About

My first cocker spaniel was a show bred male born 1976, bought as a family pet when I was still at school. I then went on to get the first of my working strain cockers during the mid 80's and I have never been without one since!! I try and keep mainly to the old Scottish lines as my first dogs were all Jordieland and Laighpark breeding and it would be fair to say that they very much influenced me and got me hooked as they did many others!!

I do not run a business breeding dogs. I am strictly a breed specialist hobby breeder (and breed historian with a very extensive library which one day I will catalogue) which means I only have a litter on average every 2 years and I do not expect the dogs to pay for themselves.

The working cocker dogs I currently own, and also some past, can be viewed from the menu on the left. I am very proud of them all and the older girls have produced some really nice quality puppies that are placed both in shooting and family homes, being of biddable temperament to be a pleasure to live with about the house and also having the stamina for the field. That is what it should all be about.

All my own current breeding dogs are permanently identified, have been hipscored under the KC/BVA scheme with good scores and I believe I was the first UK (possibly in the world) kennel of working strain cockers to DNA test using the Optigen test for the prcd form of PRA - ie GPRA. Others are now following.

Further information from www.optigen.com

At this moment in time I own the only working cocker stud dog (son of FT CH Whaupley Reiver) to be both hip scored and Optigen DNA tested for the prcd form of PRA ie GPRA in Scotland. More details in the menu.

None of my adults are for sale. Any puppies planned or due can be found from the link on the left along with further information. Occasionally I will list a litter for another breeder on this page.

I also have show dogs although not currently active in the show ring. These are shown under my 'Kaystra' affix which now has it's own mini site within the Lorne site. My show team is sadly depleted and I felt the loss of my lovely Welsh Springer Spaniel Michandra Fizzy earlier this year (2007) very badly. She was a lovely old lady who sadly left nothing behind her. She owed me nothing and I owe her everything...It would have been the icing on the cake to have had a daughter from such a quality lady. However the 'star' of the show dogs has to be my Irish Red and White Setter 'Milo' (Cormallen Mi-Light at K) who gained a Challenge Certificate. He was never seriously campaigned and due to many reasons was not shown much after that which really denied him the chance to be made up to a show champion. He still absolutely loves to go to a show so he'll maybe go to Crufts 2008, shown in veteran dog.

I still take a keen interest in the show world and have attended a KC seminar on conformation and movement, breed specific seminars and the KC/BVA Breeders Symposium held at Stirling University during November 2005. I am a member of various breed clubs and also a member of the Scottish Kennel Club. I am also qualified to implant microchips.

Maybe one day soon I will be back in the ring with a young hopeful. Will it be another WSS or IRWS though? I dont know yet!!