Surfstone History
The journey of my passion for showing dogs from beginning to present day!

Our very first family dog was a Yellow Labrador called "Cindy" who unfortunately was a little too boisterous around toddlers ie: my sister Wendy and myself, so went to live with my Granny.

A passion for Boxers has always run in our family.  Pictured with my Father and Auntie Mandy is my Granny's red bitch Crumpet, one of the many bitches they had as children. During the 1950/60's my Granny used to take on ex-breeding/show bitches from a well established Show Kennel and give them a loving family home till the end of their days.  Unfortunately, I have no way of tracing who the breeder was as I only found out this information after she passed away.

As, I got older my parents were involved with breeding and exhibiting GSDs, these proved a little too big and strong for a 5 year old!  My parents then purchased a Miniature Poodle and a few years later a couple of Tibetan Spaniels for my sister and I to compete in Junior Handling as youngsters, none of which we were able to show for one reason or another.  My Parents then purchased a red and white Boxer bitch by Alldane Golden Topper of Trywell called Ginger Crunch of Glocken which we named Cindy.  I handled her in Junior Handling Classes, and we had a successful partnership qualifying for the Richmond JHA finals on many occasions. 

However, one day when I returned home from school I found Cindy had been taken to the vets as she had an accident earlier in the day and damaged her back, the Vets gave her ZERO chance of recovery and said she would never walk again.  My mum decided otherwise, so we brought her home & with plenty of TLC and that Boxer determination we managed to nurse her back to health. Unfortunately, though her top line did not return to normal and her back was left roached, so Cindy was re-homed into a quiet pet home.  I was devastated, even more so when I was told I could not have another Boxer! I think my parents shock of going from having German Shepherds to something as boisterous and destructive as Cindy made them say No More! So my mum offered me pick of litter from her next litter of German Shepherds ....... now I was a bit bigger and older & able to train & handle the dog from a puppy I could cope with this ...... so I was happy to compromise. This time!

Teddy, (Glockens Desperado) and I had a fabulous time in and out of the show ring.  We were very successful in Junior Handling and held our own against the adult handlers in the Breed Classes.



One of my favourite memories was traveling to Richmond Champ show with my dad for the JHA semi finals, we went down the day before and slept overnight in the back of the van. Teddy and I curled up in the back whilst listening to my dad snoring in the front seat ...... Let's just say I didn't get much sleep!!  I was very nervous as Teddy was a very hard dog to show, he had a tendency to become spooked at the worst possible times, however, he was fine and we made the cut to the final 8 in a class of 30 Junior handlers under Felix Cosme.

Our career was brought to an abrupt end when my parents divorced and we had to move from our small holding to a council house and we could only have 2 dogs.  So Teddy went to live with a friends mum and I went off to do teenage things.

A few years later my mum began to show a Samoyed and Japanese Spitz, I went along with her to a couple of shows and before I knew it ...... I had the bug again!  By this time I had my own house and I could finally have the dog I had always wanted, a Boxer and with the help of Mandy Laidlaw (Roamaro) steering me in the right direction of Val & Peter Stinton I purchased Surfstone Hot Property (Oscar) who eventually became my first Champion. 

CH SURFSTONE HOT PROPERTY JW (Oscar)

After spending most of my life studying GSD pedigrees and general dog construction I knew what I wanted in a Boxer, so I set out to find a bitch that would be compatible with Oscar's lines.  So I contacted Mandy, Val and Peter Stinton and I was lucky enough to get a puppy bitch out of Surfstone Private Passion by Roamaro Beau Jolias (Beau Jolias being the dog that had inspired me to breed along these bloodlines).  This bitch was Elite Amber of Belvurn known as Chelsea.

ELITE AMBER OF BELVURN (Chelsea)
(This is the only photo I have of Chelsea in stance and she is actually 5 weeks in whelp to Bucksteps Back to Basics at Daltamie who I mated her to for her first litter)

For Chelsea's second litter I mated her to Oscar and from this litter came Jamie aka Belvurn Too Hot 'T' Handle who later became an Australian Grand Champion under the guidance of Janet and Daryl Halliday. Janet Halliday had originally written to Val and Peter Stinton expressing her interest in their breeding and originally wanted Oscar or to have something by him, Val passed the letter to me so I could reply and advised Janet that Val no longer bred and that Oscar belonged to me. Janet and I struck up a close overseas friendship and she said she would wait till the right dog came along.  Janet had asked on several occasions about having Jamie and at 16 months old he flew to Australia - the excitement of having a dog go to Australia had clouded how I was going to feel when he left. From the minute he climbed into the box at Manchester Airport I just sobbed my heart out - when reality hit I didn't want him to go but it was too late.  I cried every night for weeks on end.  However, Jamie's phenomenal show carrier in Australia made up for my loss.   


