DAMLEN KENNELS

Brief History

Here is an article that I wrote a few years ago that will give you a bit of background into how Damlen Kennels came about. I hope to update it shortly with the latest achievements of Damlen Kennels. For the current residents at Damlen see the bottom of this page.

"Jean asked me to do an article on how we got involved in Cardigan Corgis. I will try and give it a go:

It takes me back a long time. The first thing that comes to mind is the day when Bob came home after work. He had been doing construction work on a fenced-in vacant 5 acre lot in Kellyville. He came inside and said 'You never guess what I've got". I walked to the car and two big brown eyes stared up at me. She was a black cocker spaniel cross. It seemed as though she was either dumped there, or had wandered in on an earlier occasion and got herself accidentally locked up. Bob said that when he opened the car door she jumped in and he did not have the heart to leave her behind. She wore no collar - so no way of locating a possible owner. I really did not want a dog, but what could we do. We took her in and named her Blackie. She was not young, our vet at the time said he thought she was about 9 years old.

Blackie had an adventurous streak in her. As soon as the door was opened to anyone, she would take off and run for miles. When she got tired she would simply hop into some one's car. We were getting calls from all over the place to come and get our dog.

Blackie was also very possessive. When Tanya arrived in December 1967, and much of my time was taken up looking after the new arrival, her nose was really out of joint. Whenever I was nursing Tanya, Blackie would try to jump up on my lap. If successful, she would then try to slowly and surely push Tanya off my lap, thus wanting to get rid of the competition. Eventually she came to accept Tanya as a new member of the family.

In 1968 Blackie died at the vet's surgery during a simple operation. Her heart failed. She was then approx. 10 years old. We were devastated at losing our beloved Blackie. We did not want another dog, of course.

At that time, I was working weekends at the T.A.B. The top racing greyhound at the time was Sammy Sparrow. I thought I would take out a double with Sammy Sparrow and Space Picture. They won and I was $16.00 richer.

By then we were really feeling the gap Blackie left in our household and we decided to use the $16.00 to find ourselves a black cocker spaniel. We searched high and low, but without any luck at all.

One day Bob saw an advertisement in the local Advertiser "7 months old female corgi for sale - $17.00". I did not want a corgi, I wanted a cocker, but Bob talked me into ringing up and we made arrangements to see John Brooks that same day. He showed me his dogs and I could not believe my eyes. I said 'they are not corgis - what are they?' So John set about educating us about Cardigan Corgis and took us to see Brookbrae Sugar N Spice. She was a brindle with lovely large brown eyes and I was sold.

We bought her and took her home where she settled in as though she had lived there all her live. She became a very much loved member of the household and I am sure she understood every word I said to her. If I came home laden with shopping, she would always greet me at the front door. I would say 'Open the door Sugar", and she would push open the screen door far enough for me to get my foot into the door and fling it open.

John kept in contact. One day he told me that Sugar was a very good quality Cardigan and that I should show her. I let him talk me into it, and I will never forget the first time I went into the show ring. I could hardly walk, I was so nervous. My heart was pounding and I am sure my knees were knocking together. I seemed to be stumbling rather than walking. Shirley Holmes was the judge at this my first dog show. I had seen people displaying their dogs with a finger under the chin and the tail held out - so I thought I would give it a go. Shirley was horrified and she screeched 'Leave her tail alone'. I felt a complete idiot. In time though I learned to appear confident, but to this day I still suffer from nerves when it comes to the specialty shows.

Well Sugar was getting older and John said that it was time we should think about mating her. I had to get a kennel prefix. What a chore that turned out to be. Every good name I picked, I could not have. I was getting desperate. Bob was sick of hearing me groan. He was watching Hogans Heros on T.V. and said 'call it Hoganshero' and shut up. So I did, but never really liked that prefix. John Brooks suggested 'Isalmaen' (Welsh for Holland), but I was not happy with that either. Then one day when I was talking to Dorothy Levine about my dilemma, she asked me where I lived and what my nearest cross street was. And so Damlen was born - Dam for Damien Avenue where we lived and Len for Leonard Road, our nearest cross street.

Sugar had a few litters for me, but in those days it was not easy to breed a truly good Cardigan litter and I did not end up with anything truly spectacular. Sugar died at 12 years of age.

One day Jean Georgiou showed me a photo of a blue merle puppy - 6 weeks old. He was absolutely gorgeous and I had to have him. Rhossili True Blue was his name. Blue was the love of my life. He was a joy to show, that was until he spotted his tri brother Domino, and it would be on for young and old. They hated one another from the day they parted company. Ella Butler owned Domino.

Blue did a lot of winning for me, always winning the best gaited sweepstakes and he once actually got 'Runner up Best in Group', beating 240 dogs. Quite an achievement in those days for a Blue Merle.

We imported a dog from Maureen Thomas 'Ringinglow Sailor King'. Blue set about educating Sailor how to have a good dog fight and I spent much of my time worrying as to how to keep them apart. Blue died a few years ago at the age of 14. Sailor carried on hating other 'he dogs' in good 'Blue' tradition and I am now worrying about keeping Sailor away from my other dogs so he won't teach them his tricks. In this I was successful. Sailor turned 13 on 21st February and is still a very fit dog.

I often think about the years gone by. Apart from the dogs mentioned above, some other special dogs are or were: Blue Prince (Prinnie), Blue's son; Blue Spark (Sparks), Blue's granddaughter; Drifter, Rocking Rod (Roddie), Lucky Last (Tommy) Sailor's sons; Buzz (Sailor's grandson); Lollypop, Lisa, Mandy, Hot Legs and Gwynnie (Sailors daughters); Anne Laurie, Toots, Straws, Kate, Carrie, Magic and Beauty (Sailor's granddaughters). Then there were Mara and Maggie May (Shandy's and Titches granddaughters). Also fondly remembered are Twinbelle Dark Angel (Angie) and Llandwyn Lucky Venture (Shandy).

I've bred many litters over the years, and there are not too many places in Australia where I have not sent a dog. The last litter (5 puppies) went to: Alice Springs, Cardiff, Temora, Saratoga and the last one (Fortune Cookie) is leaving for Tokyo on Monday 28th February.

Cardigans presently residing at "Damlen" are:
(see end of article for current residence at "Damlen")
Ringinglow Sailor King, Cwrt Y Ci Strawberry Road, Damlen Samson, Cwrt Y Ci Dreamsong, Cwrt Y Ci Bens Gold, Damlen Gwyneth Tegwen, Damlen Rocking Magic, and Damlen Hot Strawberry.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the friends I have made over the years in which I have been involved in Cardigan Corgis. Their help, advice and constructive criticisms have been of enormous help to me to get to where I am today. THANK YOU ALL!

Maaike Spinks
DAMLEN

24th February 1994"

Cardigans presently residing at "Damlen" are: