I started at the kennels in the early 1970’s by helping out at
weekends, school holidays and any odd days off, until I left school.
I used
to go to the local training clubs and as many shows as I could get to. I would watch
the way people handled their dogs and would always pick up a hint or two from the
handlers. These were mainly men; my idol was one of our best professional handlers,
Miss Marjorie Williams. I never dreamed that one day she would handle a dog of mine,
but she did. He was my first Champion Norwulf Virgil, as a young dog. Marjorie
always handled his mother Champion Norwulf Enchantment.
I
decided to go to Manheim in Germany to my first Seiger Show, where I saw a stunning dog
called Eros Von Hambachtal. A son of his was bought into this country by Percy
Elliott, this being Lido Vom Hambachtal. We mated Norwulf Liebestraum to him to
produce my second Champion Norwulf Fabian. In turn Fabian was mated to Champion
Pajawi Fire Dancer over Norwulf producing the lovely Champion Norwulf the Morris Dancer.
I had handled all of these dogs to their titles, and had the privilege of handling
The Morris Dancer to Best of Breed at Crufts in 1993, and was pulled out 6th in the
Working Group. At Crufts in 1994 I handled Norwulf Fire Dancer to her Reserve Bitch
CC win, as well as having handled many CC’s, Reserve CC’s and Best of Breeds for
other top handlers.
The
next two Champions I handled to gain their titles were Champion Mortoff Eike and Norwulf
June Rose at Ravenways, in turn her son Norwulf Rambling Rose (owned by Kerry Jones) had
many great wins to his credit.
Our
very extrovert Norwulf Kimbo arrived, having had lots of fun showing this dog. A
true show boy, he gained his Junior Warrant and won his first CC and several Reserve
CC’s, and then handled by Kerry Jones to gain his second CC. Then his lovely
daughter Jasueter Lilac Lily was campaigned to gain her Junior Warrant. The last
baby of the family was Norwulf Cherry to continue her winning ways. Cherry is still
in partnership with Margaret and Kerry, and is handled by myself.
My
Judging career kicked off in 1978 judging my first Open show (as I refused to judge until
I had made my first dog up to a Champion). Since then I have judged 8 Championship
Shows, awarded 14 CC’s and 14 Reserve CC’s.
Unfortunately
we were forced to sell and move out of the kennels in May 2005
This
was the hardest thing I had to do after having been there for 32 years. Parting with
all the dogs, (apart from Kimbo) finding them all new suitable homes and placing most of
them with friends. This also meant finding a new home for Margaret and Kimbo to live
in. Luckily this was close to us so that we could continue to care for them both.
Margaret and Kimbo now live here in Crawley, West Sussex. |
