Dillion's Story

The beginning of 1991 was a sad time for Clumber Spaniels at Bowhouse with the young and very promising bitch Erinveine Quality put down after a long, undiagnosed illness; but as the old saying goes "When one door closes another one opens", and so it was at Bowhouse. In August 1991 I received a frantic phone call from Bob Wright, the owner of a Cavalier I had bred and a young Clumber dog from the Irvings namely Erinveine Regal--Dillion to his friends. Dillion was bored and lonely ( the Cavalier being inside) and annoying the neighbours, Bob was in fear for Dillions life. It was decided that Dillion would come and stay with me until an alternative home could be found.
Having not seen him since he was an 8 week old puppy I was stunned when a superb 14 month old Clumber walked through my front door. Once I had checked the most important unseen bits (testicles-two, bite-perfect) I rang Jan Irving, explained the situation and asked if she would mind me showing him (he had been sold as a working pet).
After some intensive training Dillion made his debut in November 1991. He came second in a large all breeds junior sweepstakes class. His championship debut came two weeks later with a Runner up Best in Exhibit in Group- the following week Best in Group. I thought at the time, can it get any better than this? Well yes it could Dillion continued to write the Clumber record books with many firsts for the breed: