We are Greg & Michelle Copeland, Roslin Copeland and Ginger Hurley.  Claimed by several Boykin Spaniels, we live and work in Houston and Hempstead, Texas.

I started hunting and training with Labs and Springer Spaniels over 30 years ago in my home state of Texas.  While a Government Relations Consultant and lobbyist living in Washington, DC [my first wife Michelle and I returned to the God’s country and the place of my birth in the fall of 2004], I met my first Boykin Spaniel over ten years ago on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and have been in love ever since.  Folks on the Eastern Shore are so enamored with their little brown friends, that there is at least one “Boykin ONLY” hunt each year.  You may think of it as a friendly field trial where every dog is a champion. I now have my own passel of Boykins who participate in and have attained titles from events including field trials, conformation, weight pull, etc...

We live with our Boykin family:  Curlee’s Just-In, Hollow Creek Sassy Sadie, Hollow Creek Jaeger Meister, Texas Trace Midnight in Austin, Texas Trace Abilene, Texas Trace Sam Houston, Texas Trace Rising Star, Texas Trace Liberty, Texas Trace Devine, and a few others from time to time.  My mother & father now have a Boykin from Boykin Rescue and my older sister has a Boykin also from Boykin Rescue.  Of course we each think our special Boykin is the best looking Boykin in the world and the smartest dog in the world and if the truth be known, they are smarter than us.   

My younger sister Ros and our good friend and partner Ginger joined us in setting up Texas Trace as a kennel intently focused on improving the health of the breed, furthering it’s hunting instincts, and trying to do all the things one can do with a Boykin Spaniel – hunting, field trial, agility, weight pulling, obedience and conformation. 

Our Just-In (UWP GRCH Curlee’s Just-In) is a pup of HRCH UH Curlee Gurlee and HR UH Sydney of Woodbine which both have too many titles and winnings to list. I started out training Just-In myself and quickly realized I did not have the time I used to have to train -- I have irregular hours and I am regularly out of town.  And for full disclosure, I admit Just-In is smart well beyond my limited ability to train. Anyway, I came to believe he was too smart not to get an advanced education so I sent him to a professional to get his masters degree in retrieving at which he excels.  Just-In is also very obstinate and hardheaded, but I understand he comes by it honestly from his dad Sydney.  He has shown off at a few field trials and Just-In is one great hunter.  Just-In is also not only a 2003 UKC TOP TEN of the Boykin Spaniel breed, he is a 2003 UKC TOP TEN TOTAL DOG – a unique title and one only three Boykins have obtained.  

I began training only for hunting when I guided for extra cash while in college a very, very long time ago on the wonderful scenic lakes of east Texas.  I always thought as one got older and more mature (or at least older), one would have more time to do the things one has grown to love: in my case that would be to hunt and to train dogs. It seems as though I have less and less time. So all our dogs now go to a professional to obtain a masters degree in retrieving and upland game hunting. 

We breed only occasionally and we only do so in an effort to advance the breed, to further the hunting instincts of the breed and with a focus on improving the health of the breed.  Generally those puppies are spoken for long in advance. 

We have the greatest respect for breeders who breed with a conscience.  And we commend those breeders who give back to the Boykin as much as they get -- as evidenced by their kennel, their dogs, their knowledge of the breed, the standards they advocate and adhere to, their commitment to improve the health of the breed and their preservation of the hunting instincts of the Boykin Spaniel. While some breeders stand out in my mind, we admire each who continuously gives of their tireless energy and who always show their love of the Boykin and devotion to our little brown friends and companions.  We hope to have more time in the future to give back to the breed a small portion of what the Boykin has given us.