Picture: Dionne & Allen flanking "Sledge" and "Felecia" with their veteran sashes awarded by the North Island Saint Bernard Association for reaching the grand age of 7 years

                                           "WELCOME TO OUR WORLD!"

Milkwood Kennels is on the outskirts of Carterton, Wairarapa, about an hour's drive northeast from Wellington, New Zealand's capital city.

We have had Cocker Spaniels since 1990 and the love of the breed has endured since. NZ cocker breeders are notorious at keeping their lines very much to themselves, but I have been very fortunate that some of those breeders have chosen to share their lines with me, and enable me to incorporate their hard-earned quality into my lines...either for their dogs to come here for a while to be shown, or on a permanent basis.

Firstly, Harry Wientjens "Brabant"; Toni Williams "Rosston"; Diana Adam "Rigaya" and lately Sharan Byrne "Ashard"...to these breeders I owe a debt that can never be repaid.

We have also had Saint Bernards since 1995 beginning with Rangitumau Rayn Dance "Portia" then her younger brother "Sledge" - Rangitumau Instant Kiwi.In keeping with the Cache Retreat lines we imported a 2yo bitch "Felecia - NZCH Stiniyasu I Can Bop" from Matina Butcher for our boy and we raised two litters of which we kept the only surviving puppy from the first "Roman" and from the next litter a bitch "Phoebe" NZCH Milkwood The Phantom Chance" whom we were very proud to title along with her mother. We then added "Logan" from June Lawson's Rangitumau kennels "NZCH Rangitumau Logan's Run" which was gotten from frozen semen from Opdyke's Mr Mitchell. We will continue to line breed to the American lines from time to time.

We rejuvenated our interest in showing cocker spaniels when we were given a pup from Harry Wientjen's Brabant kennels "Audi" who became CH Eldon of Brabant.We had bred a litter in 1992 from our first bitch Shannondown Libity Bell (Mini) but circumstances stopped the pup we kept - High Flyer of Minivale "Diamond" from being shown past his junior year. Audi did us proud winning age groups throughout his career culminating in Best of Breed in the 2000 Nationals under esteemed international judge Mrs Paula Heikkinen-Lehkonen (Finland).

We then imported a bitch puppy from Barbara Killworth's Cabal kennels "Effee" who has been an integral part of our breeding. She returned to the ring after having her first litter and became NZ.CH. Cabal On The Boardwalk(Imp Aust), Barbara's last homebred cocker champion.

Since then we have been showing their progeny and now the next phase begins. We were proud to title litter brothers NZCH Milkwood Gee Aye Blues and NZCH Milkwood Isaac Haze both of whom have been Group and In-Show winners.
We have added Rosston Blueberry Tart "Tess" from Toni Williams' kennel, and she produced our  star "Becca" CH.Milkwood Gee Ayel B Blue. Becca produced a litter to the stunning black & white cocker Rigaya Annettes Bequest bred & owned by good friend Diana Adam. Two of these puppies became specialty Puppy in Show winners.

Having admired Sharan Byrne's solid golden and black cockers for years, we were very pleased when she entrusted one of her precious pups to us named "Hadlee". Now also known as Ch. Ashard Highly Addictive, he was followed by a gold bitch Ch Ashard Maid to Thrill "Miss Moneypenny". Both are multi group winners, with Miss MP adding a BEST IN SHOW and JUNIOR IN SHOW  at the East Coast Ladies Kennel Assn at 13 months, and now a JUNIOR IN SHOW at a gundog specialty.

Since 1998 we have either bred or shown to their titles, five Saint Bernards (three homebred) and thirteen Cockers Spaniels (four homebred) a record we are justly proud of, as the competition in both rings has come from strong lines of well-known breeders, judges and exhibitors. We have titled both the parti- and solid cockers. We look forward to adding to that record in the future.

UPDATE: Milkwood Pali'ser Perchance "Syrah" (Saint Bernard) gained her Championship title at 14 months for her owner June Lawson on 22 April 2007.Following in her sister's pawprints, "Sophie" became a Champion herself on 3rd June 2007,  now Ch Milkwood Bonnie's Chance. She can now go and dig as many holes as she likes! Their litter sister Milkwood Kwite By Chance has now produced three girls to NZCH Bernegarden's Joker Adamson (Imp Swe). We are very happy with the quality of these babies, so we will see what the future brings with them...

***NEWSFLASH!!*** Milkwood Kool Konceptn goes BABY PUPPY IN GROUP at the National Dog Show 2008 under group judge Paul Stanton (Sweden) the same weekend Milkwood Kool Knection (Imp NZ) goes Baby Puppy of Breed at the PERTH ROYAL for her owners Rick & Sue Hall!!!

Further Update: In October 2006 we were approached by Grace Woodward, a lifelong cocker enthusiast, breeder and exhibitor in NSW for the purchase of our Mo. Mo has been our best homebred performer to date, winning 4 Intermediate of Groups, 1 Reserve of Group and 2 Intermediate in Shows in a brief show career.It was with a heavy heart that we parted with him, knowing he would however get more opportunities to further his show and stud career with Grace. It was therefore with great pride we announce that Mo is now Aust Ch/NZ Ch Milkwood Isaac Haze, and has continued picking up multiple Best of Breeds and Group wins along the way - well done, Mo and Grace! We are proud to announce that Mo has been tested by GSS as CLEAR for both PRA-prcd AND FN !!

We have welcomed the arrival of our first black cocker, Barbet Making Whoopie from Grace's kennel, and Pepper has now achieved her NZ title with a Puppy in Show (Spaniel Specialty) and a Junior in Show (Gundog specialty) along the way and we know there are more fun times ahead...and later in 2008 NZCH Glenbriar Ozi Express (Imp Aust) joined the ranks from Sue McFadden's legendary kennels in Australia.  "Jag" is one of the few cockers in this country being shown with a tail, so although the bias against that fact by some judges is obvious, his quality is shining through and he has gained his NZ title within a few short months of his arrival.

Our cockers have been bred for brains as well as beauty. Some of our puppies have gone on to successfully graduate from obedience to agility; one we have heard has also gone pheasant hunting!

Our saints excel at being devoted companions, taking up surprisingly little room for such big dogs!

P.S. We changed our kennel name too from Minivale to Milkwood when we had our first Saint litter as we couldn't really see a Saint Bernard puppy being called Mini-anything!
"Milkwood" came from the Dylan Thomas play "Under Milk Wood" in which there are a couple of characters called Mr & Mrs Pugh. I've always been a fan of that Welsh poet.



 

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