Like many others, we got our first Saint Bernard because Bill said he always wanted one. We never found out why,  but since I had been raised with dogs all my life, always loved them, and we all ready had a menagerie of dogs, cats, ponies, etc I agreed when he said let's get a Saint Bernard. Needless to say, it was love at first sight. That was in 1970 and it has been an ongoing love affair ever since

 

We found a breeder in PA. bought a puppy and named him Lopus. He was Craig and Jeff's constant companion. Two or three years later, Mrs. Martin called and asked if we would be interested in a rough 1 yr. old pup, that is how Mitzie came to live with us. Both dogs were everywhere my sons were and became part of the "Neighborhood Gang "Swimming at the swimming hole, camping, sledding, hauling wood, etc. They were protective but if we told them it was all right they never met anyone they didn't like. Our Lop lived to the ripe old age of 12 and Mitzie was with us until she was 8 or 9.

 

This was our introduction to this breed and naturally we wanted more, but we knew we wanted a functional working dog, and we had a hard time finding what we were looking for, I have this image embedded in my mind of this noble animal standing in the mountains or pulling his cart with milk cans, produce, etc. The ones that can be seen in the book "The Saint Bernard Classic" by Albert del la Rei. I finally found a breeder, right here in MD, whose name was Gus Stefano. He had the kennel name Siegfried at that time... We got our first Siegfried Saint Bernard in 1988 and named him Siegfried's Chances Augustus. "Gus Gus".

 

We knew this was the type we wanted. We loved the functional working dog who could make it around the ring without huffing and puffing, was proportionately tall and could be a happy, healthy working dog. Years later when we were looking for another  we called Gus Stefano but he was no longer breeding. He gave us a list of names to contact to no avail. Finally we were told about a woman in KY who had finished a lot of Siegfried dogs

We contacted Cheryl Healy, the woman in KY.and she told us she had these bloodlines and had finished many to their Championships. She had been able to buy the last of Col... Hagel's dogs before he passed away. She had some of the same bloodlines as our Gus Gus., and she knew all about Siegfried dogs and Saint Bernards in general. She explained that they had originally been out crossed with Bloodlines from Holland, Germany and the Netherlands. We bought a puppy from Cheryl named Healy's Hedwig Sompin' Sweet. (ptd) Hedi looked so much like our other dogs and all those years had gone by. "Hedi" had the correct Head, height, and overall structure that we wanted. She was a functional working dog. She could do all the things that this breed was bred to do.

We started a good relationship with our breeder Cheryl Healy. I have gotten some of our other dogs from her and bred with her advice. She has always been there for me and has responded to all my calls for help. Some serious, some ridiculous. but she has been there round the clock, for the last 14 years.

We thank her for all her hard work in developing the last of the Siegfried dogs into the "Healy dogs of today. Her devotion to maintaining the True Type Saint Bernard of today.

I think our web page and all it's pictures of our "Gang" show your efforts, Cheryl, of improvement.

"The Stoncreek Saint Bernards are dedicated to Saint Bernards that are true representatives of their breed, as per the Breed Standard, because we know how healthy, happy and loving our Saints are because of a combination of their bloodlines.

 

AND THE BEAT GOES ON   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks Cheryl for being there for us and helping us to develop and improve Stoncreek Saint Bernards.

 

Janet Thacher (and the Stoncreek Gang)