I have been involved with Soft-Coated Wheaten Terriers since I fell in love with the breed finding a pet SCWT in 1989.
When he suddenly became ill at 2 1/2 and I lost him of PLE/PLN, I started my long journey into the breed to better understand health, temperament , and breeding issues. I learned about SCWT by jumping in and becoming a member of the National SCWT Club of America; meeting breeders, attending shows and being mentored....we never stop learning!
I became a co-founder, co-chairman of the MN SCWT Health Screen for Kidney Health Evaluation with two other breeders until 2007 when I assumed sole responsibility for spreading the word to all owners of SCWTs in the Twin Cities and organized the clinic to test our beloved SCWTs. We ran the clinic for 25 years, with our last official clinic being September 2017. Much gratitude to Dr Jody Lulich, DVM,PhD, Urology, Internal Medicine: University of Minnesota Veterinary School of Medicine for 24 years donating his time out of love for our dogs to test Wheatens for Kidney disease. Thank you to Dr Wayne Scanlon, DVM, Otter Lake Animal Hospital, Hugo, MN; for conducting our last clinic in September. Many thanks to all our volunteers who unselfishly donated time out of love for our breed!
I have co-bred, co-owned SCWTs since the 1990's although I infrequently breed since my dogs are 'family' and not primarily used for breeding . My first and foremost concern is the health, temperament and soundness of my dogs along with finding the right 'forever' homes to match a family to a dog. SCWTs are not for everyone, and those who do want a SCWT should investigate all the information on the national site: www.scwtca.org
Know the Health issues we face, buy from an ethical breeder listed at www.scwtca.org for the best dogs, mentoring, and experience. Know we all carefully follow a strict code of ethics to test our dogs, evaluate DNA and maintain a confirmation standard. However, the potential still exists when one breeds any animal for potential health issues. We try to insure we are aware and breed to minimize hereditary issues.
Set yourself up for success and invest time to find a reputable SCWT breeder at www.scwtca.org.
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