2010’s

The decade that started with the death of my partner and wife Barbara.
What will happen over the next 10 years I do not know.
Maybe I will write a book.
Maybe Miranda and I will make up a lot more Champions.

2000 This was a dreadful year, as Barbara was seriously ill until her death in September. It is going to be difficult to carry on without her, although Miranda is now very keen on showing and continuing the Corydon line. She is also now the secretary of East Anglian Collie Association.
We asked for donations to Collie Rescue instead of flowers for her funeral and this raised the wonderful total of more than £900 in her memory. I would like to thank everyone who donated so generously to this Charity who do so much for the unfortunate Collies who have been abandoned or neglected.
We also found out who our true friends are, as they helped so much during these difficult times.
And then we found out who were the fair weather friends. We would like to ignore them and forget them. This included the OUR DOGS magazine for which Barbara was the Rough Collie Breed Notes Writer for more than 37 years. It seems such a pity that they could not even send a condolence card, let alone send a representative to the funeral. We do not subscribe to this magazine any more and I
would suggest that readers of this column who do take it, have second thoughts.
Obviously the show scene was not as we would normally have liked. But we did have 2 Best in Show wins with CORYDON ONCE IN A BLUE MOON and his daughter MEJOLA MY BLUE HEAVEN FOR CORYDON. Also the dogs won 2 Reserve CCs. These were DEMELEWIS DARK MOON DRIFTIN OVER CORYDON at Bournemouth and his nephew CORYDON ONCE IN A BLUE MOON at Three Counties.

2011 A much better year in the show ring. Our dogs won 5 Challenge Certificates. With CH DEMELEWIS DARK MOON DRIFTIN OVER CORYDON winning 3. This makes him the top winning tricolour dog of all time in the breed in the UK.Other CCs were won by CORYDON FOLLOW ME and CORYDON ONCE IN A BLUE MOON. They also won a Reserve CC each, as did CORYDON COPPERITA. Her win took our total of Reserve C Cs to 100. A record we are very proud of. But not half so proud as we are of winning 150 C Cs which we did when Riff won his first CC of the year at LEEDS CH Show in July. Strange that we should reach these very unique landmarks at the same Ch Show LEEDS 2011. The total number of C Cs won by the dogs in the kennel now totals as of November 2022 – 172.CORYDON GRANDEFLORA had a very good puppy career, as she won her Junior Warrant and won the OUR DOGS Best Puppy Competition for the breed.The year was also memorable in that Miranda and I went to Hong Kong and Australia during August. We had a great time and I must thank our wonderful hosts for making us so welcome and enabling us to have so much enjoyment. The highlight for me was going to Sydney Opera House for a performance of La Boheme. But we had so many memorable trips and sights. I was also able to see my brother for his birthday. This was good as he has been rather ill for may years so I was very pleased to see him again. We also met up with my sister who lives down under and also Barbara’s sisters.We spent quite a lot of the time with Mim Bester in Tasmania and there I saw probably the best Smooth Collie I have ever seen. They are allowed to mate Smooth and Rough Collies together down there and he was the product of such a mating.

2012 This was probably the quietest year we have ever had show wise, anyway the judges for the Championship Shows during the year were not favourable to our type of Collie. Most of them seem to prefer fluffy unsound horrors.
Still we did manage to win a bit with the dogs. Heather won a Reserve CC and Pixie went to Denmark to win Best in Show at the Danish Collie Clubs Summer Ch Show. She also had Best of Breed and Reserve Best in Show at the Smooth Collie Open Show.
The flag was mainly kept flying by our dogs in their new countries. Notably Corydon Catch Me Driftin who we gave away last January to our friends in Finland. He really made his present felt and won the accolade of Best Collie in his new country for the year. Very well done. For some reason he could not win in the UK (not enough coat for these judges) and yet he consistently beat the blue bitch who came to the UK and won nearly 20 CC while she was over here. Finland’s gain is certainly the UK’s loss. Even more so when his first 2 litters produced a CC winner in each and just before he left us
he mated 2 bitches. From the first of these was Corydon Persinickety Miss who won Best of Breed and Group 3 and Puppy Group 1 at her very first show which was Boston Ch Show 2013. Not a bad record from his first 3 litters. I hope he can carry on the good sire work in Finland.
Other good overseas wins were Corydon Desire Me who was Best in Show at the main club show in Denmark. Corydon Ria Zofia who became a Finnish Champion. She is litter sister to our Ch
Corydon Rio Grande. Corydon Fantisemma who became a Champion in Switzerland and also Catch Me Driftin’s litter sister Int Ch Corydon Mona Mia who won more Champion titles during 2012.
My big event of the year was a trip to the USA to see the Collie Club of America’s annual show. Quite an eye opener as there were almost 800 Collies entered, nearly all of whom would walk all over the Collies in the UK. The overall standard was staggering. As they regard Rough and Smooth as varieties of the same breed the quality of both were extremely high. I know that the Smooth breeders in the UK do not like the thought of mating their stock to Rough Collies in the belief that this will lead to open coats. Having seen so many Smooth collies over there with a Rough parent I could say that I hardly saw one with an incorrect coat. The main difference for this variety was that over there they had been properly presented for the show. In other words they were clean. I think that a trip to this show is essential for all breeders over here if they wish to improve the Collies in their kennel.

