Training with Geoff Saint May 2017

Fabulous day training with Geoff Saint in Preston, where all the dogs rose to the challenges set.

Tracking Day April 2017

Always wanting to explore new avenues with our dogs and prove how versatile the breed and our lines can be, in April Gary and Winnie attended a tracking day organised by Worcestershire Gun Dog Society.
Training on blood tracks and cold game, Winnie proved herself very capable and we look forward to doing this again later in the year if the chance arises.

Training on the grouse moor March 2017

A great day training on the grouse moor with trainer Geoff Saint and the gang, even if we did get soaked to the skin.

Foreground Coco, background Winnie

Crumble's 2nd birthday - March 2017

We wished Crumble a happy 2nd birthday in March. This lovely little girl is taking really well to agility - a first time sport for both of us.

Clay Pigeon Shoot February 2017

Something I have always wanted to try and as part of a friend's special birthday present, finally got the chance to do... clay pigeon shooting. Two teams - boy and girls and by shear fluke, I got the highest score in the ladies team.
Klancraig isn't just about the dogs but the friendships forged and happy times shared together.

Last Day Of the Shoot January 2017

Today I grudgingly had to let Gary take Coco on the shot as Winnie was off colour. Very proud that my girl got praised for how steady she was and how thoroughly she hunted the ground from no other than the lady who with her husband own the Estate upon which they run the shoot.

NL CH Katholts G.Dutch (Imp DK) - 'Dutch'

This summer we have been very fortunate to have staying with us a very special visitor from Holland, 'Dutch' - who is owned and trained by our friend Hans Keuper and bred by Mrs Eline Noiesen from Denmark. Penny had the pleasure of showing this beautiful boy at the German Wirehaired Pointer Club Champ show in July, winning 1st in a very strong Open Dog class and pushing hard for top honours. (Photographs courtesy of Gordon Kirkwood).

Manchester Champ Show

Following on from beating and picking up on the shoot with Gary the day before, we were thrilled that at Manchester Championship Dog Show Coco won a very respectable third place in the Open Bitch class where she showed her socks off. Our star of the day though was Crumble who won Best Puppy in Breed.

Natural Dog Conference

Penny recently attended the Natural Dog Conference, the first of it's kind in the UK - a two day event which was held in Birmingham. Unfortunately, she was unable to attend on the first day due to prior arrangements.
The second day of the event kicked off with a talk given by the eminent Dr Jean Dodds (via video feed from the States) 'What you thought you knew about vaccines', followed by a talk given by Caroline Ingraham 'Self selection and plant therapeutics'. The afternoon saw talks by Dr Nick Thompson 'Psychoneuroimmunology - Big Scary Word, Simple Concept' and Dr Karen Becker 'Keeping pets healthy in a toxic world'.
Whilst all of the talks were very interesting, the most inspiring was that given by Caroline Ingraham who is the founder of Applied Zoopharmacognosy. Zoopharmacognosy is the study of how animals self-medicate by foraging for medicinal compounds to prevent or cure illness. Following on from this talk Penny and her business partner who also attended the conference have both booked to attend a course themselves to learn more about the subject and how to use it on their own dogs.

Team Work

This year Gary decided that it was time Coco joined him and Winnie on the shoot. Gary is thrilled how quickly Coco has adapted to working in the field and delighted at what a good team mother and daughter have made.

Coco

...And finally, we round off the day with a well deserved bag of scratchings in the local :-)

GWPC Open Show

The GWPC Open show was held in September our judge being breed specialist Janet Kirkwood. We entered Winnie, Coco and Crumble in the show but took Bronte along with us for the day out. We had a lovely day with Coco and Crumble both winning their classes and Winnie taking a credible third in good company.

HWVA Gundog Working Test

Early September saw the last of our working tests for 2015 and Team Klancraig were there in force. It was a fab day as always and we were delighted that two of our 'team members' were in the cards - Ian and Louie winning 4th place in Novice and Gail and Isla winning 3rd place in Novice Dog/Novice Handler.

Germanus Golden Delicious (For Klancraig) - Crumble

Last weekend saw the arrival of the newest addition to the Klancraig household, Crumble who has been bred by our friends Mandy and Robert Geary.
Crumble's mum is the lovely Truble who is half sister to our own Coco and Truble's mum Gretchen is grandma to Flash. Crumble's sire is the very handsome Jukon II vom Liether-Moor.
We are delighted that Crumble has come here to live with us and look forward to showing her and training her for the field.

Our website will shortly be updated with pictures and Crumble's full pedigree.

Bronte's litter are 8 years old today...

Bronte would like to wish her babies a happy 8th birthday, just where have the years gone!?!

Kizzy

Bryony

Dilise

Jake

Lottie

Lucce

Hebe

Milo

Fennel

Chunky

Indie

Murphy

Double Trouble

Winnie and Flash - team work...

Blowing the Cobwebs Away.

On a clear, crisp spring afternoon there is nothing better than a walk with the dogs...

Hunting Training Day on Partridge

Following on from the lecture yesterday, today I took Winnie and Coco on a Hunting Training Day being run by Chris and Peter Guest (Bardantop) on super ground just outside of Evesham, hunting partridge. Gary was unable to attend as he was off doing 'boys stuff' in Spain.
The weather started off clear and fresh but by early afternoon the dreaded weather front had set in and the day was cut short as dogs and handlers were cold and wet through.
A thoroughly enjoyable day. No points as the birds were wily after surviving the shooting season but I had two smashing runs with Coco (face wind and back wind) and a not so successful run of a cheek wind with Winnie who of course has had a season working shoots with Gary and was not so pleased with the change of handler.
Great to watch all the dogs that were training - there is a lot to be said for watching other dogs working and thrilled that Ian and Jayne brought Louie along, together with Gail with Isla.