Montecani You're My Only Hope 1st PG Dog, DCC & BEST OF BREED Midland Counties Championship Show			Montecani My Precious 1st Post Grad Bitch & RBCC Midland Counties Championship Show
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	27th October 2022 Judge: Malcolm Bevan

	Montecani You're My Only Hope 1st Post Grad Dog Darlington Champ Show
	18th Sept 2022 Judge: Karen James

 

	Montecani My Precious 1st Post Grad Bitch Bitch CC Richmond Champ Show
	11th Sept 2022 Judge: Kim Parris

	Montecani My Precious 1st Grad Bitch City of Birmingham Champ Show
	4th Sept 2022 Judge: Nigel Worth

Happy 3rd Birthday to the model, Freda and siblings Bea, Bisto, Badger, Lui and Muk!!

31st August 2022

	Montecani You're My Only Hope 1st Post Grad Dog Driffield Championship Show			Montecani My Precious 1st Post Grad Bitch Driffield Championship Show
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	28th August 2022 Judge: Becky Johnson

Happy 4th Birthday to our Ullla with the beautiful eyes.
Sending Birthday wishes to her sister Mona in the States

28th August 2022

At last our Kennel Club got its act together to send Freda's stud book number. Only a year late.
Crufts Qualified for life. Not that she can ever go, being traditionally docked.
Thankyou to the breed specialists for giving her lovely critiques at her first 4 shows.
She is now having time out from the show ring to mature on a bit.
We desperately need a class in-between the age classes and Post Graduate.

Italian Spinone Club of Great Britain Christine Bennett (Hochopepa)
Graduate Bitch 1st
"Really like this little bitch, best of head planes, medial furrow for a nice depth to muzzle, good earset, great back skull and pronounced occiput. nice angles back and front, correct coat texture. Good space between shoulder blades, Moves like a dream if this young girl had more weight on her she would give them all a run for their money".

Paignton & DFA Janet Neil (Kevardhu)
Yearling Bitch 1st
"w/o nice for size and squareness. lean roof shaped skull with good divergence, pronounced occiput, kind expression and well placed ears, strong neck, harsh coat but slightly blown, good skin, bone and feet. She tends to stack a bit stiff and out at elbow but once relaxed on the move her outline was good and she moved with a good steady trot. One I will follow with interest as she mature".

NGA Carolyn Fry (Bedeslea)
Novice Bitch 1st & RCC
"Not quite two years, with more body depth and finish needed, but for type, coat, skin, bone and outline, she is just what I look for. Her head is first class, with a marked occipital protuberance, inter-parietal crest, ears, skull and muzzle that blend together to form a classic female headpiece for the breed. Front on, her beautiful eyes are ‘icing on the cake’ and project a wonderful, typical expression. In the challenge for Best Bitch, her movement was effortless, with a natural athleticism that comes from correct Spinone construction. She was beaten only by a quality, mature bitch who pulled out the stops today. Her day will surely come!"

ISCGB Championship Show Val Woodward (Connomar)
Yearling Bitch 1st
"w/o bitch lovely head and expression, correct head planes, effortless movement, a very promising youngster".

Happy 11th Birthday Cuda Poodles
The best travel companion you could ask for.
Great farm dog and loves a long lie in.
Bit of a lazy old sod really unless there is food on offer and then she can move!!

18th August 2022

Happy 5th Birthday to the beautiful Florrance of the Shires, also known as 'you incredible tit'
Loves to open a door or gate when she gets a chance.
Happy 5th Birthday to siblings, Beatrice, Orla, Medlar, Milo, Baroque, Cossington and Soames.

24th June 2022

 

	Montecani Asca Rasa 1st Puppy Bitch Southern Counties Championship Show
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	2nd June 2022 Judge: Michele Vivaldi

