Letter from Marion June 15th 2009

I was astonished to see a photograph of a Sealyham on the front cover of The Field (a magazine I have never before purchased).

 

I am a 44 year old woman who had Sealyhams as part of my early years.  I have a brother who is 16 years older than me, as a sickly child and the promise of a puppy he apparently produced a photograph of the dog he wanted - a Sealyham. One was sought and in the early 1950's a puppy was sent up on the milk train from London to Preston in Lancashire.  I cannot remember much about Snowball the 1st, other than the legendry stories of him being the best dog that ever lived when by older 3rd brother came along he used to sit under his pram  no strangers were allowed to approach whilst he was on duty!  I can only remember the sorrowful day when he had to be put to sleep.

 

Again I cannot remember the arrival of Snowball the 2nd, I do however remember him throughout my childhood, he really was a true and loyal friend, he wasn't my dog as such but he certainly looked after me.  When my brothers and I were fooling around / play fighting he was always first to my defence never aggressive but always barked at my brothers we were all gutted when he died when I was 15.

 

There was never any thought of any other breed of dog when it came to selecting the next candidate.  The problems discussed in the article however all came to fruition. In the first instance it was difficult to locate a breeder which we did eventually in Ashton in Makerfield.  We made our choice and Snowball the 3rd was soon part of the family, he was the most adorable puppy.  As he got older he showed some very worrying signs.  To cut a long story short he was too finely bred, he had 'brain storms'  he would chase his tail and become aggressive, he had snapped at my parents which they sort of forgave then one day out of the blue he turned on me and savagely attacked my hand.  My parents had no hesitation, especially as they had young grand children, they had him put down.

 

I have now been married 25 years and my second rescue dog passed away on Easter Monday of this year, a Yorkie, a dog I would never have chosen but again he was a superb dog as was his predecessor a terrier cross.

 

I have in the 27 years since Snowball the 3rd only ever seen Sealyhams about 3 times and each time I have had to approach the owners to coo over the dogs, I don't think you ever lose the affection for a breed of dog you have grown up with.

 

I am not interested in showing or breeding but would love to own a friendly companion again, I am not even bothered about a puppy, if you know of any available I would love to hear about them. 

 

(My parents recently moved into a dementia residential home and one of the prize possessions we installed in their room was a china Sealyham.   A very freaky thing the other day whilst visiting my parents in their home which is sited in a village North of Preston I was in an antique shop and found a little iron Sealyham which I bought and has now got pride of place on my fireplace!  This along with the magazine article perhaps fate is at work.)

 

Sorry for the ramblings I look forward to receiving any information you may be able to pass on.

 

Kind regards

 

Karen Robinson

Croston

Lancashire
 

Crossing Sealyhams......

Posted January 2009 Joe Kyrollos

Hi,

I've only recently come "into" terriers & countryside pursuits. One of the first & one of my favourite purchases were the two books (Hunt & Working Terriers, & The Sealyham Terrier) written by Jocelyn M. Lucas. It was through these that I first became aware of the Sealyham terrier & the (red) Fell Terrier. It was while reading them that I decided that I wanted to "hunt" my own pack of terriers, it was a toss up between either of the two types of terriers mentioned earlier.

My final decision, to hunt a pack of Sealyham types, called Sporting Lucas Terriers was brought about by my acquaintance with the iconoclastic, field sports, writer Brian Plummer. He convinced me that these types of terriers had been bred specifically to pack & so were a better prospect than attempting to run a pack of terriers (Red Fells) which were usually hunted singly. 

Thus with my mind made up Brian bred me my first Sporting Lucas Terrier bitch (Kara) & I've never looked back. I've in-bred to her & have been lucky to consistently produce a line of terriers which stand roughly at 10-11", with mostly white rough weatherproof coats, & good noses. Despite not showing faults I've always been aware that I must have an outcross to help improve my strain of terriers. This has been driven home to me by the fact that I've consistently bred more dogs than bitches. This I in my opinion was always a warning sign that my dogs were inbred before I received Kara.                                                                                                    

I thought carefully on what type of terrier that I was going to OC to & originally considered the Jack Russell Terrier. However obtaining a "good rough-coated un" was nigh impossible because of the variability of the type & as the owners couldn't guarantee the family history I abandoned the idea.

