Rhiannon Promotions The Universal Cavalier Special Issue 2013 | Page 12

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and we had moved to
Philadelphia. That summer I
went to work for Barbara
Dempsey Alderman, a hard
worker, excellent teacher and a
true friend to this day. I was
lucky to work for three real dog
people. After Barbara, I worked
a few years for Wendell
Sammet. He is a true
professional and a consummate
breeder, developing the Alekai
line of Standard Poodles, in
addition to his famous Dalmatia
Kennels.
Robert was growing up in
Connecticut and began showing
Morgan Horses as a teen, always
a dog in the picture, Chows
being a favourite. After college
and a business degree, he went
to work at Tedwin Farms, owned
by the famous Cocker specialist
Ted Young, Jr. Joseph Vergnetti
and I had set up a kennel in West
Haven, Ct. but when our rather fiery
partnership dissolved, I moved to
Tedwin and began as an apprentice
handler. Robert would wander up
from the barn on occasion and we
would talk dogs and horses, even
pretending to agree with one
another. It was at this point that I
was thumbing through a Popular
Dogs Magazine and came upon the
most beautiful spaniel who, I would
eventually learn, was Liz
Spalding's Kilspindie Chalumeau.

Ch. Ravenrush Maestro
Teddy scoffed that "They weren't even
a recognized breed, for Pete's sake!"
Finally accepting that I was more a
breeder at heart than a handler,
several odd coincidences led me off to
college, in Tennessee, to pursue a
major in English. We arrived here in
what seemed swampy heat, the same
year that Elvis left the building
permanently. Word reached us of a
Cavalier litter right here in Clarksville;
would we care to see the puppies?
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