Margaret Brown (as she was then) was brought up with dogs, the family pet was a German Shepherd, followed by (several years later) a Collie/Husky cross called Sport. When married in 1970 a dog was an early requirement, but the only breed that fitted the bill was a poodle. (1) our first home was a caravan, with not much space, and (2) Sport would only get on with poodles, preferring to fight with all other dogs.
It was in 1988 that we came across our first Bichon. One day while collecting our poodle from the beauty parlour we met the groomer’s new pet… it just bounced about all over the place… a happy, lively little dog, licking everyone in sight. We could not even pronounce the breed name, but fell for that bundle of fun straight away.
Shortly after the death of our poodle we went on the search for an elusive Bichon Frisé, in 1989 they were very scarce in Scotland. Many phone calls later we had the choice of two… a bitch in the south of England or a dog in Inverness. The dog in Inverness was just within reach, but would take a full day to travel there and back, so we asked the breeder to keep the dog for us and sent a cheque in the post… yes, bought unseen! Things got easier when Dave Chisholm (Wellstree) offered to bring the dog to Kirkcaldy Ice Rink as his children were taking part in something over the weekend, and so we bought our first Bichon in a car park! What we now know you should never do!
But, of course all was well. Dave Chisholm was a well respected breeder and well known by the Bichon people throughout the UK. It was he who got Margaret into showing with just 14 simple words “He is a nice wee dog, he might do well in the show ring”. Margaret had always fancied showing after being at a couple of shows with her dad back in the 1950’s and 60’s. In these days the show venue was Waverley Market, Princess Street, now a shopping complex attached to Waverley Station, Edinburgh.
Mork (picture) named after the Robin William’s character in the TV series Mork and Mindy, popular in the late 70’s started his show career in September 1989, joined a few months later by Mindy… well you can’t have one without the other.
Mork did very well in the show ring with many wins in Scotland and the north of England. Both achieved their Stud Book Numbers which gave them life-time qualification to Crufts.
Mindy (Lucky Lady of Turnberry) did well but was never keen on showing part, but Sulyka Berti Bubbles at Pearlwhite (Berti) loved it, as this photo (early 90’s) of Suzanne Clark at the Junior Handler of the Year in the Kelvin Hall.
More from the 90’s Pearlwhite Stormtropper (Rupert) and our daughter Claire showing Pearlwhite Princess Pearl (Sophie) at Selkirk, also seen here with Margaret winning Minor Puppy – somewhere.
Pearlwhite Polar Prince (Snoppy) pictured with his RBS at Bo’ness.