It has taken a long time to face writing a tribute for Twista. So hard to believe she's gone.
I search for her constantly. Cuda and Twista look very alike from the back and I have looked and looked again and a couple of times the sight of Kallie in the distance has made my heart jump. Your brain can deceive you even when you know there is no possibility.
Twistas tail never stopped wagging right up to her final few hours. I loved her tail. I would only have to place my hand on her, even in deep slumber and it would slowly come to life and wag. It had a real life of its own.
She became completely deaf in her last year, but before then, my voice would always produce a wag.
It's difficult to write of Twista's antics, there are so many it would fill many pages.
She was a glass half full dog, always happy
I remember her dragging her Grandfather, Nandos incontinence pants off, me grabbing one end, her the other, this wild eyed dervish.All I could do was laugh.
Or her as a 4 month old pup running alongside a giant Combine Harvester one Summer, true heart in the mouth moment
She was impounded at the Montecani party for guarding stuff in the kitchen..I believe she nipped a dogs nose. She had a special guarding face big eyes, ears pinned back...she could never hide it.
She loved people, especially children that visited over the years, always standing by them, tail waving, but only fairly stationary ones, fast moving ones were a worry to me as she did like a chase or two!
She was my loyal friend, she would never go with anyone but me.
Even if I had to go out for the day she wouldn't go for a walk with John. She would always be waiting for me.
There is a huge empty space at my feet, wherever I'm sitting. She was always there.
She sometimes dropped off in another part of the house but would always wake and come to look for me.
She loved to bash the dog gate to the living room down as she liked to sit there, then she would bash back out and back in again..
When she went deaf in her last year she found her voice at mealtimes, a very loud one and there was no quelling her until fed, the silence that last week and now is deafening.
After her two vestibular incidents she was left with an endearing slight wobble as she walked. She didn't care, nothing ever bothered her.
As a pup she had huge eyes. I said to Heather Johnson 'do you think her eyes are too big' She grew into those eyes!
She wasn't really a show dog although she did compete at Crufts one year. Underneath her bravado she could be anxious if I wasn't there.
She was extremely healthy until the last year of her life.
She coped well with her laryngeal paralysis. John called her the Death Star as she made noises very much like Darth Vader!
Her breathing sometimes looked scary to me but she never cared. Her tail kept wagging.
She had a few episodes of aspiration pneumonia, two at least were her jumping over the top of feed buckets John was carrying to snatch a few pig nuts!
She never grew up, she would still play like a puppy, especially with Wess.
She liked to jump up your front when she wanted a biscuit. Usually when you least expected it...somewhat annoying
Our last night together was so poignant. I knew the end was coming and my one dread was what I knew they were going to say that next day at the scan. It was a cancer.
I then faced that decision, I knew I couldn't make. It's hard to make that decision for any one of my dogs, but Twista was my best friend. She would always hold my gaze and she did so right to the end and of course that tail was still wagging.
When I woke and she had gone, I sat with her and cried. I held her paw, touched her tail and looked at her eyes. I also felt a great relief that she had chosen to slip away right next to me, silently, sparing me...She will always be my little Star tucked up safely forever in my heart??
Her ashes came back this week. She's home.
From special friends, I have cards, beautiful flowers in my window, a twisted Hazel tree and memory tag to plant next to my Rubra Oak. Those girls together again.
There will never be another Twista, she was unique, but sleeping here next to me is a little brown pup with big eyes, named Quinta, born on Twista's Birthday...For the more spiritual amongst us, make of that what you will.

 

Last night Twista and I sat out in the garden until it got dark.
It was quite a warm Summer evening. I had a glass of wine and we could hear the distant beat from Glastonbury.
We shared a precious moment, that will live in my memory now forever.
Twista's tail was still wagging.
During the night she was laying stretched out on the floor next to the sofa where I am sleeping, still on puppy duty. I stroked her old dog soft fur and everytime I stopped she would look up at me, so my hand stayed on her all night..
When I woke this morning, she had gone
She saved me that ultimate pain of making a decision that I knew I would struggle to make, especially for Twista as she was so special to me and me to her.
She looked so peaceful, just like she had gone to sleep.
Yesterday there was a big white feather where she was laying. When she got up, it was stuck to her chin. I think my Mum was waiting for her.
You will always be my Little Star
Twista 9th April 2009 - 27th June 2022.

	Montecani You're My Only Hope 1st Post Grad Dog ISCGB Championship Show			Montecani Hell You Doin Fred 1st Graduate Bitch ISCGB Championship Show
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	Montecani Forget Me Not 3rd Limit Bitch ISCGB Championship Show
	26th March 2022 Judge: Christine Bennett (Hochopepa)

 

