OUR FEMALES
THE NUMBER ONE COTON de TULEAR ALL-SYSTEMS 2018
2017 UNITED STATES OF AMERICAN COTON DE TULEAR CLUB NATIONAL SPECIALTY SHOW WINNER,
NUMBER ONE GROUP WINNING COTON for both 2017 AND 2018!
and
SILVER-LEVEL AKC GRAND CHAMPION
NEW CANINE GOOD CITIZEN ADVANCED and AKC NOVICE TRICK DOG TITLEHOLDER!!
NINA
RBIS NBISS GCHS CH WHISPERING LANE'S JUST RIGHT FOR MORNINGLOW CGCA TKN
NINA comes to us from the suburbs of Phoenix, AZ. She was born in September, 2015 to GCH Cowboy's Buffalo Hunter, CM and CH Jespersen's Melancholia CM. She is a darling little princess with super white coat, very black nose pigment and an ultra-feminine expression. Has exactly the temperament we want in a Coton; playful and active, yet still easy to settle down and very cuddly. Nina began her show career with a weekend in Wheaton, IL, in June, 2016, with a Best of Opposite Sex win over "specials" (dogs who have already earned their championships)! She finished her AKC Championship on August 27, 2016, exclusively owner-handled by me, at the Elgin Kennel Club Show in St. Charles, IL and went on the next day to earn her first Grand Championship major win on her first day out as a new "special"! Nina then went on to finish her Grand Championship title less than three months later, in mid-November, 2016. Nina completed her Bronze Level Grand Championship on 12.12.17, by going Best of Breed on the first day of the 2017 AKC National Championship Royal Canin cluster in one of the largest coton entries of the year! Nina is also the 2017 AKC Coton National Specialty Show winner, again taking a Best of Breed over one of the larger entries of the year outside St. Louis, MO in September, 2017! Nina had a stellar year in the show ring in 2017, was ranked in the Top Five in National Breed Points, All-Breed Points, and Grand Championship Points, and was invited to both the 2018 and 2019 Westminster Kennel Club Shows in New York City (she won Select Bitch at WKC 2018, we retired her from the ring prior to the 2019 show) and to the prestigious Crufts Dog Show in Birmingham, England! In 2018, Nina continued her winning ways, earning a SILVER Grand Championship, and ending her career at the end of the year as the NUMBER ONE COTON ALL-SYSTEMS, which means she came in at NUMBER ONE in every single way that the AKC keeps statistics on conformation achievement. She also finished her career as a Top 40 Non-Sporting Dog, the only Coton included in that group! She was also the top group winning coton for both 2017 and 2018!! It was remarkable ride; Nina exceeded all of our expectations and then some; you can read about her various exploits as they happened if you click on the "News" tab, and there are also many more photos there. Nina has been fully health-tested and has a CHIC certification. You can click HERE to see the extensive testing we have done on her, as well as see the extensive health testing that HER breeder has performed on each of her parents! We brought Nina back home for good in December 2018, and she has been enjoying life again as our housepet, taking long walks and playing with the other dogs at home. In May 2019, Nina became a mother for the very first time to our "Mamma Mia" litter (3 boys and 1 girl); daddy is our own Hamilton, who is himself a two-time National Specialty Show winner, and the Number One Coton all-systems for 2019. The two of them made a wonderful combination. We kept the little girl, whom we named Sophie, and she became an AKC Champion at the age of 10 months, also completely owner-handled by me! Sophie is now a Bronze Grand Champion, and is more than 3/4 of the way to her GCHS. Two of Nina's and Hamilton's other sons, Louie (Sophie's littermate) and Sunny (repeat breeding in 2020) have also gone on to earn AKC championship titles, Sunny is also a bronze grand champion. Nina is a great mom, and loves having her daughter Sophie around. Nina had a third litter in 2021 with our Artie, that produced another AKC grand champion, Vanessa, who is currently (early 2024) the No. 1 Owner-Handled Coton, showing with my co-owner Marilyn Thompson. We love having Nina back home with us, she is an amazing dog in every respect! I can't imagine life without her <3
LEFT, Nina as a little pup, just arrived at our house, December 2015.
ABOVE , Nina's 3-generation pedigree.
Please enjoy a little video of our Nina and Murphy at play! These two are absolute best friends, and so totally display the "joie de vivre" or "joy of life" that a properly-bred Coton de Tulear pup should have. I can watch these two enjoying each other's company for hours.....
