My Own Bryany Collies (1973 onwards) The Fox Terrier died in the winter of 1972 aged 12 and in Feb 1973 I found myself on the way to Robin Hoods Bay near Whitby, North Yorkshire to purchase a 15 month old S/W Collie bitch which was to be the present for my 21st. Sherry was a finely made but quality bitch who would not have looked out of place even in today’s showring but she appeared extremely nervous - She was called Fourjoys Golden Cresta and was bred by people called Harland who were quite successful breeders. I bought her for £35 from Annie Caygill a renowned breeder of blue merle collies and shelties.. At that time I could have bought an eight week old Rough collie puppy in Scotland for about £12 but I wanted something with more show potential. I got home at 4.00am next morning arose at 7.00am and took her out. Tragedy - she slipped the lead she came with and bolted. I ran as fast as I could but she had disappeared and despite ads in the paper with offers of a reward and searching all over the town for a week I finally found her - dead under a sack at Greenock police station! She had been run over. Obviously I was devastated. You never really get over anything like that and since then I am very particular about the type of lead I use on a collie. I was then persuaded to accept a Bullmastiff instead and went on to have quite a bit of success with this breed - breeding 6 champions becoming top breeder one year and having top brood bitch and top equal Bullmastiff but that is another story. When Annie Caygill heard what had happened she very kindly gave me a blue merle bitch, free of charge, which was to be the first collie to carry my Bryany Affix - so I now had both a Collie and a Bullmastiff. The Collie was Bluevenus of Bryany (Mandy) bred by Annie. Mandy had some moderate show success and became my constant companion. She was quite the opposite of Sherry. Steady temperament and behaved like a trooper in the showring. She was three years old when I got her but was not strong health wise and never came into season. Nothing specifically wrong with her but after three years ownership I lost her to kidney failure. I could not fault Annie Caygill as she was very fair with me.
Bluevenus of Bryany - Mandy (Crosstalk Emperor X Crosstalk Silver Queen) 1970-1976
Piphoney Calypso Coffee (Elsa) 1975-1988 I bought a four month old sable and white bitch from Peter and Jill Norton of County Durham back in 1975. This was Elsa - Piphoney Calypso Coffee Sired by Ch Sandiacre Softly Softly out of Piphoney Fairy Tale. She won me my first ever Crufts red card in 1978, braving a nationwide tanker drivers strike as well as a Scottish snowplough drivers strike on the way home, in the midst of an A74 snowstorm. No M74 then. Elsa did quite a lot of winning for me at both Open Shows and Ch Shows and soon gained her stud book number. We bred Elsa and kept a sable and white bitch Bryany Golden Flash (Lucy).
Bryany Golden Flash (Lucy) at 12 years of age (Piphoney Pure ChanceX Piphoney Calypso Coffee) 1980 -1994 Lucy was one of my all time favourite dogs. She did a fair amount of winning but nothing spectacular. She became my constant companion and lived with me in the house along with her dam. She was strong and fearless but never came into season so I was unable to get anything from her. She lived until she was almost 14 and still looked like the above photo. She was well up to size yet feminine and without any coarseness.
Photo Matchless of Bryany (pictured at 7 months) 1987-1993 Matchless of Bryany was bought from Harry Mclaren as a small puppy and was my pick of litter - of which I was given first choice. Her sire was Leepark Springdamus of Narragansette, a Res CC winning dog I had much admired and her dam was Lanteague Magical Kiss of Narragansette. She looked very promising to me but had no temperament for the show-ring. Sadly I lost her at just five years of age to a severe epileptic coma, from which she did not recover. I was judging most of the Breeds in the Working Group, including the Rough Collies, at one of the Big Cheshire County Agricultural Shows, though not the actual Group itself. This was a two day benched Open Dog Show. My BOB Rough Collie was Ingledene First Love - before she had her title - and she would certainly have been my choice for Group Winner. The Working Group and BIS were to be judged by Ferelith Somerfield and she gave First Love not only Best Working Group but also BIS, over the two days. I was very taken by this Collie so booked a puppy which turned out to be Sarah (below). She was born just after I had lost Lucy which worked in very well. She was very slow to mature and could not be shown as a puppy but eventually matured into a quality collie and was shown and winning cards up until she retired from the ring at the age of eight.
