| About Us: Beagles
became a part of our family in 1989 when we purchased our first beagle
Megan for our 9 year old son Christopher. My husband and I both
came from a farm background and had enjoyed animals all of our lives.
Since we now lived in the Calgary area we felt our children should have the fun
of an animal in our lives.
We choose the beagle for their size,
cute looks that can melt your heart, and their happy playful temperament.
Our puppy Megan quickly became the center of our lives for 13 ½ years when we lost
her to cancer in November of 2002.
After that, our daughter Kara who was living at home
while
going to university, decided that since she had only three more years
she wanted a puppy to keep her company while she studied. We
searched the internet and found a puppy for sale at Waskasoo’s Kennel in
Red Deer, Alberta.
After a couple of phone calls we were on the
road to Red Deer where we met Bev Davies-Fraser and her beagles Boomer
and Bonny and their litter of 4 puppies. We made many trips to Red
Deer to look at the puppies and Bev finally let us take our beagle
“Riley” home at 10 weeks of age. Riley quickly made himself at
home and made friends with all the family and friends who came to visit.
Rita & Doug O’Halloran Six months
after Riley arrived the family decided that he needed a playmate so
again we gave Waskasoo Kennel a call to see if she had another puppy.
Her imported bitch from Finland “Telle” had just had a litter of puppies
with a brother to Riley from the previous litter as the father.
This dog “Chance” had been a puppy when we had first visited Bev’s home
and I had fell in love with his perky disposition and his dark black
color.
When we arrived at Bev’s home to pick up “Spencer” she
asked us if we would hold off having him neutered as she wanted to have
a look at him at six months and would possibly like to show him.
At six month she felt he was a show quality puppy so I decided to take
confirmation lessons and have shown Spencer to his Canadian Championship
and in the process discovered the world of dog shows and decided a
litter of puppies of my own would be the next step I wanted to take.
After
searching the Internet and talking to many breeders in my search for a
foundation bitch for my own kennel I finally decided on a bitch from Bakerstreet Kennel out of Washington State in the United States.
“Sage” arrived in our home in early January 2006. Sage is slowing
getting accustomed to our busy home.
In December
of 2005 I got a call from Bev telling me about a dog that was for sale
in North Caroline. This dog’s pedigree fit well into both our
breeding programs and also Lexmark Kennel in Edmonton was also
interested in using this dog in his breeding program. Since we live on a
4 acre fenced property we have the space for another dog so we called
Harnett Kennel in North Caroline and Ann Roth agreed to sell us “Little
Duke” named after the Duke University basketball team in North Carolina.
This now gave me a puppy to show and he received a Best Puppy in Group
and Best of Breed in his first show. In his first year he got 2
more Best Puppy in Group placements.
Puppies are so cuddly!
With a litter
of puppies on the way I knew I would need to get a kennel name so after
many family discussions we decided that since we live on the top of a
windy prairie hill with a view of the Rocky Mountains in the distance we
would submit the name “Windyhill” to the Canadian Kennel Club. In
early January 2006 this name was approved and “Windyhill Beagles” came
into being.
I would like
to thank Bev Davies-Frasier (Waskasoo Kennel) who has become my mentor
and a special friend, for her guidance and the support as we enter the
world of show dogs
Rita & Doug O’Halloran
(Click here for a cute
doggie prayer) |
