 Barncrest Orange Gem x Lynwater Bouncer at Spinneyhill   Dills mother, Barncrest Orance Gem May 1994 - April 2005 Sadly missed, a dog in a lifetime Dillon is the dog that first got me hooked on showing. I bought his mother as a pet from good old lines, Colinwood and Lynwater but in time began to first attend Companion shows and later Open Shows, always being very well placed. In 1997 Gemma was mated to Lynwater Bouncer and after a horrendous c-section that left Gemma for dead 6 puppies were sent home at a few hours old to be hand reared. Through much luck and Gemmas fighting personality and a blood transfusion from a Wolfhound she survived but rejected the puppies. If anyone tells you that handrearing a litter is easy, it's not. It's hell but after weeks of no sleep, almost daily trips to the vets all puppies survived. Bronte was the girl I intended to keep and Dill had already been booked but something bothered me about the home and daily he clung to me like glue so he stayed. At the time orange and white cockers were rare in the show ring, almost unseen and unusually for and Orange Dillon grew a heavy coat which refused to come out until he was about 14 months old, so after a trip to a top groomer with his sister he attended both his and my first Champ show which was Windsor and to my amazement won 2nd in Junior dog from around 20 entries, I was hooked. He continued to be in top placings all through his junior career and multi Crufts qualify but once in Post Grad the wall came down and dogs he had beaten hands down now began to beat him. I was told so many times that in the hands of a known breeder he would have been a Champion but his show career appeared to be over, he still did well at Open shows and now at nine having just recovered from a life threatening case of Pancreatitus will be out in Veteran. He is such a delight to own, a personality to die for, superb old type construction with substance and as a young dog spent the winter seasons beating on a shoot with his sister. In my opinion modern cockers have become to fine, tiny heads and just overall small. It is a shame as they are a beautiful breed. |