My Story

I would like to take the time to introduce myself and how I got involved with American Bulldogs.  My name is Tammy Carpenter-Souza.   I was born and raised in Sunny California ,  lived in the same area for 36 years before moving to Illinois.  For as long as I can remember I have always had a love for animals. 
When I was a young girl I would go looking for any of the neighborhood dogs that were out and bring them home with me.  I was so happy to show off my new found friend to my Mom, but she always made me return them or she would get a call from the neighbors asking if Tammy had taken their dog again.
 

I was a very active member of 4-H for 14 years where I raised and showed rabbits, sheep and hogs.   In 1983,  my family had moved to the country where we were able to have as many animals as we desired so 2 horses, 7 goats, 30 heard of suffok cross sheep, hogs, dogs, lots of feathered friends and our biggest joy of all rabbits.   My folks and I had the largest rabbitry of show rabbits in the U.S.  "Carpenter's Better Built Bunnies," home of the champions. 
At one time we had well over 1000 rabbits and were raising 11 different breeds. We traveled all over the U.S. showing our champion stock.  My greatest accomplishment was winning the Management Award  at the 1985  American Rabbit Breeder Association Nationals in Orlando, Florida.   By the time I was 20, I lost interest in the rabbits.  I guess it was called, "Boy's".  
 

In 1992, I married Greg.  He also had a love for animals especially dogs. 
 After we married I moved him to the country so he could get the rottie he always longed for.   We went to look at a litter of pups, but needless to say I feel in love too.  After playing with the pups we came home with two brothers Jackl for Greg and Maxamillion for myself.    We enjoyed our rotties so much Greg, decided he needed a female.   So along came Lacy J,  need I say more...........
 

In 1994, we opened U.S. Cage Company & Pet Supplies our very own pet store.  We specialized in exotic birds and reptiles.   This is when we met "Chicken Man," Gary Fuller.  Gary, his wife Rhonda and daughter Amanda practically lived at the pet store admiring all the reptiles and birds, it got to the point that we teased each other and they became known as our store bought friends.   Gary knew I had a love for English Bulldogs and would joke with me and tell me, " I'll show you a REAL bulldog".  One Saturday him and Rhonda showed up at the pet store and asked us to come outside and see their dogs they had with them.   He had a beautiful red and white dog in his truck, this bulldog was an American Bulldog named Sissy Bull ( High Jumpin' Mikie and Token). 
That's all it took, I was in love and so was Greg.

With just starting a new business we didn’t have much extra money.  We had told Gary all we had was $400.00 and knowing Anthony was asking   $800.00 we didn’t get our hopes up.  Gary being the nice guy he is he  called Anthony and said he had some friends interested in the female  that was left out of the Mikie X Token litter, but all they could pay was  $400.00 and guaranteed to give her a excellent home.   Anthony agreed on the price and before we knew it we were in Gary and Rhonda’s car driving to the Bay Area to pick up our American Bulldog.  While we were at  Anthony’s we were also able to see the parents,  Mikie was a very  impressive dog to this day one of my favorites( may he rest in peace).  

 After our visit we took our puppy home and had given her the name of Souza’s Dixie Lee, this was the start of Souza’s American Bulldogs.  Dixie Lee, was born on April 29,1995.  Her first show was the 1997, ABA  Nationals in Fresno, California, where she won Best Female In Show.   This was the first of many Best Females along with Best In Shows, before long she had become the first ABA West Coast Champion and also the first  ABA Bully Grand Champion.  She also received her conformation championship with the ABNA and  NKC.  Although  Dixie Lee, has now been retired for three years she has achieved what most breeders should strive for, that being to produce better than yourself and Dixie has accomplished this.  Besides her Grandmother Hines Moleque of Boyd, Dixie Lee is the  second to receive her certification of Register of Merit Bitch (ROM).  Dixie is also the only female to have produced three puppies from the same litter with good hips, conformation championship, and working titles.  This litter being the first Koa X Dixie breeding back in January of 98,  my most memorable breeding.   The pups I am speaking of are.........  

