It's hard to believe that the Shannmie Kennels started with a redundancy notice and a decision to take some time off in between jobs, also the decision to have a dog.  The next question was which breed of dog would be our choice; one that would suit our lifestyle and ours would suit theirs.

The decision was made one morning on the way to work. Three little dogs were spotted on a doorstep and it was known instantly that that was the breed for us.  Then it was a case of doing some research to find out what breed of dog it was as we knew very little about dog breeds at the time.

As the time drew close to the final days at work, an advert was spotted in the local paper stating ‘Sheltie Pups for sale’ so off we went to see them.  There was a choice between a black one and a brown one. The breeder was trying to steer us towards the black one, but my eye was taken by the brown one and that was the one I wanted.  The last day of work arrived and we headed off to pick up our little bundle of fluff.  Toby had arrived and we had never realised that such a ball of fluff could bring such joy and happiness.

The Shannmie Kennel was being born and our interest in the Shetland Sheepdog was on its way.  Books were bought and read over and over.  We found out that it wasn't a brown dog we had bought but a sable and white. Toby went everywhere with us.  The little thing was so intelligent, it was so unbelievable, and when he got sick we spent a round the clock vigil until he recovered.

Anyway, after a few years, Toby was joined by a blue merle called Sky and a tricolour called Jay Jay. None, it turned out, were any good for the show ring, but that was how we gained some experience.

We heard from a friend that someone was wanting to find a new home for a tri colour bitch.  We went to see her and Lucy – Alkalols Little Lucy Locket - joined our little band. She was the first Sheltie we had in the show ring and we did quite well with her at open shows. At the time, Championship shows were out of our league.

We thought it would be a nice idea for us to have our own Prefix, so we duly applied to the English Kennel Club and Shannmie Shetland Sheepdogs were on their way.  How did we arrive at Shannmie? Well, Shann is part of my middle name and Mie is from Michael.

Several years into showing our dogs, we became aware of something called the Irish Circuit.  This sounded interesting and we looked into it further.  We met one of our good friends through it.  Maureen introduced us to Ireland and the Irish Circuit.  We spent a few years travelling over to the shows and making up two Irish Champions in the process. Our first was Winky (Ir. Ch. Landover Nutshell at Shannmie) who was made up after only five shows and two circuits. Our new Irish friends threatened to sink the boat after that.  Our second was Charlie (Ir. Ch. Landover Eirwen JW).

We were given the opportunity to move and decided to try our luck in Southern Ireland.  We lived there for seven years, then due to family commitments, we moved back to England.

During the time we were in Ireland, we made some good friends and were delighted to have made up into an Irish Champion our home bred Collie - Shadow (Ir. Ch Shannmie Blue Sirroco)

It was quite a while before we got settled back into Yorkshire, and we are now just beginning to get back into the show scene.  There are a lot of new faces around the rings and also the more familiar faces.

We now await the future.