Pembroke corgis were chosen after a lot of careful research (I was only 11 or12 at the time), and because my parents vetoed my first choice – a German Shepherd!

Heidi, Carousel Crispin Belle CDX, was the first of so many corgis for me, and although she produced the first litter under the ‘Anwyl’ prefix in 1961, she was not the foundation bitch.

Heidi was retired to obedience competition and she starred at that.  Here she is – winning first place at one of her early trials!

By 1962 I’d been to a Specialty show (Miss Ann Biddlecombe), and decided I wanted a really good Pembroke corgi. Although three of Heidi’s litter, sired by her grandsire Ch Crusader of Cowfold (Imp), had been CC winners, I’d already set my sights higher!

On a visit to Glyndwr Kennels (Valerie Russell) I saw a lovely young bitch by Int Ch Sealord of Wey (Imp).  She had just been bred to a son of Masterpiece, and I boldly ordered her “best daughter”.  Four months later Glyndwr Dark Intrigue (Gaye) arrived. She came on the overnight express and we collected her at Wellington Railway Station. She was everything I had hoped for, and more!  Valerie Russell continued to offer help and guidance to me for many years.

Gaye was bred to another son of Masterpiece, (against Valerie’s advice!!) and two of that resulting litter were the first two Anwyl Champions, and their wins earned their dam NZ’s Top Brood Bitch award the following year!  It was the first of many times: I always expected the Anwyl girls to produce my next generation, ‘to order’ and in style.

Eighteen months later Gaye died during a caesarean operation for her second litter.  C-sections were not nearly as safe or routine as they are today.  That was probably my all time low.  I didn’t breed another litter for several years.  When I did, it was from one of her champion daughters, leased back, and bred to Int Ch Corgwn Shillelah (Imp).

That breeding produced just one puppy.  She had so much to live up to – but she did!  She was Ch Anwyl Enchantress – well named as it happened as she just captivated the Judges from the first time she walked into the ring.   

 

I recall part of her critique from her first Best In Show, aged 14 months: "a delicious witch, and remarkably a good Corgi". She won BIS (A/B) two years in succession at Wellington K.C. - one of NZ's biggest shows at the time.

In the meanwhile, she was bred to her own sire and two daughters, (Ch.) Danielle and Danetta were exported to Bruce, my future husband in Queensland.  Danielle won three successive challenges at corgi club shows and is behind current winners.  She had that rare combination of being a perfect house pet and a sparkling show bitch - as did her daughter Ch Anwyl Antoinette, dam of NZ & Aust Ch Anwyl Dreamtime, and he (Timothy) inherited it too!  By his second birthday he has six A/B Best in Shows and seven Reserve BIS wins, 14 BIG and his progeny were winning all over the country.

 

Enchantress’ four daughters by Mabinogi Masquerade (Imp) also won and bred on well.  One, Enchanted Gold, was sold to Bowmore Kennels in Victoria and became the grand-dam of Ch Bowmore More Time.  However it was her third litter, by Betty and Max Schmarr’s Eng Ch Wyeford Black Tweed (Imp) that ensured her place in corgi history.  Four dog pups (3 tris, 1 R/W) was not what we had planned on, but the red & white was to become the great NZ & Aust Ch Anwyl Snow Dragon CD, CDX – Jamie.
Jamie fitted right into the Anwyl tradition.  He won from his debut as a baby puppy and he produced big winners from his proving litter.

For eleven years he was either NZ Top Stud or runner-up and he produced 23 champions.

He won five Specialty Best in Shows at a time when competition was very high, and many Res BISs to his own daughters!

Jamie’s most famous producing daughter was the pretty tri Ch Anwyl Starry Night (ex a daughter of Eng Ch Kydor Cossack).  She won her first CC from Puppy class at the NZ National Show, and finished with seven consecutive challenge wins, but topped her show record in the whelping box!

She still holds the NZ record - Top Brood Bitch five times.  She produced ten champions, nine of which were Best in Show winners, and five of those were at Specialties.  The remaining one did win a National Show CC!

