David and I reside in Jackson, TN and Nashville, TN. My family also has an 'extended family' farm homesteaded by our ancestors located between Nashville and Jackson where lots of experiences with animals and breeding began. With an OBGYN father and a DVM uncle it wasn't unusual to have a unique breeding project going on with the cattle (ex: embryo transfer, frozen semen, etc). My father even worked to re-establish the wild turkey population in West Tennessee, incubating and hatching the baby turkeys in our home's garage in Memphis. The heritage and preservation of family as well as quality breeding practices of our farm's Beefmaster cattle earned the family the National Beefmaster Breeder's Association Preservation award.
Also during these early years my father was partner in a Tennessee Walking Horse operation, Nellwood Stables, that claimed a National Champion 4-year old, Senator on Parade.
We got our first Cairn in 1965. While my father bred and showed Cairns on a limited basis, my personal interest in preservation breeding of Cairns began here. He enjoyed it, wanted us kids to experience it, and did it with passion and excellence. . .never just to sell puppies. In the years since, I have only been without a Cairn for about a 6-year period when we had Westies.
Breeding for the betterment of the breed is a virtue oftentimes overlooked. Today, we strive to breed with the highest quality standards in temperament, conformation and health. However, we do not do this on a large scale. Small, deliberate and thoughtful measures are used when we breed our Cairns.
We try to keep no more than 4-6 Cairns at any one time. It is difficult to give our beloved furkids the kind-of attention they deserve when it has to be shared with a large number of dogs. This is an important distinction in recognizing breeders who do what's best for the dog. Our furkids are like family (they live in our home and travel with us when appropriate), but I have found that if you breed quality you will attract incredibly wonderful families who will cherish them just as much as we do. We feel that our Cairns deserve that special place in a family where they can be the "only child" or maybe one other dog. For this reason, we make available from time to time a young adult Cairn to place in his/her forever home.
Buyer beware! Any breeder who has to go overseas to find breeding stock might be a sign that they have been turned down by reputable breeders in the states. Please be cautious of any breeder who uses other breeders' hard work to "brag" about lines of champions to market/sell their puppies. Ask questions about the lines in terms of health issues that may exist. If they don't know, then they should be suspect of riding on the coattails of another breeder's hard work without the responsibility of knowing health problems behind the dogs in the pedigree. Knowing health of our lines is vitally important.
