A quick introduction to Matt, myself (Flo) and Becky McDaniel.  Matt and I met while working together at the St. Louis National Stockyards in National City IL.  Matt was from North St. Louis MO and I from a little town in IL, Shiloh IL.  We were friends for the first 3 years of our aquaintance, then began dating, fell in love and married in July 1982.  We both had a love for animals and wanted desperately to live in the country.  We purchased 10 acres outside of Lebanon IL in Sept 1982 and have been there every since. 

 

I had Norwegian Elkhounds in 1974 and began exhibiting them in obedience and breed.  I was living at home then and trying to convince my father that I wanted another dog.  He thought the Siberian Huskies were very attractive so I purchased one of them, not paying attention to anything but the look of the dog.  " Rascal" was pretty, but not very conformationally correct.  I attained a beautiful silver/white "Cisco" that went onto become a Champion, but the Siberian was not what I was looking for.  Meanwhile I joined the all breed club in Belleville IL, Belle City Kennel Club.  I made new friends and learned so much.  I learned that I wanted a dog known for its' intelligence.

 

While reading an article in Dog Fancy magazine on Australian Shepherds, I convinced Matt to get one.  He purchased a little black/copper bitch from a breeder in Washington MO.  She was smart as a whip, but not much to look at.  Meanwhile, he and I were both hooked on this breed.  During our search, we joined the Greater St. Louis Australian Shepherd Club in 1981 and ASCA in 1981.  We attained our first true foundation stock from Karen Broadus of Marquis Kennels in Louisiana.  A blue bitch named Marquis Sun-Up Sarah McMatt.  She went on to become an ASCA Champion and a Hall of Fame Dam.  An outstanding bitch and super producer.  Our foundation sire: ASCA/AKC CH Showtime's Sir Prize, CD went onto become one of the top winning dogs in the midwest from 1984 - 1993 when he attained his AKC Championship at 9 years of age.  Sarah and Prize went on to produce some of the nicest Australian Shepherds around.  See both Sarah and Prizes' pages for more info about them.

 

Becky was born in Nov of 1986 and has been raised with the Australian Shepherds.  She has finished several dogs' Championships in both ASCA and AKC.  Becky has put obedience titles, herding titles and agility titles as well on our dogs'.  Training them is natural for her.  She knows what makes them tick and how to get them to want to please her.  She also has two Quarter Horses that she does speed shows with and has a lot of fun with her dogs and horses.

 

Becky and I decided to add Cardigan Welsh Corgis' to the mix in 1997 with our first Cardigan.  "Trooper"  They are very comical little dogs that we sure have a ton of fun with.  Read more about the cardigans on their own webpages.

 

Thanks for reading and perusing our website.