Rhiannon Promotions The Universal Cavalier Special Issue 2013 | Page 23

pedigree Ch Daywell Roger is there 10
times in the last generation. When
we went to Crufts in 1973 Aquarius
was only 17 months old and had won
his first CC in December 1972 under
Mrs Fox-Carter, we thought we might
win our class on the day but as far as
going any further, that was in the lap
of the gods. The judge for the day
was Mr Bennet who at that time lived
in South Africa. As always we were at
the venue before the doors were open
and we met up with Mrs Jane Booth
who said that she had heard that a
Cavalier was due to go Best In Show.
We all thought of the dog that had
won most of the CCs in 1972. While
we were talking the very dog came to
the benches, he was hairless, in fact
he was pink, Alan Hall said, as is his
wont “Oh I think it could be us”. After
the show we had a letter from Jane
Booth who was one of the most
loveable people in the breed and it
said “Many a true word spoken in
jest”.

(Continued from page 22)

mother. If you put a lead on her she
came to life like a clockwork toy that
had been wound up. She had no
interest in life but dog shows, after
she was retired from showing the
morning of a show she was a
nightmare when she saw the other
dogs leaving for the show. She was
too much of a lady to look after
puppies even her pet name gave her
airs and graces. When I called her
name in the ring fellow exhibitors did
a double take as I called out “come
along Margaret”. In spite of her
efforts not to look after her two dog
puppies we managed without her
input. The other puppy went to the
Bishop of Litchfield and never saw
the show-ring.
Maggie May won many CCs
(Challenge Certificates) and broke
the bitch record, so we had to mate
her to a good stud dog. We had seen
Champion Vairire Osiris many times
winning Best of Breed and we
thought he had much to give in the
relationship, mainly in the way of
coat. We have a saying here at
Alansmere when it comes to coat and
that is “breed for it and feed for it”.
Aquarius did pick up on Osiris’s
beautiful coat and Maggie’s show
temperament. Never once in his
career did he give up in the ring, as
they say bomb proof. The mating of
Maggie x Osiris was I suppose an out
-cross rather than line breeding, I
must say that on a 6 generation

Aquarius won the Junior Class (12 –
18 months) and Mr Bennet said
“super in every way, in fact what I call
the perfect Cavalier and it was
worthwhile to travel the 6000 miles to
judge Cavaliers”. The reserve CC
went to Mrs Biddle’s Champion
Ottermouth Black Badge (he should
have been Back Badge, but due to an
error at the Kennel Club he had a
name that made no sense). For those
readers who do not know, Mr. Biddle
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