Crufts 2017

Crufts was a bit of a different affair this year with the girls having to do all of the preparation in the the build up to this fab day out.  Having four dogs fit and ready is no mean feat and they along with dad did them proud.  All four were fit and beautifully presented.

As always it gives the opportunity for the Seahaven's from further afield to meet up again.  Both breeds were well represented and in the awards.

Large Munsterlanders

Lyric (Seahaven Limited Edition) 3rd Junior
Yvie (Seahaven's Olympic Uthopia) 1st Limit
Trio (Seahaven Borrowed Heaven) VHC Open

Lyric collected her award for Top Puppy 2016 and loved meeting people on the trade stands.

NSDTRs

Bron (Seahaven's Gloriana) Res Limit
Milly (Seahaven Red Andromeda) 2nd GCDS

Tilly was unplaced in Veteran but cheered her children on with a big smile on her face, she also collected her Best Brood Bitch award. She was so pleased to be at a show again and really showed her socks off.

Eve was shortlisted in a huge open class, she looked lovely in the ring and worked so well for Eleanor. Sadly missing her coat it wasn't her day.

Tasha borrowed Eve for the YKC handling, a last minte change from handling Trio as the breed class was going to clash. Eve went really well for her in the busy YKC ring, not placed but thrilled with how she went.

Another Crufts over for another year, roll on summer!

Top Dog 2016 Awards

We recently received notification from the dog press that two of our dogs had won awards, they have been invited to collect these at Crufts next week.  We are delighted to have had success in both breeds, and very proud of both dogs.

Tilly (Dinaskarreks Red Vixen at Seahaven)  has won the Dog World/Eden Top Dog award for top brood bitch. Our foundation NSDTR who has given us such pleasure taking part with the children in most canine sports. She has produced progeny who have gained their stud book number in each of her three litters, a huge achievement particularly when those dogs are only lightly shown.  She hasn't made many show appearances this past year as we have concentrated our attention on Eve and Lyric, but will be at Crufts in the veteran class.

Lyric (Seahaven Limited Edition) has won Our Dogs Top Puppy award which is sponsored by Natures menu.  This lovely girl is such a special puppy being the only surviving puppy in her litter, she was destined to stay no matter what. She surpassed all of our expectations from the word go, gaining best puppy in breed at her first champ show. She gained group placings at every open show she attended when there was a breed class scheduled, and a special highlight of her puppy career was being awarded Best Puppy in Show at the breed club champ show.

Lyric had also qualified for the prestigious Welsh Junior of the Year, held last weekend at Builth Wells, Tasha took over the handling of her for this and after a break from showing clearly remembered what it was all about.  She didn't get through to the final round but had a lovely day and came home with some lovely mementos.

2016 - A Year in Review

As the year comes to a close it gives us an opportunity to reflect on what has passed during the last twelve months.  There have been ups and downs but we're here looking forward to next year, 2017.

We started the year looking forward to having Lyric out at some shows, and having a go a some HPR working tests.  The working tests being a bit of a steep learning curve, having only attended one to help and so not actually seeing too much during the day.

The intention was to take Lyric to the LM. Club working test at Hall Barn in May, having helped at this event the previous year we were keen to have one of our taking part.  Training ended up being more problematic than expected as there were no HPR trainers withing a 2 hour drive for us to attend. Training took place by using a bit of common sense, a vague idea of what might be expected and some tips from friends, along with lots of encouragement.

In April we made a late entry to attend a HPR working test about 3 hours away, chosen as nobody had talked about going, and it was being judged by someone we knew who knew the breed.  There ended up with 3 LM puppies, all owners having the same idea as ourselves I think! What a great support though, as we watched each other, offering encouragement and laughter. It really was a great day, topped by Lyric actually achieving marks in each section.  Most importantly we were on the right path to move her forward with a little bit more confidence.

Hall Barn saw a huge improvement in how she was handled and a massive improvement in her marks for each section, again she gained points in each.

Lyric has exceeded all of our expectations in the show ring, we started the year just hoping to qualify her for Crufts; something she did on every occasion at a Champ show.

In all she gained

• 3 Best Puppy in Breed at Champ shows with CCs on offer
• Best Puppy in Show at the LMC Championship Show
• 3 Best Puppy in Breed at Open Shows; 2 x group 2 & 1 x group 3 award in the Gundog P. Grp
• Best Bitch at SWKA 

All this from a lightly shown puppy.

The others Munsters haven't been shown much at all, however Trio has made a few appearances this year showing her daughter how to have fun in the ring.

• Winning Limit Bitch at National Gundog
• Placed in Open Bitch in her other visits to Champ shows with CCs on offer
• Winning Best of Breed and Group 4 at Pembs Agricultural show
• Winning Special Bred by Exhibitor at the LM Club Champ Show

The NSDTRs have also been making us very proud this year.  We attended the NSDTR Club Champ Show in March and came away with a number of trophies!

Eve won every class and delighted us all in wining the bitch CC!

Trying something new, Eleanor has been attending Rally training and they took part in their first competition gaining a 3rd in the special class; open to all levels and so beating many dogs and handlers who were at a much higher level than themselves.

Cooper & Eve at the NSDTR Club Champ Show

• 1st Limit bitch 
• 1st special working and the CC
• Placed in the JHA semi finals out of over 20 handlers
• 3rd Special Rally class 

Tilly came along to the NSDTR show too, and did us so proud by gaining a 3rd place in the Veteran Class. She also took part in the rally competition, handled by Tasha.

