has to be resolute in their vision. There have been a few others along the way in our search for the right dogs and combinations to build a bloodline. Some we pointed before deciding for whatever reason to cut them from our program. You can see their photos in the section, "Our Past".

We usually handle our dogs ourselves. Steve went from having never owned a dog of his own to being very involved with our dogs when we married in 2000. He is the official puppy socializer & couch spud companion in addition to training, handling, and all the rest of what comes with this hobby. He has become a quite proficient handler in his own right, finishing CH "Splash", CH "Oakley", and handling several other dogs to multiple points.

I have never let color get in my way of choosing a dog for my breeding program or the ring. This started with my first phone call in 1987 to Carl. When asked what sex I wanted, I said "I don't care"...when asked what color, I said "I don't care...I just want something I can show proudly". Carl didn't fail me...and when it came time that I wanted a second one...Carl and Walter were there to help again. My belief is that a good pied has as much chance of winning in the ring as any other color, so we have several pied IGs in our breeding program. My husband says that I'm just a "sucker for a white dog".

To date, we have either owned or bred the following AKC Champions:

CH Zebec Iron Eyes Cody

CH Zebec Passionella (Top Producer)

CH Curio Daytona

CH Curio Ivory Coast

CH Curio Savannah d'Salswift

CH Curio Sicily of Dancelot

CH Curio Kasmir o'Montrose

CH Curio Brunswick o'Montrose

CH Curio Sydney

CH Curio Fire Island d'Carousel

CH Anthony's Allya d'Willowmere

CH Anthony's Kissing Bandit

CH Willowmere's Chianti Classico

CH Logos Afterlife Guarantee

CH Logos Bread Upon the Waters

CH Logos Manna From Heaven

CH Curio Boka Made U Look

CH Logos Ark of the Covenant

CH Logos Judgment Tree

CH Curio Natchez Trace

CH Curio Shasta

We have also piloted the following dogs to their AKC titles in stiff Northwest competition.

CH Logos Guilty as Sin

CH Logos A Ransom for Many

When I Am Old

         I shall wear Turquoise and soft gray sweatshirts... and a
bandana over my long, silver hair.....and I shall spend my Social
Security Checks on Sweet Wine and My Dogs.......and sit in my house
on my well-worn chair and listen to my dog's breathing.

        I will sneak out in the middle of a warm Summer night and
take my Nero for a run, if my old bones will allow... and when
people come to call, I will smile and nod as I walk out and show
them my dogs...and talk of them and about them...

        The Ones so Beloved of the Past and the Ones so Beloved of Today....

        I still will work hard cleaning their runs and mopping and
feeding them and whispering their names in a soft, loving way..
I will wear the gleaming sweat on my throat, like a jewel ..
and I will be an embarrassment to all...and my Children ... who have
not yet found the peace in being free to have dogs as your Best Friends....

         These friends who always wait, at any hour, for your
footfall...and eagerly jump to their feet out of a sound sleep, to
greet you .......as if you are a God.

         With warm eyes full of adoring love and hope that you will
stay and hug their big, strong necks...and kiss their dear sweet
heads...and whisper to them of your love and the beautiful pleasure
of their very special
company....

         I look in the Mirror...and see I am getting old.... this is
the kind of woman I am...and have always been. Loving dogs is easy,
they are part of me, accept me for who I am, my dogs appreciate my
presence in their lives...when I am old this will be important to
me...you will understand when you are old....& if you have dogs to
love too.

Author Unknown

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