Vitals

DOB: 9/11/2013

Sex: Male

Sire: I am Zee Gangster of Love: No?

Dam: Winridge’s Fire Storm

Owner:Hunter Goodwin

Breeder: Michael Delaney

Click here for Pedigree

Link to an Additional Article by Paul McGagh, 2012

Vitals

DOB: 9/14/1991

Sex: Female

Sire: Swallow Law Snipe

Dam: Nancarrow Figurine

Breeder: Headley Millington

Owner: Art and Cheryl Person

Imported at the same time as Lucy in 1991, Brit at 7 weeks came to find her home in Natchez , Mississippi with Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Person. Trained by Paul, she was entered in the 1993 Colorado Puppy Stakes and came in third in a stake of three dogs! She was pregnant at the time with what would become three field trial champions. Notwithstanding this slow start, she would become the 4^th Field Trial Champion of the new millennium.

Brit was a very beautiful bitch with a liver and white harlequin face. She was medium height and weight and almost perfectly proportioned. A much lighter footed dog when questing for game, she displayed a very showy style that was attractive to the eye when hunted. She had a very good mouth and flush.

A memorable event was the third series of the 1996 Colorado Field Trial. Brit was very intent as she covered the ground and we had assumed the scenting was good. Running full bore across the field at dusk she banged head long into an upright arm of a downed tree that threw her back several feet, sounding like the thump of a ripe watermelon. We assumed she was injured, but she shook her head and then resumed quartering. She was not to win that day, but she displayed her big heart.

Brit was to have a total of two litters. Of those litters, we were to train a total of four dogs and entered them into field trials. The first litter produced NFC Freckles, FC Rocky and FC Ruby. The second litter produced FC Natchez.

There was idle talk that early Cockers must have been “cheap Champions.” Assuming this to include Brit, it is interesting to consider the results of her progeny. Of the twelve placements in the first three Cocker Nationals, Brit was either the Mother or the Grandmother of six of the placing dogs or 50% of the total placements awarded. In the 1998 National Championship, Freckles (first litter) placed 2^nd and Rocky (first litter) placed 4^th. In the second NCC held in 2000 (they were held every other year until 2002) Freckles came in 1^st and granddaughter Zoe came in 4^th. Also her grandson, Speck, was awarded the Gun’s Award. In the third National in 2002, she was the grandmother of Sydney who placed 2^nd and Zoe who took 4^th place.

In 2003, her son FC Rocky took the Gun’s Award in the Canadian Springer National Championship. In 2004 her grandson FC Hoover also took the Gun’s Award in the Canadian Springer National. They were the only Cockers running against over 80 Springer Spaniels. In 2005, her grandson Storm won the Canadian Springer National Championship, the first Cocker ever to win against a field comprised of 86 Springers and 2 Cockers.

In March 2006, her grandson FC/AFC Monty, age 9, became the first Cocker Amateur Champion winning the first two Amateur stakes ever held back to back.

While we can talk about her mark on subsequent generations, we must also state she could be quirky. She was not a doting mother and was happy to stop nursing pups and get on with life. Not one to ingratiate herself, she was aloof. S he was very easy to train and an easy dog to be around. She was not prone to bark or run off. In 1998 she retired to the front veranda porch of the Person’s home in Natchez, Mississippi.

She died quietly in 2003.

Freckles, Natchez & Brit in North Dakota

Championed: March 10, 1995, Idaho

Breedings:  Bred 2 times to Maesydderwen Griffin

Mother of 4 Field Trial Champions:

NFC/FC Darag Caol Shraid Marshen (Freckles)

FC Griffin’s Pride Rocky (Rocky)

FC Ruby Rubster Warrener (Ruby)

FC Oak Alley Snowy Egret ( Natchez)

Grandmother to 8 Field Trial Champions:

FC Oak Alley Kestrel (Speck)

FC Raintree Off the Deepend (Splash)

FC Oak Alley Peregrine (Spot)

FC Raintree Warrener’s Zoe (Zoe)

FC/AFC Warrener’s Golden Plover (Monty)

FC/CFC Warrener’s Yellowhammer ( Sydney )

