I've been a member of the Cocker Spaniel Club of Northern Ohio more than thirty years and have been preisdent and vice president, member of the American Spaniel Club and Owner-Handlers of Northern Ohio, and has served as the club's treasurer. I've been showing Cocker Spaniels since 1971 and here's how it began...
I guess it all started in 1951 when my stepfather brought a silver buff female home to us in his coat pocket. It was from Norma Warner (Norbill Kennel). I bred her once a year. Mom would call the school and have them send me home when "Taffy" had her pups, Taffy would cry for me. I learned so much in those years about breeding and whelping. I would go to shows and watch and drool!
After I got married and three children later, my husband Bill bought me a black, Daffney Delightful; not show quality, but she became the bitch that brought in the chocolate factor. Dorothy Orient was kind enough to let me breed to her Orient's It's A Pleasure and Ch. Orient's Pleasing You. I was hooked on parti-colors and still drooling. She let me take a bitch home to train and socialize. She helped me, but always beat me in the ring. Three generations later I got my first champion, Ch. Schiely's Bit O Licorice. Next came Tar N' Feathers, owner-handled to finish with three majors in six shows - I was hooked!
October 26, 1977: I was whelping a litter sired by Ch. Schiely's Tar N' Feathers ex Schiely's Delightful Fancy. The first pup was born at 3 am, black and white male- or so I thought. One hour later another black and white male. After putting them on the heating pad, I noticed that they were not the same. I took the first boy over to the lamp and, lo and behold, he was brown and white! It was 4 am and I had no one to tell! This was two black and white parents with no apparent brown and white for generations. I wasn't looking for the browns; they just showed up. I never gave them a thought before this time.
I have, since that time, tried to improve and protect the brown and whites. I've now bred about sixty some champions, including twenty brown and whites, two solid brown, and three sable and whites. I love the Cocker Spaniel and feel it's my breed. I've enjoyed the wonderful improvement in the colors and know they have to be better to be put up to show. I resent it when prejudice is shown toward this wonderful treasure. |