    Dual Grand Champion Souza’s Matias of SAB, ScH I, BST, WPI, ITD5, AD, 

               CGC, OFA & Ph

         Champion Snope's Repoman of SAB, ScH Bh, BSTII, CDI, IDT5, OFA  
                                             o/b  Dave & Kathleen Snope

    Champion Jumpin'  Jax Alziera of SAB, BST, GDT, WPI, IDT5, OFA & Ph 

                                              o/b Nancy Best & Sue Olds

Dixie Lee, is also the mother, grandmother,  and great grandmother to 

many other great titled American Bulldogs just to name a few.

    Ch. Souza’s Ruby Tuesday, OFA (daughter)

    Souza's Splash of Dixie aka Keana , BSTII, ScH Bh, IDT3, WPTI, 

                CDI, OFA (daughter)

    Ch. Jumpin'  Jax Southern Belle aka Keira, CDI, OFA (daughter)

   Ch. ADK Tiamo Pal Matio, BSTII, CDI, IDT3, OFA (grandson)

   Bluebloods Axel of SAB, GDT, OFA (son)

   Ch.  Money in the Bank aka Cash, NKC Gr. Ch., CDI, WBII, 

               WPT Superior, OFA (grandson)

        Ch. Chestnuts Little Cherokee of SAB aka Ozzy, ZTP, Bh, RHF-B, 

               BST (grandson)

        Ch. Butler's Bronco of SAB, OFA (grandson)

 
Greg and I had caught the Bulldog Fever!  We wanted to experience it 

all from breeding, showing, hosting bulldog shows and training by 1998, 

we had experienced many of our dreams.  We got involved with The Redwood 

American Bulldog Club, where we helped host their first ABA show.  We 

were training with top Schutzhund trainer, Dave Deleissegues, drove to 

Ohio  for the Great Lakes American Bulldog Show (where Dixie became a 

Champion) and produced two litters of puppies.  The Bulldog Fever was 

still burning strong we formed our own bulldog club, Golden State American 

Bulldoggers and hosted the 2001 ABA Nationals.  We also helped with the 

other AB clubs and their shows such as the Great Lakes American Bulldog 

Club with the 2000 ABA Nationals and the American Bulldog Club of Las 

Vegas with their shows.  I guess you can say I love paper work  and I 

thoroughly enjoy capturing those memorable moments on film.  You can see 

a lot of my work published in the Bulldog Review.  Out of my bulldog 

experiences I have to say that I enjoyed raising puppies most of all.  

Not having children of my own I guess you can say the motherly instincts 

kick in.  I had to be there while each puppy was born.  I enjoyed this 

so much that I had helped others whelp their litters and had even 

raised a litter for Betty Cummins of Power Play Kennels,  then of course 

putting on shows is a very close second.  
 

Dixie Lee,  was bred to Boyd’s Sergeant Slaughter in the fall of 

96.  With the help and guidance of Matt and Susie Boyd, we whelped our 

first AB litter on December 10th of that year.  This litter produced my 

female Ruby Tuesday.  Ruby, received her conformation championship in 

2001 and whelped one litter of puppies before retiring in the winter of 

2001.  Sad to say Ruby developed a grade three heart murmur so I had 

her spayed. 

Dixie physically came back so well we bred her a year later to Koa.  

This breeding as I stated earlier was my most memorable breeding.  She 

whelped eight puppies 3 males and 5 females.  Greg was looking to keep a 

female from this breeding which he did, Alziera.  I feel in love with a 

male puppy I called, Doc.  This chubby little puppy was so full life he 

followed me everywhere and was such a pistol,  always wanting to 

please.  Clarence Van Hoose, owner of Koa at the time had first pick male 

owed to a friend.  His friend could not take on a dog at the time so he 

took the money instead.  Second pick male was sold to Dave and Kathleen 

Snope, of  Southern California, but after what happened to first pick we 

decided to move them up to first pick.  Greg told me if they did not 

choose Doc that I could keep him.  Plus Matt and Susie Boyd thought he 

was quite the looker.  When the pups were 49 days old we had scheduled 

Dave Deleissegues to come out and temperament test the litter of pups.  

On this day the Snopes were also to be present for the litters 

evaluation.    That particular day Koa jr. (Repoman) was right on target and 

passed the Dave D test with flying colors.   Repoman has gone on to 

obtain his conformation championship along with his BST.  So I got my wish 

and was delighted to be able to keep Doc who we then changed his name to Matias.

