HOW IT STARTED...

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I have always loved dogs, and had a few mixed breed dogs over the years, as well as Springer Spaniels and a Labrador, after having a litter with my little Jack Russell Terrier, Peggy I decided I might like to try my hand at showing/breeding a pedigree KC registered terrier and began looking for a suitable breed. The Cairn Terrier came onto my radar as my 2 daughters loved the film ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and of course Toto was a Cairn so I did some research and decided this was the breed for us.

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I spoke to a few people who were well respected in the world of showing Cairns, notably Leonne Spence (Harlight) and Norma Newton (Strathinver) but Milly and Alf Jennings (Doonrae) advised us that they knew of a litter of puppies in our area, they had a lot of Doonrae breeding in their pedigree and I had my heart set on a dark brindle bitch, but when we arrived to view the puppies the dark one was spoken for. At that time I didn’t really know what I should be looking for in a show dog so just selected the wheaten bitch puppy that seemed friendliest, she was our first Cairn we called her Judy, the year was 1993. After we had our first litter of puppies in 1995 (with no affix) we requested a few names for a new Affix which were turned down by the KC, so Alf & Milly suggested we have a separate interest in their affix & so the Barnsley branch of the Doonrae kennel started. We were honoured that Alf & Milly Jennings allowed us to share their affix as they had been great ambassadors for the breed for many years. 

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Judy wasn’t really a show girl, so later we turned to Alf and Milly for advice, we purchased a bitch from them called Tara (Doonrae Truly) she went on the produce Bonnie (Doonrae Xema Two) who in turn produced our lovely boy Digger (Doonrae Dragoon). Unfortunately over the years we lost the original Doonrae line, but in 2004 we were lucky to buy in our first show champion from Chris & Phil Roberts, this was Becky ( Ch Cannwood Kasta Spell at Doonrae). Becky just loved being in the ring and was such a character. This turned out to be a very successful line in the show ring, Becky’s daughter Logan (Ch Doonrae Joie de Vivre) was our first home bred champion, and Logan produced Tawnie (Ch Doonrae Lexicon of Love). Tawnie had 3 litters of puppies, we kept Skye from the 2nd litter, and Harley from the 3rd, unfortunately Harleys show career stalled due to Covid, but his son took Hugo up the baton, Harley was mated to Dory and they produced 2 nice litters of puppies,  My show travelling companion Brenda Shannon (Brenndarcy) kindly let Dory join us in 2016 and she became a champion in 2019. Dory was a great addition to our Cairn family  & Dory is now retired to the Norfolk coast, living a wonderful life with her companion Freddie the Chihuaha. Hugo (Ch Doonrae Sentinel) is now a Show Champion, with 4 CC's and 2 RCC's, his daughter Pepper is hoping to join him in the show team. Tilda (Rasken's Joan Jett for Doonrae), joined us in 2020 from the Rasken's kennel in Sweden, she is Pepper's mum. 

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Both myself and my husband Chris are involved in showing Cairns, we both award CC’s in the breed, and in 2018 I was honoured to be asked to judge the Cairn Terrier Club of Sweden’s Championship show. We are also both committee members for the Midland Cairn Terrier Club, and are members of 3 of the UK Cairn Terrier Clubs. I also have the title of Puppy Liaison Representative for the Midland CTC try to help people find a puppy from a reputable source & offer advice around buying a puppy. We are on the committee of The Sporting Terrier Association of Yorkshire.

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We live in South Yorkshire & only keep and breed a small number of dogs, as they all live mostly in the home with us, so they are used to the busy household with comings and going of family and grandchildren. We occasionally have puppies or older dogs available to suitable forever homes. Please feel free to contact me if you have any Cairn related questions and I will do my best to help or point you in the right direction. I hope you enjoy our website & welcome any feedback.