AUST GRAND CH BELVURN TOO HOT 'T' HANDLE (Jamie)

Next I later mated Oscar to Belvurn So Elite, who was a plain bitch I had sold on terms from Chelsea's first litter by Margaret Brunton's dog Bucksteps Back to Basics at Daltamie.  From that litter I chose Murphy as my pick of litter, know in the ring as Belvern Demetrius and from day one he had a superb show career. Unfortunately, in 2004 due to having too many males and encountering dominance issues, I had to make a very hard decision to let Murphy go. Julie Brown from Winuwuk expressed interest in him and Murphy went to reside at the Winuwuk Kennels in partnership.  Murphy had at this point already gained 2CCs, and once handled by Julie, Murphy quickly gained his title, obtaining all 3 of his CCs with BOB.  Unfortunately, Murphy was to closely bred to the bitches I had at the time so I never had the pleasure of using him on my own bitches.  I later gave Murphy to Marion, Julie & Tim so he then became solely owed by the Winuwuk Kennels.


CH BELVERN DEMETRIUS (Murphy)    

Then, in 1998 I bought back a bitch called Belvurn Midnight Star over Daltamie who was in need of a home who had originally been sold to Margaret Brunton hence the Daltamie affix.  Jodie was from Chelsea's first litter to Margaret's beautifully headed dog - Bucksteps Back to Basics at Daltamie, and was of course litter sister to Murphy's mum.  At the time my sister was looking for a dog to bring up with her children so I gave Jodie to her on the proviso she had a litter and I could have a puppy.  Jodie was mated to Oscar and what a disaster that was - Jodie had 3 pups 2 white with patches and a gorgeous dark brindle bitch built like a Great Dane with paint box markings and an unpigmented eye that resembled a fried egg!  Hence I had nothing to show.  Luckily my sister was happy to have another litter from Jodie, so a year later she came to stay with me to be mated to my red dog before he went to Australia.

BELVURN MIDNIGHT STAR OVER DALTAMIE (Jodie)

Fortunately for me, Oscar was having none of this and on the 7th day of her season he unbolted the kennel door & helped himself! It really is amazing how easy and quickly dogs mate when you don't want them too!  However, later I was so pleased he had done this as 9 weeks later Jodie produced a lovely litter of 5 puppies one of which was my darling Sky.  Sky was one in a million and everything I had been looking for in a bitch, she always gave her best in the show ring and never let me down even though she had to battle with irregular seasons and dreadful phantom pregnancies.   


CH / IR CH BELVERN STORMY JW (Sky) 

Belvern Gone With The Wind - Rhett - ANOTHER EXPORT TO AUSTRALIA (how I got him):

In 2001 Rhett who was a rich, deer red dog was exported at 9 months old to Janet and Darryl, Rhett became an Australian Champion which was a real achievement for them due to him having a solid black mask.

Rhett goes back to my first home bred bitch, BELVURN HOT CHOCOLATE (Cookie) who was a plain dark brindle bitch called Belvurn Chocolate Chip (Cookie) by Oscar to my bitch Lecroftony Going Solo at Belvurn who was a CH Edge of Darkness daughter.  I had fallen in love with Brenda Graham's Valabeau Tinderbox as a puppy so when it was time to mate Cookie I already knew who I wanted to use.  To my amazement in her litter of 8 were 2 flashy reds ..... a dog and a bitch (as both parents were brindle and being a bit of a novice at the time). My very good friend Joanne Garside and I had made a joking agreement that if Cookie was having a red dog her name was on it, so Joanne had the dog Belvurn Red Baron (Charlie) and I kept Belvurn Scarlet O'Hara (Kelsea).  


BELVURN HOT CHOCOLATE (Cookie)


BELVURN SCARLET O'HARA (Kelsea)

I decided to mate Kelsea to Seafoam Wayfarer of Seefeld to try and establish a red line as I had been lucky enough to get red puppies. However, from a litter point of view it was a bit of a disaster, I very stressfully delivered 8 puppies, 1 plain red dog, 1 flashy bitch and 6 whites which weighted in at 1.6lbs.  I took Kelsea to the vets to be checked and only came home with the 2 coloured pups. 3 days later Kelsea was in the vets on a drip, fighting for her life, she was bleeding internally due to the strain of passing such big white puppies and had to be spayed ... I was devastated.  Unfortunately, the bitch from the litter was not good enough for showing so went to a fabulous pet home and was put to sleep at 18 months with CM, the puppy dog from the litter later became Aust Ch Belvern Gone With The Wind and passed away at 4 years old.  So that was the end of my chance of breeding reds down from Hot property as he was capable of producing reds but never was mated to a red bitch, however, I also see it at fate and a lucky escape.

