Welcome to Poppy's World

LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME AND HOW I GOT INVOLVED WITH LEOS

Here I am with my first Leo Bonnie, year was 1993 and I was twelve years old

I fell in love with Leonbergers when I was only a little girl. I was told they are way too big for me to handle and maybe we should get a smaller dog, a spaniel or something "not so huge".

I announced I do not want to have a dog at all unless it is a Leo! I knew what I wanted and was ready to wait.

Finally my mum decided I must be serious and our first Leo walked in our lives in 1993! Bonnie was her name and she WAS a handful for a 12-year old girl! I would like to think I was teaching her but this was not the case! She was such a clever girl. I can thank her for my passion and knowledge I have got over the years, as if she was an "easy dog" I probably would have not got into a lot of things I did!

Bonnie was lovely but show dog she wasn't. So 4 years later I decided I would like to have a dog I could show and possibly start breeding with. After lot of research we got Sani on breeding terms. This way I could see what it is all about and would have the support of a knowledgeable breeder (after all I was only 16).

                       (1998)                                                    (2000)

With my two girls I have tried most doggy activities including Agility, Water rescue, Obedience, Shows, Tracking, Flyball, Carting...
Anything was worth a shot even if it was just for the fun factor and for the sake of something different to try to keep the dogs minds ticking! Two years after getting Sani I decided to come to UK and work in Kennels for a year. They say life doesn't always go as planned -After 9 years, I'm still here in UK!

I met my other half Chris, we settled down and are living in Cambridge. He had always wanted to have a parrot and as our landlord would not allow dogs in the premises I started thinking a parrot would be nice. This is when we got Merlin(TAG). Unfortunately Merlin had an terminal illness he had caught before we even got him. Our little boy died before he was 1 years old. I was devastated and was not sure I want a another parrot, no parrot could take magic-Merlins place. Chris did not agree and while I was visiting family in Finland he went and brought Poppy home!

I am mad about Leo's and decided when the time to have a dog again comes I will import a Leo to UK. That's our Sasha.

By no means is it easy to wait for over a year until the puppy can come to UK but I was determined to find lines I like and a breeder who is honest about illnesses and faults in the lines. In our case it took me ages to find few combinations I liked even when I had an idea of where to start looking! As everybody knows in breeding it rarely goes as planned (bitches missing, plans changing etc). In the end it took us over two years before we were at the point of having chosen our puppy and had started the Pet Passport process and the third year until Sasha came home. So it is needless to say what ever comes of her, she is very special and long awaited girl to us!