FC Oahe Sentinel (Hoover)

FC Shelmar’s Goin’ Jessie (Jessie)

Placements & Awards

Link to an Additional Article by Paul McGagh, 2012

Link to an Additional Article by Keith Erlandson

Vitals

DOB: 4/30/1993

Sex: Male

Sire: Maesydderwen Griffin

Dam: FC Nancarrow Rosy Mantle

Breeder: Arthur E. Person

Owner: Mark Rose

Died in October 27, 2002

Lifetime points: 25 US    3 Canada

Placements & Awards

Rocky is without any question the finest dog ever trained and campaigned by Glencoe Farm during the period of 1995 thru 2002, Freckles being the finest bitch. Between the two, Rocky did not win the National Championship as did Freckles, but I think Paul would name him as the better of the two. His untimely death the day before the 2002 National Cocker Championship seemed befitting his wishes, as sad as it was. Rocky possessed all the physical abilities needed for the penultimate spaniel. His normal performance outpaced every other dog in the kennel. He was capable, on a daily basis, to mark falls and make 400 yard retrieves (his record related below). He was a joy to train. Ever poised, focused, honest and reliable. Thrilling to watch!

His remarkable abilities continued to improved over the years even to our jaded eyes. And the stories about some of his retrieves started to become legends. He made the entire process of finding game; flushing and retrieving it to hand, seem easy. Rocky was a rare and true athlete of extreme abilities.

Paul loved to show off with Rocky to prove the 1990’s perceived limits regarding Cocker performance were short sighted. At the time, there were spaniel people refering to Cockers as “second class citizens” i.e. they were limited in abilities when compared to Springer Spaniels. Gunner’s were instructed not to take a shot too far out lest the dog fail it’s retrieve.

One late summer afternoon, as was our custom, Paul wanted to run drills with the Field Trial dogs. But, on this particular day, we were having our annual “girls weekend” and so Paul had an audience. Paul had been doing the “pigeon retrieve” drill all week. This consisted of us sitting in the John Deere “Gator” which was perched atop a hill overlooking our Glencoe Stream. Mike would load his vest with 20 to 30 pigeons and walk down towards the creek. At a predetermined distance, Mike would turn around to face us, pull a wing clip pigeon from his vest and yell “Wu,Wu,Wu” to get the dogs attention. Once the dog would see him, he would throw the pigeon in the air about 6 feet above his head and hopefully it would land anywhere from 10 to 15 feet from him. Paul would say the dogs name to release and the dog should mark and make the retrieve. This drill started at 30 yards away and would continue to get longer day-by-day. On this particular August day, my memory is that the dogs were working about 50-yard retrieves or paces, which is how we would measure rather than anything scientific. When it was Rocky’s turn, Paul told Mike to go back further than the 50 yards. Mike walked to the edge of the stream ravine and looked back. Paul said, “Go back!” Mike, vest still loaded with birds, crossed over the creek which isn’t a large stream, but has a 20-yard ravine. Waddling up to the top of the ravine Mike looked to Paul again, who said, “Go about another 30 yards.” Reaching that, Mike took a pigeon out, “Wu-Wu-Wued” and threw it. Paul sent Rocky and he retrieved the bird with ease. So, Paul said, “go another 30 yards and throw another one!” and again, Rocky made the retrieve. Paul then told Mike, “one more time”! Sue, Deb, Missy and I had been counting and by this time we thought Mike had to be over 200 paces. We chided Paul that “he was setting the dog up for failure,” but Paul kept Mike walking back. Paul hollered to throw a bird and Rocky marked and made the retrieve! When Paul called Mike back, we girls counted his steps…all 250 of them.

Rocky became an early ambassador for cockers by winning the respect of many hardcore Springer enthusiasts, especially at the Canadian Spaniel Championship in 1999. He was the first Cocker to qualify for and enter the CNC and he went on to receive the Gun’s Award at this event as well as a Certificate of Merit. Several letters and phone calls were sent to the farm recounting Rocky’s performance that included at least 3 retrieves of over 200 yards.

