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While we are a relatively new labrador kennel I have a long history in keeping dogs. My first introduction to dogs was when I was 9yrs old and was a cross between a greyhound and a collie. Unfortunately given the breed mix this quickly proved too much for a 9yr old who although would rather have spent time with the dog than do his homework his parents had other ideas. The dog eventually went to an uncles farm to live out a long and much more active life.
A few years later I was lucky enough to get ownership of a show line American Import fox red labrador dog called Bruno. A super dog of great temperment and being fox red and this being over 30yrs ago was a novelty in N.Ireland where at this time a fox red was practically unheard of. Bruno was a beautiful dog and admired by everyone who saw him and despite the old saying there's no such thing as a bad colour in a good dog I still have that longing for another fox red labrador. I spent many an afternoon training Bruno and it was here I first became interested in obedience training. Bruno was with us to the ripe old age of 12yrs and eventually old and with some arthritis we had to finally let him go to sleep.
There was a short break from dogs at this stage as I moved away from home and started in my career in nursing.
Though once married first on the list was of course another dog. To heck with the garden the house and everything else it was dog pen kennel and off to find a pup. This time a Boxer who proved to be a real handful a test to my patience and a real challange when it came to any form of obedience training. He never grew up even as the years went on he was still as lively as when we first got him.
When my son started to show an interest in dogs I let him choose his breed and he went for a German Shepherd that we called Max. A short time later we got a female called Tara and after moving to the countryside and a house with a much bigger garden we decided to breed for the first time and enter the world of showing our dogs. I continued on with the obedience work as well as the showing and did both obedience and some tracking with the dogs.
Our AFFIX Using most of the letters from our surname and the names of our first 2 dogs Tara and Max we came up with the anagram Lartamax and my son and I registered this with the Kennel club.
Unfortunately my son now at university just dosen't have the necessary time for dogs and after just 1 or 2 seasons I knew my real interest had always been in training dogs and not in the show circuit.
In the summer of 2007 I got the opportunity to purchase Belle a fully trained gundog from Keith Matthews of Copperbirch Kennels. Belle had all the necessary health tests and had already proven herself by already producing FTWs and Copperbirch Zeus who at the time of posting is needing only 1 more win to make it as FTCH and has already qualified for the 2009 IGL..
I mated Belle to Copperbirch Celt (Open FTW Greenbriar Faulkland x FTCH Ernvale Maud Of Copperbirch). From this mating I kept back Molly which I now hope to train up and trial in the coming seasons.
Someday with careful searching for the right dog I hope to get my fox red again an continue to learn and compete in field tests and trials.
This year we joined Craigavon gundog club at which Molly is doing pretty well with me making more mistakes than her. I only thought I knew something about dog training but seeing these dogs work and the standards they are expected to work to has really opened my eyes.
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