Our Irish Setter History

In 1973 in Alaska was the beginning of Mi Jean Kennels. Our first dog that we bought had Innisfail bloodlines and we figured that we should show him. He had a Champion Sire and was a nice dog, but unfortunately we lost him to bloat/torsion within 18 months. During this time it gave us a chance to check out bloodlines and pedigrees and to obtain knowledge on obtaining additional Irish so we had a direction to follow. Our next Irish was Ch Killarney's Kerika CD, from Kilgary bloodlines. We finished her with 3-5 point majors. When we bred her to our newly acquired youngster, CH Palomar's Shamrock of Saraval, our first homebred brood bitch had then arrived, Ch MiJean's Classic Example. Shamrock was one of our first big winning dogs. We campaigned him to multiple Group wins in 3 countries, (America, Canada, and Mexico) In 1976 we added English Setters to our family.

We then saw a litter of Tramore puppies and  had to add Ch Tramore Jester O'MiJeans to the herd. We then bred him to Classic Exampleto produce BISS Ch Mi Jean's Abracadabra. We had a lot of fun showing Abby. It took forever for her to pick up a 2nd major, but after that she kept on getting better. and had many nice Specialty wins from the Veterans Class She was also one of the first Jrs. dogs for the girls, Jaime & Jennifer. Twice she was part of Best Jr. duo with Jaime at the ISCA National.

We then bred Abby to Ch Chamberlayne's Masquerade and had a litter of 3. All finished both their American and Canadian titles and were OFA clear. BISS Ch Mi Jean's Dignitarycame from this litter and he was another fun dog to show. Finished with 4 majors, all Specialty or Supported entries. He also then took a Best in Specialty to his mother's Best Opposite Sex. Abby'snext and last litter we used Ch Tramore Rich N Famous. Several nice dogs resulted from this combination, Ch Tramore Echo O'MiJean,Ch MiJean's Eye of the Storm and BISS Ch MiJean's Every Now and Then. Every Now and Then was bred twice at Mi Jeans. The first to Ch MiJean's Dignitary. This gave us our BISS Ch Mi Jean's Girls Night Out, Dazzle. Dazzlewas a wonder girl for us. Finished very easily and was then shown to multiple Best Jr wins by Jennifer. We look forward to what she can do to better the breed in the future. In 1989 we moved from Alaska to WA. and also added a new breed, the English Cocker Spaniel.

The second litter of Every Now and Then she was bred to Ch Donegan's Denim Genes. Our Fooler (Ch Mi Jean's I Fooled Ya) came from that. Now he is one very fun dog to show but living with him is an entirely different story. A very rollicking Irish personality. If it can be reached with his foot outside of a crate, then it is fair game to be pulled in and chewed up. Many a towel, lead, purse, backpacks etc. have gone by the wayside because of him.   Fooler was specialed for 3 years and was in the Top 10 Irish Setters all 3 years winning multiple Best in Specialties and Best in Shows.  But as a loving companion, he is second to none. His first litter he was bred to Ch Mi Jean's Finders Keepers (Dignitary bred to Ch Rusticwood Olympic Medalist daughter). Of this litter we have 2 young hopefuls to launch Mi Jean Kennels into the next millennium.  In this litter we kept 2, both finished  plus another in the litter also.  All 3 finished with specialty majors!  Ch MiJean's Just For Keeps, (Destiny) was specialed and did alot of winning, but we lost her before she could be bred.  Fooler  and his sister, I've Got A Secret have both had a substantial impact on our breeding program.  Both have achieved their Register of Merit standings, by producing many Champions.  One of these Secret daughter, Ch Mi Jean's The Secret Is Out, Whisper, achiever her ROM winter of 2011, which finished our 63rd Irish Setter Champion.  Hopefully we have many more years of continued success.....