Remembering my old dog, Rivana on her 14th Birthday and smiling at some of her photos.
She was one hell of a dog and a true huntress.
We almost made it my lovely old dog.
Born by C Section after her Mum, Ava was too posh to push, Rivana and siblings returned home in a cardboard box. After collecting them all from the vets, we stopped at the fish and chip shop where the owners gave us free sausage in batter for the proud new Mum!
Rivana was a fat pup. With the constant chant of 'Montecani dogs are huge' ringing in my ears, I chose the little chunky fat one in the litter and called her Rivana after a famous Bracco, because I liked the name and Rivana hadn't any furnishings!
Her legs grew and grew, her coat didn't. She liked to perch her large ears high on her head! I realised early on she wasn't going to be a show dog, despite being born of a CC winner and sired by a Show Champion, my boy Babio.
She was a very tall girl! Mum used to say 'Riv, you don't even look like a Spinone '
What she lacked in show quality she made up for with her love for hunting.
Most of her stories involve hunting.
The lane mentioned in my previous post was a constant worry. She would hunt around gradually getting more and more out of reach and suddenly I could see that mischievous face looking at me from a distance and she would turn around and disappear, despite my shrieks!
Rivana became part of the Knebworth two in 2011, taking Tecla for a hunting jolly. After a normal walk, neither came back and as dusk set in, so did the panic . I gathered a few friends and we searched and called for hours until we were all exhausted and there was no option but to call off the search. Standing out in the field wondering I would see Rivana again, I heard distance screaming, the noise Rivana made when she scented a fox...or had she been hit by a car..I felt sick
I left our gates and a kennel open and hoped to find two little faces looking out at me first thing in the morning...but the beds were empty .
A search party was organised with people coming from all over when suddenly I got a call from Mum. My step dad, Rod had seen the dogs on the farm 3 miles away, where he worked as a part time gamekeeper and we had our little shoot.
I rushed up there with Ava and there were both dogs laying in the woods, exhausted.
Neither recognised me at first, in survival mode, but they came over to see Ava and quietly I slipped their leads on and we went home. Sore feet but otherwise ok.
Mum looked after Rivana for me once. She ended up in a man's garden, standing in his Koi pond, big tail waving and those big ears high on her head. Mum was cross and embarrassed and I got it in the neck when I returned home.
I had some trouble with the local farmer in Woolmer Green
She was always jumping out of the wood at me, telling me to keep to the footpaths, which I did although the odd dog would stray onto her crops. I got fed up so decided to drive the dogs to Harmer Green woods where I walked with Mum all through my childhood.
First foray to the woods, Rivana went into some thick cover. I could hear rustling, figured she had found something when suddenly a deer leapt out, followed by Riv. The deer leapt a 5 foot fence, followed by a baying Rivana. Two walkers looked on in disbelief as I looked on in despair as both Riv and the Deer took off at high speed. Rivana was barking as she went. They disappeared from view, the barking became more distant until it was inaudible.
I stood there in the woods, gathered the other dogs and, waited for what seemed like hours.
Dusk set in and the light was fading. I had no idea how far she had travelled. I started to worry. Was this the last time I would see her? Wasn't sure what to do with myself when suddenly I heard a noise, turned round and there was my big long legged dog, wobbly legs from the exertion, tongue hanging out. I didn't say a word, just slipped on the lead and walked back to the car.
Riv never went back to Burnham Green woods again!
But we did find the perfect walk for her at the Heath, where there were rabbits, thousands of them. Rabbits don't run, they go to ground. It was perfect. Hunting without the danger!
In later years that hunting Instinct waned and she stayed much closer to me.
Rivanas first litter, she went into labour. She didn't want to do labour. It was walktime and that's what she was doing come hell or high water. I couldn't risk a pup popping out on a walk and needed to run the other dogs quickly so left her in the kitchen. Mum was away, so no one else to help.
I leashed up the dogs and started off down the path at the side of the house. Peered in the window as I went by and Rivana appeared to be pooing on the floor! Walk abandoned I went back indoors to find her firstborn son, in his sac on the floor! Rivana still wanted to go for a walk and hadn't even noticed him!
Had to call on a neighbour to sit with her and her new son, while I quickly walked the dogs.
That boy was Helens's Lu who is the image of his mum.
Looked through Facebook memories early this morning. Most were Rivs Birthdays throughout the years..from sleek brown headed pup to grey faced old lady.
Caption on one. Always buggering off...Made me smile!

8th Feb

Rivana 8th February 2008 - 4th February 2022.

The field across the lane is calling me again.
On bright frosty mornings and hazy Summer evenings, I remember the draw of the field beyond, where I wasn't suppose to go. But oh the joy!
My ears go up and my pace quickens.
Across the lane I can see a little lady I know well. I haven't seen her for a while..Beside her is a white dog, tail wagging furiously.
I know you don't want to let go, but I'm so tired..I'm not coming back this time.
Please don't cry. I can see your heart is broken. Let me go with a glad heart and remember all our good times.
We had the best 14 years a dog could wish for. I wish I could have stayed longer..
I will always be your heart in mouth dog with my love for hunting
Now safely tucked up your heart and memories forever.

Happy Birthday Wess! 5 years old today!

 

23rd January

Happy 13th Birthday Kallie!!
Born into my hands all those years ago, along with the other Cuba memorial litter.
Years went by and a traumatic chain of events changed your life. Almost starved to death with your heart on the verge of giving out, you were found, weighing just 18kg.
Thankyou to those who made it possible to bring you home to me, where you now enjoy your twilight years watching a bit of TV by the fire or watching the world go by outside.
A dear old sensitive soul.
Happy 13th Birthday to your one remaining brother Ernie too xx

 

20th January

 

 

 

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