2020’s

What a way to start a new decade!!!!!!

A pandemic because nobody knows how to control Covid. We had to wait for more than a year before we could show our dogs again.

2020 Because of Covid restriction there were very few shows, all were at the start of the year and there were no more shows until April the next year. However our new blue merle dog puppy Corydon Pol Roger won Reserve Best in Show and Best Puppy at the Yorkshire CC Open show.

2021 Donald lead the way by winning CCs at Northumberland & Durham CC under Mr K Younng and his qualifying CC at the Collie Association under Mr A White. So he is now CH CORYDON TRUMP THE LOT. I handled him to this win and it was probably the most satisfying of all my dogs wins as this poor dog had been vilified at some of the shows. Was it his blaze? I have to wonder as he is the first sable and white dog with a full blaze to become a Champion since the mid 1950’s. That is a long time ago especially when I started in the breed in the 1950’s most dogs came into the ring with a blaze. Personally I find it very attractive and we must remember that the “Lassie” in the films has a very prominent blaze.

2022 Not much doing on the show front. Miranda is very fussy on which judge to show under. I cannot blame her as all too often the chosen judge has not bothered to read the Breed Standard and if they have they did not understand it. I have to wonder why so many very unsound exhibits are being awarded the top prize. The main problem that I see today is straight shoulders. They completely spoil the outline of the exhibit as they appear to be too low at the front. So why put up straight shoulders? However Corydon Pol Roger won the dog CC under Mrs Peach at Darlington Ch Show. At this same show Rayawnas Ring of Roses for Corydon won the Reserve Bitch CC. I think that this was a first major award won by her breeders. We went to Finland in August to see and judge the stock and their offspring that we have sent to that country. The dogs were lovely and we each judged a sex. Miranda looked over the bitches and thought that at least four of them were better than any she judged at Crufts earlier in the year. What are our breeders doing? Not a lot.

2023 A good year for the kennel with 3 Challenge Certificates and a Reserve. 35 first prizes won a Club Championship Best in Show win and other major awards. But five in our kennel died during the year. We went to Australia and New Zealand for a 3 week holiday. Had a wonderful time and I judged the bred in Sydney. I think that most of the English judges should go there because the difference in soundness compered with what we se here was mind blowing. Why do judges here give major awards to exhibits that are grossly unsound?

2024 Friday 13th December was the LKA Championship Show. We had entered Clair but she had her own view on this and promptly dropped all her coat. So she stayed at home. But we took Smudge and Kasper and they really did us proud. Smudge (Corydon Christopher) won the yearling dog class then he was awarded the Dog CC and then the Best of Breed. Just two days before his second birthday. Kasper (Corydon The Grandmaster) won the Open Dog Class. The breed had easily the largest entry on the day so we were more than happy.

We have now been told that Corydon The Schoolmistress is now an International Champion. This was followed by the information that Corydon Cliquot is now a Swiss Champion. He is the 102 Corydon Champion. He is litter brother of SW CH Corydon La Grande Dame

5th November and we had to say good bye to Louis (Demelewis Catch the Blues For Corydon). He was very feeling his age and his legs had finally given up from letting him stand on his own. He had quite a successful show career and won five Reserve CC awards. He was very unlucky not to win a big one. He was a lovely dog to own as his temperament was lovely.

27th October was the Midland Counties Ch Show. Corydon Christopher won the Yearling dog Class. Ch Corydon Clarissa won the Open Bitch Class, the Bitch CC and then Best of Breed. It was her fourth CC.

6th October was a sad day as we had to say goodbye to Victor (Corydon Victor Ludouram). He had a stroke and could not get up. Miranda took him to the vet to have him put down. He will be cremated as I am no longer able to dig a four foot deep hole and anyway I am running out of room. He did go out with a blaze of Glory as the Red Arrows flew directly over him just minutes before the vet ended his life. The Red Arrows are based quite near to us at Waddington. They were on their way home but had to salute Victor. He was not shown very often but he did win a Reserve CC. He sired the dual CC winner Corydon Pol Roger.

