Presidential English Setters. Word has it that the President-elect and his family will be bringing a dog to live in the White House. One might ask if there have ever been English Setters in the White House. The answer is yes! D. C. Kok (Southboro Kennels) lived in Palo Alto, CA and was a friend and neighbor to President Herbert Hoover. When Hoover was elected President, Kok gifted him with two sons from his most famous champion, Ch. Southboro Savannah. President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously owned a Scottie named Fala. But before Fala there was Winks. Winks was a field setter whom Roosevelt brought back to the White House from Warm Springs, Georgia. Winks earned his 15 minutes of fame by sneaking into the servant’s quarters and discovering the breakfasts laid out for the 18 White House servants. Winks downed all 18 servings of bacon and eggs! When apprised of his puppy’s thievery, Franklin quipped “The only reason he didn’t drink the coffee was that it had not yet been poured.” The incident was reported by the Pittsburgh Press on February 27, 1933 in a piece titled “Roosevelt Dog in Disgrace for Code Violation.” Winks was in violation of the free lunch provision of the Restaurant Code. This photo of Winks is a recreation of his “crime” for the press

Some of President Hoover's dogs get their dog licenses on July 11, 1930. Presidential dogs are in the news again with the announcement of the passing of the Biden's German Shepherd Champ. As evidenced by this press photo, the fact that the First Dogs were getting their dog licenses was apparently newsworthy in 1930. Seen here is District of Columbia Collector of Taxes, Chatham Towers, attaching a tag to Hoover's English Setter "Mark." Mark was one of a pair of English Setters gifted to Hoover when he assumed the Presidency in 1929 by Pao Alto based breeder D. C. Kok (Southboro Kennels). They were sons of Kok's most famous champion, Ch. Southboro Savannah. First Dogs no doubt enjoy a number of perks. The tags being given to Mark and the others in this photo were gold-plated and engraved with President Hoover's name.

The Happy Valley benching display at the 1934 ESA Annual Specialty, which was held at the Philadelphia Kennel Club show on November 16 and 17. ESA President Dr. A. A. Mitten, whose Happy Valley Kennels were located in nearby Roxborough, brought an amazing entry of 24 dogs to the show: 12 class dogs, one Bred By Exhibitor Dog, one Field Trial Dog, and 11 Specials. Sixteen of these dogs were imports. (This was more than half of the total entry of 46 dogs!) The two men in charge of this display were kennel manager and handler Alf Loveridge and kennel man Jimmy McElhatten. Among the contingent of English Setters from Happy Valley was a four-year-old Pilot of Chrombie, who was already an English show champion. This Scottish import would make quite a splash at this show. Pilot came out of the Open Class to defeat the host of Specials, which included Ch. Blue Dan of Happy Valley, Ch. Mallhawk Banker, and Ch. Gilroy’s Chief Topic (who was the top English Setter on the show circuit in 1934) for Best of Breed. He went on to win Best in Show, winning over the crowd of spectators as well as the Group and Best in Show judges. Alf Loveridge, who handled all of the dogs in the ring, was given high marks for his preparation and handling. Amazingly, Alf never had a leash on many of the dogs until about 10 days before this show. In addition to accepting congratulations on his display from many dog show notables, Mr. Loveridge was named sole handler for Dr. Mitten about that time

Kanandarque Rackets Boy (Ch. Mallhawk Banker x Selkirk Mallhawk Juliet, b. 1932). Rackets Boy was pictured in Davis Tuck's 1951 landmark book, The Complete English Setter, but without explanation as to his claim to fame. Rackets Boy was the fourth most productive sire of his generation, siring 14 AKC champion offspring. Rackets Boy was bred by famed early breeder A. J. Kruger (Mallhawk Kennels) and sold to Raymond J. