| Welcome, my name is Darlene and have loved miniature schnauzers for over 30 years! I breed miniature schnauzers that conform to the breed standard to personally show. I am a member of the American Miniature Schnauzer Club, the Tampa Bay Kennel Club, and the Central Florida Miniature Schnauzer Club. I live in Tampa, Florida but I am originally from New Orleans, Louisiana.
I am a graduate of Louisiana State University with a Masters in Business Administration and a degree in Animal Science with an emphasis on genetics and reproductive physiology. As soon as I graduated, I got my first Miniature Schnauzer, a salt and pepper, that I named Chivas Regal! We called him "Chevy."
I fell in love with this great little breed! I particularly liked that they don't shed or have a "doggy smell" even in hot, humid weather. And, they're athletic too! On top of all that, he was a great friend and fun companion. I was in consumer sales at the time and single, he traveled everywhere I did and particularly loved the park and squirrels. He lived to the stately age of 15.
But once Chevy was gone, I was devastated at the loss of my best friend for 15 years. My husband Mark started looking for ways to cheer me up which usually included traveling. Researching the internet, he learned about some breeders' in the wine country of Sonoma County, California. I thought "What a super combination: Miniature Schnauzers and great wine!" After several visits to California, I found myself with a new black male puppy, "Windsor". I always thought that you really need to have two miniature schnauzers to keep each other company. As luck would have it, a month later we purchased our beautiful girl "Maggie". Both Windsor and Maggie are AKC Champions and produced beautiful black puppies.
Windsor and Maggie's first black female puppy, Ch Orleans' Sylvie la Belle Dame, completed her AKC Championship on the very competitive Florida January circuit. She was the first to be handled to her championship by me, her breeder and owner. We were a great team!!
Ch Orleans' Antoinette la Puce (a/k/a "Toni") is also a black champion and is Sylvie's half sister. She was produced by Windsor and Maggie's daughter, Jazzy. Toni has been a wonderful mom. She was bred to the winningest miniature schnauzer in breed history from California and produced an outstanding litter of all boys! I showed the best black and salt/pepper puppies from this litter, both of which finished their AKC championships on one coat and were exclusively shown by me. Our current breeding program focuses on these two outstanding dogs.
I only have one or possible, two litters a year in order to produce an outstanding "show dog" for me to show. Not all puppies in a litter will be show quality so some will be available to adopt. I will hold on to a potential show puppy for at least five months of age to watch its development. So occasionally, we will have a older puppy or a retired adult available. I will try to match puppies or adults and their new families personality together. I enjoy keeping up with our schnauzers and their families through e-mail pictures and stories. Perhaps the greatest reward is hearing the wonderful stories from our schnauzers' new owners. These wonderful little dogs seem to make such a positive impact on everyone they meet!
It has been over 25 years since I purchased Chevy and we have come a long way! See the "What's New" section (currently being updated) for some of the above events.
Well, that's my Miniature Schnauzer story and I'm glad that you're visiting our web site.
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