REGALAIRE HISTORY

My connection with the Irish Setter goes back to the days when I was living at my childhood home. My Dad used to hunt with one.Rex didn't stay with us very long because he was a "one man dog" and very possessive. Growing up though, we always had one or two bigger dogs in the house. One of my favorites was a rough collie, Lady. I can still remember her beautiful lean head and lovely expression. Now that I think about it, that is the same look I try to find and breed into the Irish Setter.

I had been years without a dog. I had plenty to do raising two children and working part time. Back in the early seventies fate stepped in and an Irish Setter came into my life. My husband's graduate student had invited us to a TGIF party to see the Irish Setter puppies they had. I had yearned to have one of these puppies. As a family we thought maybe the timing was right. We brought home the largest pup, a male who we loved dearly. He, however,
was a little devil, very headstrong, obedience class flunk out, but very birdy. You can picture this large red dog,
bigger than me, who was very loving, but had a mind of his own. He never reached his first birthday. At 11 months
he was hit by a large motorcycle, the one and only time he took off hunting.

You can imagine my sorrow. I cried for one week and my husband located a breeder and we purchased our first dog with some show potential. Abby was a lovely little girl, however, she lacked bone to make her a really good bitch. After a few years in this one line I decided I needed to do some serious looking.

I learned about the National Specialty in Elyria, Ohio (also my birth place) The rest is history. I met Susan McCamon and Am. Can CH McCamon Marquis and had my name put on the list for a puppy from the next litter. I was searching for the pretty heads, the wonderful temperaments and the drama that caught my eye in the McCamon dogs. Am.Can CH McCamon Northern Star was born in 1979, a Marquis daughter and our first brood bitch. Pippi opened the door to a world of wonderful red dogs and their owners.

We first met Dennis and Susan Murphy when the National Specialty was held in Colorado. The Murphys and the Riegles have since been friends for many years and have shared many a setter together. CH Regalaire Royal Burgundy was their lovely little bitch who was named after Marquis' Mom, CH McCamon Royal Burgundy. When bred to BISS CH Regalaire Music Man she produced CH Redscent Southern Eagle, an exceptional dog who garnered his championship at 9 months of age.
We purchased a lovely dark dog from Frank and Katherine Wheatley, AM, Can CH Rockherin Rafe. I believe Rafe is responsible for some of our dark coats. He is also responsible for getting our son involved in showing. Greg did put his Canadian championship on him with little effort.

The second dog purchased from the McCamon Kennel was CH McCamon Winter Knight. His sire was CH Tirvelda Hunter's Moon and what a powerful mover Charlie was. We decided it was time to do an outcross and we chose CH Meadowlark's Wyndjammer to mate to our Marquis granddaughter. This breeding worked very well for our program and notably two of these dogs were exceptional. CH Regalaire Sound of Music was a fantastic bitch, very well developed and went on to finish at 14 months. Hilary had numerous sweeps and best puppy titles to her credit and was a group and specialty winner and a National Award of Merit winner as well. Her brother, CH Regalaire Music Man topped all dogs by winning the ISCA's National Centennial Show(1991) defeating over 900 entries with seven countries represented. Gavin had the prettiest and most correct head. He was an extremely dark coated dog and possessed a mellow temperament that we strive for in our breeding program. Several years had passed and then the decision was made to do something really different and I have to say, it took real "guts" to do what we did. For the past 10 years we have gradually blended some Australian genes into the line. We had met Trevor and Leeanne Jones of the Gwyndara Kennel at the National Specialties. Leeanne had sent over some frozen semen from a couple of her dogs. I had heard about the semen being available and after pouring over several photos we took the plunge and two of our girls were surgically implanted with semen from Aus.CH Gwyndara Open To Offers, "BT". One of the bitches produced one puppy while the other produced six. Out of this breeding we got CH Regalaire Sweet Adelaide, an exquisite bitch and an effortless mover. It was after the litters were born that we took our first trip to Australia to see what BT looked like. We were not disappointed when we met BT and our relationship with Trevor and Leeanne blossomed into something special. We have since been to Australia 4 times and are in the process of planning our next trip "down under".

Some of you may know that we actually owned one of Leeanne's males. John and Gerry Savory of the Dunholm Kennel imported "Cobber"(Australian slang for mate or buddy) at one year of age. He was 2 ½ when we acquired him and shortly thereafter finished his American title in 11 weeks. We were fortunate to have "Cobber". Not only was he a truly sound dog with the greatest of temperaments, he was one of a few pure Australian dogs left. Thus far "Cobber" has sired 18 American champions. He has meshed well with our gene pool and others as well. Needless to say I have chosen to retain Cobber's gene pool through frozen semen.

Over the years Gail and I have met some truly wonderful people. We enjoy seeing these people as we travel around the country. Many of these folks have expressed to us how truly blessed they are to own an Irish Setter and I have to say we are in total agreement.