History

           Barrie and Jean MacDonald have been involved with Dogs of various shapes and sizes since the year of their Marriage in 1973 when they shared their lives in Papua New Guinea with a Boxer, Honey and her cross-bred Puppy Princess, both rescued from the Port Moresby R.S.P.C.A. Unfortunately when they returned to Australia in 1975 Honey and Princess had to remain in PNG, and were adopted by a local Dentist with whom they spent the rest of their lives.

      The pain of being forced to leave their faithful companions was eventually dulled when an Old English Sheepdog, Delilah, and an Irish Setter, Piplika, joined the Family. From that time on Barrie & Jean became more and more involved with Dogs, they exhibited and bred, Old English Sheepdogs, Irish Setters and Tibetan Terriers and, for a period of 171/2 years, were "owned" by a Hungarian Pulik, Hobo. They spent  many years on the Committees of various Dog Clubs and were the founding President and Secretary of T.O.E.S. (the Tasmanian Old English Sheepdog Club). Jean still maintains her involvement in the Show World and is a licensed Judge for Group 5 at Championship level and holds Parade or  Open Show licences for Groups 6 & 7.

     Majic her Puppies and young friend Jasmine Dyer

      In 1980 Barrie who was then a Commissioned Officer in the Australian Regular Army was posted to the Mainland and was told they could take their Dogs (at that time four Old English Sheepdogs) but if anybody complained they would have "to get rid of them". As this was totally  unacceptable Barrie resigned from the Regular Army and after attending the "Florida School of Grooming" in Tampa U.S.A.  opened a Dog Grooming Business "The House of The Dog" in Hobart.

      In 1985 Grant and Edyth Langham-Goodwin opened their new Kennel complex "Shelomith" in Acton Road and invited Barrie and Jean to lease part of the premises to operate the Grooming Business from that location. This offer was accepted and the  "House of the Dog " was co-located with "Shelomith Kennels" until 1995 when Barrie and Jean Purchased "Lauderdale Kennels" at 96 Acton Rd. 

      After some renovations and extensions a Cattery was added and the name of the combined Business was subsequently changed to “Best Friends”. During their time at "Best Friends" the MacDonald family has increased by the addition of two Feline friends firstly, Woofski, ( an aged Domestic Silver Short Hair) who moved in from the 'Bush' and decided the "Kennels" was a great place to live! Followed by Winston (a British Blue) who after Boarding for some time, concluded the MacDonald House was an acceptable residence (once the Dogs had been put in their place!) and decided to stay.

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