Matias, was a conformation flyer!  He became ABAs youngest Grand 

Champion at 21 months old, as well as first third generation hip certified 

Champion.  He also was the first to be given the Grand Champion title 

with the ABNA at 31 months old.  In the year 2000 he obtained his BST 

along with Irondog titles and finished the 12 mile run and received his 

AD title and WPI as well.  He went to train with Wade Wilde and on May 

31, 2003, earned his ScH I scoring 82 in tracking, 88 obedience and a 92 

in protection. 

Dixie was then bred two more times once to Grand Champion Bear and a 

repeat breeding to Koa who by this time we were blessed to own.

 Shortly after Matias and Alziera was born we had gotten our little 

puppy Vernie Q (Thunderstruck Tewa aka Laverne).  Greg was owed a AB 

through breeder/trainer at the time Robert Faber for a Rottie he had 

given him.  Laverne was a great impact on our breeding program.  She was 

the only Grand Champion female with a BST and was the first ABNA Grand 

Champion female.  The Laverne and Matias breeding was the first of two 

Grand Champion American Bulldogs with Bst’s.

 Over the years of being involved with this breed I have met some fine 

people along the way who I am proud to call some of my dearest friends.  

I continue to stay active in the bulldog community.  I am secretary of 

the Sun Valley American Bulldog Club of Arizona who this year put on 

the largest conformation and working show to date, continue to work with 

Casey and Shelia on supplying the Bulldog Review with show and working 

pictures and also continue to help other clubs with their shows.

 In April of 2003,  I was headed to the state of Illinois to follow my 

dream of owning and operating my own boarding facility.  Although my 

dreams didn’t quite go as planned I was ready to give up and move back 

to sunny California.  But not before being blessed with an old 

acquaintance, native of California and who was also involved with  American 

Bulldogs.  My path crossed with Ms. Sharon Secor,  who also had the same 

dreams as I did.  Sharon owned a beautiful piece of property, awesome 

boarding facility and training fields.  I feel in love with her place!  I 

spent many days and weekends just hanging out with Sharon and working 

with our dogs.   In February of 2004, Sharon and I decided to put our 

dreams together and make it a reality.  We now operate our very own 

boarding and training facility, Confident K9.  

Along with my many blessing in life I am now raising a Dixie Lee, 

grandson and grand daughter.  My dear friend Betty Cummins, knew how I 

longed to raise and show another American Bulldog puppy preferably from my 

lines.  On May 31, 2003, the day Matias  obtained his Schutzhund I she 

had a litter of puppies born.  This litter being out ADK Taylor Made, 

NKC Champion, BST, WBI, CDI, WPTII, DWTIII, CGC,  OFA Good bred to 

ADK Money In the Bank aka Cash, Gr. Ch. NKC, CDI, WBII, WPT Superior, 

OFA Good who was the son of Matias and grandson of Dixie.  Betty gave me 

the gift of a female from this litter.  I later named her Tammy’s Ms. 

Independent of Power Play Kennels aka Indy Girl.  Later that fall, I 

received a call from Wade Wilde,  who had been training Matias,  for his 

Schutzhund titles.  I knew his agreement with Greg was to be able to 

breed his female Miko who had her Schutzhund II and BST to Matias.  I was 

interested in this breeding, but financially knew it was impossible.    

Well, once again my prayers were answered.  Wade and Sheryl,  wanted me 

to have this little male puppy they had named  Golden Boy short for 

Oscar de Lahoya the boxer.  I renamed him The Golden Boy Oscar de 

Matias of Wilde West Kennels.  Thank you Betty, Wade, and Sheryl for 

blessing me with the opportunity to raise these two fine puppies that go 

back to my beloved Dixie Lee.

My goals for these puppies is to follow in the footsteps of their great 

parents.  With the help and guidance of my trainer Sharon Secor, she is 

teaching me the fundamentals of obedience.  Indy Girl has been tracking 

now for months and also weight pulling.  Oscar is coming along very 

well with his obedience he is also working on weight pulling and the 

agility course has now become his playground.

Oh yes, the English Bulldog I had always dreamed of, I now own.  Greg 

surprised me in February of 2001 with the cutest little smashed in face 

bulldog I have ever laid eyes on.  I named this bundle of joy Tammy’s 

Forever Jazzmin (my saving grace).  She runs with the big dogs and 

nothing slows her down.