A little bit more about us.........
We came up with our Kennel name Achates back in 1984. Achates was a character in Greek
Mythology. You can read about him in Virgil's epic, "Aeneid". Achates was a loyal friend and
companion to Aeneas. I could not think of a more suiting name for our dogs as they are my most
trusted, loyal friends and companions. So we started using this name, Achates, as our Kennel
Name.
Lou was born and raised in Philadelphia. He spent his summers growing up with his relatives in Nebraska
having fun bailing hay, etc....and enjoying long hot summers. Lou went on to graduated from Franklin &
Marshall College in Lancaster, PA and then enlisted in the Marines and served in Force Recon
(parachute and underwater qualified, deep reconaisance specialists). After serving his country Lou
started working for Scott Paper Company in Philadelphia. He spent almost 30 years total with Scott
Paper Company before taking early retirement in 1996, after helping with the company's transition to the
new owners, Kimberly Clark. Lou took off 10 years from Scott and spent that time working with his
Father who owned an Armstrong & Bruce Hardwood Flooring Distributorship in Lancaster, PA. Lou was
President of the Company and Dad was the Owner and Chairman of the Board. Landis & Company was
sold in 1979 upon Dad's retirement and Lou returned to Scott Paper Company in Philadelphia. In 1996
when Scott Paper was sold Lou was the Worldwide Vice President of Logistics. After retiring on a Friday
he became the President and CEO of Tufco Technologies here in the Green Bay area, the following
Monday. So much for retirement. Someday he will start to think about retiring......
I was raised in Strasburg, Lancaster County, PA and grew up with a collie. I met Lou at Landis and
Company in 1977 where I was hired to take care of the Bruce Hardwood Flooring Division. After 6
months of Lou asking me out to lunch, he finally wore me down. And the rest is history. And although
our age difference is 16 years, we have been married since August of 1979 and we share many common
interests of which one is our dogs.......
We started out buying our first Doberman Pinscher in 1983 while living in Wisconsin the first time after we
got married. When being transferred back to Philly by Scott Paper we bought our first Doberman Show
Dog of the Drakenberg line, bred by Lavina Peticca, known as Inky. Over the years Inky was not only my
mentor but more like my second Mom. We had 7 of her Dobermans over the years of which 1 became a
Champion who was named Rhett, Ch Drakenberg's Symphony In Red, WAC, CGC, TDI. I bred him to my
Scarlett, Drakenberg's Quite a Dish, WAC, CGC, TDI and had 2 puppies of which I kept both. Beau only
needed a 3 point Major to become a Champion when I quite showing him. Beside having a bout of
torsion from which I nearly lost him, he had a chronic prostate problem. I got very tired of the "politics" of
showing in Dobermans and I decided to retire Beau. So he ended up neutered like his spayed sister
Bonnie.
Lou's favorite Aunt & Uncle had Bostons Terriers. So Lou spent Friday nights in Philadelphia watching
the Friday Night Fights on TV with his Uncle Walt. Puggy as their Boston was called would sit with Lou
and that started Lou's love affair with Bostons. After I had a Laminectomy of L5/S1 in 1993, it became
more difficult for me to exercise our Doberman's. So in 1999 we started our search for our first Boston
Terrier. We found Jolie in the Fall of 2000 and that is when we made our official switch to Bostons. We
have one Doberman left named Syrah who was sired by the #3 Doberman in the country named BISS Ch
Ravenswood Southern Cross. Syrah was diagnosed with Chronic Active Hepatitis in 2004 so she had to
retire from showing when spayed because of this disease. Dobermans were my first love but now these
little Bostons have wiggled their way into our hearts and our home. As I say on my web site's home page,
"Bostons are like potato chips.....you just can't stop with one".
I was paying a local handler to show Jolie for me until I met Sarah Kennedy for the first time along with her
parents at the BTCA Nationals held in Louisville, KY back in 2002. Sarah said she would like to show
Jolie so that is what we did. Jolie finished her Championship on my birthday, August 2, 2003 at the
Tri-Angle Boston Terrier Breeders Specialty Show held in Cherry Hill, NJ. She won her 3rd major, this
one was 5 points going WB/BW to become my first Boston Champion. I was handling her daughter
Sophia, who was Reserve that day. Best birthday present I ever received! I had learned to handle my
own dogs when Jolie's first litter arrived, going into the ring for the first time under Judge Mary Rogers
Clark at the 2003 BTCA Nationals. I put all of TJ's points on him except his last Major that was won by
Sarah Kennedy under Mary Tory from Englan,d at the Western Boston Terrier Specialty Show, held in
Elmhurst, IL. I put the first 3 points on Sophia (who was very high spirited) and then sent her to Sarah for
Sarah to show and finish her which she did. The rest of the story is told in the following pages within my
web site. You will even see some photos of Lou handling the kids as he now tries to beat me at a show,
which he has done several times. I was showing George and Lou was showing his brother Gus for me.
Lou put back to back 3 point Majors on Gus at the Valparaiso Shows in Indiana. After that there was no
stopping Lou.
I just can not imagine my life without these wonderful little companions. Boston Terrier's are just the best.
I have become very involved in Health Testing and serve on the Health Committee for the Boston Terrier
Club of America. We health test all our Bostons for the BAER Hearing Test, The Cerf Eye Exam, The
Patella Exam and all results are registered with OFA for public review. The Animal Health Trust in
England is now doing a DNA test looking for the marker to see if a Boston carries the gene that produces
Juvenile Hereditary Cataracts. I tested 5 my dogs with them and they all tested Clear of this gene.
Because of the exchange rate at that time, the test was approximately $130 per dog. Then Kathryn
Graves, Phd of the University of Kentucky was able to start doing this same test there. So I just finished
testing all my other dogs and none of them carry this Hereditary Juvenile Cataract gene. Please read
more about that information posted on separate pages.
I designed our home and Guest House that we built in 1996 on 12+ acres overlooking the city of Green
Bay, WI. We call our home "Northern Exposure".
I hope you enjoy my web site as I try to keep adding information that will be useful to everyone. If you
ever have a question about Bostons, please feel free to write to me. I"ll try to help find an answer for
you, if I do not already have it.
Sue LeCalsey
Achates Bostons, LLC