Even though Joan and Otto Rejoholec didn’t have any children, they had a very special extended family that I was fortunate to be part of from 1958 to 1962.  This family included people, like me, who had bought Shelties from them as well as others who shared their love of the breed and dogs in general.

 

The “official” Shetland Sheepdog club, recognized by the AKC and ASSA at that time, was the nearly dormant Mountain States SSC, which held an annual specialty show but did very little else.  This was due in part to the fact that the club was under the dominance of longtime breeder Josephine Brandell, a difficult woman who was loath to share her power.  Joan and Otto never had much use for ASSA because it did nothing to address this problem.

           

Nevertheless, interest in Shelties was growing in the Denver area, as it was nationwide.  More and more, discerning people who wanted to buy or breed a Sheltie found themselves turning to the Rejholecs and their Tobruk Kennels.  There they found not only dogs of the highest quality but also two experienced breeders who were willing to share their knowledge and expertise with anyone eager to learn.

 

I was like a sponge, visiting often (always to a very warm welcome and usually a cup of tea), going to shows with them, watching and learning all I could about grooming and handling – but especially about Shelties.  Nor was I alone. The Rejholecs’ coterie of eager aficionados was ready for something to do.

 

So we decided to form our own Shetland Sheepdog club, which we called the Colorado Shetland Sheepdog Club – not as a rival to Mountain States SSC, but as an organization that would be devoted to nurturing, teaching and training.  We met monthly at the Rejholecs’ home.  Joan was the first president and I the first secretary-treasurer.  I commend our successors, who for a half-century have preserved the records of those early years!

 

More important than those meetings, however, were the weekly classes in both conformation showing (taught by Joan and Otto) and obedience training (taught by Vic Cross) that the club sponsored.  We charged a nominal attendance fee that, along with membership dues, was the club’s source of income.  Open to all breeds, though always with a goodly number of Shelties in attendance, the classes were, for me, not only helpful but also an important social event.  Newly transplanted from the East Coast to Denver, I eagerly looked forward to those weekly gatherings.  And, in time, thanks to the obedience classes, my first Sheltie, Tassy of Tobruk, earned her CD.  Later, that’s where I started show training Beachcroft Bonanza of Tobruk.  We held informal matches a couple of times a year, complete with ribbons and show trophies donated by the Rejholecs from their ample hoard.

 

Sadah Loomis was another charter member, full of energy and ideas and editor of both the Colorado Sheltie club newsletter and the national Sheltie Special. She bred Beachcroft Bit of Kiowa, a daughter of Bonanza and dam of some of my best Shelties, then later owned by the Rejholecs. Del and Wilmah Faidley had two Shelties from the first litter I bred, sons of Tassy by Torpedo of Tobruk.  We were all very closely linked, both as friends and as Sheltie breeder/owners.  They were happy times.  

 

Now the club’s successor Centennial SSC is flourishing and now two of our (then) youngest members, Jan Leonard and Beverly Muhlenhaupt, are honorary lifetime members of ASSA, so obviously we were doing something right. 

                                                   

                                   Nancy Ahern (Washburn) ~ Beachcroft Shelties