RAVENSTONE AILISA AT KINDERHORN
16.8.1998 - 31.12.2011
N UCH N JCH Raulandsheias Grant 21041/93 x Ch Ravenstone Glad Tidings
N UCH N JCH Raulandsheias Grant 21041/93 x Ch Ravenstone Glad Tidings
LIZZIE'S STORY
Lizzie was one of a litter of puppies born at the home of Ted and Margaret Harper's internationally famous Ravenstone Elkhounds using frozen semen from Norway - the first litter of Elkhounds to be born in Britain via AI since the only other successful attempt twenty-four years earlier! Her sire was a Dual Champion belonging to Rolf Frostad. Her dam, Glad Tidings, was a multiple-CC, BEC Best in Show winner (the latter award won under Ralf Campbell). Her litter brother was the handsome Ch Ravenstone Reason to Dance at Oseberg, who belonged to our friends Jean and Roy Walter-Browne.
When the puppies were a few weeks old, Margaret approached Maureen and Stuart and told them that she had two puppies left, and that they could have one if they liked. We all loved the very lovely 'Gee Tee' (as Glad Tidings was known at home), and this was a wonderful opportunity to obtain one of her offspring. They had the pick of the two, but Margaret thought that they would "like the smaller one best." Of course, when they visited, with me in tow, they were won over by Lizzie's compact frame, and it was indeed the smaller of the two that went home with us to Kinderhorn. Lizzie was the dam of one litter, sired by the beautiful Ch. Kestos Quicksilver, from which we kept her big winning son, Raider, one of the top males of the last few years, and a daughter, Minnie. For her part, Lizzie was a slow maturer. She won a RCC under Agnes Anderson (Koriston) at 3 years of age, but was little shown after that. We had expected to be able to show her for a long time, but that was no longer an option following surgery in middle-age to remove a suspicious lump from her nose which left her scarred. She still had a good square outline, tightly curled, high set tail and a lovely clear coat, and these virtues she passed to her son, Raider. She was an interesting and loving companion, especially devoted to my son Paddy - she liked nothing better than to give him a long, slow wash when he visited. Our pet name for her was 'Lizard Lips' and that suited her very well. She was Spooky's playmate/boss on our long walks together, and Minnie's playmate at home. She was an avid hunter and would take on any game large or small. Whilst on the Munster Circuit in Ireland one year, she escaped from the garden of our rented accommodation and rounded up a herd of cattle, completely alone, and impervious to the shouts and cries of her human family. Only when she had cut the stroppiest animal out of the herd and gone eyeball to eyeball with it, did she emerge, triumphant, from the whirling mass of hooves, leaving the cattle untouched. The following day on our walk, they came running to the fence eagerly, perhaps hoping for some more of the same excitement as on the day before. Not something I would recommend as an experience, as I'm quite sure the farmer would not have seen the funny side, and neither did we at the time. |
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