Lamont retired from the Air Force as a First Sergeant after 22 years of active duty service. Tessa retired from the Manchester City School District in TN after 21 years as a kindergarden teacher.
Montessa Kennels was born March of 2020 after my wife and I acquired our second American Bulldog (AB) we named “Kind Warrior Athena Ruth, "Athena."” We were searching for another AB we thought would complement the male we had already acquired from Shon Dean of “Dean’s Bullies” in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
The pup we purchased from Shon was a Bully type male we named Canelo. Canelo was a predominantly chocolate colored pup with white markings. He had a large pumpkin head and was a short, stocky and muscular pup with a short muzzle and pronounced under bite. I couldn’t take him anywhere without being stopped by someone who wanted to know; where I got him, what bloodline he was from or by people who just wanted to pet him because he was such a good-looking pup with a great attitude.
When we purchased Canelo, we didn’t know that there was more to the breed than just the Bully type. It didn’t take long for us to discover that we had lots to learn.
One of our first lessons was that hot weather does not mix well with the Bully type. All of the muscle mass and short muzzle made it hard for Canelo to regulate his body temperature. Living in SC the heat is pretty much unavoidable late spring through late fall, even early morning walks affected my guy.
Another lesson we learned is that these big bodied dogs are not made for long bouts of exertion. And by long bouts I mean 5 to 7 minutes...about 30 seconds of work-up (agitation) to biting (tug or sleeve) a few times (3-4 bites).
During our time with Canelo, we found and joined a Protection Sports Association (PSA) club, a good club run by Cher and Beaver of Sandhill’s Kennels. Canelo took to training like a dog with a bone. He loved it and would work himself up every time it was his turn to go onto the field. We were just scratching the surface with him,
Canelo had the true AB working temperament in addition to being a social dog. He always gave 110% when the time came to do bite work. There was no quit in this dog! However, the combination of his working spirit, muscular frame and short muzzle, Canelo gave more than he had to give. On a moderately hot day, he overheated during training and we were unable to bring him back. R.I.P Canelo...
I digress. After getting into the PSA club and being around AB folk we started to learn more about the AB breed. Including history, health, appearance, type, standard, temperament, etc. There’s a lot to the breed and a lot of opinions about the breed!
Initially for us, we just wanted a cool looking dog we thought would protect the house. The more we learned about the breed we figured out we wanted a cool looking but more functional dog. One that would look good, protect the house, participate in dog work and sports and tolerate the heat better. What we learned we wanted was a Standard/Hybrid dog. A little taller, more muzzle, less muscle (more of an athlete than a body builder), more white in color, more pigmentation (black nose, black lips, and black “eye-liner”) and more stamina!
Because we already had Canelo, we decided we were going to make our own Standard/Hybrid adding to what we already had. After a lot of internet surfing and searching for the “perfect” dog for us, we found her 11 hours away in Alpine, New Jersey.
The day we saw her online, we called the breeders to ensure she was still available and let them know we would be coming to pick her up. We were supposed to leave the next day early morning but I couldn’t wait or sleep. I woke my wife, made promises I’m still paying for today and we hit the road at about midnight. We drove non-stop from Sumter, South Carolina to Alpine, New Jersey. This was March of 2020, when Covid-19 was new and on the rise, especially in New York. Alpine is about 20 miles from NY. We didn’t know it at the time but Alpine was a Corona hot spot while we were there. Thank goodness everything turned out well. Things we do to get the pup we want!!
We met up with breeders Flora and David Shepelsky of Sabachia Soul Kennels at about noon the next afternoon. When we saw the pup in person, we thought she was beautiful! She was all white with one black brindle spot on the right side of her face. Flora told me I got lucky getting the pup because she was a Cowan dog. I just shook my head in agreement because I didn’t know what a Cowan dog was... We were still new to Bulldoggin’ and didn’t know any more than Shon and now Flora as breeders (Cowan is an AB breeder with some great dogs out of NM). After talking for about an hour and checking out some of Flora’s other dogs, we got back on the road homeward bound. We were now ready to get our kennel underway! We had our male Canelo and now our female Athena!
We put Athena to work in PSA with Canelo when she was about 10 weeks old. Not really stressing a bunch of obedience focusing more on the fun bite work and luring which preps the dog for obedience. We also started putting Athena in conformation shows. Fast forward to now. Athena is a NKC Champion, she has earned some titles including: WTE, DHT, GDT, JBT1, JBT2, JBT3, and has competed in Iron Dog (IDT3).
