...all over for another year!

...and the final groups. Working and Pastoral.

The winner as picked by the vetran judge Terry Nethercott was a very well deserved champion boxer.

CH WINUWUK LUST AT FIRST SIGH

A wonderful win for a kennel that has been around for over 50 years.

Reserve was a rottweiler owned by famous Rotty and Shiba Inu breeder Liz Dunhill CH/AM CH BRIAROAKS CHILI FANTASA


then onto that all important Best in Show....


Which went to the wonderful American Sealyham - a beautiful little dog, fit for purpose, happy, healthy and a rare breed to boot!!

Chosen by native welsh man Peter Green who now lives in the USA it seemed poignant.

What a shame that one of our native breeds isnt as popular in it's native. I used to live near a family who bred them and I just dont understand why for instance the West Highland White is so much more popular - they deserve to be more popular!

Then onto Reserve Best in Show. Mike Gadsby does it again - always the bridesmaid, never the bride - he must think that Reserve BIS is all he's ever going to do at Crufts.

Well done Mike, well turned out put down and as always with this kennel an almost perfect example of the breed!

Crufts - Gundog Group

Then came the gundog group. The only group I am truly interested in. The best group in my mind and the least exagerated with most of the breeds being biddable, happy, fit for function and fit for work - as my Harvey is!

The winner of this group was an incredibly successful hungarian vizsla SH CH/AUST CH HUNGARGUNN BEAR IT'N MIND or Yogi to his friends. Spotted by Moray Armstrong when he was judging in New Zealand and brought over shortly afterwards on lease from his owner Mrs Cragg. He is top gundog 2009 and I think 2008 - a wonderful example of the breed.

Reserve was a british bred and owned weimeraner that I dont know a lot about but none the less from a very famous kennel. Didnt really do it for me but it's not a breed I'm that up on or interested in anyway.

SH CH ANSONA GAMEKEEPER AT AARRANZ JW ShCM

best of breed for my breed was a bit of a surprise - Camlad Celtic Web owned in part by Sue Mitchell who handled her in the ring. My own personal view - not a Gordon for the big ring but a nice bitch none the less.

On a personal level, my beloved Bailey's son Pelle won the Reserve ticket and his granchildren Ebony and Barra won the best dog and bitch under three years old. I am very proud.

Toy and Utility Crufts

The second day of this wonderful show and the turn of the Toy and Utility groups.

The time a dog from Belgium (do you see a pattern here?)

QUEEN BLESS JP ROYAL CONNECTION (I just love it when foreginers give their dogs English sounding names and it doesnt make any sense!)

A wonderful little papillon - well deserved and a very unexagerated, happy little candidate from this often criticised group.







Reserve was the very famous Ch Benatone Gold Ring owned by Sarah Jackson.

Hound and Terrier Group - Crufts

The first day of Crufts which was kicked of with controversy and the usual media gutter press reporting inaccurate and misleading so called 'news'.

But this must NOT take anything away from the fit, healthy, happy dogs - you simply dont take a dog to a show if he doesnt like because he simply wont show! However good looking he or she maybe if he doesnt like the attention of the show ring he wont show - he has the last call!

Today was the turn of the terrier and hound group.

Group Winner was the superb Sealyham Terrier

AM/CAN/SU CH EFBE'S HIDALGO AT GOODSPICE - a native breed that is considered vulnerable in the UK due to its deminishing numbers, what a shame this fantastic example had to come all the way from America!

Runner up was a beautiful Scottish Terrier

AM CH ROUND TOWN MERCEDES OF MARYSCOT

Yet another of our native breeds winning from America!

Then came the hound group. The most amazing pharoah hound from Sweden INT CH NORTHGATE'S AS YOU LIKE IT

I have never seen one of these very aloof hounds look so positively animated and happy to be at the largest dog show in the world (see previous notes!!) My only complaint was that in my opinion he was a little over handled with the handlers almost hackney run and running him on a long lead like a GSD - it was sometimes difficult to take your eyes off the handler but a very worthy winner all the same.



Next came the very well known and big winning Petit Bassett Griffon Vedeen CH SOLETRADER MY APHRODISIAC - and the first british dog in the frame so far!

Rock Band Party

Alan's birthday party. As usual it was Rock Band, as usual we drank too much and before we knew it it was nearly 3am!!! What a brilliant evening though - even if not everyone turned up so we now have three very large pizzas to eat!!

Keith Hills leaving do....the end of a very long era!

What a mistake it is going out on a school night - especially a work do on a school night!!!

Tonight saw yet another leaving do of yet another great friend and colleague. This time it was Keith Hill who I've worked with for the last seven years and in fact worked for at one point - he was one of the best managers I've had.

The end of an era - he has worked at 'the company' for nearly forty years. The office wont be the same without him!


Cheers Keith!

Bailey's son Pelle wins RBIG in Amsterdam

Pelle, who lives in the Netherlands has again made me the very proud co-owner of Bailey - his father.

Pelle won Reserve best in Group at the Dog of the Year Show, Amersfoort, Amsterdam.

Pelle is now seven years old but can still show like a veteran and looks fantastic! Well done Pelle and his handler Daphne.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Within just 24 hours more snow than most southerners have seen in their lifetime fell in Guildford!

Anything from 15 to 18 inches of beautiful, powdery snow bringing the whole of the South of England to a halt.

Only 20 people managed to make it into the office from a usual 300. I only live three miles away but couldnt even get out of the lane due to abandoned vehicles left at the bottom of the road!!




London came to a halt, no buses, no tubes, no trains......it was like a disaster area but in a lot of ways a whole lot of fun!!

Happy Birthday Pelle!

Today marks the seventh birthday of an incredibly successful litter. Bred by Karen Marsh by Karens boy Bailey(Hernwood Dream Mirage of Kilnrae) who lives with me and another of Karen's bitches the 'wind' litter were born.

Pelle is Netherlands Champion Kilnrae Whirlwind and such a handsome lad - and so like his dad!

His sister Sh Ch Kilnrae Zephyr is also an incredibly successful show dog in the UK and has produced the wonderful French litter of which one of them I am proud to live with - Harvey - Kilnrae French Toast of Billingham.


This photo shows Beejay (Harvey's son), Pelle (Baileys son), and Skip (Harvey's brother and Bailey's grandson) - they all live in the Netherlands.


...and this is Zephyr, Harvey's mum!

New York/Hudson River airbus crash

The stories of courage, bravery and shear luck are all coming out now, how cold the water was, how the captain walked back into the fusilage three times to make sure everyone was off the plane, how a father and son were seperated and both suspecting the worse - what an uplifting story, what a story of hope, what an amazing pilot and crew not to mention the tug pilots, police divers and captains of the many ferries who went to the rescue of the stricken plane.