Here is some video of our Nina in the Non-Sporting Group ring at the Key City Kennel Club show in St Peter, MN over Memorial Day weekend, 2017. Nina received a Group 3 placement from Judge Luc Boileau for this performance. A lady who follows me on Instagram and who was at the show that day realized she was watching a dog that she follows, and was kind enough both to videotape this and to send it to me! You can read more about the exciting show ring wins Nina has recently received and see more photos on the "News" tab!
RUBY
GCH MULTI-CH Spirit Bear Jewel of Versace CM TKN
(retired)
RUBY is our very special international Coton princess, who came to us from British Columbia, Canada. Ruby is the first daughter of both Multi-CH Cotonkiss Versace, a 2010 Crufts winner, and Canadian CH Spirit Bear Lil' Snow Drop. Ruby won Best of Breed at her very first competitive AKC outing in the show ring, at the prestigious International Kennel Club of Chicago show, in February 2013, the week she turned six months old! She is a striking beauty, with her mom's gorgeous face and the faded tri-color ear shadings of her magnificent father. Ruby LOVES to boss the boys around at home, and to snuggle with us in bed at night. Ruby finished her American Kennel Club (AKC) Championship on August 9, 2014, among the first ten Cotons de Tulear in history to earn such an honor! She is also the very first foreign-born female to finish an AKC Championship!!. At the end of the first month of regular AKC class competition, Ruby was ranked as the Number 7 Coton de Tulear (and Number 3 Coton de Tulear bitch) in the entire country!! Ruby has been a multiple AKC BEST OF BREED and BEST IN MISCELLANEOUS CLASS winner, and successfully completed her AKC Certificate of Merit (CM) title in December, 2013. She is a United Kennel Club Champion, and is almost halfway to her UKC Grand Championship. She is also a USACTC (AKC Parent Breed Club) Champion. We are also pleased to announce that Ruby is a CHIC (Canine Health Information Center)-certified bitch. This means that she has completed all health testing required by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals for the Coton de Tulear breed. In Ruby's case, we have also performed a great number of additional DNA-based and other health tests. And Ruby has passed them all! Ruby finished her AKC Grand Championship on August 27, 2016, at the Elgin Kennel Club show in St. Charles, IL. She is also the mother to our 2015 "Irish LItter," our 2016 "Hamilton Litter", our 2017 "Chicago Cubs" litter, and her final litter, our 2018 "Camelot Litter" pics of which you can find on our "Puppies" page. She has been an amazing show dog, favorite pet of mine, and wonderful mother to seven little boy puppies and three little girls. Ruby is retiring from active mothering; however, a few of her kids continue to live here with us, and she dotes on them constantly, they can do no wrong! We hope to start Ruby in some other activities and we continue to look forward to great things from her; she never disappoints! She remains the best bed partner any human can ask for, and I love her dearly. You can check out Ruby's very complete health testing HERE.
ABOVE, Ruby's 3-generation pedigree.
RIGHT, My absolute favorite Ruby photo, taken at the summer 2014 Canfield, OH cluster later in the day on the day she took Best of Breed over ten other Cotons, including specials (win photo from earlier that day is just below). She just looks so happy and pretty in this photo and the colors are so lovely. Many thanks to pro photographer Krista Droop, who shot this photo for me.
LEFT and RIGHT ABOVE, posing for some professional photos in March, 2014. Thanks to Lynda Beam of Canine Candids by Lynda for her great work!
Ruby in the Show Ring!
LEFT, Ruby struts her stuff in the ring at Springfield, IL in October, 2014, winning Best of Opposite Sex three out of four days of the cluster!
RIGHT, Ruby wins Best of Opposite Sex with me at the Waukesha, Wisconsin, Kennel Club cluster in July, 2013. Many thanks to Judge Douglas Johnson, who chose her for the honor
ABOVE, Ruby with her very first ribbon from a novice puppy competition in UKC at the age of four months, in January, 2013
ABOVE, Ruby took Best of Breed for a four-point Grand Champion major win at the Old Fort Cluster in Ft. Wayne, IN, on November 1, 2015. Many thanks to Judge Mrs. Gloria Geringer for selecting Ruby as BOB. Ruby was handled to this victory by Ryan Wolfe.