They all went on to produce champions, except for home owned Ch Anwyl Marsala. ‘Marsala’ was a wonderful companion and a fun showgirl, but never got pregnant. 

She had an exciting show career both in the all breeds ring with her best win being Best in Group and Reserve Best in Show at the NZ National in 1982, (following on from BIG at the National the previous year).  In the specialty ring she was also a BIS winner.

From Starry Night’s final litter sired by NZ & Aust Ch Anwyl Dreamtime, (a son of Ch Bowmore More Time and Aust Ch Anwyl Antoinette), Ch Anwyl Gold Star Dream was set to carry on the brood bitch tradition.

She was Top Brood Bitch twice, and bred to our new import, Ch Belroyd Ocean Flyer, she gave us the lovely Ch Anwyl Flight of Fancy – another big winner and once again Top Brood Bitch (twice).

 

For years we had been able to use the pick of the stud dogs other people had imported from England, but about this time we felt the choice was no longer what we wanted, so on a trip to UK in 1984 we selected NZ & Aust Ch Belroyd Ocean Flyer (as a puppy). 

 

‘Luke’ was by Eng Ch Blands Status Symbol out of Am Ch Belroyd Meadow Lark.  I remember Idris saying, when we first went to view Luke, that he was “just a plain little red dog”. How funny that seems now!  He was a perfectly sound and very balanced dog with his sire’s wonderful personality, and that took him to the top.

A multiple A/B Best in Show winner, he won the inaugural NZ Supreme Dog Contest in 1989 (BIS winners only), and he was retired from the ring after winning the CC from the Veteran Class at New Zealand’s first Corgi National.  He was Leading Stud Dog from 1987 to 1991 and sired between 25 and 30 champions.

A second dog was needed to put to all Luke’s lovely daughters and Ch Belroyd Stormbird  (Merlin) was chosen for that task.

We also imported his litter sister Ch Belroyd Sanderling (Specialty BIS winner) and from the same litter came Eng Ch Belroyd Shore Lark and the very influential Am Ch Belroyd Seabird – quite a litter for the beautiful tricolour Eng Ch Belroyd Popinjay!!

 

Merlin won Res CC (to his uncle Eng Ch Belroyd Puffin) at his first Specialty, but was beaten by his sister Sanderling for Puppy in Show under the noted breed specialist Miss Paddy Date. Always the stayer, he won his first A/B BIS from Puppy at Wellington KC and his last about six years later!  Merlin’s proving litter ex ‘Flight of Fancy’ produced two Best in Show winners – Ch Anwyl Fancyman (died very young in a farm accident) and probably our brightest star of all, the once-in-a-lifetime Ch Anwyl Tickle My Fancy. 

 

‘Tickle’ won her first BIS at her first Specialty from the Minor Class and her second Best in Show at her second, from Puppy!  Although never shown very extensively, she finished her career with ten Best in Shows, including The NZ National Show in 1993. 

Tickle’s unshown sister Anwyl Fancy Pants is dam of the twins NZ & Aust Ch Anwyl Harvest Gold and NZ Aust & Am Ch Anwyl Harvest Moon, and Tickle has bred on through her daughter by Harvest Moon.  Another male from this combination, NZ & Aust Ch Anwyl The Fancy Fox, was a good producer in both NZ & Australia.
 

Unfortunately there were no suitably line-bred males for Tickle and the third Belroyd import Knight Flyer (Gareth) arrived too late - she’d grown old waiting!  We were fortunate to be able to borrow Ch Cassentra Ingenue to breed to Merlin (by then quite old himself) hoping to produce a nice young Merlin daughter that we could later breed to Gareth. 

The resulting bitch, Ch Anwyl Whirl Wind, was bred to Gareth, as planned.  Whirl Wind has produced the wonderful ‘windy kids’ (six champions), and not to be outdone her litter brother ‘Excalibur’ is a Grand Champion and a very consistent winner for ‘Windyle’ in Victoria, which brings us right up to the present.

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