• 3rd Level 1 Rally with an excellent score

Other highlights include

• Cooper (Seahaven Galatic Storm at Wulalowe) Dog CC and Best of Breed at NSDTR Club Champ show
• Tegan (Seahaven Bewitched by Cedarlake) Reserve CC at NSDTR Club Champ Show
• Seahaven Olympic Uthopia Bitch CC at Driffield
• Megane became a calendar girl for Haringtons
• Rookie Seahaven Celtic Commander having all of his health tests completed with good results becomes a sire.  

Sadly the year had some downs, one of the main sadness's of the year was the untimely  passing of Megane (Seahaven's Celtic Cariad).  What a huge hole this lovely girl has left for her lovely family, and hopefully as time passes some smiles too.  As breeders, we couldn't have asked for a more caring or loving home for her. 

The two dog papers run competitions throughout the year for Top Dogs.  We are so proud to have two dogs, one from each breed represented:

Lyric (Seahaven Limited Edition) gaining the Top LM puppy award from Dorwest/Our Dogs.

Top Puppy Awards

Tilly (Dinsakarrek's Red Vixen at Seahaven) gaining Top Brood Bitch from Dog World

Dog World Top Brood Bitch

Introducing Some Extended Family

Thought it was about time I introduced the Rooklets.

These lovely babies are Tarkanya Meas Moonshine x Seahaven's Celtic Commander of Hartenziel (Rookie). This makes them Maddie's grandpuppies.

Bea is a super mum and is doing a fabulous job. Been to see them twice already!

2 days old:

10 days old:

Proud mum Bea

So looking forward to seeing some of these pups grow up, so pleased with them.

Jess and Proud Clueless Rookie

An Introduction to Rally

A couple of weeks ago, (yes I've been a bit lazy keeping this blog upto date!) we attended our first Rally competition.  It was the inaugural competition for our local club that was set up earlier this year.

To make it more attraction to Rally competitors it was held in Carmarthenshire, our neighbouring county, and it did indeed attract a healthy entry.  Many competitors had travelled some distance, we even met another toller who had come all the way from East Anglia.

As helpers, we organised the refreshments we had a rather early start, and a cold one.

Tasha had opted to handle Tilly as Trio doesn't like all of the sit transitions found in Rally,this is due to her hock injury a few years ago.  They had entered L1 and L2, I had also entered the same with Lyric. Eleanor had decided to only enter the L1 as she felt that this was enough to start off with, we did persuade her to enter eh special class as well. Though we didn't have any idea what this would entail.

The L1 was on quite early and sadly Eve and Lyric were eliminated.  Eve for weeing in the ring, Eleanor had rushed in after manning the refreshments and hadn't taken her out for a toilet break. Such a frustrating mistake to make, and she didn't make it again for her special class.  Lyric found it difficult to concentrate and went the wrong way around one of the cones, and eliminating error.  Bless her she has only been to one Rally training session, and we only went to give us a little bit of experience. Tilly did a super round, being so responsive to Tasha, so thrilled when they were place later on.

Lyric gave a similar performance in the L2 round, though not being eliminated but not gaining a qualifying score either.  We have lots to work on if we want to give this another try.

Tasha withdraw Tilly who was so distracted by my presence by the ring, something that doesn't normally bother her.

Eleanor then had to have a go in the special class, little did we know that this was open to all levels and she had to follow a L5/6 dog and handler who did a super round. Eleanor took some convincing to go in, but she did in the end.  We were all delighted when they were place 3rd in such a strong class.

They made such a good impression that they have both been selected as subs for the Welsh Rally team at Crufts.

Otherwise life has been a little quiet for us, though were still enjoying just being out and about with the dogs.

Not a brilliant pictue, just the dogs having a blast on Plumstone mountain.

News!

Seahaven Halloween litter celebrate their 2nd birthday.

Well two years has certainly passed so quickly, and what fabulous dogs they're turned in to.  These pics of Rana were sent in by her owners this week, she's looking so grown up now.

Lyric celebrated her 1st birthday!

But a bit of a bittersweet day - remembering the little brothers and sisters who didn't make it.

What a year she's had though, she has certainly surpassed all of our expectations, and is such a great addition to the family - couldn't imagine life without her.

She has taken part in two Gundog Working Tests, partnered by a very novice handler too - we've managed to score in each category on both occasions too.

She has attended eight Champ shows this year, gaining Best Puppy in Breed at 4 of them.  At open shows she had 3 where breed classes have been on offer, and then gained 2, group 2 and one group 3 places in the gundog puppy groups.

We will be continuing with her gundog training and start her agility training over the winter, so looking forward to the next year with this young lady.

Rookie's sired his first litter

Rookie - Seahaven Celtic Commander at Hartenziel  is to become a sire later this month.  All details are on Jess's website  http://www.hartenzieldogs.com. So looking forward to seeing these puppies.

A Bit of an Absence

Apologies for the long absence, it's been a mixed summer and it didn't feel appropriate to comment on successes when others were having a difficult time.

Sadly Megane, the much loved and cherished LM of our lovely friends died last month.  She was bred by us, and we'd been fortunate to have seen her at regular intervals throughout the years along with her owners who have become good friends. We last saw her at Hall Barn, along with her new 'brother' and it was great to see her enjoying her new playmate.

Sadly she became ill after this, Megane being Megane - kept the vets on their toes presenting with a variety of symptoms that seemed to conflict with each other making a diagnosis rather difficult, even when referred to the hospital.  In true munster style she charmed them all and was loved by all who met her.

Over the following few weeks her health declined and she sadly lost her battle, she was only 4 years old which has devastated us all. She was found to have a type of juvenile cancer.

There have been many tears shed, and the sense of loss is testament to how much she was loved and cared for by Hazel and David.  She really couldn't have had better owners.