My next disastrous choice was a "Norfolk" & I purchased a stud dog from a reputable breeder. The dog's pedigree had most of the names recommended, to our club, by Col David Hancock. Unfortunately the dog turned out to suffer from bilateral cryptorchidism. When challenged, the breeder didn't want to know & so my plans to use him (or any Norfolk for that matter) as a future OC also had to be scrapped.

 I then turned my investigations to using either a working strain of Glen of Imaal, a Dandy Dinmont or a small (rough-coated) red fell. It was while investigating these possibilities that I stumbled across a pack of working Sealyham Terriers, as they passed the Plummer Terrier tent at the Midland Game Fair (2008). I was given a business card & got in contact with Harry Parsons the owner of the pack. I voiced my interest in either purchasing a pup or using one of his dogs over one of my own bitches. It was early in Dec 08 that I received a call from Harry inviting me to come down & if I wanted one I could pick a dog pup from one of his cross experiments (a Sealyham x JRT), both parents of whom Harry assured me were "workers". I accepted & we arranged for me to come down early in Jan 2009.

Although the journey down & up, for me & my hunting partner Kevin, was uneventful. Meeting the breeder "Harry" was anything but! His passion for the dogs, the immense volume of information that he has researched & retained is nothing short of amazing. Through him I was to be convinced that the introduction of pure "Sealyham" was the way forward because as far as I'm concerned the Sporting Lucas Terrier is nothing but a variation of the Sealyham anyway & despite being KC registered Harry's dogs were still capable of doing the work they were intended for.

The fun really started once Parson's "Jock Pollard @ Skeldale" was ensconced into our home, which didn't take more than an hour. Within that short time he'd bullied both of my American Bulldogs into submission, forced them out of their beds, robbed them of their bones & attempted to rape the bitch.

My two year old daughter is utterly besotted with him & has already started to retrieve train him up our long hall. A game both of them love & one I'm sure is essential for forming that all important bond of friendship. 

He has also been introduced to my Sporting Lucas Terrier Pack & was instantly challenged by Castor my stud. Jock wasn't phased by the experience & I'm sure as time passes Jock will give the "old war horse" a run for his money.

I'm also in no doubt that Jock will prove to be the "outcross" that I've been looking for, for such a long time & I can't wait to see how Jock grows & develops into another member of my "Skeldale Hunting Sealyham & Sporting Lucas Terrier Pack". This has been my passion, my one & only dream, something which I feel is a thing of beauty & something I'd like to think Jocelyn Lucas himself would be proud to have owned.

Yours etc.

 

Joe Kyrollos

 

 

 

Posted December 2008 Anthony JONES

How I fell for the Sealyham......

Dear Frank,

I retired from the police force in May 2007 and having kept many Jack Russell's. or Russell type terriers over the years, I decided I needed an interest and dog keeping, possibly showing was going to be my main passtime. Never taking these things lightly, I spent many, many hours on the Internet deciding about what might be the right breed for me, it was going to be a Terrier as I'd always kept terriers, and being someone who's never happier than when I'm out with my dogs they must love exercise, I climb the mountains for hours, especially this time of year. I've never worked dogs but have always had an interest in the working field, again narrowing it down to terriers. I narrowed my choice down to either the Sealyham or the Norfolk Terrier, although I knew neither was now, sadly, recognised as a working breed, as long as they enjoyed their long walks and displayed a certain gameness when out that would suffice, I found many litters of Norfolk's advertised on the Web but no Sealyhams.

I emailed David WINSLEY of Davmar who advised me to telephone Margaret LONGMAN, which I did, she told me about the Sealyham being a rare Welsh origin breed that needed all the support it could get and being Welsh I should hang on for one of them. That was it promoting the Sealyham Terrier became my cause, I would discuss the breed regularly in my local with anyone who cared to listen, including my local councillor. I found people over a certain age were fully aware of the breed and had had some contact with them as youngsters, and spoke highly of them. Anyone under the age of 60 for argument were totally unaware of the breed.

