It all began in 1980, when we were given our first Gsd named Sheba. She was 13 months old and had been in several homes before ours, as you can imagine after all the turmoil she had gone through in her short life she was a very nervous young lady indeed. But with lots of patience, kindness and love she blossomed into a truly loyal and trustworthy friend, a guardian of the family and home. Sheba completely changed our views on the German shepherd, which were at the time something like you could not believe, like you could not trust them, they are unreliable etc etc, what a load of rubbish that turned out to be. This female sparked something inside of me that still exists to this very day. When she sadly passed away I knew I had to get another Gsd.

In 1990 I purchased a young female called Mariebar Evi and named her Bella. She was bred by my good friend Marie Henshaw of the former Mariebar kennel. Bella was just what I needed at the time, she was very well constructed and had plenty of furnishings, but more importantly a lovely character. In 1992 she was mated to Sol and produced for us our foundation bitch of the Sorento kennels. She was named Annie's showgirl of Sorento or Suzie as she was known to us.

Suzie

Over the next couple of years she developed into a real stunner, beautifully constructed, a rich black and gold colour with a truly faultless character. In my opinion though she was too substantial to show, but an ideal breeding bitch. What a producer she turned out to be, every litter she had was pure quality. There is an old saying that goes around and it goes something like this. A bull is only half the herd or to put it in a nut shell, the females are just as important as the male when it comes to producing a litter.

Annie

In 1997 Suzie was mated to a young male called Kolinga Jaguar owned by Andrew and Colleen Brown of the former Kolinga Kennels. Jaguar was very well bred carrying bloodlines to Bedwins, Vikkas and Darrway. The result of this mating produced an outstanding litter, we retained a beautiful black and gold female named Clarrisa Royale at Sorento or Annie as she was known to us. Over the next few months Annie started to develop into something rather special, by now I was getting more than excited, could this be the one destined for the show ring. It had been a full 10 years since Sol had lost that damned tooth but as I have previously stated the showing seed had been set when she was 10 months of age. Annie started her ring craft training a month later she was entered in her first show which just happened to be the two day national, the venue Weston Park, the judges on the day were Hans Peter Fetton ( SV ) for anyone that is not aware the two day national is the largest and best show in the Uk throughout the calendar year. Every one who owns a shepherd of any merit takes part at this show. On the day there were close to 38 entries in the puppy bitch class, after the individual assessment by the judge to my amazement Annie was pulled out in second position, finishing 6th in the final line up. What a result I thought, this is my first show competing against the top females in the country, Annie went from strength to strength winning seven open shows and two best of breeds. By the time Annie was 2 years of age she was campaigned at Championship shows only, gaining verbal critiques of Excellent under every judge that gave a verbal grading. She was superbly constructed, her movement was effortless with her long powerful stride she glided around the ring, but more important than all of the above all her character was as good as it gets. Here's me competing with the best and doing more than alright,things could not be better.

Gypsy

In 1998 Annie was mated to the Irish Champion Quarryvale Nero, another well bred dog carrying Bedwin and Shotaan bloodlines. Nero was a very well constructed male with a lovely character, his movement was as good as anything that I have ever seen to this day. From this litter I retained a puppy bitch : Sorento Hypnotic and named her Gypsy. At the time of the mating I was informed by Nero's owner Mr.Paddy O'Keefe that the Nero line was a slow maturing one and not to panic, just wait and let her develop. How true his words of wisdom were, by the age of 2 and a half Gypsy had become a real beauty of correct shape and size, very feminine. In fact she is the most feminine bitch that we have ever had, along with this Gypsy has a truly faultless character. She was shown at a few Championship shows, making some excellent placing, but we soon realised that the show scene was not for her. She just didn't like it at all. It was decided not to show her again, despite a promising show career, with us the dog comes first every time.

Sol

The day Sol passed away is a day that I cannot ever forget, here one day and gone the next, he was my mate, my constant companion, my boy, no one else's, he was mine, we had that special bond that rarely comes along in anyone's lifetime. If money could buy him back he would be here now, by my side, but sadly it cannot be. I know in my heart we will meet again. I find this tribute to Sol emotionally very difficult but I have to do it, the only consolation for me is that his blood will live on forever through my bitch line.

Goodnight and God bless you Sol.

Banner

In 2001 I decided to purchase another male, I went along to the Astana kennels owned by my good friends Tom and Julie Bridge to look at a litter of 6 week old puppies, one male in particular caught my eye, that's the only one for me I said. At 8 weeks old he duly arrived at my home, his name Astana Santo at Sorento, we named him Banner which was the nickname of my favourite Uncle Bill, a giant of a man but with a heart of gold. Left to his own devices Banner was in to everything from day 1, he really took a fancy to my wife Rita's pride and joy, her flower bed of daffodils, tulips, all the border plants, two clematis and God knows how many fuchsias, nothing was spared. This dog has got to go she screamed, not bloody likely I thought, if he goes I go. He had fired my imagination just like Solomon had all those years ago, I just knew he was something special. Call it gut instinct if you like but I knew, I just knew that this dog was destined for greatness. Banner was so easy to train for the show ring, he took to it like a duck to water, he loved it. I entered him at only two Champ shows as a puppy, he finished 5th at the first one and won his class at the second. Later I entered him in the junior dog class at the national, he finished in third place against the Uk's best young males of that time.

