Applecote Golden Retrievers
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'Where temperament comes as standard'
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About Us
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Having lost our cocker spaniel to old age my parents decided that the next dog to enter our lives should be a golden retriever. Renowned for their temperament and with a young family this breed made perfect sense. So in May 1985 Penny arrived having seen an advert in the local newspaper that a litter was available local to where we live. Back then there was no visiting the litter several times, getting to know the breeder or even being placed on a waitlist.
We contacted the lady, arranged a visit and the following day bought Penny home and so our kennel began.
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Not knowing anything about lines or pedigrees at the time it was only some 8 years later when we bought our next golden from a show kennel that we realised our lovely Penny was actually of good breeding with many of the top winning kennels of her day in her lines....Sansue, Westley, Glennessa, Camrose, Melfricka all kennels with the exception of Sansue that are now in the history books.
We are Lesley, Teresa and Michael Layland and together with our dogs we are Applecote Golden Retrievers a small show kennel based in Leicestershire in the heart of rural England.
Our dogs are first and foremost much loved and valued members of the family, who live in our home, share the comfort of our sofa (and in Esther's case sometimes the bed too) and on a cold day huddle around the fire and keep warm.
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We are proud to have breed; a South African Champion,
dogs who have gained entry into the Kennel Club stud book; qualifying them for Crufts for life.
Championship show winning dogs as well as Open show winning dogs too.
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Our dogs regularly compete in shows throughout the year, up and down the country but when not at shows they are just like any other dog enjoying walks and time off lead, getting mucky and definitely getting up to monkey business ;)
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......And our life with Goldens all started in 1985 when we bought our very first one, Penny.
Lesley with an 8wk old Penny
Sadly in 1993 we had to say goodbye to Penny, still in her prime she was taken suddenly ill and despite the vets best efforts to save her she sadly passed away. For the first time our house was without a dog. The atmosphere had gone, there was no life in the house and all of the routines and habits had now disappeared. We couldn't live without a dog so the search was on for another puppy. After ringing around numerous breeders we finally had a breakthorough. A breeder had a litter due in a few weeks and we were able to put our name down on her waitlist for a bitch so then it was just a waiting game and keeping everything crossed for a puppy. So in November 1993 Esmee (Dunsaron Anna Felicia) joined our family. Encouraged a little by the breeder and fancying a go at showing we entered the show ring in the following March and at our first ever show we gained a second place. Shocked and elated and lots of kind words from the judge and Esmee's sire we caught the showing bug.
Penny at around 6 years old
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"Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one is a life diminished."
Dean Koontz