Having made contact with Margaret she informed me of the long waiting list for puppies, so in March of this year I began looking again and came accross the Lucas Terrier breed. So I thought, as I was now geting desperate for a puppy I put my name down for a Lucas Terrier, within two days I had a phone call from Paul HARRIS a Lucas Terrier keeper, he informed me of his litter and that althugh originally from Northants he now lived some 8 miles from me in a village called Resolven. "Well it wont harm to take a look" I thought, yes, I left having left a deposit for a liitle dog pup. now names scwbi (a welsh turn on Scooby, not my choice I hasten to add).

In the meantime I found a Sealyham Web Site owned by Ade and Michelle http://www.sealyham.org.uk/ and they were advertising a litter for sale. Not ideal I thought bringing up two puppies together but when was another litter going to become available, so my name went on the list and I now have Rwbi as well (a Welsh take on Ruby) If I'm not walking my dogs I'm scouring the Internet reading about them.

I must admit that having vsited the Sealyham Centenary show in Pembroke on the advice of Margaret LONGMAN, I must admit I wondered whether I'd made the right decision, I wasn't going to spend all that time grooming them and I didn't really like the show cut, not ideal for walking. it was only as I was leaving when I saw all the working terriers I realised that I was right in making my decision. And now that you guys are going to begin a working Sealyham Club, I'm really exited and really want to get involved. Scwbi by the way is from working stock anyway as Paul the breeder is a vermin control officer and works his dogs. I now have plans to start my own working Sealyham pack, when the time is right, I'm sure they'd look great, working along the mountains and rivers around where I live. He's now 9 1/2 months and she's 8 1/2 months old. Took them to Newquay and St Ives in Cornwall last summer and was inendated with people interested in both breeds. I have forwarded photos of them following their severe haircuts, but it keeps the house clean, and a few others including the area where I live called the Afan Valley, outside Port Talbot. Really look for ward to meeting up in the future.

Yours Anthony JONES

 

Posted December 24th 2008...

COLLECTING MY PUP "TESS"

I was informed by a friend some months back that a litter of Sealyham Terrier cross Jack Russell pups had recently been born, and that I may be able to purchase one. He explained that I would have to contact the Working Sealyham Terrier Club  if I was interested in one. I took the number and phoned  the chap who bred the litter. He told me all about the breed, (and I might add "where Sealyham Terriers are concerned, there isn't much he doesn't know"). On listening to him talk, I got a rush of excitement as he described the characteristics, and hunting ability, of the two dogs used to produce the pups. I knew instantly, that a pup bred this way, was exactly the type of dog I was looking for. He explained that there are 6 in the litter, 3 bitches, and 3 dogs. The phone call ended with me securing myself a bitch.     

Two months passsed, and I set off to Devon  to collect my pup "Tess". The first thing apparent I noticed on meeting her was that she was fairly reserved within herself. She didn't come rushing towards me like an excitable lunatic. When I picked her up, she wasn't a wriggling mass of excitement (as I have known pups to be in the past)  but rather she stayed calm, whilst carefully checking out this stranger who was holding her in his hands. It wasn't that she was nervous, far from it. She was displaying what I would interpret to be "signs of intelligence". She was showing me that she has the ability to think before she acts. What we might call assessing the situation first. The guy who bred her explained on the phone two months previously that Sealyhams are an extremely intelligent breed of terrier, and now I was seeing it for myself first hand.

I got her home, and again she displayed this same characteristic, by checking her new environment out carefully, before moving about the place. This is quite different to what I am used to. I have owned Jack Russell - type Terriers over the years, and on returning home with them, they have generally run around the place senselessly, oblivious to risk or danger. But not so with "Tess", she took a little time to take in her new environment, before mooching about her new home. However, within no time she was rolling around the place playing with my 5 month old Jack Russell pup "Ted".   Please see attached a photo of "Tess" enjoying the comfort of her new home. She is truly a wonderful thing, and I am proud to own her.

Regards, Guz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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