Pluperfect & Merrymoon Kennels

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.
Jonathan Jeffrey Kimes - Pluperfect Kennel (Jon's in Peculiar) (Jon's in Kansas City) 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.
Welcome to the pages of two cooperating kennels: Pluperfect & Merrymoon
It is our pleasure to present to you the outstanding accomplishments of our breeding efforts.
Owned by Jon Kimes Barb Hoffman
Copyright Pluperfect Kennels & Cattery - 2013