All Images © Kingpippin Dalmatian with Spottynews 2010 Site developed by http://www.caninewebdesigns.co.uk   http://www.noedc.com http://www.britishdalmatianclub.org.uk Loved, owned and shown by Keith Taylor and Sheila Mackinnon . The story begins way back in 1980 when Sheila bought her first dalmatian puppy called “Sammy” and joined the North of England Dalmatian Club (now a Committee member editing Carriage Dog Chronicle & writing up show results). Sammy was very much a family dog, alternating between her gran, who lived with Sheila at the time, and her parents who lived just around the corner. He was never very obedient but used to go to classes, where on a good day he might even win something. He also enjoyed agility. The main problem with that was he wasn’t obedient enough to do it off the lead, so Sheila herself was pretty damn fit in them days too. Sammy lived life to the full and enjoyed a ripe old age of 14 years 6 months. Dalmatians are a big part of our lives, a dalmatian called Sammy as already mentioned, then a pair of male dalmatians , the first one called Monty, then two years later came Ike, then came another pair of female dalmatians, not both at once, called Jazz and Rosie. Sadly the three male dalmatians died of old age and one female died young, so we are now left with just one female dalmatian. I would love a couple more male dalmatians, just have to convince “er indoors”. I met Sheila in early 1988 and on New Year’s Eve of that year I joined the family. Knowing Sammy already there were no problems on that score. Not long afterwards two Rottweilers came to stay, initially for a couple of weeks which turned into 8 years! Sadly the Rottweilers died in the same year as Sammy, and so we were dogless and bereft of canine company for a while. That is until we went to the NoEDC open show at Cleckheaton in the March of 1996 and fell in love all over again with dalmatians. About this time we also joined the British Dalmatian Club. At that show someone introduced us to Penny Somerwill (now Mrs Penny Ward) who had a litter of pups at the time. We went to see them and of course the rest is a foregone conclusion - we got Monty. Getting Ike some two years later just seemed the natural thing to do. Now to the present ..... 2005! The 10th of January to be precise, is when we finally took the plunge and brought home our new addition to the family - a little baby girl called Jazz (Frankish Desert Wind, sired by Miragua the Explorer x Frankish Mercedes). She, of course, was Monty’s niece and so like him in her ways. Also in February we were granted the affix “Kingpippin” (see the history of Kingpippin). Sheila took early retirement this year too, providing more opportunities to get out and about, and we have enjoyed many days out at shows. Later in 2005 we lost our beloved Frankish Spring Trouper - he is now playing with his sire and dam, Frankish Colour Trouper and Ch Streamline Star Turn of Frankish. 2007! We get another baby girl called Rosie (Frankish Desert Rose for Kingpippin), sired by our boy Ch Frankish Desert Trouper x Frankish Zenith, with whom we have similarly enjoyed many days out. Very sadly in 2009 we had to part with our first champion and stud dog, Ike. He now runs free with his sire and dam, Ch Cocheperro One to Remember and Streamline Mirage of Frankish. So many memories of good times, but the spirit of both our “boys” lives on with their relatives, our “girls”. All of our dalmatians have been black spotted, with the latest, Rosie, being the most heavily spotted we have owned. So very very sadly in 2010 we lost Rosie at just 3 years old, an event we are still recovering from. Having just one dalmatian in the house seems so strange now. Both Sheila and I were born in Southport, so it was nice to discover that it was the home town of the late Miss R. C. Monkhouse and the very well known "Cabaret" affix. As to the future, well we shall have to wait and see! http://www.dalmatiancluboflscotland.co.uk http://www.dogworld.co.uk/ http://www.the-kennel-club.org.uk Total Hits for  June 17689  Click on The Boys for Frankish Hope and Glory