About Us

     Hi, my name is Frank Lewis, my wife Kimberly and I currently make up the Lewis Crest Rottweiler team.  We are both very hands on with our Rottweilers, in that we both take care of and train our dogs, we both help whelp and raise the litters, but to date only I show and trial our dogs (Kimberly is still working on her stage fright).  Writing about us is almost as difficult as choosing our kennel name, as I know what is important to Kimberly and I with regards to our dogs, puppies and litters, but not quite sure what you as a person looking for that perfect Rottweiler Puppy as an addition to your family would like to know about us, so I will start at the beginning.

Kimberly working with Xeyna on her CD Title

 
     Growing up I have always had and loved animals and have had most every type of pet you can think of, but my most favorite was always my dogs.  I had several different breeds of dogs, beginning with a teacup poodle that was given to my Sister for her 9th Birthday, and ending with my Doberman Pinscher just before I went into the military in 1986.  In 1990, when I was out of the military, I purchased an acre and a half of land in Riverside and wanted to get a dog for companionship and security.  Up to this point I had never owned a Rottweiler, just a German Shepherd and a Doberman Pinscher growing up and while I liked both of those breeds, I really wanted something different.  In reading Herr Doberman’s book on the Doberman Pinscher, I remembered reading about him using a Rottweiler in developing his guard dog to walk the streets with him on patrol, and while I didn’t yet know much about the Rottweiler, it was because of this book that I wanted to find out more, and find out I did. In 1991 I purchased my first Rottweiler; he was 8 months old and was a fairly good sized male.  He wasn’t show quality, but he was the best companion that I had ever had to this point and the deciding factor for the breed that I would own for the rest of my life.  Unfortunately I moved to Colorado in 1995 to further my Computer career, as I was offered a job with a consulting company that worked with IBM in Boulder, and had to place Rocket but the memory of him is still with me today.  My career brought me back to California in 1997 and had me moving from location to location while I moved up the ladder until I attained the position of Director of Information Systems at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, CA.  In 2001 just before I started at Fantasy Springs Casino, I met my wife Kimberly while consulting at a local Resort. In 2002 we bought a home together in Indio near my new job and decided to get a dog to keep her company while I worked late hours, so for her Birthday I bought her a Rottweiler Puppy.  Siryn as we call her, turned out to have mild Hip Dysplasia in one of her hips, which absolutely crushed both of us, as we wanted to show and possibly breed her.  To make matters worse, a year later we purchased a male puppy that turned out to be completely Dysplastic in both hips.  In both situations, we received a partial refund, as both dogs were purchased on a contract that guaranteed the Hips to be free of Hip Dysplasia, but in both situations it took weeks if not months to get our refund and it still did not fix the problem of both of our dogs having Hip Dysplasia.

     It was at this point that my wife and I decided that we wanted to breed a better dog, so we again set out to find a suitable foundation Bitch that we could start our own line with and contacted several breeders in search of our perfect dog.  We finally decided on a 1st pick Bitch from a local breeder who boasted about their success in the show ring and spouted off countless statistics of their wins with both their dogs and their dogs get.  Within the first year of buying her, Xeyna as Kim and I call her, was already starting to have problems. Almost immediately after getting her, she was having watering of her left eye and when we took her in to the Vet, the Vet said she had a closed tear duct.  He said that it wasn’t that big of a deal and could be temporarily fixed with Steroid Drops or permanently fixed with Surgery.  A little while later we noticed that she had a couple of dark spots on two of her front teeth, upon further examination it appeared as though she had chipped them or there was some kind of decay on them.  While not a disqualifying fault for the show ring, it certainly was a little unsightly.  The final blow was dealt just prior to her first birthday; she started limping on her left rear leg.  Our Vet said a couple of weeks of crate rest would help the issue, so with the Inland Empire Dog Show just around the corner that is exactly what we did.  Xeyna got a little better in time for the show, but within two months of the initial limping, she was completely lame on that leg.  It turns out that she had torn a Cruciate Ligament.  The only recommended procedure for a dog of her size is a completely invasive TPLO surgery.  To add insult to injury, within 6 months of her first surgery, Xeyna had torn her other Cruciate Ligament, just as Dr. Boulay said that she might.  Almost all of Xeyna’s second year was spent in a crate and rehabilitating her legs.  We now had 3 dogs that we had purchased from American Breeders that ALL had health issues; this really concerned my wife and myself, as we wanted to start our own line of Rottweilers, and we wanted to improve the Breed, but had no idea now where to get our foundation stock from.

     It was at this point, that while frustrated and certainly discouraged, my wife and I decided to purchase an adult Female from the vom Hause Neubrand kennel in Germany, whom have been breeding Rottweilers in Germany for over 40 years.  Britsch vom Hause Neubrand, a Cora vom Rosslesgarten daughter produced our first litter of Lewis Crest Rottweiler puppies on October 17, 2006; and the von der Lewis Crest line of Rottweilers was started.

Kim holding Aiyden von der Lewis Crest & Allivyer von der Lewis Crest

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