2013 certainly started off with a very big bang. Boston Championship show was on the 12th January and Miranda took DEMELEWIS CATCH THE BLUES FOR CORYDON who was placed second in the Open Dog Class, and she also took the new puppy CORYDON PERSNICKETY MISS. Her first ever show. She won the
Puppy Bitch Class and then was awarded Best Bitch. Then she was awarded Best of Breed. So a long wait for the Group where the judge liked her enough to place her Group 3. Then another wait for the Puppy Group. And this judged liked her well enough to place her Group 1. So three different judges and all awarded her Top marks. Fantastic. She is out of Corydon Catch Me Driftin’s third litter and were born after he left for Finland. As there were CC winners in his first 2 litters, I suspect that he will go down as a big loss to Rough Collies in the UK. But we got what we wanted. Bath Championship Show was held on the 26th May 2013. The fortieth anniversary of our first ever CC won at Bath 1973. This year we did even better with Lene’s CORYDON LA CAPRITA OF PHREELANCER winning the bitch CC. She is by Riff out of Corydon Rio Rita. And our DEMELEWIS CATCH THE BLUES FOR CORYDON being placed second in the Open Dog Class and then awarded the Reserve CC. The judge was Albert Wight. A great day on Thursday 24th October at Midland Counties Ch Show CORYDON ONCE IN A BLUE MOON won the Dog CC so he is now a Champion. CORYDON CATCH A PIXIE won the Bitch CC and was Best of Breed. DEMELEWIS CATCH THE BLUES FOR CORYDON was placed 2nd in the Open Dog Class behind his sire Ross. The judge was Felix Cosme. Very many thanks to Maxine for handling Pixie. The judge evidently did not know that Pixie was a Corydon and wondered if Miranda would be disappointed when he awarded the BOB to Pixie. He was somewhat taken aback when Maxine said she was Miranda’s bitch. It is especially nice that Pixie and Ross are kenneled together and have been for at least four years. We have won over 50 CCs with Blue Merles but amazingly, Ross is our very first home bred Champion Blue Merle dog or bitch. Great news from Finland where Percy passed his mental test on the 20th July and is now FI & EE CH, HEW-12 CORYDON CATCH ME DRIFTIN. He becomes the 10th Finish Corydon Champion. The judge of the mental test gave him a wonderful report. Saturday the 24th November was the Collie Associations Championship Show. Miranda only took our new puppy CORYDON BLUE FIZZ She is by Ch Demelewis Dark Moon Driftin over Corydon out of Mejola My Blue Heaven for Corydon. She was born on the 11th May 2013 so is just 6 months old. There were 17 Minor puppies in the first class and she won this class. She also won the Novice Bitch Class and then went on to Best Puppy Bitch in Show. Quite a debut. The judge was Angela Hodgson of the famous Temeila prefix. Saturday 7th December was the British Collie Club’s Christmas Open Show. Vanessa Cronk was the judge of Roughs. Miranda took only CORYDON BLUE FIZZ and the judge liked her enough to award her Best Puppy in Show. It is proving to be a very good year for our puppies Saturday the 14th December was the LKA Championship Show with Mrs V Geddes judging. This was the last big show for 2013. We had entered Corydon Blue Fizz who won the Minor Puppy Bitch Class and was then awarded Best Puppy in the Breed. So she ends the year by being unbeaten in her classes. Corydon Catch A Pixie was also entered and she was placed second in the Open Bitch Class and then was awarded the Bitch Reserve CC. Demelewis Catch The Blues For Corydon was placed second in the Open Dog Class, and Corydon Spot The Drifference was placed second in the Limit Dog Class. This was his first show for over 2 years. Both the dogs had lost a lot of coat so were under a handicap.

