18/12/07

We would like to wish all of our friends and Powerscourt Cocker owners a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and prosperous New Year.

16/12/07

Today I ventured to Tredegar in Wales to judge Cocker's for Chepstow and District Canine Society. The entry was typical for this society which is a great shame. The committee work so hard to put on a really good show for the exhibitors with lots of super prizes, a good classification and breed judges and yet the entries always remain low. I don't think the entry was helped by the fact that due to the extortionate cost of advertising, the society took the decision not to publicise the show in the canine newspapers.

My Best Of Breed was Charbonnel War Toy in Bellvalley, a super young man who on the day, despite hiding his attributes under a workmanlike jacket, had everything a cocker should. Critiques

27/10/07

Dudley and Sophie's hip score results arrived today. We are pleased to say that Dudley scored 8 (3:5) and Sophie scored 7 (4:3). Both scores well below the current breed mean score.

04/10/07

As the sun was making an appearance we managed to get a quick photo of Buttons (P. Enchantress). We are very pleased with Buttons and we hope she continues to develop well.

28/09/07

Powerscourt Pandemonium (Muppet) who is a regular PAT dog visitor to the children's' wards of the RUH in Bath features in a new wall art mural in the children's ward which was designed to cheer the children up. Here is a newspaper clip of the mural.

09/09/07

Today we had a lovely visit from Amy (Spendles Sparkler of Powerscourt). It was marvellous to see Amy looking so fit and well and full of zest. Clearly she's a bit grey and a bit deaf but she's doing well for a "young" lady who will soon be 13 years old.

08/09/07

We received a surprise delivery today of a stunning piece of glasswork by the contemporary British glass artist, Adam Aaronson. Adam and his partner Sue are the proud owners of Powerscourt High Flyer "Archie".

Thank you Adam and Sue for the thoughtful gift, admiring the beauty and craftsmanship gives me a great deal of pleasure!

http://www.adamaaronson.com/home.htm

27/08/07

Today we took Lottie to Leominster Canine Society show, it was Lottie's first show outing for a year. She enjoyed her day out but was a little too exuberant on the "go around"!! Today's Best Of Breed was Sunzo Soft Shoe Shuffle and Best Puppy, Trimtops Immokalee. Congratulations to both.

07/08/07

Len, Georgie and I spent a very enjoyable day on Sunday at the annual Powerscourt picnic. As ever it's a pleasure to meet up with the many owners and their dogs (my babies!!) As usual the dogs were impeccably behaved, all off leads and socialising well. We all enjoyed a wonderful buffet lunch and the odd glass or three of wine!

Photos below show some of the dogs and their owners enjoying the beautiful sunshine!

02/08/07

It was Sophie's (Powerscourt Pure Silk) turn to have her photo taken this evening, as ever the wind is blowing her coat about a bit over the stifle, but we took the photos anyway; tomorrows wind is forecast to be 19 mph!

27/07/07

Minty and Buttons (Powerscourt Pingu x Powerscourt Power Of Love JW) are nearly five months old now, we thought we'd take a couple of photos of them today. As usual, the wind was blowing a gale here so their coats are blowing in the wind!

21/06/07

Congratulations to Pippa and Archie (Riondel Venture to Powerscourt) on their ELEVEN healthy babies. The babies, nine bitches and 2 dogs are three weeks old now and doing well.

Archie sires strong, healthy, sweet natured and typical puppies in all of the parti-colours and is father to Sw Sh. Ch. Powerscourt Pied Piper and Grandfather to our own lovely Powerscourt Power Of Love JW.

19/06/07

Leisl sent me this magazine article featuring Muppet (Powerscourt Pandemonium). The text is only just readable but how wonderful to see the comments from the children! Muppet and Leisl clearly give a lot of pleasure to the sick children they visit. I'm sure Muppet’s visits help to brighten their day and offers them some distraction from their illnesses and the distress of being in hospital and away from home.

15/06/07

We were playing with Buttons in the kitchen this evening and mid play we took the opportunity to take a quick photo of her!

10/06/07

Congratulations to Susanne Berggren and "Bettan" who attained her Champion title today. SU(u)CH Flashdance Betty Boop (sire SU(u)CH Powerscourt Pied Piper dam Backhills Esther Williams) is the 5th offspring of Ch. Powerscourt Pied Piper to gain a title to date.

This arrived in the post today!

"All of this students work was extremely well written in an articulate and informed manner, and were a great source of pleasure to read. Essay format was used and was easy to read in style, articulate and extremely informative demonstrating a student who really knows what they are talking about and makes use of this in breeding practice.