 
AUST CHAMPION BELVERN GONE WITH THE WIND (Rhett)

NEXT CAME 2 IMPORTS

Unfortunately, not being able to use Jamie before he flew to Australia, left me unable to do the Grandfather x Granddaughter mating that I had always wanted to do with Oscar; this meant I had to import one of Jamie's daughters from Australia. Janet kindly ran on two bitches and I flew out to Australia to pick which one I wanted and it just so happened it was the one that Janet thought I would like and the one she would have sent to the UK had I not been able to go to Australia.  She was Boxberry Star Struck at Belvern (Aqua) and won very well in Australia.  However, due to an incident on the plane Aqua never regained her confidence so was never able compete here in the UK - I was devastated.  Aqua's talent then turned to the whelping box, although not as a mother as this was not her forte but in what she produced.  As planned for years I did my grand-daughter mating to Oscar and Aqua literally popped out 10 outstanding puppies.  Two of these became CH / IR CH Belvern Premenition and Belvern Bellisima (3 RCCS) 

This mating was what I had been working towards from the day I bought ?Chelsea?,  and it is through this mating that the Belvern Kennel gained the honor of becoming BQ Top Breeder in 2004, 2006 & 2007.

BOXBERRY STAR STRUCK AT BELVERN (Aqua)

As well as Aqua, Janet had promised to send me another puppy in agreement for me sending her Jamie.  So I asked Janet to look for a puppy dog by Jamie.  A few weeks before going to Australia, Janet bought a puppy dog from Joyce and Peter Wakefield (Kirkgate) and if I liked him, he would be destined for the UK.  I absolutely loved him and couldn't wait to get him home, however, Chip started to win well in Australia so Janet and Darryl asked if he could stay there until he got his title, so I happily agreed.  It took a little while to gain his title as he had to compete against his sire Jamie to gain top honors.  Chip actually won 10 out of his 13 RCCS behind Jamie.  Chip was then exported to me as a gift from Janet and Darryl in March 2003 at the age of 21 months.

Even though Chip was lightly shown he went on to gain his English and Irish titles making him the first Boxer import to the UK to carry 3 titles.  


CH / IR / AUST CH KIRKGATE STAND BY ME AT BELVERN (Chip)

From Aqua's first litter came Spencer.  From the moment I delivered him I knew the expense and the length of time I had waited to mate Oscar to Aqua was definitely worth while. This had been my goal from the day I bought Oscar - to mate him to his granddaughter and Aqua was and remains the only granddaughter Oscar ever mated. 

Spencer had a fabulous show career from the onset being only 2 points off a triple Junior Warrant at 18 months old.  He was a very exciting dog to show but also hard work.  My most memorable moment showing Spencer was gaining the CC & BOB at Leeds Champ Show in 2006 and the breed judge Frank Kane telling me not to mess about and get straight to the BIS ring as the Working Group had already been called. It had been a long, hot day, however, Spencer continued to give his all and won the Working Group and it was indeed a dream to be representing the Breed in the main ring for BIS.  Spencer was Top Male Boxer in 2006.


CH / IR CH BELVERN PREMENITION JW (Spencer)

You may note the spelling of Premenition is incorrect - (Premonition).  However, this is his correct registered name with the KC, due to me spelling it incorrectly on the Litter Registration Form.  Even though Spencer's availability at Stud was for a limited period, I am thrilled he has produced 3 UK Champions: CH Jeddhi Yankee Pasha, CH Stanryk Dream Ryder ShCM and CH / Ir CH Galicar Indecision, one overseas Champion Aust CH Galicar Contradiction and Belvern Bright Sky who picked up a RCC during her short show career as a puppy.

Finally at 4 years old, Sky Ch / Ir Ch Belvern Stormy Sky JW was mated to Ch / Ir Ch Belvern Premenition JW and together they produced an outstanding litter.  Belvern Bright Sky (Charlie) gained a RCC under Julie Cook in puppy with many Best Puppy awards and her brother Belvern Storm Lord (Paddie) who is proudly owned by Dorothy and Andy Dunlevie to date has a Green Star, 2 Res Green Stars, his Show Certificate of Merit (ShCM) and his stud book number.


BELVERN BRIGHT SKY (Charlie)
Charlie now lives with her Uncle Zeus (Premenition's brother) and Janus the Golden Retriever


BELVERN STORM LORD ShCM (Paddy)  HT:1
Doing what he does best - Relaxing at home North of the Border!!