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Bluey (Belhill Blue
Velvet of Roanoke)
my second, blue,
Junior Warrant
winner, 1989.

Early Memories
by Jimmy Richardson

with Dobermanns

My involvement with Dobermanns began way back in 1953, when mother acquired a Dobermann
puppy from Rita Price-Jones. Rita was better known for her famous Frenches Poodles, but back
then, she had a dog (Birling Rebel) from Lionel Hamilton-Renwick and a bitch (Frenches Rita of
Tavey) from Fred and Julia Curnow, and helped to get the Dobermann breed established in this
country. Mother had always bred and shown Fox Terriers and Scottish Terriers but very much wanted
a Dobermann after hearing about the breed with the human brain, the breed that was so incredibly
loyal to its owner, and the breed that was given a free run of Maceys store at night in New York which
deterred any would-be intruders.

Rex (Frenches Gaynos) was never shown, so I have no idea how good a show dog he would have
been. However, East Suffolk police also had a Dobermann at much the same time and he was
kennelled quite close to us. Kig (Mountbrowne Kig) was used mainly for his tracking abilities and
was used on a regular basis for finding young offenders who absconded from the nearby Hollesley
Bay Borstal Colony. His handler (PC Andrews) was only too keen to teach mother (and me when I
was not at school) how to train Rex to do working trials. As we lived close to the Suffolk Sandlings,
there were large areas of heather and bracken for us to play in. I would leave the house with a pile
of squares of newspaper and would lay a trail across the heath, sticking bits of paper on the gorse
bushes to indicate where I had been, and eventually go to ground somewhere well hidden. Mother
would then follow with Rex sometime later and he would follow my trail and find me. It soon became
clear that there was no need for me to indicate my route as Rex was infallible. Oh yes, and she
collected up the bits of newspaper as she went.

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