But, Rocky had another side to his life that was his relationship to his owner Mark Rose. Mark had been searching for a Cocker pup and recalled:

“My friend, Ted Soukup” had a Cocker from Walt Cline he called Dotzie and another from Sheila Courts named Vanilla. I had just lost my Springer and Ted invited me to see how his dogs worked. I decided to give a Cocker a try. Ted’s son Mike had also lost his Cocker to an auto accident and they had been negotiating with Art Person on a six-month old pup. Mike thought Art’s $400.00 price was too high so he gave me Art’s phone number and I followed up. That’s how I ended up with Rocky. I now think the $100.00 extra was a pretty good deal. On top of that Art so believed in his breeding he made a deal with me that if Rocky made his Championship, he would give me my $400.00 back! Well, Rocky did make his championship and Art was good to his word and we donated that money to the first Cocker National championship in 1998. Signed, Mark Rose

Vitals

DOB: 10/3/2002-11/5/2012

Sex: Male

Sire: FC Oahe Sentinel

Dam: Gwynnfield Misty

Owner: Paul McGagh

Breeder: Paul McGagh

Click here for Pedigree

Placements & Awards

The 39th Canadian National Championship
A personal reflection
by
Paul G. McGagh and Vicky Thomas

The Canadian National is really named “The Spaniel Field Trial Championship.” It is open to any spaniel breed if the dog can qualify.  To qualify, the spaniel must win a first to fourth placement at a licensed Canadian Kennel Club Field Trial. In America today, we hold three separate championship events:  The Springer Open Championship, the Springer Amateur Championship, and the Cocker National Championship (which is open to both English and American Cockers).  Canada offers the only opportunity to test both breeds against each other.  Some say it would take a miracle for a Cocker to beat a Springer, in a National.
In all of the Canadian National’s celebrated 38-year history, an English Springer Spaniel has won the event.  But, for the 39th Anniversary held  in October,2005, in Montreal, there was a miracle as an English Cocker named Warrener’s California Quail (Storm) won the Championship title!

This article is our recollection of the Canadian National and the dogs that contributed to Storm’s success.  It is impossible for us to celebrate and separate the Canadian victory, as it is a vindication for many Cocker owners who have supported us from the beginning.

Paul McGagh recalls, “In the fall of 1991 I brought two seven-week-old littermate bitch puppies from Headley Millington of Cornwall, England.  They were out of  English FT CH Swallow Law Snipe and Nancarrow Figurine.  They were registered Nancarrow Golden Glow (Katie) and Nancarrow Rosy Mantle (Brit).  I immediately passed Katie along to Tom Tullidge in Virginia and Brit to Dr. Arthur Person in Mississippi, with the understanding that I would have them back for training a little later.
“Getting these two pups back for training coincided with another trip to England.  In 1992, Tom Tullidge was interested in acquiring more cockers. I visited Carl Colclough in Suffolk and bought a two-year-old male named Maesydderwen Griffin (Bran) and a beautiful 7-week-old male puppy named Parkbreck Chevron (Ritchie).  Despite Bran’s relative tender age, he had been bred to a number of bitches in England before being exported, siring six Field Trial Champions over there. These four dogs, Brit, Katie, Bran and Ritchie had quite an influence in refining a definition of what I look for in a working cocker.  All four of these dogs were larger than appears to be currently in vogue.  The two bitches, Brit and Katie, matured out at about 26-27 pounds and the two males in the mid-30s, weight-wise.  I’ve been privileged to hunt and finish field titles on a fair number of very small cockers, but I find the little extra power of a larger dog is a tremendous advantage and it suits the kind of hunting I happen to prefer. They all possessed that distinctive quintessential flair one finds in cockers and had very amenable temperaments that made them a pleasure to train.  This is not always the case as you can get one with drive, but an incorrigible spirit or vice versa.

Brit was bred twice over her long life, both times to Bran.  Four of their offspring were field trialed.  The first litter produced NFC Darag Caol Shraid Marshen (Freckles), FC Griffin’s Pride Rocky (Rocky) and FC Ruby Rubster Warrener.  The second litter produced FC Oak Alley Snowy Egret.

