Prairieaire St. Bernards began their existence in 1961 when founder, Winifred Martin, acquired some exceptional breeding stock to establish the foundation. It was the "chance of a lifetime" when she became the owner of BASKO VON SALMEGG, a pure Swiss import with a remarkable pedigree. He was shown to Champion title and as his fame spread and his offspring complimented his own status, a new chapter was written in St. Bernard history. In 1968, he was named the nation's Top Stud Dog. In total, he sired 13 champions which makes him the greatest import since World War 2, to the present. A kennel can only be as good as its bitches and Prairieaire owned Ch. HILLTOPS HONEY BABY ZWINGO, the daughter of Ch. HARVEY's ZWINGO BARRI V BANZ(import breeding), a multi-Best In Show Winner and sire of 15 champions. Honey was heavy import breeding from the most noted of Europe's great St. Bernards. Her greatest son, Ch. PRAIRIEAIRE ROX V ZWINGO BASKO(a Basko son)became the sire of 15 champions(plus 15 more were pointed)as well as the Nation's Top Stud Dog in 1969 and runner-up in 1970. Ch. Honey Baby herself was named the Nation's Top Brood Bitch in 1965, having produced 5 champions. Basko, Honey, and Rox each produced offspring that won an All-Breed Best in Show. Prairieaire became a unique bloodline with this foundation. It was then enhanced through the years with more import blood related to Basko, which linebreeding brought to a high degree of strength and merit. By keeping the bloodline pure as possible with intelligent selections in mating, all the desireable traits of Basko and Honey were preserved. This is evident some 35 years later in the present day stock. Offspring show remarkable consistancy with strong emphasis on heavy bone, good height, excellent correct head type, compact wide balanced bodies, heavy muscling necessary to maintain soundness of limb, resulting in correctness of movement, plus wonderful temperaments and intelligence, topped with the trademark of the line, namely glorious deep rich red coloring and clean white. Upon Winifred's retirement, the line continues under the direction of Tim & Deb DeAtley who have some powerful champions and sound stock to further the Prairieaire line and its degree of purity. They seeing, as did Winifred, the power of the bloodline in relation to other bloodlines when the Prairieaire traits prove to dominate when clients owning other bloodlines breed into the Prairieaire line. That is the goal and the end result of linebreeding. It takes 8 generations to "set the type" in a bloodline and Prairieaire pedigrees can show 12 or more generations back to the foundation stock. There is visible evidence of the very traits that made the foundation stock so outstanding, as seen in the champions and future champions of present day Prairieaire.

Since a 1960 establishment date, Prairieaire has built a powerful bloodline.  
Linebred and well-preserved in original quality, 
we built a legacy that is now a legend in the St. Bernard world.

Contact Information:
Tim & Deb DeAtley
P.O. Box 152
Loda, IL 60948

Email: stbern@net66.com

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