About OZ
My name is Olga Zamkovaya. I live in Palm Harbor, Florida with my family and my Standard Poodles (which are the family too, by the way). My husband Vladimir and I work in IT field. Our daughter Tatyana is a PhD candidate in Metagenomics; she is studying at the University of Florida, Gainesville and visits us often.
Our First Poodle, Lora
Overseas we had a poodle, which lived with my mom, and we missed it very much. We decided we needed a dog. We were new to America, and did not know where to buy a dog, so we visited the nearest puppy shop. The puppies there could tear your heart apart, but I was strong in my decision to have a purebred dog. The shop assistant advised us to search for AKC breeders, and so we did.
I was looking for a brown Standard Poodle. I called everywhere in the Eastern US and Canada in this search, but the brown color is hard to find; and though the breeders would send a puppy, my preference would be to see the breeder and the dam and how the puppies are raised.
One summer day of year 2000 we received a phone call from the lady who had just had a litter of red puppies. Although it was not the color we were looking for, Terry's place was just 10 minutes drive from our home, and we went to see the puppies. We immediately fell in love with the breeder, the dogs and the puppies. We picked a beautiful red female puppy and named her Lora. We were and still are very thankful that Terry Goldman, the breeder, agreed to sell this exquisite puppy as a breeding stock to us although we were not able to show her. Terry became our mentor and our dearest friend.
First litter
A few years later we decided to breed Lora. Terry arranged a mate with a very nice black dog, CH Piccadilly's Union Jack "Shadow". I was overwhelmed and I loved the puppies so much! There were black, blue and cream puppies in the litter.
We decided to keep one female puppy as a pet and another one as a show dog. They both were blue. But the pick of the litter was cream male puppy! I started taking show puppies to handling classes and I loved the boy so much that it was hard to think that one day I would have to let him go... Then I was told that it is possible to keep boys and girls in one home, so the best boy stayed; the other boy stayed to keep him company, and he became my husband's and everybody's favorite; and yet another black girl was kept by my daughter. So, half of the litter stayed with us! The rest is history.
Lora's puppies remain our most beloved dogs.
Present
Starting with Lora and her pupppies, all our dogs have been to various classes, whether puppy classes, obedience, or conformation. Some of them are shown, some just stay home and keep us company, but all are dearly loved.
We became members of the Tampa Bay Poodle Club, and both Vlad and I have worked as officers of the club for a number of years. Through our involvement in conformation shows, we were privileged to get to know many wonderful dedicated breeders, owners, handlers, groomers, whose wealth of knowledge, mentorship and support helped us stand where we are today.