I have always been around dogs and animals - I grew up with German Shepherds, and had always wanted to breed dogs but when I met my husband Paul in March 2000 and moved into his flat in Margate, Kent, to be with him, I had to leave my four year old german Shepherd Skye behind in Bristol with my parents and her litter sister Bridie who'm she had always lived with all her life, as it would have been very traumatic for both dogs to split them up at that age.

I missed having a dog so much that in November 2000 we decided we would get one, because we could not have a large breed dog living in a flat we decided it would either be a Boston Terrier or Miniature Dachshund, After much research into both breeds and taking advice from several breeders we finally decided on a shaded red long haired miniature dachshund - We called him Sneaky. Roo a chocolate and Tan mini smooth girl joined us the following July. I loved the breed so much I decided I wanted to breed them, at that time Chocolate and Tan mini smooth dachshunds were rare and I wanted to make a difference to the breed. I just had to wait until Roo was old enough to have her first litter. All was well until Sneaky became very ill in October 2003, unfortunately we lost Sneaky to leukemia in the November which devastated us all to loose such a young dog, I contacted his breeder Mrs Mary Morris of Nailbourn Dachshunds and she promised me a bitch puppy from Sneaky's mothers last litter. Daisy joined us in April 2004 and then Marmite a Mini Wire bitch in the July.

My breeding trio was all set and I was now able to start thinking seriously about realising my life long dream of breeding dogs. I had already applied for my Kennel affix with Kennel Club back in August 2002 and I was granted the Kennel name 'Daltdach'. In September 2004 Roo gave birth to four beautiful pups, we decided not to keep any of them as it was a first litter and easily found loving homes for them. My first ever litter of puppies was a sucess.

Throughout 2003 and 2004 I had been training to be a canine behaviourist with the Academy of Dog Training and had been running my own dog training classes in Broadstairs, I also attended a pet microchipping course and passed everything with flying colours. You can view my certificates for my quailication's by clicking the link above on the right of the page. However my health was failing and I was finally diagnosed in with a rare hereditary collagen disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). I also was diagnosed with several associated conditions including Chronic Pain Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Autonomic Nervous System Dysfunction. It was a huge blow to the family and one that changed our lives forever. I was so ill that Paul had to leave his career to care for me and the boys who also both have the EDS and associated conditions. In February 2005 we decided to make the huge decision to move back to Bristol for more suport from family members.

Because of my illness everything I had worked so hard for simply fell apart and we had to start rebuilding our lives. We decided to continue with our breeding programme, although nature had other plans... Roo was diagnosed with cancer of the bladder in October 2005 after loosing a litter of week old pups and was sadly put to sleep as the cancer had completely distroyed her bladder. Marmite went on to have two beautiful litters of Miniature Wire haired Dachshunds in October 2005 and 2006, but sadly in May 2007 she was diagnosed with paranoid skitzophrenia which had manifested itself in a similar way to the way 'Cocker Rage' affects Cocker Spanials and by June 2007 we had to come to terms with the fact we had just lost our third dachshund under the age of 4! We have never bred from Daisy as she is so small, despite planning to originally, but by the time she was two in February 2006 and still only weighed just over 6lb we decided not to risk her health by breeding from her.

Going through the trauma of losing four of our five dachshunds so young, we vowed when our male Dachshund Ono died at the age of 8 enough was enough as neither of us could face buying another dachshund puppy, for fear of losing it at a young age, we therefore made the decision that we would have a Boston Terrier. A breed that both Paul and I had loved and admired for many years and one we had almost decided on back in 2000 but because Rowan our eldest son was only 3 and had disabilities along with the fact I was expecting our second son Thomas, we were advised to wait for a while by a breeder due to the boisterous charactoristics of the Boston - hence choosing the dachshund instead.

We were given the chance of rescuing a 4 month old Boston pup - who we called Winston. Lulu, Mindy, Stan and Doris have followed since and we also kept Jeffery - a boy from Lulu's first litter - we have now dedicated our lives to breeding our own line of Boston's and the Boston Terrier in general.

So Lulu, Mindy, Doris and Stan are the start of new chapter in our dog breeding history and for Daltdach - we will therefore continue to strive to produce happy healthy puppies who conform to the Kennel Club Breed Standard for the Boston Terrier, and be there to give a lifetime of support and advice to their new owners.