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 Always a dog lover, as a child I took every opportunity to be involved with them. I gave my parents many heart stopping moments by “adopting” any stray that came my way! Although Scottish born and bred I was brought up in Camberley in Surrey. In the ‘60’s there was a very famous old lady who took in strays and could be seen most days walking through the town centre with a home made barrow filled with little dogs and surrounded by the larger ones on leads. My mother despaired that this would be me in years to come!
Returning to Scotland in the early 70’s I immediately got myself a job in boarding kennels and when not at school spent every waking hour there.
It was there that a litter of Afghan Hounds were born and I prevailed on my long suffering parents to allow me to have one. I called her Sasha and she was black. A chance meeting with another Afghan owner lead me into the world of show dogs and life was never the same again! I showed Afghan’s (not very successfully) and Salukis (a bit more successfully) for a number of years before work commitments meant living away from home and showing had to take a back seat. However, it was an itch that just had to be scratched!
In 1984 I found myself in a position to be able to show again but what breed?
 One summer day, taking a break from working in the garden I walked into the living room and found an Irish Setter lying upside down, sound asleep, on the sofa. His distraught owner was running up and down the road calling for “Ryan” and was much relieved to find him safe and well eating biscuits on the sofa! His wonderful nature and mischievious look had me hooked and the decision was made for me. I had to have one!
Through a close friend I was able to contact Janice Roberts of the famous Cornevon Irish Setters and after many searching “interviews” I was deemed an acceptable candidate to have a Cornevon Irish Setter when one became available. In 1985 I became the proud owner of “Honeypie of Cornevon”, my darling “Sam” .
As the years have progressed the sheer delight of owning this most marvellous breed of dog has given me the most immense pleasure. Their obvious love of life is always a tonic and I can’t imagine life without them.
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