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Anne West. She had a super working trials
Boxer at the time and she was a great
trainer. I was so pleased when I could put
Curt over the scale (high jump) but later I
realised that it was not such a good idea
after all. Back home, he found that he
could now jump the six-foot back fence to
go and see who was on the heath behind
the house, and it was a long walk round
to get him back again. I have never ever
taught another dog to jump and in later
years have had a succession of wimps
who could not even jump a low ring rope.

In 1964, our Dobermann family grew to
four as three bitches were acquired. Their
sires were Ch Acclamation of Tavey, Ch Rita (Ch Cadereyta of Roanoke)
Tavey’s Stormy Achievement and Ch Our first champion.
Tumlow Impeccable, probably the three
greatest stud dogs of their day. Now I was
really able to show top quality dogs and put all that early training and learning to good use. One show
that I will never forget was Blackpool in 1966. It was the show at which I made up my first champion
with Rita (Ch Cadereyta of Roanoke). The judge was Margaret Bastable. I always remember she
handed me the first-place card in open and the CC at the same time. In those days, there was not
always a challenge as we see today. Alf and Es Gover also made their dog up that same day (Ch
Oberon of Tavey). They were camping in a field during the show and ran their dog on the beach the
evening before the show. Well, the sea goes out a long way there and the dog managed to go far
enough out to find the sewer outfall. They spent most of the night washing him down with buckets
of water and trying to dry him off in the middle of this field and then keeping him warm between their
sleeping beds. Not only did he get his third CC the next day but he also won the working group and
then won Best in Show. That show was also memorable for Rex Hodge. He let his two bitches have
a run on the beach after the show and they ran off chasing seagulls. It took him four hours to get the
first one back but it wasn’t until the next day that the other one was found somewhere in the town.
The surprising thing is that he competed in competition obedience with them, but he still lost them.
From that day to this, I have never let any of my dogs off the lead when away from home.

Not all my memories are happy ones. I well remember a breed club show which was held at Ilkley
in Yorkshire. On the journey to the show, one lady exhibitor stopped in a layby for some reason. As
she opened the car boot, one of her dogs managed to push its way out and was instantly killed by
a passing car. She collected up the bits of her dog, wrapped them up in a blanket and continued on
her way to the show where she showed her remaining dogs. That taught me that you never travel
with dogs that are not well secured in your car. Many years later, we showed a pair of Dobermanns
who took great delight in stripping the inside of the car. The head rests, roof lining, door panels, all
disappeared. The final straw happened on the Newark showground one day. We returned to the car
to find that they had chewed the bundle of electric wires that were near the rear boot door. We spent
the next hour with a roll of electric insulating tape joining all the wires back together again before we
could start the journey home. They also managed to chew through the rear windscreen wash tube.
The result was that we had, I suspect, the only car where the rear windscreen wash washed the
inside of the window rather than the outside. That car did not last us much longer and when it was
replaced, dog cages became a necessity. As they say, you never stop learning.

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