Katie was bred to both Bran and Ritchie.  The Bran/Katie breeding produced Guinness of Killaurel, the grandsire of John and Chris Dartts’ dog Canadian FC Bryor Oaks Marlock (Max) which, under the guidance of Marty Knibbs, was the first English Cocker to earn its Championship against Springers in Canada.
The Ritchie/Katie breeding produced Gwynnfield Misty (Liz) which, when bred to FC Griffen’s Pride Rocky, produced FC/CFC Warrener’s Yellowhammer (Sydney). She was 2004 High Point Cocker in America and placed 2nd in the 2002 Cocker National Championship.  She has also won three Canadian Springer Trials to gain her Canadian Field Championship.

Tom Ness bred his excellent bitch, FC Parkbreck Elm of Bishwell (Mave) to Rocky, which produced FC Oahe Sentinel (Hoover).  I line-bred Liz to Hoover producing FC Warrener’s Mountain Quail (Tweed) owned by Ernie Hasse and my own FC/NCFC Warrener’s California Quail (Storm).

Storm was the first cocker Vicky  Thomas and I kept as a puppy to raise from scratch for many years.  He was born at the farm in North Dakota and I took him down to California for the winter at eight weeks of age.  We had the luxury of having complete control of him from day one.  He responded to basic obedience lessons extremely well being a laid back, smart pup.  Everything we did was framed around playing games. That winter, I taught him basic handling drills using tennis balls with lots of edible treats and praise.  By the time Storm reached eight months I entered him in his first Hunt Test at the Master Level.  He won his first field trial Open Stake four months later at one year and one day old in Wisconsin.
The more I watched Storm mature the more I felt he was turning into an ideal dog for Canadian trials.  I had caught the Canada bug in the late 1990s.  I love competing up there.  The scenery, camaraderie, and level of competition are superb.  It takes an extremely special Cocker to be truly competitive against the Springer dominated Canadian trials. That is what makes it so much fun.  I sincerely believe Canada is the ultimate testing ground for quality working Cockers.

I had won the Guns’ Award and a Certificate of Merit with Storm’s grandsire, Griffins Pride Rocky at the Canadian National in 1999.  Tom Ness had done the same with Storm’s sire, Oahe Sentinel, (Hoover) in 2002.
Storm had qualified for the 2004 and the subsequent 2005 National by winning an Open stake in Winnipeg under judges Kevin Martineau and Randy Curtis.  He placed fourth in the 2004 National under judges Tom Batrude and Tom Ness in Saskatchewan shortly after his second birthday.

The Canadian National
The 2005 Canadian National was held in Quebec –  a 2000 mile drive from the farm.  The first two series were held in very open cover.  Storm’s first series under judge Arley Elliot was just what I would have wished for.  At the end of the outward-bound course, there were a couple of trees surrounded by thick leafy cover.  Storm loves cover and he bee-lined towards it, flushing a hen pheasant.  It was shot and killed quite a way outside the right hand gun and Storm made a nice retrieve.  This found us at the beginning of a new course.  Storm made a good big find that again was shot by the right hand gun.  He made the retrieve and this finished our first run.
As luck would have it, Storm started his second series in the exact place he had finished the first with the same few trees and cover, this time off to our right.  While judge Mike Nolan was giving his instructions, I glanced down at Storm.  He had a visual lock on the clump of cover where he had found a bird the previous series.  He’s smart and as soon as I cast him off, he headed to the cover and trapped a hen pheasant.  He then proceeded to track a moving bird down the course, which was shot and retrieved.  Judge Nolen kept me down for a third bird, which was a carbon copy of the second.
As wide open as the first two series were, the third and fourth were thick grouse and woodcock cover.  In fact, on the first round, numerous grouse and woodcock were flushed.  Storm adjusted his pattern, tightening up slightly to accommodate for the thick cover.  Storm had a couple of nice retrieves under judge Elliot and a good solid fourth under judge Nolen.  Finishing the fourth series corresponded with the end of the third day.