2014 A year that produced mixed results but I think also anther breed record. I cannot think of any other kennel breeding five different puppies who won Best Puppy awards at Championship Shows in any one year. These were CORYDON BLUE FIZZ Best Puppy in the breed at Crufts. CORYDON THE RINGLEADER. Best Puppy at the Yorkshire Collie Club Championship Show. His litter sister CORYDON FEMME FATALE FOR MEJOLA won Best Puppy at Richmond Championship Show. CORYDON DARK VICTRESS Won Best Puppy in Show at the Smooth Collie Club of Great Britain Ch Show, and her litter sister CORYDON VICTORIANA AT DEMELEWIS won Best Puppy at Midland Counties Ch Show. This is really an amazing record.
Sunday 31st August was Yorkshire Collie Club’s Championship Show. Dog judge was Thomas Rohlin from Denmark. The real surprise was our new dog puppy at his very first show. Aged just 6 months and 24 days. CORYDON THE RINGLEADER. He won the Minor Puppy Dog Class, the Maiden Dog Class and the Novice Dog Class. In the Challenge for the top honours he was awarded the Reserve Challenge Certificate. He then won the challenge for Reserve Best in Show. What is even better is that he won under two different judges as the Best in Show judge was Edith Prior. He must be the youngest ever Rough Collie Dog to win such a high award in the UK. He was also awarded Best Puppy in Show. With this win he also won his way into The Kennel Club Stud Book. There were over 130 Rough Collies entered at this show. Several were Champions. He went on to win his title is style winning a Group on the way. For me one of the best Rough Collies I have ever seen. Mejola My Blue Heaven For Corydon was the CC winner this year and we had 4 Reserve CC winners

2015 Percy (Int Ch Corydon Catch Me Driftin) has qualified for the Finish Dog of the Year Contest. The first Rough Collie to do so. We are going to see him compete on the 22nd February. Should be quite an experience. His full titles are ridiculous, but I include them here. CIB&NORD&FI&SE&NO&EE CH, HEW-12, W-14, VW-14 Corydon Catch Me Driftin. LKA the last All Breeds Championship Show of the year held on the 12th December was a great success for us. Corydon The Ringleader won his first Dog CC having won the Open Dog Class. Corydon Blue Fizz won the Post Graduate Bitch Class which was
the largest class of the day.

2016 A quick round up of 2016. We entered our Collies in 42 Classes during the year. They won 19 of them. They were lead by Ch Corydon The Ringleader who won six of the eight classes he was entered. He won three CCs, 2 Best of Breed, 1 Group andtwo Reserve CCs. He was Top Rough Collie for 2016. CCs were also won by Demelewis Catch The Breeze for Corydon who was also Best of Breed, and Mejola My Blue heaven For Corydon. So now we have 3 bitches with 2 CCs each. Must be arecord there I think. Demelewis Catchmydrift also won a CC, and as he is the sister of Breeze it meant that Ch Corydon Once
in A Blue Moon was the sire of 3 CC winners during the year, as he is also the sire of Heaven. Unusual for a blue merle to sire three in one year. It’s official, the Dog World top Rough Collie for 2016 is Tas (Ch Corydon The Ringleader). He went to just eight Shows during the year, at which he won five major awards. He must be one of the least shown dogs to have won this Top of the Breed Award. And he has no Stop. Must be very galling to those who have been brainwashed into believing the Stop is
the most important point for a Rough Collie. May I remind those people that lack of Stop was never a fault. But Cow Hocks, Receding, Bumpy Skulls and Low Set Ears were all classed as very serious faults. Maybe those judges who think a lack of Stop is a disqualifying fault, will change their minds and put more emphasis on penalising exhibits with the above faults. I am not holding my breath though.

2017 This was a very quiet year with Corydon Victor Ludorum being the only winner of a Kennel Club award when he won the Res CC at the London & Provincial Collie Ch Show under Margaret Masterman. But Corydon The Ring Master won Best of Breed at Eastwood and North Lincs Open Shows. Corydon Trump The Lot won Reserve Best in Show and Best Puppy at the EACA Open Show and was also best puppy at Boston. While Kinneret Kopper Kisses at Corydon Had Best Puppy awards at Lincoln.

2018 A little better this year as Taz (Ch Corydon The Ringleader) won the Dog CC at the Welsh K C Show under Val Geddes and he won the Reserve CC at Darlington under Gail Wilcock from Australia. Kinneret Kopper Kisses at Corydon had some good wins with Best Puppy awards at Boston and Newark and then won Best of Breed at the Smooth Collie Open Show. While Donald (He had to be called that) (Corydon Trump The Lot) won Best in Show at the British CC Open Show and won Best of Breed at Boston and Freshville.

2019 The wins this year were for Donald (Corydon Trump The Lot) who won the CC at Darlington under Mr G Hill and the Reserve CC at London & P CC under Mr T Foster. He also won Best of b~reed at Newark. His sire CH Corydon The Ringlesader won the Dog CC at the East of England Show under Mrs Z Torn-Andrews. He was also placed third in the Champion Stakes class at the same show.