OUR GHIBLI STORY

I am Tasha Grieser, founder of Ghibli Poodles located in Northwest Ohio. I was instilled with a love of all things dog since I was a little girl by my mother. My happiest memories include helping my mother raise American Cocker Spaniels and participating in performance sports with my childhood pets. I have participated in dog sports since 9 years old. I was blessed to have a local club and an abundance of local dog shows to train and trial my dogs since an early age. My first dog was a black American Cocker Spaniel Pepper who I showed in Agility, Obedience, and Juniors. Since then I have trained, trialed, and loved many more including a couple of English Springer Spaniels, Shetland Sheepdog, mutts, and more. Prior to breeding, I worked as a professional dog trainer and owned my business Better Friends Dog Training for a decade.

Me with my first dogs, Pepper, my Am. Cocker Spaniel and Misha, my English Springer Spaniel.

Also pictured with my other Cocker, Fudge.

These were the most fantastic group of dogs, pictured in 2012. Pepper passed away in 2013 at 15 years old.

The Poodles that Made Us Love the Breed

Standard Poodles didn't come into my life until I was an adult, when I met and married a man severely allergic to dogs! Knowing I couldn't live without dogs in my life and with my husband's never-ending support, we began looking toward Poodles. In 2011, we brought home a 1 year old Standard Poodle mix from the shelter we named Yoshi. He quickly earned his BN title and two legs toward his RN, but unfortunately our performance career ended quickly as he was diagnosed with several autoimmune disorders that really affected his health. The following year, we brought home our next Poodle, Sully, a 9 year old blue Standard Poodle from another animal shelter. For four years, we immensely enjoyed our “Poodley boys” as they were nicknamed. In 2014, Sully suffered a stroke. He did recover well enough to walk again, but in 2016 he began losing function of his back legs again. After months of caring for our Sully, our vet said it was a degenerative condition of the spine. We finally said our goodbyes.

We adopted our next dog, a puppy mill survivor from our local animal rescue. Snoopy is a black and white neutered Labradoodle. He and Yoshi quickly became best buds. In 2016, a large group of Cocker Spaniels were relinquished to a local humane society. My sister and I volunteered to groom them. She decided to adopt one and so did I! Yoohoo, a chocolate Cocker Spaniel was estimated to be older than 10 years old. He was a very sweet boy but was diagnosed with kidney failure pretty soon after we adopted him. He was spoiled with a home cooked special diet and lots of love for a year before passing away the following year. In 2017, tragedy struck again and we lost our Yoshi to a rare genetic condition at just 7 years old. Just a week after Yoshi's passing, we said goodbye to 12 year old Misha, too. It was a devastating year for our family.

All that heartbreak brought us to purchasing our first purebred Poodle from an ethical breeder, which would lead us on a very joyful journey!

Pictured with our dogs in 2016, Misha my English Springer Spaniel, Snoopy, our adopted Labradoodle, Yoshi our Poodle mix, and Yoohoo! our adopted chocolate Cocker Spaniel. My children, Charlie, Maybel, and Alecea.

In 2017, We adopted Ponyo, a small apricot Poodle that was being retired from a local breeding kennel and then purchased Miya, our first purebred ethically bred Standard Poodle.

New Beginnings

With both our “Poodley boys” gone we knew we needed another Standard in our life. When my late English Springer Spaniel, Misha passed away and my babies finally being older, it was time for my next performance dog! For this dog, we wanted a healthy dog from a known pedigree, health-tested background that could grow with our family for years to come and to avoid all the heartache we experienced with the preventable genetic and autoimmune health issues we experienced with our first Standard Poodles. That is when we came to the decision that we would get our next Poodle from a reputable breeder. In July 2017, we brought home a black puppy from Element Standard Poodles; we named her Miya.

Miya was purchased as a pet and my performance prospect and she turned out to a be a fabulous performance partner, earning her first obedience title at just 7 months old. About this time, we came across an available male looking for a co-ownership home from Shyre Poodles; we named him Wall-E after one of our children's favorite movies. The following April I took Wall-E to his first UKC show and Miya came along just for fun with the permission and support from her breeder. They both finished their Championship in one weekend! Several new friends and their breeders really encouraged me to pursue both their Grand Championships.

I was having a blast, and so I did! The show bug had officially bit me!

Although still uncertain if my goals for Miya included breeding her, with her breeder's permission and encouragement, I pursued her UKC Top Ten status. The idea of having my own breeding program began to grow with the help and support of my mentors and friends. In 2019, Miya's breeder granted me full registration and breeding rights on Miya, and Ghibli was officially formed!

