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 1980when Sheila bought her first Dalmatian puppy called “Sammy” and then joined the North of England Dalmatian Club. 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 he use to go to classes where on a good day he might win something, and he also enjoyed agility. Sammy lived life to the full and enjoyed a ripe old age of 14 years 6 months. 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 a couple of weeks which turned into eight years! Sadly the Rottweilers died in the same year as Sammy, so we were bereft of canine company for a while. That is until we went to the NoEDC Open show in March 1996 and fell in love all over again with Dalmatians. At that show, someone introduced us to Penny Somerwill (now 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” (Frankish Spring Trouper) and Dalmatians once again became a big part of our lives. We got hooked on showing, and getting “Ike” (Frankish Desert Trouper) some two years later just seemed the natural thing to do. 2005 was when we finally took the plunge, and brought home a baby girl Dalmatian called “Jazz” (Frankish Desert Wind at Kingpippin). She, of course was Monty’s niece, and so like him in her ways. Sheila took early retirement this year too, providing more opportunities to get about, and we enjoyed many days out at shows. Later that year we lost our beloved Monty. 2007 – we got another baby girl, called “Rosie” (Frankish Desert Rose for Kingpippin) sired by our boy Ike, now a champion, with whom we similarly enjoyed many days out. Very sadly in 2009, we had to part with our first champion & stud dog, Ike. So many memories of good times, but the spirit of both our boys lived on in their relatives, our “girls”. All of our Dalmatians have been black spotted, with Rosie  being the most heavily spotted we’ve owned. In 2010 our Dalmatian family of two girls was cruelly reduced by the sudden death of Rosie, a heartbreaking experience as she was only 3 years old. But we’d been thinking about possibly getting another boy, and the house was so quiet with just one Dalmatian in it so we took the plunge again and now we have “Mac” (Frankish Hope and Glory for Kingpippin) who is Jazz’ nephew. Both Sheila and I were both born in Southport, so it was nice to discover it was also the home town of the late Miss R C Monkhouse and the very well known “Cabaret” affix. As to the future, 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  July 42646 Last updated 30/08/2010.     Q? Dalmatians or Dalmations A Dalmatians Q? dalmations or dalmatians A dalmatians Q? Dalmations or Dalmatians A Dalmatians  Click on a photo for a larger image