"Thanks to my experience with the
Guide -Dogs for the Blind Associaiton in the UK, I learnt
all about the golden-retriever, which is one of the breeds
they use. his motivated me to start breeding sound goldies.
With the growing success of this breed of "pet-dogs",
we are witnessing a degeneracy of the standard, both from
the point of view of looks and temperament, which is becoming
far too sensitive, so much so that French guide-dog training
schools are finding the selection of sound goldies as
future guide-dogs very difficult these days. They are
too sensitive to stand the stress of training.
Moreover, it has been increasingly
common to meet goldies showing even shyness, and sometimes
agressivenes towards their owners, which invariably leads
them to euthanasia.
So, if you are thinking of acquiring
a golden-retriever, for heavens'sake, go to a responsible
breeder, not to a "private" breeder, or to a pet-shop,
where puppies are sold very expensively without pedigrees,
and whose origin is doubtful, (usually they come from
Eastern European puppy-farmers). Most of those puppies
have very poor chances of survival as well.
I acquired my first brood-bitch, Alice,
thanks to Derek Freeman, founder of the breeding-scheme
of the GDBA, who employed me for three years. Alice was
a daughter of SH CH Westley Munro of Nortonwood, owned
by Ron and Madge Bradbury. They were good friends of Derek's,
and he used the Nortonwood lines to start his breeding
scheme. Derek taught me all I know about breeding, not
about the lines, but about canine reproduction.He had
a worldwide reputation nad was respected by evryone connected
with dogs.
After a few years' breeding, during
which Alice won several CACIBs, and produced four lovely
litters (sired by Flamboise Banjo, mu stud-dog then, and
CH IB Oliver Twist of Glen Sheallag), I returned to the
UK, to start again with Hazel Hink's line (Styal). Styal
Sheer Silk of Argosland had two superb litters. From the
first one, Argosland Lily of the Valley (Lily) and Argosland
Lavender (Molly) were respectively first and second of
the Minor Puppy class at their first show, before they
left England for France . Since then, they have collected
several CACIBs and BOBs, both in France and abroad. They
threw some lovely puppies, again thanks to Hazel's judicious
advice. They are above all very sound, both genetically
and psychologically, and they are crazy about retrieving
game.
Their sire, Gershwin de la Lande d'
Argos,is so sound he hardly suffered from the awful conditions
of 6 months' quarantine.
His son, Never Say Never Again de la
Lande d'Argos (Nelson), also has a wonderful temperament
and started winning early like his dad , with a BOB at
12 months! Nelson's brother (Now or Never dit Nougat)
has had great success in Scandinava. Thanks to Madde Runberg
for campaigning him so well!
In 1998, Remington Real McCoy joined
us at the age of 4, to our geat satisfaction. He got his
first CACIB a month after he arrived, and obtained a title
of Champion of Monaco in 2001. He also throws his lovely
temperament and looks.Thanks to Penny Gowland and Paul
Gibbons for this wonderful boy.
His son and daughter Rhyme or Reason(
Kalle) and Ring of Bright Water (Miranda) have both got
their 1st CAC at 18 months.
In Ocober 2002, I was thrilled to
welcome Remington Ringmaster (Toby), a superb extraverted
dog who loves to kiss humans! Thank you again, Penny,
for trusting me with this top-quality puppy.
As for the other girls, Hazel advised
me again to acquire them: Hollygold Sapphire (Saphir)
and Styal Serradilla (Sherry) were introducing new lines
into her pedigrees. Sapphire in particular has been very
popular with judges.
Of course, everyone lives in the house
with me, as goldies hate being kennelled up. Even if they
are genetically sound, they definitely need a home environment
to be happy.
Another particularity of Argosland
Goldies is they are closely monitored at least throughout
the first 12 months, to make sure they become sound adults.
On the whole, all their owners welcome the advice, and
benefit from my experience with guide-dogs.Every month,
I suggest they send me a behaviour report,originally designed
for puppy-walkers, so I can give them the appropiate advice
to solve potential problems.
As for gun-dog training, my goldies
love feeling useful and pleasing their owner. Silk and
Gershwin started working late, when they arrived from
England. They were made up as International Champions
in 2001, Silk when she was 8, and Gershwin just a few
days before his tenth birthday!"
Laurence
des Courtis
