A One's Cocker Spaniels
DOGS ... 

 
1959. Look at those Bling-Bling legs, they could run.
But more than anything they could JUMP. And long too.
Long enough for the gold medal. Year after year.
Am I a competitive kind of person?

... were always closer to my heart than humans (excluding six loved ones!). No matter what those beasts looked like -
they were my best friends. As early as in the 50s mixtures of no longer recognizable breeds were my favourite playmates
keeping a watchful eye on my doings; farmdogs, back-yard dogs, watchdogs, gun dogs, you name them, I had them!
Then came a New Foundland, a Foxterrier, West Highlands, Great Danes, a Bedlington and a Vorsteh.

Left: My parents bought the house in Linnegatan 38, Kumla, in 1959, my father renovated it and we moved in in 1960.
Right: Engelbrektsvägen 24 (grandparents' place & Ann's birthplace) in 1967, Kumla

Like a revelation I was literally called upon to go out and find myself a COCKER SPANIEL.
And so, on December 22, 1979, Josåfin - April Fire (by Kavora Night Patrol out of Finnwin April Love) -
was handed over to me by Anita Ängdal at a petrol station half way between Malmö and Jönköping.
This red lady never met a living creature who did not fall in love with her on the spot!

Östangård, Östanväg 104, Limhamn, my own family's first house, where the first A One's litter was born.

Disaster struck one summer day in late June 1985.
Whilst weeding among the roses on the front I heard a scream from my sister at the back of the house.
Nicke, our neighbour´s stuck-up poodle, had spotted our beloved Josåfin at the carpet-beating-stand,
where she was tied - just in case ... If I had owned a gun, Nicke´s owner would not have lived to see that evening.
Guess what he said when I brought Nicke´s doings to that constipated man´s face?
"You cannot blame ME for the hole in YOUR hedge!"
Out of that very first litter one dog, Nisse, lived until November 8, 2002 - 18 years old.
His ashes were spread on the garden path where he had played as a pup and trotted about in his old age,
dutifully fetching the Nerikes Allehanda from the letter box. Immensely missed by his mom and dad, my parents.

Amadéus, Goldilocks, Dom Perignon & My Fair Lady

Josåfin was sad when Nisse left to live with my parents. Accordingly she and I agreed to go and see a real English gentleman born and bred - Quettadene Insignia - the year after, to have a "purebred" litter. Josåfin had four puppies, two of which lived until the autumn of 2001. Another disaster occurred when, at the age of 8 weeks, the black bitch pup (My Fair Lady) from that litter bit off a flex and hovered between life and death for a week. Internal bleedings sealed her fate. The mating was repeated and Boogie (A One´s Little Queeny) was born, just as sweet as her mother.

Snäckvägen 7, Äppelviken

I applied at the Swedish Kennel Club for the name Beauchamp from Beauchamp Place in London, where I had spent many a jolly good evening. Unfortunately this name was rejected by the FCI. My second choice was A One´s, a name that I never really liked. It was taken from Lloyd´s classification register of ships. The letters indicate sizes, I think, and the figures equipment, or vice versa. Anyway, in the English language the expression A1 had developed into meaning TOP QUALITY.

Many years later I had to admit I had failed in maintaining the Josåfin/Boogie
temperament and soundness in my breeding program.

Åsbacken 8, Ålsten

That was when I spotted DECH VDHCH LUXCH DT BSG 93 94 EU SG 94 Blue Pearl Vom Rauhen Holz
and in 1995 a new era of success without precedent started, with the birth of Midnight Train vom Rauhen Holz.

Some 15 years later there was nothing more to gain. What was worse, the standard type cocker was extinct,
it was impossible to find a dog to mate my beauty to. Apart from the fact that quality puppies were not in demand.
I was finally cured.

Ann