Beauty and the beast

By Alan Greenwood

In Stafford Somerfeilds dog world article a few weeks ago,he had a paragraph on choosing the right stud dog to supply the requierements that you desire in your breeding program.Mr Sommerfeild ended by saying “of course you choose a handsome looking boy or girl”. In retrospect he is probably correct but in my case the old adage goes-”the exception proves the rule”.

I met Miss Warrell from Brierly hill whilst campaining Miss Vengence in the late forties. She was very well known for her Le Loope affix as well as being the owner of Honest Joe. We discoverd that we had an intrest in the standard poodle and she knew I had a couple of bitches. She contacted me by mail with a proposal that interested me very much. She had a two year old Stafford bitch which was very compatiable to the lines Iwas breeding from and would be willing to exchange her for a Poodle puppy and wonderd if I would be intererted in the deal.( Poodels in those days were not as popular as they are these days).I agreed to the deal and in due course I went by bike and side car to pick up Honest Martha LeLoope from the train station

Martha was in a strong box with a heavy mesh top of ample room. Ilooked down through the mesh top. My heart sank at her appearance, I know I had accepted her as a brood bitch and that she was not up to show standard but I honestly did not think that meant she could not be shown to anyone else. Actualy she wasnt that bad although she wasnt free from faults.

Anyway I lifted her out of her box and placed her in the side car, the top being rolled back as it was midsummer and then I got a good look at her with apprehension. What I got back was two great honest eyes , that could look straight through me. If it is true of the saying the eyes are the windows of the soul then no wonder she was named Honest Martha and not Quasimodo. Her tail was wagging like mad- I thought “she has accepted me”,and then I began to think just what she thought of me, after all I was no catch myself and at least she knew who her father was,and had the papers to prove it. So I started the Norton and decided regaerdless of all her faults she was my kind of dog. Within days she had climbed to the top of the favoritism chart (and I did have a few dogs at the time)alongeside Bellerophon Dynamite(apptly named)not knowing that this bitch would in a couple of years time would disfigure Martha for life. There kennels were eighty yards apart with 12 gauge chain link running around them to a height of seven foot. But one day while rushing to work I neglected to lock Martha’s kennel door properly. Martha probably heard Dhina’s challenge jumped up at the door and made towards Dhina’s kennel. The wounds she recived from this fight didnt help her appearance-yet some claimed it did inprove her at least know she was only lippy on one side.

CH Bellerophon Billy boy

Sire ch Quizz of Wyncroft

Dam Honest Martha Le Loope