I Never Wanted a Dog. Viktor's Story.

The Search

I never wanted dogs.

My wife Brittani did, and for weeks she showed me pictures of every breed she could find. I rejected all of them.

Then I saw an Afghan Hound.

I liked the look immediately, but I knew there was no way that coat would work for our family. So I told her, "Find me that dog without all the hair."

A little while later she showed me a Saluki.

"Get me this one."

We were serious enough about the breed that we planned a trip to meet a Saluki breeder at a dog show in Springfield. But Brittani never stopped researching, and somewhere along the way she found the Black Russian Terrier.

The day after that dog show, I was driving twelve hours to bring home our first BRT.

Then Came Zhanna

I grew up near Lviv, Ukraine, with a German Shepherd and a Husky in the house, but Zhanna was the first dog that was truly mine.

Her name is Zhanna, although I usually call her Hanna.

She slept in our bed on her very first night home and has been family ever since.

Every dog that joined us after her simply became part of the pack.

Life With Dogs

Our dogs aren't separated from our lives. They live with us. They follow us from room to room, supervise whatever we're doing, and somehow always seem to know where the people are.

With seven children between the ages of two and fifteen, there isn't much our dogs haven't experienced. Noise, activity, visitors, celebrations, homeschooling, and the everyday chaos of a large family are all normal parts of life here.

The dogs grow up right in the middle of it.

More Than a Dog

What started as "just get a dog" slowly turned into a deep appreciation for this breed.

For us, this was never about starting a business.

The dogs came first.

They still do.

Breeding and showing allows us to support our program, preserve the qualities we value, keep some of the puppies we love, and share these remarkable dogs with other families.

But at the end of the day, our dogs are family.

They always will be.