North Yorkshire has been my home for over 30 years and I have been around dogs all my life having had family pets for as long as I can remember. I first took an interest in Cocker Spaniels in 1992 when a good friend and fellow fisherman and Yorkshire Man introduced me new to his new black Cocker puppy Ezzy (Whiskhill Mink) Having seen what a delightful breed the Cocker Spaniel was and the wonderful temperament she had over the following 3 years I decided that when he bred from her I would have one of his pups.
So in the winter of 1995 Tyler (Mystical Kylua) was born and so became my first Cocker Spaniel. Tyler was a very trying dog to train largely I might add due to my inexperience with the wilful nature of cockers having had Corgis and a Labrador as family pets but persistence paid off as she turned out to be a fantastic worker who loved to retrieve. After having her for 4 years I too bred from her after putting her to Openshaw's Cocker Spaniel stud dog Parkbreck Perfection who shortly after won the Sandringham & Shadwell Spaniel Championships in 2000.
Tyler gave birth to six all black pups 3 dogs and 3 bitches two of which found homes locally in North Yorkshire (one to a friend Bohdy (Bohda Zapha) and another to my sister Finx (Extentail Finx)) who I both see regularly. The birth of Tyler's litter was not entirely straight forward and required a caesarean section. Not wanting to put her through that again and on the dvise of our wonderful vet Mr Wittrick (Northallerton North Yorkshire.) decided not to breed from her again. Tyler is now retired as she suffered a mild stroke at he age of 12 but still enjoys a good walk out.
In late 2000 I got my second Cocker Milly (Gill of Cartwheel Galaxy) who was a vibrant chocolate and white classic Cocker Spaniel. Milly took to working like a duck to water who loved nothing better than returning birds from cover or water. We had two litters out of Milly by Tyler's brother Trio (Whiskhill Crackshot Warriror) the first a litter of 7 and the second a litter of 6 one of which was Bella (Oxenly Raven) the next addition to my family of cockers. Unfortunately in an unusual occurrence Milly was lost when her second litter was only two weeks old. She had got out due to a careless delivery man and went off hunting with her pup from her first litter Tess (Oxenly Otter). Three days later a distressed and hungry Tess returned on her own and despite newspaper coverage and an appeal on ITV news Milly was never found.
Bella was born in August 2004 and again as with all the cocker spaniels I have had grew to be a fantastic exuberant worker and a lovable household pet. Out of all my Spaniels Bella was the easiest to train and is a pleasure to work in the field. In February 2007 Bella had her first Litter by Raven (Ethan faye) She produced 8 pups 4 dogs 4 bitches one of which was Oscar our Cocker Spaniel stud dog who is now ready to continue the line of cockers which we have had the pleasure of owning over the last 12 years.