Crufts 2003

To qualify for this world famous dog show, your dog has to finish 1st to 3rd in it's class at a championship show, this is not to difficult if you own a good specimen of the breed, but to actually win a class at Crufts is very much harder. In fact a different kettle of fish altogether. As Banner had qualified he was duly entered in the special yearling class, this is for the dogs aged 18 to 24 months. The judge on the day was Pat Wills my handler Anthony Lane. After the judges initial assessment of each dog, Banner was pulled out in second place. The judge then set the dogs in motion, Banner was moving beautifully under the expert guidance of my expert handler Anthony, go on keep it up I thought to myself, we might just get moved up a place to 1st. I was literally speechless when the judge signalled Anthony to move up, what a day to remember, my first time at Crufts with Banner and he wins his class. Brilliant !!

Crufts 2004

By this time Banner was approaching three years of age and what a difference a year had made. He had matured into a truly magnificent male. On the day of Crufts he looked stunning, he was entered into the Limit class, his handler Michelle Harper. The judge was Mr. Ian Blackshaw, after the individual assessment the judge then called out the numbers of six dogs, Banner being the sixth and final dog. The rest of the dogs were then asked to leave the ring, great I thought there were some good un's in the class and we have made it through to one of the six finalists. The handlers were then asked to put the dogs into a show stance by the judge. Now Banner had been trained from a very early age to walk into a show stance, there was to be no touching his leg or anything like that with him, he just stood there naturally, never moving a muscle while the judge went slowly down the line having a good look at all the dogs in from of him. It was then time to set the dogs in motion, Banner going round the ring was breathe taking, everything was spot on, masculine head, pronounced wither, beautiful top line, extremely fit and well muscled with a huge ground covering gait, it was effortless and poetry in motion. Michelle was getting the best out of Banner possible, just then the judge signalled Michelle to move up a place, great I thought we might just finish third if we're lucky, however Banner went straight to first place and stayed there, I could not believe my eyes, we had only been to Crufts twice and Banner had won his class both times. What a dog.

The run off

After the classes have finished, every unbeaten dog is called into the ring, for what we term as the run off. This is for the CC or challenge certificate, this coveted title is awarded by the judge for what he considers to be the best dog from all the class winners. The format being about the same as what had gone on before, the dogs were placed in a show stance and again set in motion. After several laps the dogs were brought to a halt, the handler again places the dog into a show stance for the judges to make his final decision, walking slowly up and down the line.

As I have previously stated is not difficult to qualify for Crufts but to win a class is extremely hard, but to have a Crufts champion what do you the reader think.

Ruby

In 2003 our foundation bitch Annie's showgirl at Sorento was mated to Banner, we retained a black and gold female puppy who was Kennel club registered as Sorento Octavia, her pet name being Ruby. Over the next few months she developed into a carbon copy of her Mother, richly colored, excellent bone, constructional better, with a truly faultless character, too big to show like her Mother, a brood bitch of real quality. Exceptional breeding bitches are rare, these are the ones that will produce quality puppies in every litter, hence this is why we will be retaining at least one of her brood at some later date.

Molly

In 2004 we mated Sorento Hypnotic to a superbly bred young male ' Shotaans Cuba '' he is a son of the Sieger Bax Von der Luisenstrasse and the VA female Sezanna von der Kahler heide, but just as important, Cuba had a rock solid temperament. We retained a bitch puppy, Sorento Quanita and named her Molly. Like her Mother it was well over two years before she looked the part. molly is a medium size bitch, with a glamorous black and rich gold colour coat, very strong but feminine head, beautifully constructed, broad thighs and more bone formation than any than any other bitch we have had. Needless to say at the time of writing this I am awaiting the arrival of her first litter with great optimism.

Thank you

I would like to Thank the following people, Andrew and Colleen Brown for getting me started in the showing of shepherds, Maria Henshaw, Glynis Qualter and Marie Davies for helping with Banner's early training. Brigid Newlands, Anthony Lane and Michelle Baker for handling Banner to most of his successes.

Dennis Vessey and Brigid Newlands for passing on their knowledge of the Gsd to me over the years, they have helped me enormously, my mate Big Al, my kennel manager as I like to call him, for his tireless help and dog minding over the last few years. And finally my wife Rita who has put up with me and the dogs. God bless you all.