Smudge

Eye, ear, heart, patella, hip, and elbow cerfs

I had been involved with shelties for 15 years, producing 1 AKC champion and quite a few

obedience and agility dogs. I love my shelties but I wanted to cut back on the everyday

vacuuming of dog hair. I decided on a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. I did my research and

started contacting breeders. Fortunately for me, one of my first phone calls was to Tanya Afman

in GA. I, explained that I lived on a farm, had 4 older spayed shelties, about 100 rabbits,

miniature donkeys, ducks, geese, and chickens. Tanya didn’t think that this would be a good

environment for a Soft Coated Wheaton. Tanya also raised Havanese. She gave me some of the

background of the breed and suggested that I check the Havanese out. The Havanese personality,

size, and non-shed was exactly what I was looking for. I contacted Tanya and asked to be on her

long waiting list.

I was on Tanya’s waiting list for 5 months before a litter was born. My only requirement was a

dark head and a female. SMUDGE was my first Havanese. I fell in love with the Havanese breed.

The personality of the Havanese is absolutely unique. Now, I was thinking about showing and

breeding. When Smudge was about a year old, I took her down to Sandy Barnes for an

evaluation. If Smudge was of pet quality I would spay her and keep her as a pet and look for a

2nd Havanese with show potential. Sandy thought Smudge was a nice Havanese, with some minor

faults. We discussed breeding her to Sandy’s Beanie. Beanie had the qualities to offset Smudges

faults. Out of that first litter, one puppy was sold to Rebecca Elliott who owner handled Salem’s

A Precious Gem to her championship. MY FIRST CHAMPION —- IN MY FIRST LITTER—-

WOW— I WAS HOOKED.

Smudge is definitely a character. She thinks, her job in life is to make me laugh. Give her an

empty sour cream container and she will throw it around for an hour, always checking that I am

watching. ; Sadly, Smudge passed away at age 14.