After all these years, having traveled around the world for twenty-six years as a flight attendant, as well as yearly trips to dog shows in Poland, South Africa, Argentina, Alaska, Hiroshima, Japan, & Australia, just to mention a few places. I’ve met fascinating people and learned from all of them. When I was in Kenya, Africa the breeders fed their dogs zebra’s. All the knowledge I have tested on my own dogs and if it worked I shared it with my puppy buyers. I have recorded a lot of my experiences on videos, audios and in manuals as well as in the book The Giant Schnauzer in America which now is out of print after four printings! All of this I share with my puppy buyers, not only to teach them what is best for their dogs health and longevity but also to save on veterinary bills and to let everyone know it feels good to stand on your own feet and not run to a doctor or veterinarian every time you scrape your finger, have a cough or break your toe.

If I have learned one thing it is that Mother Nature knows best and that we should trust her far more than all the drugs that are used in conventional medicine. Yours and your dogs body want to stay healthy if you just give it a chance. My motto is support your body and your dogs body with good nutrition, vitamin supplements, lots of exercise, fresh air, and most importantly a good night’s sleep. It works and I am a good example myself.

When I was twenty-three years old I was rushed into an emergency room and after six hours of surgery and three days in a coma I finally woke up to find that I had fifty-three stitches on my stomach. To make a long story short they had removed some of my intestines and put in a plastic bypass tube. I was told that I had Krohn’s disease and that I may have another ten years of life. This was in 1963 and luckily for me cortisone has not bee discovered as well as many, many other drugs. I say I was lucky as I was forced to listen to my body, eat the right things and gradually build up my immune system. For those of you who may be interested today after having studied the disease and why I got it—I’m convinced my poor diet, hot dogs, hamburgers, few if any vegetables, lots of candy, chocolate, coke, lack of sleep—I was burning the candle at both ends as they say. I was dating fellows around the world, limousines meeting me in Paris, trips on beautiful yachts, dinners in magnificent nightclubs—it was truly fun. But I finally had to pay for my poor lifestyle and of all things a panel of vaccinations knocked me over the brink and sent me to the emergency room in horrible pain.

Well, with perhaps only ten years of life left I followed my dream of living on a farm, surrounded by dogs, cats, rabbits, goats, cattle, horses and more dogs. That is how I ended up in Sebastopol on a fifteen acre parcel that over the years grew to almost one hundred acres. That is where I am still living, thankful for every day I wake up feeling good and energetic enough to help someone take care of their dog.

I have so far survived the doctors predictions by almost forty years! And I did it by adjusting my diet, my lifestyle and without any drugs whatsoever, except pain killers. In the beginning I needed them all the time and as the years went by less and less and today I only rarely take them.
About ten to fifteen years ago the computers came into all our lives. I got a website and posted my findings on diet, vitamins and of course our dogs. It was amazing to me that people in Moskow could sit and read about Skansen kennel in Sebastopol. With this widespread communication came many positive things but also some very negative experiences.

Suddenly someone who had never met me could write these negative stories about my dogs and myself. And they were stories, no facts behind them at all and yet they could send this false information around the world! I quickly realized that it was impossible to defend myself. I realized these people either were jealous of my success (I have bred over 1000 champions which I have been told is a world record) or very ignorant about dogs or very lonely, sad people. One must feel desperate to have to sit on a computer and converse with total strangers! People I know who are successful, happy and life supporting are usually so busy you are lucky if they have time for a five minute phone call once a month. Those are the people I respect, admire and like to be with. Not some strangers who have nothing better to do than write or say negative things about those that are trying to improve theirs and others lives.

So realizing this I have found that the best thing to do is ignore these poor souls, even if I do feel sorry for their empty lives. As an outsider I have found out that the party behind this letter that has upset so many because of its blatant lies is a not very healthy looking individual who has another breed and her opinion apparently is that dogs should not be allowed to run in great open fields and play but be confined in a house where they should be happy.

Of course I have found the opposite. Like the dog whisperer, Cesar Milan who runs his dogs over three hours every day and he keeps a pack of 37-50 dogs living in a big area, all mingling together within his pack, all so well adjusted, it’s a joy to see. This is the same scenario I always wished for my dogs, open fields, lots of dog friends, freedom to get dirty, play with the water, roll in the mud and each day get a nutritious raw meaty bones meal. This is what a happy dog really loves, he stays healthy in mind and body and he is well adjusted with lots of dog and people friends who respect the fact he is a dog not a human child. It is sometimes very difficult for some people to understand that a dog that gets obese, often like his owner, is not a happy dog. He most likely gets the wrong diet for his species, is not allowed to roam free on the beach, in the woods or just following you on your daily hike, which I hope is at least 1-3 miles if you plan to stay healthy.

Following Dr. Pottengers research (he lived in Pennsylvania in 1930 and is very famous for his research with 900 cats), I have found that each generation of my dogs get healthier and smarter if that is possible. This knowledge I share with all my puppy buyers and guide them through any crises the whole life of their dog. I doubt many breeders have the experience and knowledge about the schnauzers to help their puppy buyers and yet one person who is not only ignorant about dogs but probably unhappy with her own life can post her opinion on the internet and give false impressions to future schnauzer owners.

Thank God for all of you who read my newsletters, follow my advice in the care of your dogs and fill your life with positive thoughts. You and my dogs make all the work worth while. Your tremendous support, morally and mentally, your belief in my program in raising healthy smart dogs for a great future of upcoming generations. This is my passion and if you don’t believe my ways, there certainly are lots of breeder that you can communicate with, without ruining it for whoever likes to live with vigorous, happy, healthy, smart, and beautiful schnauzers.