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.

Brooke has been involved with developing the White Shepherd in Australia since 2000 and also been heavily involved in many disciplines in dog training and behaviour for over 25 years.  

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

During her time involved in dogs, Brooke has been on National television, a guest on 3AW radio and written articles in several national dog magazines and been featured in the Herald Sun newspaper.  Over the years, Brooke has held prefixes with the ANKC and been a member of Dogs Victoria over the years (not current), as well previously running her her own professional pet photography business in Melbourne.

Brooke has hosted and judged the Swedish Aptitude Testing and Dog Mentality Assessments during her time with the Australian White Shepherd Club, which she founded in 2000. She have written articles on behaviour, training and breeding which have been shared around the world on many websites over the years.  She was originally 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, and is continuing doing the same with the Lykos breed in development.

Even though her involvement in such activities has significantly lessened in the past 5 years due to family and work commitments, Brooke continues to take her passion in dogs very seriously.

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 over 20 years of hard work, money. extensive research and sacrifice, as well as fantastic relationships with our puppy owners, all working together as a team.  

Over the years, Brooke has leased stud dogs from abroad, imported 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 Australian bred whites were the first Australian exports to be accepted by the World Kennel Club (FCI) as the worldwide new breed, the White Swiss Shepherd Dog. In 2006, Brooke resigned as President from the Australian White Shepherd Club she founded in 2000, due to a small number of committee creating trouble and wanting to breed their dogs with severe hip dysplasia. Brooke tried to put rules in place to prevent dogs with severe HD being bred with, as well as a gold, silver and bronze medal system, which did not go down well.  In dogs, people's personal gain and ego can damage a breed, and Brooke did not feel that it was wise to continue in a club that supported such unethical breeding practices.

Brooke's successes in developing the White Shepherd breed in Australia and contributions to overseas breeding programs, was enough for her to be able to slow down her breeding program as she felt she improved the quality of the breed up to a very high standard . So now Brooke only breeds her exclusive White Shepherd lines every few years to continue on her precious, original lines.

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.

When breeding, it should be done the right way, or not at all. Brooke has been an outspoken figurehead for dog breeding, promoting responsible ownership, training and ethical breeding.  She 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. This knowledge is ever evolving and as a result, Brooke keeps up with the dog industry, behaviour and training, reproduction, health, local laws and breeding ethics surrounding dogs.

Brooke has successfully trained and rehabilitated rescue dogs with severe behavioural issues over the years and found them loving, family homes. She has taken on these dogs of her own accord and at no charge or profit. 

In 2014, Brooke had an accidental litter of Husky/White Shepherd mixes while doing rescue. This was horrific to Brooke as over the years she had been very outspoken and negative about mixing breeds in prior years.  Brooke began researching what this mix would look like, and discovered other breeds in development overseas, containing mainly German Shepherd, Malamute and Husky, which also happened to contain wolf content. Brooke took a keen interest in these beautiful dogs and wanted to own one. Unfortunately that could not be the case, as animals with wolf content cannot be imported into Australia. 

Brooke started a ethical breeding program here in Australia to create a dog with beautiful wolf looks, excelling in trainability, health and sound temperament.

Brooke chose the breed name "Lykos" due to its contemporary feel, plus it also means "wolf" in Greek (liekos/lyk) and the breed name is also trademarked - a first for any dog breed in Australia.

Brooke never thought she would find herself in another breed, yet alone developing another one here in Australia.  A spark was ignited in which Brooke could put her knowledge and experience to use in developing a new breed, unique and the first of its kind in Australia. 
 
Priority is given to the best health of course, 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 bred carefully and selectively, using all available scientific methods of health testing including full DNA screening and hip/elbow x-rays.

In 2014, the blue print was laid out and the Lykos breed was born under the umbrella of the Lykos Wolfalike Council of Australia (LWCA) - formerly the Australian Lykos Development Project.  Brooke is on the committee of the LWCA, working together as a team with other experienced breed advisors, in creating and developing the Lykos Wolfalike breed in Australia. The aim and purpose of the breed is for its formal acceptance with a government canine registry.

After breeding purebreds for nearly decades (and continuing her purebred breeding program separately), Brooke's first F1 (first generation) Lykos litter, born in 2015.  This litter surpassed all expectations, both in looks and temperament!  Even when they were still babies, Brooke noticed they were very different to the purebred breeds. They were quieter, much more laid back and easy-going - exactly what she was aiming for!  It was a great success to have such an amazing, well created foundation in the Lykos breed!

Even early in the breeding program, Lykosia has produced scent detection dogs, sports dogs, dogs used in commercials/advertising, therapy dogs, assistance and service dogs.
 
The proof is certainly in the pudding when it comes to this breed in development and the future is looking very bright for the Lykos Wolfalike in Australia!