ABOUT
Welcome
We are honoured to have your support and are very excited to strengthen our cooperative alliance and share resources that will further benefit the Armenian Gampr.
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Who We Are
The AGC is We are a group of individuals who, out of necessity and love for the breed, started the Armenian Gampr Coalition in Canada. Our goals and ethics align with the Armenian Gampr Club of America (AGCA). We work with and consult our sister club on all things Armenian Gampr. We are individual organizations collaborating for the breed to achieve a united front in North America.
Who is the AGCA?
Rohana Mayer founded the Armenian Gampr Club of America in 2007. Without the efforts of key individuals, our breed would not exist in North America as it does today. HS Riley, AGCA President, formed the legal 501c3 non-profit entity we all know. She has helped the breed tremendously through her work in genetic diversity, importation efforts, and the implementation of the Approved Breeder Program. Today the AGCA Board continues to focus their combined efforts on increasing breed awareness, education, and conservation, to save the breed from extinction.
Where does the AGC fit in?
In recent times Cassandra Shackleton, AGC President, and Yvonne Seeley, AGC Vice President, have been trained to assist with the Import Program. She works with the AGCA President, HS Riley, and Tigran Grigoryan in Armenia, and together they continue on the goals of the international AGCA/AGC conservation efforts and breed education. AGCA supports the work of AGC as an initiative, and together work hard to build our community in an ethical, educated manner.
We embrace inclusion, not isolation or division, in our breed. We value the unity of North American breeders and owners. We promote education and sharing of resources, as this is the key to preserving this ancient landrace breed.
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AGC Board of Directors
Cassandra Shackleton - President
Cassandra has always had a love for canines. She comes from a farming background and has completed studies at the University of Guelph in Animal Science and Nutrition. She was first introduced to Gamprs in 2018 while searching for a farm and livestock guardian. While very impressed with the breed, she longed for additional guidance and resources to support future breeding plans. When she found the AGCA and was introduced to the Approved Breeder program, she knew great things were in the works. Excited to have discovered similar ideologies and ethics, the choice to engage further came naturally. Since then, she has worked to raise awareness for imports, genetic diversity, and health testing.
Yvonne Seeley - Vice President
Yvonne owned and operated a successful dog training and boarding company for over ten years, where she met and rehabilitated many dogs. Some were the BWD ( big white dogs, such as the Pyrenees, Maremma, etc.). She is a member of the CKC, has shown in conformation and many dog sports, and loves training and helping resolve issues. She is a board member of the Heritage Livestock Club EO and is working on the Tamworth Project to re-establish Registered Tamworths in Canada. Her farm has always been geared towards rare or heritage-registered livestock. Over the years, she has watched as Livestock Guardian Dog breeds in Canada have degraded through poor breeding practices, zero health or temperament testing, and overbreeding and mixing. In 2017 she began following the Armenian Gamprs progress through the AGCA and Canada. She quickly fell in love with the breed. Soon after, she imported her first Gampr through Rohana and the AGCA. Since then, she has helped place Special Imports in Canada and helped with rescues and rehabilitation of Gamprs in Ontario.
Morgan Phillips - Club Secretary
Morgan is a professional dog trainer with a hobby farm of sheep, chickens, and dogs. He has forever been an enthusiast of working dogs and admires the Gamprs for their hardiness, independence, and commitment to their role. As a trainer working with so many breeds, Morgan immediately recognized that Gamprs had stood the test of time in challenging environments whilst avoiding the politics and health problems of the show ring. He believes the Gampr is already perfectly suited to its role as a livestock guardian dog, and it is our job to maintain a healthy breed population and allow the Gampr to flourish in North America, as it has done in Armenia for centuries.
Alannah DeBernardi - Communications Director
Alannah lives on a small hobby farm in Eastern Ontario. As the number of animals on the farm grew, so did the predators that approached the farm's perimeter. A livestock guardian was needed, and she employed her first Gampr. She quickly fell in love with the versatility and gentleness that the Gampr brought and was eager to help ensure this ancient livestock and family guardian continues to grow and thrive in Canada. She sought out the AGCA and the Import Program. She recently added a second Gampr to create a duo of livestock guardians who are stoic, intelligent, and have the advantage of thousands of years of guardian instincts.
Heather Morrissey - Genetics Coordinator
Heather has worked with rare breeds of livestock for 40+ years. She is the former director of Rare breeds Canada, has bred and shown CKC English Bulldogs, is a former vet tech and has worked in Animal rehabilitation and rescue. She is currently working on genetic research with Maritime University on genome sequencing of livestock. Gampr came into her life when she searched for a Livestock Guardian Dog as her older one had passed away due to old age. She was in the process of expanding my flock, working on rare sheep that needed a reliable guardian. She chose to import a pup from Armenia, and now the piece of security to watch the rare breeds of sheep was in place.