About Us

Hello and thank you for stopping by our virtual dog room!  Please, grab a coffee, or soda, sit back, and wander throughout our site.

My name is Larisa Hotchin, and Michael and I live in Mission which is in Southern British Columbia, Canada (near Vancouver).  Some people may remember me when I first started in Welsh Terriers as Larisa Welsh (no, the last name had nothing to do with me choosing this breed that I love!).  I have been formally involved in the breed since 1998, however, have lived with dogs all of my life. 

We have a small hobby kennel (more house than kennel really), focused on quality Welsh Terriers.  Conformation (looks compared to the written breed standard) is important, and is proven by my success over the years in both number of champions bred, but also the awards my dogs have received -- Best in Shows, Best Puppy in Shows, Group wins at large (US) shows, many (US) National Breed Specialty wins, #1 Welsh Terrier in both the US and Canada for various years, etc).  Saying that, I also strongly believe that you should not compromise health and temperament, just for looks.  The dogs that I have owned and bred prove that you do not need to.  Realistically, the majority of the lives of ALL of our dogs, and puppies born, are spent as companion pets. 

I mention 'excellence' in my website, and for me, this goes beyond looks and conformation ... it's the whole package!  I won't go into it here (other parts of the site are dedicated to this), but through detailed testing, record keeping and DNA tests where available, we strive to produce healthy puppies.  Great temperaments come from genetics (I won't breed to dogs that I don't like their temperaments), as well as upbringing.  If you came here, you would see that this is done through a home raised environment with lot's of experiences and interactions with people, visitors, other dogs and good guidelines.

I also mention that we are a small hobby kennel.  This means that I breed primarily to continue to develop my Welsh Terrier breeding program and blood lines and do not breed "just to have a litter to be sold".  And, as you will see throughout my site, I live with my dogs.  This means that I do not always have puppies available, and when I do, many times people have been waiting for some time to get one of my puppies, or dogs that I have decided to place.  I do know that the people that have waited have told me that they were glad that they did - but I do understand that it is difficult to wait for so long.

I hope that this site gives you a bit of a feel for who we are, our values that guide our breeding, and to see some of our very nice Welsh Terriers that we have shown over the years (or currently are showing). 

Our dogs are very important to us, and are part of our family - whether they are some of the top show dogs in North America, or pets when they are not in the show ring (which is the majority of their life), or companion pets living amazing and very enriched lives ... so, the other thing that I hope you can get from our site is a feel for who our dogs are individually, as they are all different and all have very interesting stories ...

... from Becky who competed successfully in England and Canada, and now kayaks on the ocean a few days every week ... Dylan who is a top obedience and agility dog (all from clicker training) ... Cyril who had to finish his Canadian Championship twice since his owner (me) couldn't count properly, then went to finish his American Championship on our National Breed Specialty weekend (Montgomery) and now lives a very cozy life - going to dog parks (teaching other dogs how to fetch!) ...  Parker who won Best of Breed at our Breed Club National Specialty at Montgomery from the Open Dog class (a really big deal in the show world :-) or the two sisters (both named Megan) whose owners have become very close friends after getting their welsh from me 6 years ago and have gone on twice weekly walks ever since, OR ... OR ... OR... :-)

My plan is to try and keep this site up-to-date, now that I know how to use my internet building software (started this site in Nov/09), and design expert lives close (Grover's owners!).  As I get new information, I expect to keep up-to-date on our dogs, our puppies, and owner stories.  I still have lot's of content, and links to add ... information about the breed, care, training, grooming, health, show results :-), and just fun stuff! 

I still have a bit of the core part of my website to be done, but I have started a Blog!  It isn't updated daily, but when I get a chance and something interesting in my "doggy world" is going on, I'll update it.  I might be retired now, but I can tell you that there are many things that are filling my days ... some dog stuff, volunteering, gardening and property care, doing stuff with Michael :-) and that doesn't even start to scratch the surface of the many (15+?) bookcases filled with interesting books, DVDs to watch and news to keep current on!  So - my BLOG will happen, some days will be longer than others, and some days won't happen at all.  But, please stay tuned!  Also, I am really interested in any feedback that you have about my website, or questions that you have about the breed, or my dogs specifically.  I'll try to get back to you as quickly as possible.

Again, thank you for stopping by - I hope you come back and please connect with us!

Cheers, Larisa.