For Brooke, dogs have always been an integral part of her life.  Since she was a small child, her passion has been animals, nature and all its intricate, yet immense beauty and wonder. Growing up, Brooke always had canine companions in her life, mixed breeds and purebreds alike.

Since 2000, Brooke has been involved with developing her White Shepherd bloodlines and also been heavily involved in many disciplines in dog training and behaviour.

At this point in time, Brooke embarks on 9 successive generations (25 years) of hard work and research with her unique bloodlines. With a history of intense research, no expense was been spared in sourcing the world's most quality, reliable foundation dogs which made up her original White Shepherd bloodlines.  Their ancestors and relatives excelled in jobs as guides for the blind, therapy, service, police, and search & rescue.  These bloodlines have purposefully been selected as the foundations of the Lykos.

Brooke has rescued, rehabilitated and re-homed dogs in need, fostered for rescues, as well as trained in a myriad of dog sports, including sheep herding, lure coursing, tracking, agility, obedience and protection work.

During her time involved in dogs, Brooke has:
- been on National television for breed interviews
- a guest on 3AW radio
- written articles in several national dog magazines
- been featured in the Herald Sun newspaper
- held prefixes with the ANKC and been a member of Dogs Victoria over the years (not current)
- run her her own professional pet photography and art and wallpaper businesses in Melbourne.
- hosted and judged the Swedish Aptitude Testing and Dog Mentality Assessments during her time with the White Swiss Shepherd Dog Club, which she founded in 2000.
- written many articles on behaviour, training and breeding which have been shared around the world on many websites over the years in the early days.
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Brooke was an Australian Representative for the White Shepherd Genetics Project in 2001 and kept a National database of all health records for White Shepherds in Australia. She is also keeping the same type of database while developing the Lykos breed.

Dogs bred by Brooke are on record for having the best hip/elbow/DNA and temperament results in the country while breeding purebred White Shepherds.  This took decades of hard work, money. extensive research and sacrifice, all while having fantastic relationships with puppy owners - all working together as a team for breed improvement.

Brooke's extensive experience with White Shepherds has also included leasing stud dogs from abroad, importing frozen semen from America, Germany and Italy.  She has also exported her dogs and frozen semen to Italy, Hawaii, Sweden, Netherlands and Finland, as well as helping other breeders in Russia by providing them with new bloodlines (for free), solely for the improvement of the breed on a world-wide scale.
 
Brooke's White Shepherds were the first Australian exports to be accepted by the World Kennel Club (FCI) as the worldwide new breed, the White Swiss Shepherd Dog.  Brooke continues to breed White Shepherds every few years to preserve their legacy and continue the quality of the purebred bloodline.

Brooke believes a breeder should always breed to improve/develop their chosen breed, with correct conformation, temperament, health, type and overall soundness being top, equal priorities. This requires a lot of research, acquired knowledge, networking, continuous learning and a lot of dedication.  If you put enough time, money and knowledge, with a willing attitude of continuous learning into your passion, you can succeed in your visions and goals.

Over the past 25 years, Brooke has been an outspoken figurehead in responsible dog breeding, promoting responsible ownership and training.  She also actively promotes and mentors other breeders in helping protect their puppies and bloodlines, by using official legal puppy sale contracts, which protects them from ending up in the hands of backyard breeders, rescues, pounds or shelters. 

In 2014, Brooke had an accidental Husky x White Shepherd litter. These pups did not form part of the Lykosia breeding program. Brooke was doing rescue and fostering at the time and was assisting dogs anywhere she could. 'Charlie the Houdini' Husky, (who fathered the White Shepherd x Husky litter), was not one of the rescues. Brooke wanted to help the owner find good home for Charlie as he was escaping her property and was being tied up 24/7 - which is no life for a dog. Charlie was a stunning wolf grey and white, wooly coated boy with such a loving and beautiful nature. He passed his hips and elbows with flying colours, but had the common Siberian Husky escape artist trait. Being a purebred preservation dog breeder, mixing breeds was horrific to Brooke at the time and in former years had been very outspoken and negative about mixing breeds. Brooke began researching what this unexpected White Shepherd x Siberian Husky mix would look like... and discovered (on Pinterest of all places!) other wolfy breeds overseas, such as the Northern Inuit (1980ies) and Utonagan (est 1987), which are also not officially recognised by any kennel club.

Brooke loved the look of the type of overseas breeds, but discovered that importing one was off the table due to the Australian Government not allowing wolf content into Australia.  After considerable research, Brooke opted to develop the breeding program in Australia without any wolf content. Brooke chose the name "Lykos" due to its contemporary feel, which also means "wolf" in Greek (liekos/lyk). The breed name is also trademarked - a first for any dog breed in Australia.

Priority is always given to excellent health but also high trainability and calm, easy temperaments, with the versatility to perform service work and dog sports. The purpose is to breed healthy dogs that make great family pets and easily fit into the average Australian family lifestyle.

With so much going on in the news regarding the declining health of many purebred breeds, the Lykos is selectively bred, using all available scientific methods of health testing including full DNA screening and hip/elbow x-rays. From the commencement of the Lykos breeding program, dogs were hip/elbow x-rayed and DNA tested.

Brooke's first generation Lykos litter was born in 2015 after creating the Breed Standard in 2014.  This litter surpassed all expectations, both in looks and temperament!  Even when they were still babies, Brooke noticed they were very different to her purebreds she had bred over many years. They were quieter, much more laid back and easy-going - exactly what she was aiming for.  From the first two Lykos litters, Lykosia produced service dogs, scent detection dogs, sport dogs and dogs that played wolves in commercials/advertising.

The Lykos is made up of several purebred dog breeds but contain traces of (but not limited to) the German Shepherd Dog, Alaskan Malamute, Siberian Husky as predominant breeds, selected for temperament and health. More about the history of the breed and it's developed can be found on the webpage of the Lykos Wolfalike Council of Australia here.
 
Lykosia do not endorse breeders who keep kennels full of dogs and breed them for commercial profit. In Victoria, our Animal Welfare Laws are strict, and rightfully so, as it aims to stop puppy farming which is rife, particularly in other States of Australia.  Animals cannot simply live their best lives when kept like livestock in small cages/enclosures. We strongly believe dogs should be cherished family companions, given the best opportunity for a wonderful life - raised, developed and trained the right way.

No puppies bred by Lykosia will ever end up in a rescue organisation or shelter. This is written into the puppy sale contracts, which are and have proven to be legally enforceable. Lykosia will always take puppies back and find them a good home if owner's cannot keep them for any reason.

Breeding is not just a matter of breeding a couple of attractive dogs together - even if they pass health test results. It's a combination of knowledge, genetic science, creativity and art learnt over the course of over two decades, combined with selective breeding for a specific temperament, structure, conformation, type and other qualities. This is also what makes our breeding program so unique, our long-term dedication to our dogs, multi-generational breeding and consistency of type, health and temperament.