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BIOGRAPHIES
Barbara Hoffman -
Merrymoon Kennel
In the early
1950's and 1960's Barb's mother, whose parents had always
had Labradors, raised GSD's, several of which were imported from
Austria. She trained them in protection, tracking and
obedience. Over the years, her family also included a Border
Collie, Smooth Fox Terrier, Springer Spaniel, English Cocker Spaniel,
Beagle and several mixed breeds.
Barb acquired her first show dog, a Samoyed, in
the mid 1970's after a 3 year wait. During that 3 year waiting
period, her mentor, the late Islay Aitcheson of Glokon Kennels, a
colleague of researcher/author Casey Gardiner, taught her about
structure and movement and how to measure bone lengths and angles.
This
was later to prove one of the most important skills she would
learn. A few months after her Sam arrived, an Alaskan Malamute
was added to the family as a 'surprise' birthday present. It was
through this breed that she met fellow enthusiast Lin Mazurkiewicz who
eventually went on to become a successful professional handler and one
of Barb's dearest friends. She
showed Sams and Mals for several years and bred several litters under
the "Bawyni" (pronounced Bonney) prefix. At the time the demands
of a
young family and job that required extra hours and 'on call' duties made it difficult to
maintain a kennel of grooming intensive canines and eventually Barb
placed
all her northern dogs.
In 1979 Barb's
youngest daughter, Nicole, decided she wanted a dog to show and they
acquired from Vera Orr, Vanderro's Sweet Georgia Brown, a tan-pointed tri daughter
of the
English dog Rowell Midnight
Gambler. A few months later a red dog
from Charlie MacInnes, Finnshavn's Bawyni Friar Tuck, joined the
family. These were the two Cardigans that made Barb fall in love
with the
breed. Georgia and Tuck produced a tan pointed-tri bitch,
Can/Am/BdaCh. Bawyni's Sweet Molly McGee who, bred to the American
import, Can Am Ch. Tesseract's Pete of Santana produced
Charlie MacInnes'
BIS dog, Selkirk.
Through Barb's
research
into the breed, the line
that defined the essence of Cardigans for her were the Pantyblaid dogs.
So, it is not surprising that she would turn her attention to the
U.S.A.
and the fabulous Pluperfect Cardigans as the blueprint for type.
Eventually,
Bawnyi Kennels gave way to Merrymoon
Reg.'d, Cardigans, and as her experience with the breed grew she was
able
to acquire dogs that more closely fit the vision of the breed that she
had developed. The brindle dog Phi-Vestavia Pirate's Patch, a
wonderfully showy and beautifully tempered dog out of two British
imports came to Merrymoon in the mid-80's. He was followed a year
later by the phenomenal red bitch, Phi-Vestavia Unforgettable a
daughter of the famous Can Am. Ch. Phi-Vestavia Nautilus and an English
import bitch, Can Am Ch. Rikarlo American Phi.
At around this time Barb
met
Patti Snider of Noblestar Cardigans at a show, and eventually they
became
good friends and co-owners and co-breeders of several litters. It
was Patti who facilitated the first foray into the Pluperfect lines
with the breeding of Unforgettable and Jon's Bosco who lived with Cindy
Bossi. The blending of the offspring of the Phi-Vestavia imports
and the Pluperfect dogs was to prove very auspicious.
The 1998 CWCCA National
Specialty in Andover, Mass. was a defining event for Merrymoon
Cardigans. Barb had not attended an American National since the
Fort
Erie specialty several years previously. She decided it was time
to
test out the results of her breedings in the toughest competition in
the
world. And how serendipitous that the breeder-judge, Jon
Kimes, was one
whose dogs decended from the same dogs that inspired her own vision of
Cardigans! On the drive to Andover Lin and Barb discussed how
great
it would be if one of the dogs were to make the cut in their class.
They exceeded expectations by all winning their classes and going on to
take WD,WB, BOW, HoM! This was the beginning of what would prove
to be a very successful collaboration between Pluperfect and Merrymoon.
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Jon developed a great love and fascination with animals from earliest
childhood. Although he had no dogs until he was eight years old,
he was utterly fascinated by them…often sitting by the fence of
neighbors’ yards watching their dogs. Eventually, he persuaded
his parents to allow him to have a dog – and
that was the beginning of
the end! At age 13 he obtained his first Cardigan, Georgian Court
Arthur, from Andrea Georgi via the Paul Nigro Junior Showmanship
program. As a teenager, he worked for two well-known all breed
handlers, Marjorie Lewis of Al-Mar Maltese, and Wendell and Dora Lee
Wilson, well known for handling terriers. Jon obtained his first
Cairn Terrier at age 19, his foundation Cardigan bitch at 20 and his
first bull terrier at 23!
While in college, Jon assisted his Cairn Terrier friends by whelping
their litters and he whelped over 10 litters during that
timeframe. Jon added Lowchen to his kennel in the late 1990’s and
owned several other breeds, including a Wire Fox Terrier, a Kerry Blue
Terrier, and Scottish Terriers. His undying passion, from
childhood, has always been Pekingese and he’s never owned one!
In addition, Jon has bred Peruvian Cavies (long haired guinea pigs) and
exhibited Best in Show winners. He also bred and exhibited
Persian cats for over four years with
several Best Cat winners as
well. He loves hair and hates to groom!
Jon has owned and/or bred winners at the National Specialties for Cairn
Terriers, Bull Terriers, Lowchen and Cardigan Welsh Corgis. Jon
has written many articles on breeding, showing and judging over the
years. In the early 1990’s Jon obtained his judge’s license and
limits his judging of Cairns, bull terriers and Cardigans to
supported,
regional and national specialty events. He plans to add
more breeds although his preference is
designing breeding programs over
traveling to dog shows.
Jon has enjoyed his many very successful breeding partnerships over the
years, which have resulted in many national-level successes with
Cardigan breeders such as Connie Whan (Davenitch),
Norma Chandler, Helen Jones (Kennebec), Gayle
Garvin, Cindy Bossi (HomeGrown) as well as Gordon and Norma Smith
(Magor Bull Terriers), Susie Williams (DeSusa Lowchen), Glenna Barnes
(Cairland Cairns), and the late Betty Race (…of the Highlands
Cairns). He holds a very special place in his heart for all his
partners. Today, Jon has embarked on a new partnership with Barb
Hoffman (Merrymoon).
Jon is enormously grateful to his family
for their continued and good
hearted support, and most especially to his mother, Beverly Kimes, who
has
been the “back room” girl
for many decades. She has always
graciously accepted every stray and odd animal he’s brought home
-
although she was heard to comment, while he was wrapping the coat on
one of his Peruvian Cavies, “That has got to be
the hobby of someone
who has absolutely nothing else to do!”
Jon has an under-graduate degree in accounting and a
masters degree in
marketing. His corporate career has been focused on process
improvement and project development and he enjoys writing and
music.
Jon's partner, Jim Breckenridge, is an interpreter (Spanish &
French) and holds two undergraduate degrees. After
furthering his education in Canada and Spain, he achieved his Masters
of Arts in Conference Interpreting at the prestigious Monterey
Institute of International Studies. Jim is currently in law
school.
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Welcome
to the pages of two cooperating kennels:
Pluperfect & Merrymoon
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It is our pleasure
to
present to you the outstanding accomplishments of our breeding efforts.
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Owned
by Jon Kimes Barb Hoffman
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Copyright
Pluperfect Kennels & Cattery - 2013 |
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