First business on the morning of the fourth day was the water series.  It was deceptively difficult.  Birds were launched at the end of a small narrow pond.  There was quite an incentive for dogs to grab the bird and head to the closest bank and then run the bank all the way back.  It’s not the end of the world, but when Storm grabbed his bird and turned and swam his original wake back, I was very relieved.
The fifth series was held in the same general area as the third and fourth.  There was some criticism levied at the Committee by people who felt the fifth should be in wide-open cover for good viewing.  Thick cover, thin cover, it didn’t matter to me.  At that point all the dogs remaining had proved they could handle diversity.
At the time of the 2005 National, Storm had just turned three.  He’s a powerful dog and like powerful dogs, he can be a handful at times.  Normally, when I walk him to the line I am all business with him, quite stern and no niceties.
There remained 25 springers and one cocker out of the original 86 dogs in the fifth series.  We were about half way through the running order.  I watched Casey Butts, Jim Keller, Marty Knibbs, Jason Givens, Alice Stewart and John Mitchell keep putting down great fifths with various different dogs.  I had the feeling it would take something extraordinary to win.  I decided to throw caution to the wind and  I reached down and gave Storm a big hug and told him how proud of him I was.  I thought,  “What the heck, if he is over exuberant because of this and he boils over, at least we would go out fighting.”  I didn’t want him to appear even slightly stifled.

Casting him off in the fifth, a cock pheasant flushed wild out in front of us that the guns could not shoot due to thick cover. At the end of the beat Storm trapped a hen.  It was hard to keep track of him in the brush, having to fight through pine trees.  His third bird flew back behind the line and again presented no shot.  The next bird, his fourth, was a good find that was killed out to the left.  The fifth flew down the course and was shot at.  Both judges and I didn’t really get a definite look at it.  I sent Storm on the retrieve where he re-flushed the bird into a pine tree.  This was a roller-coaster ride of a series!  I didn’t feel it possessed the kind of finesse that I like, but it was exciting and I loved it.
I was told to cast Storm again.  After quartering for a short while, he made another very positive find which turned out to be a cock pheasant that rocketed out to our left and was crumpled by the left hand gun.  Storm made a potentially difficult retrieve look very easy.  I would have loved to stay down for another ten birds!  Sometimes you just feel that way.

As I left the line that day, I was awfully proud of Storm as he’d been in two back-to-back Canadian Nationals and had finished all 12 series in style. However, I had witnessed some awesome dog work in this National.  I honestly didn’t know how this would shake out.  One thing was for sure, I had complete faith in the integrity of both judges, so whatever was going to be, was going to be.

“Do you believe in miracles?” I asked Vicky when I phoned her. Storm had won.

Link to an Additional Article by Paul McGagh, 2012

Freckles was from a litter of six puppies. Noted as an easy dog to train, her only fault was to bury an occasional bird, but only on rare occasions. Attentive, focused, quiet, honest. She literally burst on to the field trial scene and seemed to place in every trial she entered. Her first success was at the Snake River Field Trial in Idaho (3/10/95) where she placed first over her mother who took second and Lucy who took third. She was to win her championship the following fall in Wisconsin (11/9/95) by taking another first place.

She was a great retriever, a great marker, had a perfect mouth, lovely line manners, a good nose, a steady but brisk pace, was unafraid of dense undercover, was dead honest, smart, good looking, and reliable. She had it all. She spent 1996 living in leisure at Natchez Mississippi and in 1997, Arthur Person agreed to “loan” her to Vicky Thomas so she could have a dog to use in field trials. For a rank amateur, this bitch was like going from a 1960’s stick shift Volkswagen to driving a Cadillac. Unfortunately, it was a less than memorable, albeit brief, history.

It was a good thing that Freckles didn’t worry about being over handled and she rebounded easily when Paul began to run her again. Silky and well paced, she exemplified the classic busy Cocker action defining the breed. She had a good nose for tracking runners and uncommon good sense to stay steady when the runner flushed. She hunted for the love of doing it, covering ground whether or not scent was present. She enjoyed “training games” with bumpers or tennis balls. She demonstrated confidence by trying time and time again to figure out what you’d requested from her without becoming melancholy.

