| 1981 |
Gemma was in fact our second Golden. She
was bred by Peggy Robertson from Sh Ch Stolford Likely Lad and Anstrome Aurora of Stolford.
Our first Golden was Gemma's half sister 'Sheena', (Mortlach Golden Joy) who we
had to re-home when she was 18 months old. |
'Gemma'
Stolford Kalico (1981 - 1993) |
| 1994 |
We moved home from Cambridgeshire to Hampshire enjoying the walks and fun that a pet
Golden gives. After Gemma died we
were without Goldens for almost six months - but we missed having a Golden
Retriever around -
a visit to Crufts in '94 gave us the impetus to start again. We had spent
hours with the catalogue scrutinising every exhibit and making copious notes,
after further research we knew the type and lines we wanted and we ended up with
our two Shinehill boys. |
Harry and Quillan being 'collected' in 1994 |
| 1995 |
We had promised Liz Keene that we would give showing 'a go',
which we did and soon were hooked, our two lovely boys gave us uncountable
pleasure, in and out of the ring. |
Quillan
steadily made his way in the show ring - winning BPIS at Southampton
|
| 1996 |
Moving to the Somerset Levels and wanting to breed from Quillan meant we began
looking for a bitch. We quickly followed up the lead
given by Jenny Frankland- Burton when she told us that Margaret Chapman's bitch,
a Cloud daughter, had just been mated to 'Storm' (now Ch Purbarn Xtra
Thunderstorm). We quickly placed our order and were thrilled to get
'Sassie' who was to become our foundation bitch. |
'Sassie' at 8 weeks
|
| 1999 |
In 1999 we mated Quillan and Sassie and produced 7 beautiful
puppies, two bitches and five dogs. We kept Sofie and Wink and, at the age
of 10 weeks, they moved with us to Ireland where we are fortunate to have
been able to retire. |
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| 2002 |
Early in 2002 we decided to mate Sofie we knew what we
wanted from a stud dog and having decided on Amberland Ajax we travelled to
England and successfully mated Sofie. In April of that year Sofie
whelped seven lovely puppies three dogs and four bitches. Two of the
bitches went to show homes and we are thrilled to see them regularly with
one (Riverdance Spring Azalea) having already won a Reserve Green
Star. We kept Jim and Lulu and added Jack who we took back after 6
months - this brought our kennel to its current level of eight!
Ajax was bred and is owned by Pat Arnold, his temperament and
character, much of it inherited from Muskan Most Likely (Cloud), is
testimony to the Amberland kennel.
|
GB Sh Ch Amberland Ajax
(Muskan Most Likely x Amberland Amaneta) |
| 2003 |
| 2007 |
Caroline Brouder who has the Oburde kennel and
had one of Sofie's puppies - Ellie bred from her and kept a bitch Donna who
in turn was mated to Ronjalee Ragamuffin at Motlaisa JW`the photo below
shows five generations brought together for the photo call. |
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| |
In early
November after a sudden and very short illness we had to say good-bye to our
darling Sassie - she was not only a great character but was the most
affectionate and loyal girl - the void left by her in the kennel will
never be filled - God Bless our Giant Princess! |
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| 2008 |
The year didn't start too well for our kennel, we lost
poor old Harry almost at his fourteenth birthday on 28th January.
He had had his life and lived it to the full, from his early days in
Hampshire and then in Somerset he now rests alongside his pal Sassie
under the apple tree in Glenbeigh County Kerry. Run free Harry -
'run Harry run'! |
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| |
 |
The winter of 2007-2008 was a sad
time losing Sassie in November, Harry
in late January and then the day after Quillan's fourteenth birthday which
he had celebrated by going to his favourite walk with his two daughters
he suffered a series of heart attacks finally dying six days later. He
now
rests alongside his brother Harry and his wife Sassie. Sweet dreams
our
beautiful boy.
|
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On a much
brighter note we decided to mate our Amberland Aden daughter to GB Sh Ch
Shardanell All That Jazz and in November Delia gave us a lovely litter of
six puppies. We were always going to keep a boy but we were unable to
decide which one to keep so we kept two - Kirk and Max |
|
| 2009 |
All of the puppies were found wonderful homes
and the New Year saw
the Riverdance kennel at eight strong! Here are three
boys going mad in the garden - Max, Kirk and Neb who belongs to Pat's
brother. We started showing both our boys and whilst they both had
good results it soon became clear that Max had the edge! Kirk was
probably relieved that he would make way in the ring to his brother Max.
Max contended for top honours during the year and in addition to puppy group
placings he won two reserve green stars from puppy. |
 |
| 2010 |
At one of the first shows of the
year under breed specialist Glynis Massey (Seamourne) Max won his first
Green Star and BOB at Newtownards Championship Show. He won the final
points needed for his Junior Champion title under top judge Frank Kane in
April. He qualified for Crufts under breed specialist Everett Massey
at the Ulster Golden Retriever Club in Belfast winning the junior class.
In June, July and August he won five more Green Stars making him one short
of his Irish Champion's title, he also was placed highly in the Gundog group
results. In July we entered him in the UK top breed show the GRC
Championship under breed specialist Val Tregaskis (Steval) he thrilled us by
winning a very large Yearling Dog class.
Max started to be used at stud and we were delighted when his first progeny
a litter of nine were born to a Zoe Gourley's bitch Pepper, a second litter
again with a litter of nine puppies. |
photo courtesy of Mary Neil
This is Raffles 'Flurrister Midnight Magic' from Max's
first litter |
| 2011 |
In June Max won his seventh Green
Star under Gundog Specialist Carol Coode and also his Champion's Crown -
Show Champion Riverdance Dot Matrix Jun Ch.
Sadly in October we lost 'Wink'
Riverdance Semi Quaver - what a girl, a few days before she died we took her
and her sister Sofie to our local beach where she played her 'stone game'
which involved pawing a stone through her front legs and then using her nose
to nudge it back again. She did it so intensely - we do miss her.
Sofie followed Wink and died in December leaving us with six goldens - Jim,
Jack, Lulu, Deliah, Kirk and Max.
With Max's title secured we gave
him and ourselves a respite from showing and enjoyed our walks with our
girls and boys. Max sired a number of litters in the year, producing
sound, stocky pups, including a litter in the USA using his frozen semen. |
Sh Ch Riverdance Dot Matrix Jun Ch |
| 2012 |
Three more litters were sired by
Max including a lovely litter of eleven!! |
Three of Max's pups |
| 2013 |
Max made a brief reappearance in
the ring at the Circuit Tralee Championship Show and won Champion Dog and
the Green Star. |
Max on the move - winning the Green Star at Tralee
Championship Show |
| 2017 |
We were delighted to celebrate the 15th birthday of Sultan (Riverdance
Sorcerer's Apprentice) on the 30th April
Sultan is the last survivor of our Sofie/Ajax litter. Pat Arnold told us he
is the sole living pup of Sh Ch Amberland Ajax.
Sultan is loved and lives happily with Charmian and Gerard Monen in County
Kerry |
Sultan with Gerard and Charmian
|
