Bernard had had several Bouviers of varying qualities when Nobe de Bolshoy came to him in 1978. Bernard could see his potential and began training with him extensively. This was in an era when Bouviers were considered to be either 'for show' or 'for work', and only a handful of Bouvier people knew that their history demanded they do both. Nobe proved himself in Conformation, Obedience, as well as at the North American Working Bouvier des Flandres (NAWBA) trials.

In 1980 Victoria's Honore came along, in the hope that she would also turn out well. By 1982 she'd earned Conformation, Obedience and Working titles. Finally Bernard had individuals he could base his breeding program on. Nobleair Kennels was officially registered that year.

It is practice for many breeders to register litters by alphabetic order, so the first litter out of Nobe and Victoria produced Apache and his littermates in 1982. Apache and Bernard worked intensively together. Apache became the most titled Bouvier in the world in 1987, thoroughly throwing out the belief that working dogs were somehow second class. Apache was impressive in his appearance, solidly built with a huge, wide head and a deep chest full of a heart of gold. His proven intelligence remains unsurpassed to this day.

Out of these original dogs descend the dogs of our Nobleair line. The big head, strong toplines, big hearts to please and the keen desire to work, all remain strong. Line breeding, -mating dogs within a 'family tree' (allowing a certain distance between kin to prevent inbreeding) produces a highly predictable outcome in the offspring. The unknowns or 'wildcards' are limited. This is practice in the breeding a champion horses, cattle etcetera, in the world of animal husbandry. Controlling for healthy individuals and good temperament to start with, leads to offspring carrying the traits of their parents as you go down the generations.

In breeding it becomes necessary to seek new bloodlines on occasion. This is always a gamble because of the unknown factors in the health and temperament of the outside dogs. (A dog can pass hip tests at two years of age and still present hip dysphasia at four or five years of age. The test simply shows that at the age of two when the test was done, his hips were fine.) Many breeders import all of their stock, resulting in their perpetual need to test hips, eyes, elbows, hearts, thyroids, ad infinitum. These breeders have no idea of the ancestors health or temperament, so are obliged to do all these genetic tests to find out. Think of the offspring as an adopted child, who has no idea of the health history of his genetic family. With a line breeding, you can observe individuals from one generation to the other. You know first hand who died of old age. We've watched generations of healthy individuals through the Nobleair line, from A to Z, and now starting all over again.

In 2001, Susan took her Bouvier Vicki to be bred by Nobleair's Nytro, to compliment her Bolshoy lineage. Thus two sets of Bouviers des Flandres lovers met. Bernard and Susan became the best of friends and partners in the kennels. We were married in October 2005, with one of our beloved males, Arturo, as ring bearer.

In 2007, we retired to our log home on the Madawaska River where we will continue to work with our dogs.