Pedigree selection was excellent for those units where they were required and all associated illustrations were well above average. The student demonstrated an aptitude and style for synthesising the content and backgrounds in a well thought out reflective analysis, which will be extremely useful to her for future use. In some instances where critical analysis of standards had to be made the student proved to have a questioning mind, which lent itself well to the concept of choice of breeding stock for future development of the lines with which she is involved.

Units were particularly well presented with photos, graphs and drawings, which together with the supporting written material, gave a very clear indication of the student's ability not only to seek out evidence, but also to understand the theory and learn from what she read.

It was quite clear that a lot of research and reading about the relevant topics had been done and this was always reflected in the units. References were always present and correctly identified.

The work was exceptionally good; it included both current literature and original research, together with evidence of extensive study and reflection on the content matter. The work would make a worthy paper for a dissertation." - Sara John Course Tutor

30/04/07

Our beloved Amy came to visit today. She's very fit and well and still as lively as ever. At nearly 13 years of age she's going a little grey but apart from that she's like a youngster!

25/04/07

We haven't had much news lately because we have been staying at home with our new puppies. Below is a photo of one of the little girls, look at that cute face and the fat tummy!

Leisl sent me a photo of Muppet doing what a cocker likes doing best.....

03/04/07

Congratulations to Belinda and Toby on Toby's Kennel Club Good Citizen Bronze award!

10/03/07

Thank you Felix and Karin!

09/03/07

We enjoyed a lovely day at Crufts yesterday. We were entered but due to other commitments decided to go as spectators and not exhibitors - it was lovely to be able to chat to friends and browse without the pressure of showing!

Powerscourt Pandemonium (aka Muppet) pictured below was flying the Powerscourt flag for us whilst on P.A.T dog duties. Muppet is the dearest of girls, ever the happy and good natured cocker with many admirers.

05/03/07

We have just returned from a lovely break at our favourite holiday destination of Fuerteventura. The island is bathed in year round sunshine due to its close proximity to the African coast. Average daily temperature whilst we were there was 28 C! On several days it was even warmer - lovely!

04/02/07

As the sun was shining and there was only a gentle breeze I thought I'd take a couple of photos of Kea and Willow. They have not been trimmed for the photos and both girls have come straight from the garden and a are little damp which has caused their coats to crinkle a bit!

28/01/07

Swedish Show Champion Powerscourt Pied Piper won the Champion class with CQ and was 3rd Best Male at the Swedish Spaniel and Retriever Club show today under judge Lilian Jonsson. Congratulations to Karin and well done with Toby's CAC and BOS.

23/01/07

At last..... the news I have been eagerly awaiting.... Toby, Powerscourt Higher Echelon's FN test result has arrived. He's NORMAL for FN! We are delighted that out of 10 dogs tested all have been returned as normal! We have several youngsters from these dogs here at home and we are thrilled that they too will be genetically normal for FN.

18/01/07

More FN results arrived this afternoon:

Powerscourt Power Of Love JW (Lottie)
Powerscourt Perdita (Purdie)
Powerscourt Pippi's Gift (Katie)
Powerscourt Paint Splash (Tiggy)
Spendles Spinnet of Powerscourt (Tilly)

are all NORMAL for FN!!!!

We are thrilled to have received such good results - 9 clear dogs out of 10 tested!! One further result is awaited, OptiGen have explained that the frozen sample is degraded and has been sent to another lab for processing. It's hoped that the other lab will be able to improve the sample and allow it to be re-tested.

Purdie's hip score result arrived back today, she's scored a total of 12, 5 : 7.

15/01/07

Fantastic news from OptiGen this evening....

Some of our FN test results have arrived, the results so far are:

Riondel Venture to Powerscourt (Archie)
Powerscourt Spice Of Life Sparkle Plenty (Rosie)
Powerscourt Perfect Gift (Maddie)
Powerscourt Pure Magic (Phoebe)

are all NORMAL for FN!!!!

"Test Results: Genotype of your dog is Normal.

Risk for developing FN: This dog will never develop FN (Familial Nephropathy). Significance for breeding: "Genetically Normal dogs can be bred to any dog and will produce no pups affected with FN".

Our thanks go to the English Cocker Spaniel Club of America for their foresight and to Sandy Platt (Charbonnel) who took the reins and organised the huge fundraising effort in the UK and Europe to support the ECSCA in their goal to fund the research into a gene test for FN. Well done Sandy for using the information you had in a positive way and not "burying your head in the sand"! Without the initiative of the ECSCA and the determination of Sandy, kennels like ourselves wouldn't be relieved and delighted to know that our breeding stock is free from the misery that FN can cause.