Page 85 - K9 News - Issue 15 - March2021

I was inconsolable and wanted no other breed. situation existing at that time. I was also offered
It was left for a while until we both agreed that
whatever it took to obtain and look after this
breed we were prepared to undertake. We
made further enquiries and were able to obtain
our Weimaraner, who was chosen by Elaine
because he had scratches on his belly and
it was thought he could be being bullied. We
called him ‘Ryan’ and he was to change our
lives. He was typical of the breed at that time,
intelligent, self willed and forceful but equally, he
was kind, loving and devoted to both of us. We
had no aspirations of what we might do with him
other than to make him our companion. Family
members and extended family and friends
quickly learned that if they invited us to any
events including weddings, parties, Christmas,
in fact any social gathering then Ryan must be
included or we would not be attending. I enrolled
at the local dog training club which had a good
reputation and Ryan really enjoyed learning,
whatever the exercise he responded well. It was
whilst there a breeder of terriers suggested I
might consider showing Ryan, because I was
unsure they agreed to take Elaine and I to a
show at Bingley Hall, this is when it was in
Birmingham. We found the Weimaraners at the
show, there were only about a dozen present
and each taking a prize card. We did not feel
overwhelmed by what we saw and how they
needed to be presented, it was well within
Ryan’s capabilities to learn what was required.
This was 1972 and it was nothing like the world
we live in today. There was a drive to build
houses as many working class people lived
in council houses. There were opportunities
emerging and I suppose my sister and brother at
8 and 10 years my senior respectively were able
to enjoy more freedom at the ever increasing
cinemas and dancehalls, than our parents. They
could also train for skilled jobs as we had not the
number of universities that we see these days,
in fact right up to when I married in 1972, I knew
of only one person in our village who had been
offered a place at a university. I was the first in
our family to take on a mortgage and it caused
a bit of an upset in the family, we worked in
manufacturing and there was still a bit of a class
K9 NEWS DIGITAL / MARCH 2021
a staff position which I accepted, my family who
were staunch labour voters did not want me to
get ideas above my station. Elaine’s parents
and grandparents all owned their houses, her
eldest brother and his wife had just moved into
a new house. So to Elaine’s family we were just
behaving normally. Six months after we were
married we bought a new car, a Datsun (now
Nissan) Cherry, this also turned a few heads
when we removed the rear seat and padded it
with blankets for Ryan’s comfort when travelling.
The previous generation had not yet realised
the dramatic increase in wealth in our growing
industrial village, there had for generations
been footwear and hosiery in the village but
now the twelve shoe factories and the eighteen
hosiery and knitwear factories were booming.
They had coaches to bring in workers from
outlying villages to keep up with ever increasing
demands. Prosperity was all around and our
generation was the first to reap that benefit,
we no longer frequented the working men’s
clubs after work until they closed, and that is
not a criticism, as they had been the hub of our
village for many years and had helped retain the
spirit within the community. Now the younger
generation had more opportunities and other
aspirations for their time and money. Elaine
and I were about to establish our own interests
which for a while would take over our lives. By
the way there was no lasting rift with my family
but I would be considered a little strange from
then on.
Weimaraners had very few breed classes at
shows in general. There were just over 270
registered that year and only three recorded
for Leicestershire, we visited the other two
just to compare alongside Ryan. We began
by attending ringcraft classes at the three
nearest canine societies which were once a
month for each, we could then enter the match
meeting which usually followed. We would enter
any sanction and limited shows (these have
disappeared now), we could find, usually AV
Gundog or AV Not separately classified classes,
it also meant travelling to places like Belper,
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