Leadburn Mabel with her pups

4 of each sex we could not have asked for a better mix . Mabel had her first litter 3 weeks ago and now the pups have had their first breakfast. It went down well. They are a nice even litter and she is a really good mother .Their pedigree is first class Mabel sire is FTCH Hillus Clyde -young Billy Steel jrn dog which was 4th in the IGLs .The dam was FTW Leaburn Tango which belongs to Billy Steel snr. Mabel was one of 11 pups and we go there at 7am one snowy morning to choose her.How do you choose which one ? as they were waiting for their breakfast it was a quick decision but we are very happy with our choice. The sire of the pups has proven Finn who's full title is Cuckavalda Bert. He is the dog who won a round of applause from the guns on a shoot day at Newburgh Priory this last season when he retrieved a pheasant across a pong broking ice all the way to get to it. Finn's sire is again from the Leadburn Kennels -this time Billy snr's FTCH Leadburn Viceroy who was the runner up and top dog in the IGLs in 2008. His dam. Willow, one of our beautiful fox red trio by FTCH Talsbrook Rhum of Bolton Abbey. His brother ,Boris,won 2 trials. So there you have the pedigree if you can follow all that. Anyway lovely pups who will soon be looking for permanent loving home whether for work or pet. One is already earmarked for going to Switzerland.

2013 update

The shooting season has now finished and it is now time to get all those jobs done that there wasn't time to do during the last 6 months. We have Labrador puppies which were born just before Christmas and soon will be going to their new homes. The farthest afield this time so far is to Holland. They are doing well and despite the bad weather are raring to be out and about. They are now fully weaned. Due to back word we have couple now left.So if you had rung previously and we were not able to fix you up you might like to get in touch again

Charlie and Peg

Charlie was the first gundog Jack owned and our last springer spaniel.Peg was always a favourite of Jack's - the little black cocker and a character bigger than herself. She started going to work when she was 10 months old. Jack said she was no bigger or weighed any more than a good sized cat. But what a little worker she was. By the end of her first season she had built up muscles like Tyson and battled to carry a cock pheasant but battle she did. Peg was a great climber or should we say scaler of wire .She had to have a top of her kennel as she could scale 6 foot in high and more with no problem at all. She would have been 6 in November. As , much as it was a wrench for Jack to part with them but more so her. Over the years everyone loved Peg and all want to take her home. She would have probably worked until she dropped as Charlie would have too but he was even older than Peg. She when we heard the Kings had lost their two cocker within 3 months of each other . They were the original Pennys - black cockers which we had given then 6 years before ..and had reached the ripe odd age of 12 it was decided their would be no better home for them.

Christmas Chocolate cocker puppies

We are looking forward to Christmas as Coco our chocolate cocker spaniel will be having her 2nd litter of pups. Hopefully the pups will arrive safely between Christmas and the New Year. IF they are not all chocolate ones there should be some bonny pups as George who is lemon roan is the sire. Coco went picking up at the beginning of the season but is now on maternity leave. She is very laid back and takes everything in her stride. George is still having a busy time as the shooting season is in full swing. Every day you can hear volleys of gunshot all around the surrounding estates

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All in the planning

Jack was up early to travel up into Scotland to Billy Steel's FTCH Copperbirch Paddy of Leadburn to line Cuckavalda Jilly June. Paddy has just qualified for the second year running in the IGLs which this year are held high up in Scotland. The IGLs is a competition which involved the top 50 retrievers. Rollo is Jill's father . His dam is FTCH Ernvale Maud of Tudorcourt -top Retriever in Ireland in 2008 and his sire a FTCH. Paddy's mother is also FTCH Ernvale Maud but lined with a different sire a FTW. We have been told that this mating on paper is very good so fingers crossed we will have some first class pups. As far as we know this is the first time that FTCH Maud will appear in both sides of the pedigree .

Four in a row

Not bad 4 4 4 month old pups. These are fox red Labrador pups. Their sire is Rollo-Copperbirch Winnebego and dam is Tara -Cuckavalda Touch of Gold. This is Tara's first litter and we are really looking forward to seeing these young dogs develope. We are keeping Gin and her sister Tonic. Tie went earlier in the week and Turk is for sale to a good home. They are very intelligent as you can see Jack got them all to sit up in a row.not bad as they were only born in the middle of May. Tara had 11 pups and 3 of her pups have gone to working homes within half an hour of here so I guess we will see them out on the

shooting field next season.

Spitfire,fireworks and good company...

Perfect weather and a perfect setting, we have to thank Rachael and Tom for inviting us to share their picnic. Castle Howard on Saturday evening for Last Night of the Proms. Even the sky looked to have been painted bright blue and pink for the occasion. Some even dressed up -the ladies had really gone to town. We felt sorry for the man dressed in shooting attire who thought he looked very dapper.Obviously he

had never worn breeks before. They were skin tight and would have been more at home as Travolta in Grease.Lots of food and drink were consumed and a good night was had by all. William and his little friend both 3 were still full of energy when the finale fireworks lit up the sky.