Dear List, I live in N.W. Ontario in a wee little town, a hunting and fishing destination. I have just retired from teaching and get to enjoy the 'free" life with my retired husband. We were bitten by the dog show bug back in the 70's when we acquired a golden for our family as a "pet". We had no plans to show and her breeder certainly did not think she was a show quality dog, although she came from show parents. She was bought on a non breeding contract. We were planning to have her spayed at about six months when I happened to be in contact with her breeder. He was interested in what she looked like. "Oh, she's beautiful", I said. "In fact there is a dog in my book on goldens who looks just like her" The breeder quickly went and got his copy of the book. His words were "Oh, my god, you're kidding?" Yup! A breeders worst nightmare, he had sold a rather non descript puppy to a pet home and it ends up being the best of the litter. Fortunately we had not had her spayed and we let her be shown. The rest is history. We did eventually breed her and she became our foundation. We bred goldens on a limited basis for about 12 yrs. We were hobby breeding for show and had champions in every litter. We eventually had the "Oldie Goldie "retirement home and realized we did not have enough space to keep anymore of these wonderful dogs and I,also, developed a serious back problem from grooming and lifting these dogs. It was either place all our oldies or relinquish the breeding. We relinquished the breeding. Slowly and sorrowfully our goldens passed on. We now own one old 13 yr old who is still going strong and has become the grandfather to our cavaliers. I try not to even look at golden puppies 'cause I know I'd have one home in a minute. Hmmm..cavaliers. When my daughter went away to university she became homesick without a dog. She loved the goldens but size was a factor. She needed a 'portable' dog.She had loved the showing as a kid and wanted a dog that she might show eventually. I had become enamoured of the cavalier from the few I had seen at shows,and suggested we look at them. They seemed to have a 'golden attitude' in a little package. She fell in love with a picture of a tri pup. It took almost a year before we got Tango, now 7 yrs. He didn't settle down until he was two. Then he attained his championship and group placements, over specials in two weekends of showing; won several more group placement and a regional specialty. It was three years before we got our second cavalier. This time it was my dog. My daughter had moved out on her own and I missed her Tango. I had asked for a show quality female but when there was none available from the litter, his breeder asked if I would consider a beautiful male puppy instead. "Cruiser" became #1 cavalier in Canada last year. We have been blessed with some wonderful cavaliers. My daughter and I show and breed the cavaliers. Together we have six cavaliers. Actually 5 1/2.. because the lady who handles "Cruiser" has been bitten by the cavalier bug as well and begged to co-own one with us. She handles a lot of different breeds but thinks cavaliers are absolutely the neatest little dogs, ever. AND... she's right.
Barbara Bond Revelry Reg'd ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 2002 by its original author.
