About Mon Plaisir
Our first Tervuren were acquired in 1980; our first litter was born in 1983.
Our primary focus in the early years was earning obedience titles
and dabbling in tracking and conformation. Our foundation bitch would easily
have finished her championship if we had been more experienced handlers.
Jeff handled our first Mon Plaisir bitch, Lena, to her championship from bredby. She won the bredby class at the 1984 National and went on to win multiple group placements - always breeder/owner handled. Her offspring earned her a CBAR and OBAR; she was a wonderful start and truly got us hooked on the breed.
Also in 1984, a four year old Gunner son became available. Much was accomplished with Riot, our sound and showy special. Riot was National Select, multi group-winning, Canadian Working Group placing, Westminster BOB...always owner handled. Riot sired many outstanding get, including Best-In-Show winners. Riot earned all three BAR awards: OBAR, CBAR, PBAR. Additionally, Jeff trained and handled Riot to earn his Herding Trial Championship (an ABTC title since the AKC program did not exist at the time). Riot's daughter Rio also earned the ABTC HTCH, with multiple HIT. She was the first CH Terv to earn an AKC Herding title.
We have always been proud of the dogs we exhibit; we have stressed both type
and soundness and have been able to succeed at both all breed shows and
specialties. We have traveled to Europe multiple times and sincerely believe
that the superior consistency of type found there embodies the standard. We
also believe that the superior type of the European dogs should not be changed
to satisfy the "generic herding dog model" for the sake of ribbons. To that end
we have imported superb specimens from France, Belgium, and Hungary. We have
placed a particular emphasis on outline: our current dogs exemplify squareness
and moderation as well as proper type.