Gwyndara

History of GWYNDARA
Leeanne & Trevor Jones

We began sharing our lives with Irish Setters in 1974 and Ch. Taraglen Juturna, our foundation bitch was purchased in 1979. Tara and her nephew, Ch. Taraglen Plantaganet, and his son, Ch. Kelibri Carbon Copy, were the cornerstones of our kennel. Tara only produced one litter of six puppies (sired by Carbon Copy) which included Ch. Gwyndara Georgie Girl and Ch. Gwyndara Play It Again C.D. Georgie bred back to her grandsire, Plantaganet, produced four champions, Ch. Gwyndara Who’s That Girl, Ch. Gwyndara The Girl Is Mine, Ch. Gwyndara The Bitch Is Back and Ch. Gwyndara Open To Offers.

Open To Offers won the challenge certificate and was Best Opposite Sex at the 1990 Irish Setter Club of Victoria specialty under Irish judge, Mr. Tom Creamer and is the sire of the first frozen semen litter in the U.S. using imported Australian semen. A bitch from this breeding, Am. Ch. Regalaire Sweet Adelaide won her first major at the Western Specialty from the puppy class and finished before two years of age. Ch. Gwyndara The Bitch Is Back is the dam of Am. Ch. Gwyndara Southern Cross (Cobber) who was imported into the U.S. by John Savory and has produced 18 American champions to date including the #3 Irish Setter for 1998, BIS BISS Ch. Avon Farm Northern Dancer. He is also the sire of Am.Ch.Dunholm Murrumbidgee who was Best of Opposite Sex in Sweepstakes at the Irish Setter Club of America National in 1997. Cobber was campaigned to his title by Barbara and Gail Riegle and had settled in so well at Regalaire that it was decided that this would be his home

Ch. Gwyndara Who’s That Girl (Bertie) has proven to be an exceptional producer and has to her credit 4 Australian Grand Champions, 10 Australian champions and 1 American champion. Her champion offspring include 6 Best in Show winners and 9 Best in Group winners. Bertie’s first litter was back to her grandsire, Carbon Copy, (producing 5 champions including the BIS winners Ch. Gwyndara From A Distance and Ch. Gwyndara Chain Reaction) and her second and third to Am. Ch. Dunholm Windsor. We imported semen from Windsor as we felt we needed to go out but wanted to retain our type. Windsor descends from a superb bitch line and is heavily bred on Ch. Tirvelda Michaelson. He has more than fulfilled our expectations of him as a sire.

Without a doubt Bertie’s most illustrious progeny are the littermates Grand Ch. Gwyndara Montpelier (Monty), Grand Ch. Gwyndara Go It Alone (Jonty), Grand Ch. Gwyndara You Wear It Well (Gabi) and their younger brother, Grand Ch. Gwyndara Total Eclipse (Clipper). All four are multi Best in Show winners. Monty was Runner Up Best In Show at the Irish Setter Association of NSW specialty in 1996, Sydney Royal challenge winner in 1998 and Canberra Royal challenge winner and best of breed in 1999. He came out of retirement to win a lovely veteran class at the Irish Setter Club of Victoria specialty in 2002. Gabi won the challenge certificate and runner up BOB at Melbourne Royal (Australia’s largest Royal Show) in 1996 and again in 1998 and was reserve challenge at the Irish Setter Ass. of N.S.W. in 1996 and 1999 and Adelaide Royal in 1996. She was also challenge winner at Canberra Royal 1999 and The Setter Club of South Australia 1999 where her younger sister, Ch. Gwyndara Hearts on Fire, won reserve challenge. In 2001 Gabi won an impressive breed and then went on to Runner Up Best in Show at the Victorian Gundog Club Championship Show. She finished 2001 in “Grand” style winning the breed, Best Exhibit in Group and Runner Up Best in Show at Lancefield Kennel Club Show in an entry of almost 1500 – the challenge at this show made up her grand champion title. Clipper at just 16 months of age won the group and runner up BIS at the Sporting Dog Club of South Australia in Adelaide the day after winning his class at our National in 1998 and was Best in Show at the Setter Club of South Australia Championship Show in 1999. Ending 2000 on a high note, Clipper won BIS at Yarra Valley Kennel Club, the last show in Melbourne for the year. 2001 saw Clipper winning heavily at breed level, whilst adding more group and show wins to his tally. Among his many wins, he took the BOB spot at Sunbury Kennel Club show under a gundog specialist judge from Hungary. The year culminated in him being named the Victorian Irish Setter Club’s dog of the year and he repeated this in 2002, 2003 and has just won this award for the fourth time in 2004 . He was reserve challenge dog at the Irish Setter Association of New South Wales specialty in 2002 under a breeder/judge from England. Later in the year at the Victorian Women’s Dog Club (part of the Melbourne Cup festival of shows) Clipper went Best in Show in an entry of 1650 dogs under Mrs. Ferelith Somerfield of the UK and the next day at the Sunbury Kennel Club show he won the breed again under Setter specialist, Mr. Robert Dunsmuir of the USA. Clipper won the dog challenge at Sydney Royal in 2003 and he repeated this win in 2004 and again in 2005 going on to take Best of Breed and making the cut to the final 8 in the group at both these shows. He was Australia’s No. 1 Irish Setter (Ozdog System) in 2003.

