The name AnBonjo came about in 1974 when a tri colored collie I had purchased started me on the road to showing. My husband and I were stationed with the Navy in Norfolk, Va. Being a dog lover all of my life, I decided I wanted to get a dog but I wanted a family type dog. I checked around and decided on a collie. I knew nothing about the breed except they were good family dogs and great with children. I found an ad in the paper by a breeder named Rusty Shack and gave her a call. We made arrangements for me to come to her house and look at her puppies. She had two females left out of an outstanding litter. One was a blue bitch and one was a little tri bitch. I took one look at the blue dam, totally out of coat and said I perfer the tri girl. If any of you have seen a blue bitch out of coat from a litter you know why I wanted the tri, especially if you are a novice anyway. Bonnie was suppose to be a pet but I convinced Rusty to wait about having her spayed and see how she looked at 6 months. I didn't start out wanting to get into showing but like many others got caught up in the fun of it all. I took Bonnie to as many handling classes as I could and practiced grooming. She was so patient. I tried everything on that collie and she just let me. When the 6 month time was up I took her down to visit Rusty and she was so surprized. Bonnie and I learned together at the shows. I would set my table up by someone I knew was an expert and whatever grooming they did to their collie I did to Bonnie. I didnt' win any points with Bonnie but she did take many reserves, and that was a great feeling for a green novice. Especially since I won over many well known handlers. Bonnie's registered name was "Jodi's Day Dream Surprize" because I had day dreamed about her being a show dog for 6 months and she surprized everyone by becoming a show dog. At that time I was trying to think of a kennel name. I had read in the "Collie Cues" magazine of someone using a combination of the husband and wife's name but there was already a AnJo collies. I decided to make it a little different. I used An - from my husband's name Anthony, Bon - from Bonnie, and Jo from my name Jodi. So, AnBonjo was born. I have thought of changing it many times but I have chose not to change the name because it is a name no one else has or probably will never think to use.
In 1982 a friend that lived close by raised shelties. It was then I got interested in the Sheltland Sheepdog. They looked like little collies, and they were small, easy to travel with and you could have more of them.. That year I started reading about the shelties and looking in the Pacesetter Magazine. I felt that SumerSong Shelties had the look I liked, having come from a collie background, I had to have a pretty face, and Sumersong had the best. I went down to look at their puppies. I had told them when I called that I had to have a pretty face, and boy, they pulled out their prettiest to show me. I found a little sable bitch I could not get out of my mind and I just had to have her. Her name was SumerSong Ruffles-N-Lace. I put 9pts on her with the help of Bill Munsey but could never get her finished. She was a spit fire and loved to run the ring. She would get so excited it hurt her chance of winnning sometimes. She set me on the road to breeding and showing Shelties. I lost Ruffles many years ago, but that face will always be remembered!