Freckles time with Vicky was to do her “political” harm. Several rumors sprang from those days, one of which, Freckles’ teeth had been surgically removed due to her bad temper. Both rumors had a grain of truth as Freckles did have bad teeth and she was prone to growl at other dogs. But, the damage to her teeth came from gnawing on the chain link fence enclosures from boredom or dental pain, but certainly not extraction. Her battles with other dogs were the natural result of her position as “Alpha Bitch.”

Then the rumors switched to imply Freckles was a flash in the pan and had taken some lucky early placements by unqualified judges. They now alleged she’d become “field trial” wise and proof was Vicky’s lack of success with her. The decision was made at the beginning of the summer of 1997 to terminate Vicky’s field trialing efforts and send Freckles back to retirement in Natchez, Mississippi.

Natchez returned to Glencoe on October 1, 1998, to train for the first 1998 Cocker National held in Michigan. She was terribly overweight and with less than three weeks to recondition she took second place in the National competition. She then again when home to Natchez for the next 23 months, returning to Glencoe for training October 1, 2000 to prep for the second Cocker National to be held in Wisconsin later that month.

In the 2000 Cocker National 4th series, Freckles ran under UK Judge Carl Colclough. The third and fourth series were held in Wisconsin woodlands. The gunning was very difficult and birds, by the fourth series, were everywhere. Freckles had no less than 10 contacts that were either traps or missed by the gunners and flew off. Finally, she had a retrieve. Her honest performance with those many fly away birds should have dispelled any lingering notion regarding her dishonesty at field trials and she was to become the 2000 National Champion! The photo to the right was taken the night Freckles won the Championship. Cheryl Person is to the left, Paul is holding Freckles and Arthur Person right. Unfortunately, Cheryl passed away in the next two years from her fight with leukemia.

(Note: Arthur Person’s contribution to the early Cocker Game has never been properly acknowledged. He, not only had two of the best bitch’s in America, he presided as the Field Committee Chairman for the years that established Cocker field trials and initial AKC Hunt Tests. A true southern gentleman and a great sportsman.)

Freckles made handling a dog look easy to watch and easy to do. Always under control, she possessed an abundance of natural ability. Not really rated as a brood bitch, her last litter of her pups was uniformly dismissed by the field trialing community because their tails had been docked too short! Nevertheless, she was bred three times and produced three Field Trial Champions and the first Amateur Champion, Oak Alley Golden Plover. She died in the spring of 2004.

Vitals

Date of Birth: April 30, 1993
Sex: Female
Sire: Maesdderwen Griffin
Dam: FC Nancarrow Rosy Mantel
Breeder: Arthur Person
Owner: Arthur Person
Breedings:

Bred three times:

FC Parkbreck Jet “Clip,”

FC Warrener’s Mistle Thrush “Porter”

FC Calgary of Toluca “Fudgy”

Mother of  Three Field Trial Champions:

FC Oak Alley Kestrel (Speck)

FC Oak Alley Peregrine (Spot)

FC/AFC Oak Alley Golden Plover (Monty)

Grandmother to Two  Field Trial Champions:

FC Shelmar’s Goin Jessie (first fourth generation American Bred Champion)

FC/AFC Corozon Cookie

Notable Progeny:

Warrener’s Reed Warbler (Mocha) O: Jack Jones

Oak Alley Avocet (Kona) O: Person

Oak Alley Cardinal (Rio)

Championed: November 9, 1995
Retired: October 31, 2003
Total Life Time Points: 35

Died: Spring 2004

Placements & Awards

Vitals

DOB:8/13/2010

Sex: Female

Sire: FC/NCFC Warrener’s California Quail MH

Dam: FC Warrener’s Green Kingfisher MH

Owner: Michael Delaney

Breeder: Dennis Joannides

Placements & Awards

Vitals

DOB: 9/11/2013

Sex: Male

Sire: I Am Zee Gangster of Love: No?

Dam: Winridge’s Fire Storm

Owner: Ron & Donna Hall

Breeder: Michael Delaney

FC earned on 10/3/2015

Click here for Pedigree

Placements & Awards

Vitals

DOB:4/7/2012
Sex: Female
Sire: FC Full of Mulligans
Dam: FC Quailmoor Quick
Owner: Byron Swanson
Breeder: Robert and Tawney Crawford

Placements & Awards