Grand Ch. Gwyndara Go It Alone has had a phenomenal show career becoming Australia’s first Grand Champion Irish Setter at just 4 years of age. He has won 75 Best Exhibits in Group which have resulted in 25 Best in Show and 19 Runner Up to Best in Show wins. He was BIS at the Victorian Gundog Club Show in 1996, the Winter ACT Gundog Show 1998, the Summer ACT Gundog Show 1998 and runner up BIS at Southern Gundog Club 1998. He also won Best in Group and Runner Up to Best in Show at the very prestigious Sydney Spring Fair 1998. Jonty topped off a very successful year in 1998 by being awarded top Irish Setter dog in New South Wales (Irish Setter Association of N.S.W point score). He ended 1999 as Australia’s #1 Irish Setter (both systems) and started the new millennium in fine style winning Best in Show at Cranbourne Dog Club. He finished 2000 again as Australia’s #1 Irish Setter (both systems) winning Adelaide Royal Challenge and 3 more Best Exhibits in Show along the way. Showing he is not quite ready to retire just yet, Jonty won the challenge certificate at Canberra Royal 2001 and followed this up a couple of weeks later with his 19th BIS. He was Best of Breed at Adelaide Royal in 2001, winning another Best in Show a few days prior. At almost 8 ½ years of age, Jonty added another notch to his belt by winning BIS at the2002 Irish Setter Club of Victoria Specialty from the open class under breeder/judge Ronny Blomme from Belgium over an entry of 117 dogs and then just two weeks later he won the challenge certificate at Sydney Royal Show. One week after this win he took his 23rd Best in Show and then just two weeks later he won his 24th Best in Show in Melbourne under a panel of New Zealand judges. He was again #1 Irish Setter in 2001.

Clipper and Gabi’s son American Ch. Gwyndara Double Impact (Foster) was imported into the United States by Ginny Swanson of Tramore Irish Setters. He finished easily with 4 majors and has now produced quality offspring in several countries. His beautiful litter out of Ch. Tramore Elixir (Remy) has produced 5 American Champions to date with most of them taking major specialty wins. Out of Remy’s sister Liza (Ch. Tramore Endeavour) he has two champions to date.

At the end of 2002 we imported Regalaire She’s Got Rhythm from the kennels of Barbara and Gail Riegle in the USA. Gerry is out of Am. Ch. Gwyndara Colonial Girl (A.I.) who was imported into the US by John Savory and is one of the Windsor/Bertie kids. Gerry’s sire is Am. & Can Ch. Regalaire Jackeroo who is a Cobber son out of Am. Ch. Regalaire Angel of Music. We were thrilled when Gerry won the bitch challenge and was runner up best of breed to Clipper at Sydney Royal 2004.

From limited breeding, we are proud of our 31 Australian champions (including 4 Grand Champions), 3 American champions and 1 Singapore champion and our multi best in show winners from Plantaganet and Carbon Copy in the early days to our current crew. We are equally proud of our obedience title holders and those sired by our dogs, including Australia’s first OTCH Irish Setter Ch., OTCH Redpoint Queen of Hearts who is sired by Ch. Gwyndara Play It Again CD and is a Plantaganet granddaughter on her dam’s side. Our breeding program here in Australia has been rewarding and we are pleased to still see Plantaganet’s influence in our Irish. The use of our lines in the United States and now in Canada and Europe has been both interesting and exciting and we treasure the friendships we have formed through this beautiful breed in both hemispheres.

Leeanne gained her licence to judge Irish Setters at championship show level in 1999 and was delighted to judge the breed for the first time in Melbourne in March, 2000. Another highlight was judging sweepstakes at the Irish Setter Club of America National in 2003. She judged the Southern Irish Setter Club Specialty in Christchurch, New Zealand in November, 2005 and the Irish Setter Club of Jacksonville Specialty in Florida, USA in April, 2006. These appointments, along with judging the breed at all breed shows in Australia, have always been an honour and a joy.