Ghibli Grows

We have been blessed with several more additions to my growing breeding program from friends I have made along the way. In 2018 we brought home 6 month old Seairsha from Properts Way Poodles in New York. After she finished her championship and health testing, we placed her in a quieter guardian home with good friends and neighbors. In 2019, I was offered a little cream boy from my friend Fran over at Perigueux Poodles. We named Sunny and he became my daughter's Jr Show dog.

More Additions

Marble, now lives in Guardian home. Marble was bred by APAW and is an exceptional dog.

Ellie, now retired. Ellie is the mama to our Groovy Pups.

Cocoa, now retired. She served as my son's Junior dog for two years and produced the Sweets litter.

Clover joins us from Monarch Poodles to add the rich red color to our program. She lives with Co-owner Cathy.

GHIBLI'S FIRST GENERATION

Marnie, an apricot, is my very first bred-by keeper puppy out of Sunny and Miya. Memrie is my outlier girl from the pairing with very diversy Sky. Meadow is my only Mello daughter. Moxie was my Oopsy! puppy from Sunny and Wishes.

Marnie - Miya x Sunny

Memrie - Miya x Sky, mother to the next generation, Sophie!

Meadow - Miya x Mello

Moxie - Wishes x Sunny & Mother to the Wishing Girls and our next generation, KIKI.

Ghibli's Next Generation

Grandaughter of Wishes and Sunny.

Granddaughter of Miya.

Giving Back

My three upcomer puppies, Marnie, Miracle, and Marble all have had DNA submitted to be apart of the Mizzou-OFA CHD Biomarker Study. Here at Ghibli Poodles, we know the heartbreak of losing a dog tragically or too soon to preventable health conditions. It is what inspires me and motivates me as a breeder. Health testing is our utmost priority. We go above and beyond the breed club recommendations. All our dogs are fully health tested before being bred. The Mizzou study is trying to find a biomarker to predict Hip Dysplasia with a DNA test. While the puppies were between 4 and 6 months old, we submitted blood and urine samples to the OFA database. At 1 year old we will xray their hips and again at 2 years old we will repeat the OFA Hips xrays. We are investing to be apart of this study because we are committed to bettering our breed! We are very proud to be apart of this study that will hopefully allow breeders to even better select keeper puppies and the dogs we breed to create the healthiest possible puppies for our future families.

MR with Novel,
Miss E with Gemma,
Myself with Seairsha on the left of me and Wishes on the right of me,
my husband CJ with Wall-e,
Charlie with Snoopy,
Little Miss S with Ponyo,
Maybellee with Miya on the left and Sunny on the right.

Photo taken in March 2021.
Novel and Gemma ad have since retired into pet homes. Ponyo found a wonderful retirement home. Our foster daughters moved to be with biological family. <3

Marnie, Marble, Miracle, and Memrie and Rainbow were born and added to our family/program in the last half of 2021 and in 2022.

Plans underway to update this family photo to include them!

WHAT DOES GHIBLI MEAN?

Ghibli means wind. More specifically, it is a type of wind in the Sahara desert with a profound effect on North Africa's climate. When I began thinking of a name for my breeding program, I was immediately drawn to the idea of wind because of its diversity and it's symbolism. My mother, Wendy, is the person responsible for instilling such a love of dogs in me. Her sacrifice in allowing me to use the little black Cocker she brought home for herself and instead letting her become my dog, and her decade of dedication in taking me to all my training classes and dog shows with my childhood pets had a tremendous impact on my life and set me on the trajectory that led me to here.

Although my mother set me on this trajectory, I wouldn't be at this place without my husband's never-ending support and encouragement, and he is the one that suggested the name Ghibli. As our babies turned into toddlers, and with my husband's love for Japanese anime, the films from a Japanese animation studio, called Ghibli Studios, became a household favorite of our family. Some of the qualities that endeared our family to the films included how serene and peaceful the animation and movie themes were. I am a huge nature lover (as you may have picked up on from the general theme of my dogs' names). I also really appreciated how most of the films were centered around strong female characters. When my husband bought me our foundation dam, we named her after the director of favorite Ghibli Studio films, Hayao Miyazaki, hoping she too would become a strong, female character.

Naming this program after the ghibli winds is my way of paying homage to my mother, my husband, and my foundation dam, who have all made this possible.

Me as a young girl competing with my first dog, black Cocker Spaniel Pepper. We enjoyed competing in NADAC, UKC, USDAA, and CPE Agility for many years.