Ingledene Maid of Love for Bryany (Sarah) Ch Lanteague Harvest Moon at Silvermoor X Ch Ingledene First Love 1994-2006.
Ch Wannabe Ria’ly Loved at Ingledene (Livvy) 1993- 2000 I saw Livvy as a five month old puppy when I came down to Ingledene to pick Sarah and was struck by her impressive head properties. She had been whelped and reared by Rene Couzens but as her dam was owned in partnership with John and Valerie, technically speaking, she was jointly bred so could not carry an affix as a prefix. John and Valerie had chosen Livvy to keep and Rene had chosen her litter Brother: Wannabe Ria’ly Famous at Bhylsacre - who also gained his title. I worked on Valerie and eventually managed to persuade her to let me have Livvy. I was convinced that Livvy was by far the best collie I had ever had. Disappointingly, I took her around numerous Scottish Open shows as a puppy and a Junior and was repeatedly knocked until one day a sheltie judge who had also previously owned collies was judging collies at an all Breeds Open Show at Ayr and gave her BOB. A further BOB from yet another sheltie Judge followed at another all breeds open show, this time at St Andrews, where she went on to win RBIS under the BIS Judge. Her Career had taken off but as usual it was not all plain sailing. However, I prevailed and she gained her title in 1996 and was to be my one and only Collie Champion. I was privileged to have owned her and was delighted to campaign her to her title. Over the years my kennel built up in numbers and at one time I had 11 dogs.
Narragansette Nadine of Bryany (Lisa) Lisa was bred by the late Harry McLaren Though a little younger than Sarah she matured more quickly so I had a young puppy that did quite well around the Scottish Shows and she also won a first in a well filled class at East of England Ch Show from the late Hugh Jones. Unfortunately her show career was to be eclipsed by Livvy who I knew had more potential and deserved all of my efforts to campaign her to her title. Following her maternal duties Lisa became our resident house collie. Lisa was mated to Sheila Telford’s Glenbowdene Glint of Gold and produced a nice litter of S/W puppies from which we kept two - see below
Bryany Northern Star 1996- 2010
Bryany Fair Maid (Anna) centre 1996-2011 (with Bryany Northern star pushing in on the left). I was very pleased with the both of them but sadly despite no end of input at ringcraft they did not like the showring. I liked their body shape, their head properties, their bone, their coat and their movement but all to nought if they would not show. Both were healthy and long lived. I’d have to admit that Livvy still had the best head. The first two decades of the millenium In 2002 I bought in a promising young baby S/W bitch puppy from a well known kennel. She matured into a very attractive collie but unfortunately she developed prick ears so could not be shown. Though she came into season and was mated several times to well proven studs she failed to produce. She lived to the age of 11 years passing in 2013 Next life got in the way. My father died making it more difficult to attend shows. Then In 2012 I bought a six month old tri dog from another well known Kennel hoping to at least show him in Scotland. I thought no prick ears at this age but how wrong! He went prick eared too! So again no showing for what was to be a gap of 20 years. I had been awarding CC’s in collies since 1997, a year after making up my one and only Ch Collie so I continued Judging both collie and Bullmastiff Ch Shows at Home and abroad including Collies in Europe, Scandinavia and Roughs and Smooths in America as well as judging at Group level for open shows. However domestic and employment duties and responsibilities meant I was unable to continue to judge if that meant overnight stays and laterally to even judge at all I still had my tri dog and a Bullmastiff Bitch, so even after I had retired from work and my elderly parents had both passed on, there was no one to watch my dogs to allow me to go off judging any distance away and I would never willingly put my dogs into boarding kennels. Consequently I had to de facto retire from my judging career.
Crawford Taylor Tel 01821 650384
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