1986

Strohs is Spoken Here

In the spring of 1986, Warren & Sam moved to Bozeman, Montana. They had been "playing" with Schutzhund back in California since the late seventies with mentor Bill Dotson. In Bozeman, they found a small but serious group of goal-oriented Schutzhund enthusiasts, and training started. The original group consisted of: Anne Camper, Ann Conley, Teri Rosgaard, Jo Sykes, Rachel Murray, Connie Waldo, Mary Jo Ames, and Sam & Warren Jones.

Anne Camper had two black dogs, Lasar and Zee. Lasar was the first CH UDT title in Montana, but he wasn't sure SchH was a proper endeavor for a dog. So Anne didn't even have a dog to work, but she was a dedicated member and came to all the training sessions.

Sam was working her Aussie "Maggie", while Warren had a young shepherd "Ryker" who would set the standard for tracking.

Rachael had three dogs: a boxer mix named Rhododendron who was a master at tricks; a Rottie named Anna Bananna, who would do bitework as long as she didn't step in dog poop or get ants on her feet, and Ernie, one of the world's great dogs. Ernie had heart and courage.

Connie had an DDR import shepherd named Queenie who was tough as nails and taught us what "civil" meant.

We called ourselves the "Bozeman Barkers, Biters and Beer Drinkers" (a name that wouldn't go over too well in the PC 90's). We also briefly considered the name "Middle Yellowstone-Gallatin Association for Working Dogs" or MYGAWD.

Although Conley pushed to have a USA recognised club, the rest of us were content to be an informal group of training and sport-friends.