ABOUT US:
We are Sandra and Harry Brownlie and we live in a very rural area only 50 miles from Carlisle,near Abington in Scotland. We have a joint history in many breeds over a large number of years, so you can guess that we are no youngsters!
Harry was a great terrier and lurcher man with an enviable knowledge of lines and the working aspect of these dogs having travelled the length and breadth of the country to see dogs at work or to work his own. I personally favoured the showing side and we had many wins with our Akitas,although their coats were very hard work at show time!
We have both previously owned between us large breed dogs, including a Rottweiler, Dobermanns, Boxer, German Shepherd and Akitas. In 2002 we started to look for a new breed to join us at Sandaharr to be a house dog and companion for myself in my dog walking business I had at the time. Breeds we researched and visited all over Britain include the English Mastiff, Bullmastiff, Cane Corso, Presa Canaria, Dogue De Bordeaux, Bouviers and also Russian Black Terriers. As much as we respect and admire all these breeds the 'WOW' factor wasn't there until Harry saw a picture of the Boerboel in a 'Dogs' magazine and then we were committed to finding out as much as possible about this breed. Then followed a lengthy time of research and visiting the breed and we were very impressed with what we saw on visiting Anthea Jones in the South of Wales with Celtic Connection Boerboels.
We got our first female, 'Razina', (means strong and patient) in January 2004 from Anthea. We had picked a puppy with attitude as the Akitas play rough and can be dominant and she would have to be of strong character to deal with this. She proceeded to settle in wonderfully well forming a very special bond with our old male Akita, Chieftain, who has sadly passed away since then. Over the last 11/12 years our interest in the breed has grown to a time ,money and life consuming passion, and we are proud to say that we have made many great friends and contacts at home and worldwide through the breed. It is very important to us that all our dogs can play as a pack and exercise as a pack. We like to run all the dogs together for the main part, which not a lot of breeders will do. To this end we have to be in control of the pack and more importantly each individual dog and the pack leader who at the present time is Juicy, though we expect her grand-daughter Hope to take this over in around a year as she matures. We have to be very firm with the dogs to achieve this harmony. In the past we have brought dogs in at various ages and we work hard to integrate them with the others. We have though, had to re-home certain dogs as they don't gel with the others and while fine as part of a one dog or two dog family, they don't meet our needs as sociable animals or perhaps are too submissive. Even puppies we have bred have been re-homed for this reason, it's all down to the pack mentality and acceptance. Yes, we do have the occasional skirmish,even a couple of serious fights (always the girls!) but it is very quickly dealt with, bad behaviour will not be tolerated from any of the dogs. When you visit we will ask if you feel more comfortable seeing/walking the dogs individually or all out together. We won't be offended if you decline to see the lot of them out together, we understand that it can sometimes be overwhelming at first. One thing we can be sure of though is that you will fall in love with a few,if not all, of our characters.
Written DECEMBER 2014 by Sandra Brownlie
Harry was a great terrier and lurcher man with an enviable knowledge of lines and the working aspect of these dogs having travelled the length and breadth of the country to see dogs at work or to work his own. I personally favoured the showing side and we had many wins with our Akitas,although their coats were very hard work at show time!
We have both previously owned between us large breed dogs, including a Rottweiler, Dobermanns, Boxer, German Shepherd and Akitas. In 2002 we started to look for a new breed to join us at Sandaharr to be a house dog and companion for myself in my dog walking business I had at the time. Breeds we researched and visited all over Britain include the English Mastiff, Bullmastiff, Cane Corso, Presa Canaria, Dogue De Bordeaux, Bouviers and also Russian Black Terriers. As much as we respect and admire all these breeds the 'WOW' factor wasn't there until Harry saw a picture of the Boerboel in a 'Dogs' magazine and then we were committed to finding out as much as possible about this breed. Then followed a lengthy time of research and visiting the breed and we were very impressed with what we saw on visiting Anthea Jones in the South of Wales with Celtic Connection Boerboels.
We got our first female, 'Razina', (means strong and patient) in January 2004 from Anthea. We had picked a puppy with attitude as the Akitas play rough and can be dominant and she would have to be of strong character to deal with this. She proceeded to settle in wonderfully well forming a very special bond with our old male Akita, Chieftain, who has sadly passed away since then. Over the last 11/12 years our interest in the breed has grown to a time ,money and life consuming passion, and we are proud to say that we have made many great friends and contacts at home and worldwide through the breed. It is very important to us that all our dogs can play as a pack and exercise as a pack. We like to run all the dogs together for the main part, which not a lot of breeders will do. To this end we have to be in control of the pack and more importantly each individual dog and the pack leader who at the present time is Juicy, though we expect her grand-daughter Hope to take this over in around a year as she matures. We have to be very firm with the dogs to achieve this harmony. In the past we have brought dogs in at various ages and we work hard to integrate them with the others. We have though, had to re-home certain dogs as they don't gel with the others and while fine as part of a one dog or two dog family, they don't meet our needs as sociable animals or perhaps are too submissive. Even puppies we have bred have been re-homed for this reason, it's all down to the pack mentality and acceptance. Yes, we do have the occasional skirmish,even a couple of serious fights (always the girls!) but it is very quickly dealt with, bad behaviour will not be tolerated from any of the dogs. When you visit we will ask if you feel more comfortable seeing/walking the dogs individually or all out together. We won't be offended if you decline to see the lot of them out together, we understand that it can sometimes be overwhelming at first. One thing we can be sure of though is that you will fall in love with a few,if not all, of our characters.
Written DECEMBER 2014 by Sandra Brownlie
