There have been several dogs in our life. We remember each one of them and we love each one of them till today. I shall list my dogs with breed names which were used then: Moscow Toy terrier Lipsi, East-European Shepard Sarri and Killu, whose mother was a famous gundog of Russian Spaniel breed but whose father remained a secret lover from neighborhood. I got Killu from the owner when designing and supervising the renovation works of Matsalu manor house, the centre of the biggest Estonian National Park. When she died at 17 years old we buried her in our garden in spring 2000. We still cherish the memory of her. But our home suddenly being so empty we start looking for a new Russian Spaniel. Estonian Kennel Union office worker told us unfortunately Russian Spaniel breed was not present in FCI nomenclature list. We spent some weekends visiting all addresses published in Estonian newspaper announcements: Puppies for sale. We came home without a puppy but we knew clearly what kind of dog we needed. We wanted to have a dog neither too big nor too small, with clear eyes and the coat pleasant to touch and stroke. We know exactly that we should be able to take care of the silky coat of our dog by ourselves.

We found our dog from Internet. When searching for Spaniel we found a lot of good home-pages. Marjo Jaakola is probably the best known Finnish breeder. It was at her kennel Benton home-page that we saw the pictures of the Welsh Springer Spaniel for the first time. It was the particular shade of red, typical of Welshie's coat that strokes us. Artists describe the color as "English red".

So we made our choice and started looking for a Welsh Springer Spaniel puppy. We could not find a puppy in the neighbourhood i.e. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and even in Russia. There were no puppies in suitable age for going to new homes in Finland. Norway seemed to be far away, so we searched for help in Swedish Springer Spaniel Club and finally found Monica, Dimmö and Bessie.

Bessie was the first Welsh Springer Spaniel ever sold to Estonia. Monica loves her dogs and we wanted to prove that trusting us she made a good choice. Our Bessie had to work really hard through numerous dog shows and trainings to obtain acknowledgement and titles. Bessie's Inter-Champion tile is now confirmed by FCI.

We mated Bessie and Boniton High Hopes "Toivo" in Finland in November 2003. Toivo is a really nice dog with excellent proportions and a beautiful coat, maybe just a little shy. It seemed that the mating failed. A day before Bessie's due date we had a long walk tracking a beaver in cold winter weather. It was a big surprise and a great joy when Bessie gave birth to a single puppy January, 29, 2004. The puppy got its name easily - we took it from our childhood favorite book. We think he is a Survivor with fighter's soul resembling the same hero surviving on a lonely island. Our Captain Grant has never been left alone. Further more, he is terribly spoilt but it is his nature that has always asked for love and you just cannot love him enough.



Cheddarhill's C litter - January 29, 2004

    EST&LV J CH; 3*SERT; CAS&CACIB Pskov (Russia) 2005 - Cheddarhill Captain Grant

Cheddarhill's B litter - November 25 - 5 males, 1 female

Sire FIN CH Benton Kings Cross "Pietu" - Dam EST&RUS&LV&INT CH, Nevsky Winner 2003 Dimmös Bessie Smith "Bessie"