Every
Story
Has
A
Beginning
It all started with Rufus and a book….
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Allie started competing in field trials having had the best luck in the world selecting a puppy that was a natural. Rufus (Subridge Rocket) a fox red Labrador was bought not with the idea to field trial, but just to hopefully work one day in the shooting field. Along with a puppy, we bought a book, and from there we joined our first gundog club, etc, etc.
Allie was very fortunate to have such a talented and natural dog to train as her first Labrador for the field. He had natural ability that helped him to become successful in his first season of competition. Rufus won his fifth field trial, came second in his first open two-day stake and eventually went on to win the Yellow Labrador Club open 2-day stake at Windsor in 2002. Allie and Rufus competed in the 2002 IGL Retriever Championship at Ganton - an achievement beyond Allie's wildest expectations!
Sadly, we had to retire Rufus early from a working career as he suffered badly from arthritis. Having had a dog with inherited problems, we fully health test all our dogs to try and ensure that we do all we can not to breed dogs that potentially could have problems in later life. We also insist that any bitches coming to our stud dogs are also health tested – minimum requirement of hips, elbows and eyes under the British Veterinary Association canine health schemes.
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Since Allie started competing in 2000, we have gone on to produce a number of successful open field trial dogs who are multiple award winners. Allie is a A panel judge for retrievers and also offers training for people wanting to develop their own dog's ability from puppy to competition.
Our philosophy is that all our dogs are pets as well as working dogs, so have to have a sound temperament as well as natural game finding ability. Training and working our labs is very much a hobby for both Allie and Toby, but we aim to produce the best we can for the field.