About Us
Welcome to our website, we hope that we may offer guidance and insight to the wonderful Bernese Mountain dog breed. Ayler Kennels is located near the base of Hatchers Pass just outside of Palmer, Alaska. We reside on 5 acres of forested land in the Beautiful Matanuska-Susitna Valley. Our lives are encompassed by our children, both 2 and 4 legged.
My name is Amy Johnson, as a child, my parents liked dogs, but were not true lovers of animals, however, they loved me endlessly. Because of such a supportive family, I got my first “show dog” Willow, a golden retriever. She was not sold or represented as anything but a companion dog, however, after years of going to dog shows, handling in conformation and junior showmanship, training and teaching obedience and loving the dog sport in most facets, I was sure that I could make her out to be a best in show winner! Needless to say, it was a long hard road in the discovery that it takes more than a love of the sport to win at a dog show, especially in the stiff competition of the golden retriever ring! Willow offered me many wins in the junior showmanship ring, but did not fare too well in the conformation ring. In 1988, my employer and dear friend, Marilyn DeVries, offered me pick of the litter from her bernese mountain dog, Chloe’s litter. I was elated! To this day I could not name a fault that my puppy, Maverick had. (Although every dog DOES have them). I had Maverick for 11 years, he received 2 legs to his CD title, his Championship title, his Canine Good Citizen title and the undisputed love as a constant companion to a teenager (he even went to school with me almost daily) before losing him to cancer in 1999. At that time, I took a sabbatical of sorts from the sport of dogs, to raise my 3 children as a single mom.
I met my husband, John in 2001, and in 2003, we bought Chance, a show quality golden and I was back into the sport… hook, line and sinker. I started looking for the “right” berner in the summer of 2003, but did not want to settle on just any dog. John and I married in July 2005, I focused on showing Chance and completing one of my degrees, in 2005 I finally got the phone call I had been waiting for. Bobbi Kinley-Blewett had the right dog for me! A show quality berner that met all my expectations. Remington came to live with us, a week before Thanksgiving in 2005. In June of 2006 he went to his first show, picking up best of winners and went nonstop until finishing his Championship in November of 2006. He finished effortlessly with a best of breed from the puppy classes, he went winners dog at a regional specialty.
In Alaska, our show season is short, we have 17 shows a year, including our regional specialty, so that was phenomenal!
Although Ayler Bernese, is quite new as a hobby kennel, we have been around the breed for almost 20 years, watching and learning. We have wonderful mentors that I could not have gotten this far without, including Marilyn DeVries, Bill and Bobbi Blewett of Adesa Bernese Mountain Dogs and JoAnna Mattheisen of Sendache Bernese Mountain Dogs. As well as hundreds of other friends and acquaintances we have acquired from various endeavors in the sport of dogs!