We are Becki and Jamie Belcher and our children Matthew, Joshua and Emily, we live in Wiltshire and are very active in working all our dogs.
As a family we have shared our lives with dogs since 2002. Leos since 2002, a Border Terrier since 2006, a Sheltie since 2011 and our latest edition, a Many Tears Rescue Centre puppy (pug/cavie cross) called Cooper, who joined us just in time for Christmas 2011.
Our first Leo was Willow a wonderful Leo with a fantastic temperament and with her we had our first and only litter of Leo pups in 2005, from this litter we kept our beautiful boy Ti, a complete softy who is a keen Water Rescue Work dog and qualified to level B.
In November of 2005 we welcomed to our family a beautiful Leo girl called Indi, sadly she passed away very suddenly in 2010 and we miss her very much.
In 2006 my son Matthew chose to have a dog for his 9th birthday, so we welcomed Rudi the Border Terrier to our family. Matthew and Rudi enjoy doing agility together and are doing really well.
In July 2011 we welcomed Nasa to our family, a smashing little Shetland Sheep Dog who is to be my new agility dog. He has a delightful temperament and is a very bright dog he learns very quickly, he's also very fast so I sall have to learn to run quicker...!
We also welcomed Cooper to our home in the November 2011, he is a rescue puppy from West Wales that my son Josh chose for his 11th birthday and will be his agility dog once he is trained up. Cooper is a very clever and cheaky little chap and is also very fast.
We have dabbled in showing with some success, our best result being three placing's at Crufts and a Puppy Group 2 with our home bred boy Ti at Champ Show Level.
We are no longer a breeding kennel, all our dogs are castrated or spayed once they are of an approriate age. We really enjoyed the experience of having a home bred litter and learnt a lot from it, but it is not something that we wish to repeat.
We now prefer to work our dogs as we have found this much more rewarding for both dogs and handlers. We have done Water Rescue Work with Titan who is qualified to B level, Agility with Willow who is now retired due to her health and Rudi who is an agility KC Grade 3 and Novice Level UKA. Nasa and Cooper will also do agility once they are old enough.
Up until recently I spent 3 years as a member of the Main and Working sub committees within the LCGB part of that being the Secretary and was one of three Temperament Assessors for the club, I have now passed on these roles for others to continue with, but I continue to be the clubs Website Administrator.
In 2008 I set up a water rescue group in Wiltshire and trained this group of Wet Leo enthusiasts for 3 years, in 2009 I set up, ran and trained a giant breed agility group for 3 years. I also help to run a Junior Agility group which all my children attend. So our lives are very much wrapped around our dogs.
With the health of all pedigree dogs under the microscope, I have joined a select few who have been brave enough to voice their concerns about health in Pedigree breeds, I strongly believe that honesty and openness is always the best policy, this information is crucial to help prevent the spread of devastating diseases.
For our dogs first and foremost
Becki Belcher
