DanBar Ranch
About Diane Jessup and DanBar Ranch
PASSION
I'm 65 years old and my passion has always been dogs. I was probably the only little girl that didn't want a horse! I can only experience dogs as friends; I cannot see them as "breeding stock" or "investments" or locked in kennels (or worse, shipping crates). They are our species soul-mate, and they deserve to be at our side.
EXPERIENCE
I have a soft spot for performance bred dogs - dogs with a purpose. All my life I have competed in "dogsports" where my dog partners and I played at things like weight pulling, obedience, tracking, herding, schutzhund and French ring. I've earned over 70 training titles on my dogs and I'm proud to be a "positive marker trainer" (think clicker trainer). Here is a list of the types of titles I have earned on my dogs (mostly American pit bulls and Dobermans):
Multiple High In Trials in AKC/UKC obedience (CD, CDX)
Multiple High In Trials in Schutzhund/IPO (SchH I, II, III, IPO I, II, III)
Man-Tracking Titles (AKC TD, TDX, SchH Tracking I, II, III, FH
Weight Pull Titles APA (WP I, II, III, IWPA WD, WDX, WDS Gold/Silver Medalist)
Herding ASCA (Started Trial Dog ducks/sheep) (with pit bulls!)
Championship (UKC)
Barn Hunt (locating hidden rats in competition) RATN
Movie Work: I've trained and handled pit bulls, Dobermans and a Rottweiler in major motion pictures (showing who we worked with) including: Green Room with Patrick Stewart (pit bull), The Good Son with Macaulay Culkin (pit bull), Lawn Dogs with Sam Rockwell (Doberman), Plain Clothes with Arliss Howard, George Wendt (pit bull), Assassins with Sylvester Stallone (Rottweiler), Hear No Evil with Marlee Matlin (pit bull) (great scene but got cut!) Getting Even With Dad with Maccaulay Culkin/Ted Danson) (pit bull) Simon and Simon Movie: In Trouble Again (Gerald McRaney/Jameson (pit bull as Seattle Police K9 lol!)
I have donated several American pit bulls to Law Enforcement for explosives and narcotics detection work. Thank you! to my friends who have helped me with this over the years. I have a goal of donating one Doberman from each litter to law enforcement for detection work now that I have imported pure working line Dobermans. Show-line dogs are not suitable.
Most breeders SAY they breed "working" dogs, but haven't a clue what it takes for a dog to be just that. If you don't title dogs - you don't have the experience to really know. I am now disabled, and am extremely limited in what dogsport I can do, but my extensive experience allows me to help those who wish to do work or sport with their dogs. If you are an experienced dog sport person who has titled dogs, talk to me about a discount on one of my pups.
ETHICS
The one and only thing a person takes with them into death is their personal honor. I despise those who think "getting away with something" is a virtue. I have dedicated my life to stewardship to a couple different breeds; that means producing dogs that will help to take the breed into the future better than I found them - yet NOT changed to meet current fads!
I have a life-long commitment to EVERY pup I produce and they are all microchipped and I remain as a contact for them their entire life. ANY pup found in a shelter is taken back and if any owner no longer wants their dog - it comes back.
SOUND PUREBREDS - THE DANBAR DIFFERENCE
Sadly, those dogs which should be THE healthiest, the SOUNDEST and the MOST desired - the purebred dog - has fallen on hard times due to the greed of unethical "breeders" out for "easy money" or show ring wins at the expense of soundness.
As large professional kennels have gone away, we are now left with thousands of people who simply dabble in breeding. The "Craig's List" and "Next Day Puppy" producers - with no life-time commitment to learning about genetics, bloodlines, health testing, structure. They are the ones who jump into a breed when it becomes popular and produce pups for a few years and then lose interest (when they find out you can't really make money breeding dogs if you do it at ALL correctly). They are easy to spot... big flashy websites - but are breeding dogs before they have had the breed long enough to know ANYTHING about it!
This website is designed to help you avoid those who are damaging our pure breeds. The history of purebreds is a special interest of mine (I am currently working on another book on this subject) so I want to encourage you to make choices which will be beneficial to you and to dogs.
Ethical breeders HEALTH TEST. Period. NO EXCUSES! They are PROUD to show you they care enough to want to produce only healthy animals. I mean, who wouldn't health test!? It is available, it is not that expensive and it is the ONLY way to responsibly manage health issues in pure breeds. There is no legitimate excuse not to; it is the main reason well-bred dogs are expensive. Beware the breeder who canot prove health testing but still charges a pretty penny for their dogs... they are using the money for trips to Disneyland or beautiful kennels - NOT for their breed!
Dog lovers may enjoy my novel The Dog Who Spoke With Gods. It won the Merial Best Human-Animal Bond Book Award.
Click HERE to learn more about Diane and her dogs.
My litters are produced
for three reasons:
* To improve a breed through thoughtful breeding to improve health and reduce faults - and faulty type. Faulty type is the result of breeding either for show ring fads or from "backyard breeding" who just mate any two dogs to produce puppies.
* To be able to offer ETHICALLY BRED, HEALTH TESTED, SOUND puppies to people who don't want to support "retail rescue", puppy mills or the Craig's List type "backyard breeder".
* Because dogs are my passion, and I can't think of a better way to spend my time! Dogs have given me so much pleasure in my life; it's time for me to pay them back the best way I can.
I am retired and spend all my time with my dogs. I have 20 dog-proof fenced acres for them. No crating of dogs here!
A friend made this for me and I LOVE it! Notice "Wee Mikey" in my vest? See pic at left for the real thing!
I spent 30 years with the American pit bull. There is no other breed like a good, game-bred pit bull. Druid is the last of my line and the last American pit bull I will own. Today the dogs called "pit bulls" are watered down versions of the real thing. That's all people want today - a dog that looks like a pit bull and acts like a toy spaniel.
