I was dog mad as a child and posessed numerous books, posters and dog paraphenalia. At every opportunity I would take the neighbourhood dogs for walks. I constantly hounded mum and dad for a dog of my own. It wasnt until I had my own home I then hounded my husband for one! He weakened after a year and in 1987 we purchased our first dog 'Belkie' (Ritzpark Blazing Comet) from Debbie Gill of the NZ Ritzpark Kennels. He was firstly a pet and I thought if he turned out OK I would show him.
Where to from here - I had no idea what to do. I knew that two of 'Belkies' litter mates had come to Christchurch to be shown so I caught up with their owners at a show. My dog looked nothing like theres he was all fluffy and curley!!! II had that sorted after a few trips to Taffs Pet Plaza where Shelia Morris showed me the art of stripping and the finer points of scissoring the furnishings. I left her shop with grooming book in hand, scissors, shampoo, clippers and stripping knife and went home to practice on 'Belkie'.
He certainly wasnt the easiest dog to strip and I nearly gave up there and then.
Our first show was the old Southern Classic . We arrived early in time to ask other contestants what to do. Everyone was most helpful. I went on to win Best Of Breed and was given a lovely rosette. I WAS HOOKED.
MY FIRST IMPORT
A couple of years later I tried to purchase a bitch, thinking I could try to improve this beautiful breed. That was not an easy task. Eventuallly I purchased a lovely girl 'Cagney' (Schonhardt Top Copy) from Marelyne Mcleod-Woodhouse of the Schonhardt Kennels in Australia. Unfortunately 'Cagney' did not like showing like her brother in Australia who did a lot of winning.
Since then I have imported three other dogs
1997 - Firdi' Firdrak Yarra River (s/p dog) Carolynn Reilly(NSW)
2003 - Forestal Hakea (b/s dog) Pam Haigh (Melbourne)
2003 - Forestal Hoya (b/s bitch) Pam Haigh (Melbourne)
MY FIRST CHAMPION
I was fortunate to be in contact with many NZ breeders and managed to access a variety of different lines. Size was my biggest problem. It was not until I used Leeanne Cummings Australian import Jocampo Gypsy Baron that I breed my first NZ champion - 'Uschi' Schondara Sweet Uschi. (She features on my title page).
Since this first successful litter I have used various English and Australian imports giving me a mixture of lines from throughout the world. I have breed 20 champions and have more on the way.
