Welcome to Best Friend Kennel ~ American Staffordshire Terriers

In 1987, I had the good fortune to meet Al Taber and Harold Card. Up until that time I was a very happy mom of 4 children and had 2 GSDs, Rachel and Hanna, 1 English Shepherd, Annie, and a Springer Spaniel named CoCo.

Al was very heavily involved with Amstaff pedigrees, which he knows better than anyone I know in the breed. He had recently bred a litter of Tacoma dogs with Jimmy Ryan from New York.

Well to make a long story short, he hooked me into the breed through pedigrees, stories and visits to kennels and dog shows. He is a wonderful teacher and I was his student!

I was not a novice to dog shows as I had dabbled in some breeding and showed Springers back in the day. Once I had children my priorities changed and showing and breeding dogs was forgotten for more than 20 years.

Al and Harold taught me everything I know today and I will always be grateful for their knowledge as it started me on the right track.

My first Amstaff was Sonny, a Tacoma dog. Sonny was a true Tacoma dog and was a real challenge.

After Sonny came my Sertoma dogs, Meggie and Tommy! I also had a foster amstaff named Sammi who wound up being one of the best dogs I ever had and she lived with me till the day she died of cancer. Then came Sierra, another Tacoma dog, who was a gift to me from Harold.

I was particularly interested in the Sertoma line, which Theo Rayburn of South Carolina was responsible for. Theo's dog Ch Shurguard's Chief of Staff was the foundation dog for his line. He was one-half Tacoma and one-half Gallant and Theo bred him to Tacoma Susette III , a pure Tacoma dog! I really wanted the Sertoma dogs, and they were hard to find, but I am tenacious as were my friends and we found them in a small town in South Carolina.

I bred my first litter; Tommy x Sierra in 2003 and it was well worth the wait. That breeding produced 3 puppies, Abbey who finished her AKC championship in 2003, Bubbie who is already major pointed and Sienna who lives with a wonderful family and enjoys her couch time.

During my brief 20 years in this breed, I have been very blessed; I have put the first champion titles on Sertoma dogs since Sertoma's Flambo. Meggie, Tommy, Abbey are all AKC Champions, Bubbie is close and should get his title this year.

My challenge is to preserve the Sertoma line as best I can. Tommy is the last linebred Sertoma dog and I feel a great responsibility to ensure that as much of the line that Theo Rayburn founded will be preserved! I want Theo to look down at me and say, job well done lady!