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currently have Seven Dalmatians:-
But these
are not the only Dalmatians who have shared their
lives with me. My First Dalmatian was
Schweppes (Kirindal Nocturn) who introduced me
to this lovely breed, and was the start of it all.
After Schweppes passed away, I adopted Lilac
(Ch Yarrowfell Delovely), while I was waiting for
a puppy bitch to be born. Both Schweppes and
Lilac were retired show dogs when I adopted them.
My story
started when I became friends with Philippa Hurst.
One weekend her parents went away (to a dog show)
and she agreed to look after their farm and the dogs
left behind. She needed a lift out to the farm and
I agreed to drive her out there. Luckily she warned
me about Dalmatian smiles before we arrived, because
as soon as I had parked the car, Mintie (Ch Dumbledeer
Norwester) came running up as fast as he could with
the biggest smile on his face. I thought he was lovely!
I got to
know the dogs that weekend and became particularly
fond of Schweppes who was a retired showdog of theirs.
When I decided that I wanted a Dalmatian, Neil and
Jane Hurst (Philippa's parents) agreed to loan me
Schweppes for one week to see if I REALLY wanted a
Dalmatian.
After that
week was over, I told Neil and Jane that there was
no way they were getting Schweppes back, and yes,
I would like a puppy! When I adopted Schweppes Philippa
had a litter of Pug puppies (her breed) that she was
just preparing to show for the first time. Their
first shows also happened to have a Veterans class.
She talked me into entering Schweppes. That is how
I caught the showing bug.
When Schweppes
pasted away at almost 14 years old, I was devastated!
I moped around for a couple of weeks and my friends
got thoroughly fed up with me. Philippa spoke to
her parents, who agreed to loan me Lilac (9 year old
retired show bitch) for a week to help me get over
the loss of Schweppes. Needless to say, after one
week Lilac wasn't going anywhere!
I eventually
purchased the puppy I wanted a year later. This puppy
was Crumble (Yarrowfell Whirlwind CCD ET CGC), who is the foundation
bitch for my kennel. Crumble did not turn out to
be a good show dog (too small), but her Son Raine
(Ch Lukius Draco Malfoy ET) has done her proud in
the showring. I also purchased Raisin (Ch Pokadot
Coco Chanel ET), and Delta (Ch Gemcourt Anadot Regal ET) to
further strenthen my kennel.
Magnus
(Ch Yarrowfell Gold Sovereign CCD ET CGC) was not a planned purchase
at all. He was sired by Raine, and was the only puppy
left unsold in the litter. Everytime I visited the
puppies, he just kept on catching my eye, and in the
end, he came home with me as I thought that he was
simply too nice to place in a pet home.
I also had a litter from Raisin just 3 months after Magnus was born. Raisin produced 9 lovely puppies for me from Laddie (Ch Gemcourt Eaglez Landed), who is Delta's litter brother. From this litter I kept a lovely Liver girl called Carlee (Ch Lukius Razin Mayhem CCD ET). Carlee, while she never liked the showring, she did well and acheived her Australian Championship title. She has decided that Obedience and Flyball are much more interesting, and is now in training in those areas.
In 2007 I had a litter from Delta (Ch Gemcourt Anadot Regal ET). She produced 13 puppies for me. The outstanding bitch in the litter was a lovely liver girl called Jade. Unfortuantely Jade (Ch Lukius Solar Flare) was also Uni-lateral hearing. So, I decided to keep the best bi-lateral hearing girl who was Bubbles (Lukius Beam Me Up). But at 8 weeks of age, I simply couldnt let Jade go as she was just too lovely, so Jade ended up staying as well.
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