8th September was the Yorkshire Collie Clubs Championship Show. Miranda took Corydon Clarissa, She won the Open bitch Class and then went on to win the bitch CC. So she is now Ch Corydon Clarissa. She is our 28th Champion and the first in just my name. Many thanks to Miranda for showing her so well and to Mrs D Jones the judge for liking her so much to award her the top prize.

29th August was Birmingham City Ch Show. We took Corydon Christopher. He won the Yearling dog class and then went on to win the Yearling Dog Stakes with prize money of £25. We also took Corydon Pol Roger. He won the Open Dog Class. We also took Corydon Clarissa and she was placed second in the big Open Bitch Class. The dog CC winner was by Corydon The Ringmaster. The Best Veteran was by Corydon Riffson. So we had a good day.

We went to Finland on the 9th August. It was the bianual event for our fan club over there. On the 10th August was the dog show. Miranda judged the dogs while I judged the bitches. I have to say that their Collies are rather better than those in this country. For a starter most of them are sound in construction. I only found 2 with straight shoulders. In this country it is more like 90% with this fault. Also all the heads were clean through. No big stops and no prominant cheeks. So different from what I see here. But the most prominant feature was the number of young people interested in the breed. Over here we rarely see anybody under the age of forty. In Finland there were so many teenagers and other young people showing their dogs. I have to say that if I was thirty years younger I would be emigrating to Finland. The future of Collies is in that country. Over here it will be dead in five years. Just one problem with the judging. It rained all day and it is not easy to judge wet dogs. Below are our main winners.

August 2nd was Paignton Ch Show. Miranda took Corydon Pol Roger, he was placed 3rd in open dog and she took Corydon Christopher. He won the Post Grad Dog class and then he won the Reserve Dog CC. This was his first show for 8 months. He is by Ch Corydon The Ringleader who was also the sire of the Bitch Challenge Certificate. So he had a good day.

The puppies have all got new homes and are steadily leaving us. But we have not been to a dog show for a long time. But Miranda is actually going to one on Friday the 2nd August. However the bitch she had entered has of course come into season. If you have seen the front page what are your thoughts on Collie Data.

Even more good news as we now have another litter of puppies. six of them, 3 boys and 3 girls. They were born on the 25/5/2024. The dam is Corydon Agatha Cristal and the sire is Corydon the Baron. We have Tri Bitch and 2 s&w Bitches. A tri dog and 2 s&w Dogs.

Some good news. We have a litter, the first for almost 18 months. The dam is our Mejola Famous Attraction For Corydon and the dad is a first for our homebred Corydon Christopher. This is the dams fourth and last litter. She is looking after 4 boys and just one girl, They were born on the 2nd May and they are very big and very strong. They do look rather nice. All are sable and white so it looks as if Smudge (as we call him) is dominant for this colour as Ada (the dams pet name) is very black.

Not much in the showing of our dogs as they are short of coat. But the World Show was held last weekend in Croatia. Excellent judging from the Irish man who judged the bitches as he found two litter sisters for his top two award winners. I am pleased because they are maternal grandaughters of our Champion Corydon The Ringleader. Rather shows up the breeders in the UK because they seem to refuse to use a Champion in their own bitches. It is little wonder that Rough Collies in other countries are better than thosein the UK. I am writing a book on bitch lines and I am amazed that these lines have so few Champion dogs in teir lines during the last thirty years. When I first started (and it was a long time ago now) everybody was encouraged to use the best dogs as the cost was only a stud fee and we could hope for really good puppies. Now all they want to do is use a rubbish dog in the hope that that dogs owner will be judging soon and will put up their own rubbish.

March 9th was our breed at Crufts dog show. Miranda took two dogs. The first one was placed third in the Junior class while the other Corydon The Baron won the Special Yearling class which was the biggest dog class of the day. So we did a lot better than we expected. I was very impressed with the quality of the Group winners at this show this year. so different from the previous year when I thought they were all very poor.