Wheaten Health Initiative

Wheaten Health Initiative (WHI) – “Their Health in Our Hands”

San Jeffries

Wheaten Health Initiative was an independent group of dedicated and well-informed Wheaten Terrier owners and breeders in Great Britain who believed in promoting the health and well being of the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier to the general public. They did a tremendous amount of work advocating for our breed worldwide. The founder members were, San & Malcolm Jeffries, Lynn & Ian Carter, Barbara & Steve Bradford, Barbara Penney, Jan Thackray, Carole Barnes-Davies, Maria Rigby, Anne-Marie Grant. After some left and Karen Francis & Kate Watkins joined them.

In 2005, they helped organize and sponsor the Keystone Conference, an overwhelmingly successful conference that was attended by Wheaten breeders and owners from around the world. Read more about Keystone here.

They created a pedigree database which later was used for the SCWTPEDS Database and then the SCWT Health & Pedigree Database. San Jeffries worked tirelessly to enter new dogs to the databases. WHI organized seminars to educate breeders and stayed up to date on all health issues, grooming and training techniques.

In 2012, an online Facebook group was created by WHI, along with Anna Marzolino, called Wheaten Health Matters. This group has over 15,000 Wheaten Terrier owners, veterinarians, and researchers worldwide that are dedicated to the health of the SCWT.  Sadly, WHI closed its doors in 2023, as San and her husband Malcolm are now retired in England; however, once a Wheaten lover always a Wheaten lover, so they still work for the breed.

The Wheaten community has benefited from their work and we wish them the best in retirement.

Coming soon is their archived website.