Memorial Page

Edward W. Kieres, Jr. (12/14/41 - 09/05/77) It was his love of hunting, his encouragement and support - and my love of dogs - that resulted in the creation of Topper-Lyn Kennels. A hunter all his life, he loved nothing better than hunting pheasants, ducks, chukkar, 'huns' - just about every kind of game bird and waterfowl - over the dogs that I had trained. In support of my dream - he built the first TLK in Clinton, MT. I'll never forget the first training clinic I ever held when I was trying to get a NAVHDA chapter started in Western Montana. He stood at the back of the room all night, just watching, as I worked 17 dogs. When it was all over, and I had successfully introduced all of them to the training table, and got each one holding a 'dummy' - he walked up to me quietly and said, "You really do know what you are doing." Nothing he ever said meant more to me than those words of support. I just wish he could see the dogs that his son (Chris) and I have now . . . oh how he would love them.

Suzabob's Hun Harasser - "Tiger"

"Tiger's" first accomplishment, after being with me for only a month, was to obtain a NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize III. Not bad for a dog that didn't really know who he was hunting for, but he didn't seem to even care, he just loved hunting. His 1/4 mile tracking test was legendary - no one could believe he could track that pheasant that far, but he did.

Next we went on to AKC shows. After showing only twice he earned his first "Best of Breed" title. He went on to earn both his AKC and CKC Champion titles with a total of 49 individual placements, 8 Best of Breeds and 4 Sporting Group Placements (including Sporting Group 1st - Lethbridge, Canada). Tiger was #2 Brittany in Canada two years in a row. Tiger was the epitome of what a Brittany should look like - and he was also a pretty darn good hunting dog too.

Winterhelle's Knockout - "Kelly"

Winterhelle's Orion - "Kelly 2"

Sir Maxwell Smart - "Max"

"Max" was our very first Brittany - oh how lucky we were. He taught me more about hunting over a pointer than I could ever learn from a book.

Suzabob's Hun Harasser - "Tiger"