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We bought our first Westie Heidi (Tansy Bell of Abadair) as a pet in 1997 little realising how this little bundle of fun would change our lives. We were a little concerned how our 8 month old Black Labrador Holly would take to this little furry bundle but we needn’t have worried because she took her under her wing immediately and they became devoted friends until Holly died in August 2006.
Dog showing had never entered our heads when we first acquired Heidi and we just enjoyed the company of our two dogs who were spoilt rotten, we did however take them to a Companion Show in a nearby village but just before we went into the ring the heavens opened and in the rush to cover Heidi our son spilt his tea on her, needless to say we were thrown out and that was the end of that, how little did we know !
We mated Heidi in 1999 with Poolmist Padouk of Lochlae when she was 2 1/2 and had a lovely litter of two dogs and two bitches. Deciding we would like to show a puppy bitch we asked the owner of the Sire who we should keep and were duly advised to keep Cola, however as we had become attached to both bitches we kept them and showed Cola and Misty at the age of 8 months.
We entered our first Open Show with Misty (Abadair Chantilly Silver Lady) and Cola (Abadair Crystal Ice Princess) at Flint under Barbara Hands, but being complete novices and having no experience of grooming or brushing up were rightly admonished for lack of show training and presentation.
Having realised we would have to learn how to strip the dogs ourselves and no one to show us, out came all the available books and page by page each area was identified and hair stripped out to what we thought was correct. Several shows later with some limited success we happened to set up next to Mich Dale who having looked at our dogs advised us where we were going wrong. Her advice then and from that time has been invaluable to our successes to date. It was at Poynton Show in 2003 that Cola took B.O.B and B.A.V. Terrier that the showing bug really started to bite and she has had several significant successes since, including Group Placements and Best in Shows.
We mated Cola to Ashgate Leny in 2003 and after a difficult birth the only survivor of the litter Abby (Abadair A Touch of Magic) was hand fed up to weaning. At six months and two weeks old she won Minor Puppy Bitch at the LKA with Mich Dale handling as we had never shown at a Championship Show before. Abby has enjoyed several Best Puppy, Best of Breeds and Group successes since.
We mated Cola again in 2004 and again the only survivor of the litter Benjamin (Abadair Midsummer Magic) was duly hand fed but unfortunately proved not suitable for showing, but as we loved him to bits we kept him anyway.
Heidi now 71/2 meanwhile was getting bored with never being taken out when the other dogs were going to shows so we decided to take her to a companion show in Wales and against 95 other dogs most of which were regular show competitors she took Reserve Best in Show and so started her show career. We have since entered her as a Veteran and she took Best Veteran in Show at Coalville and Nantwich Canine Society Open Shows at the age of 9, she then entered her first championship show and much to our delight qualified for Crufts.
In 2006 Abby was mated to Ch. Barwest Bee-Having and having hoped for a bitch to continue our line were presented with three lovely puppy dogs one of which we hope to keep as our promise for the future.
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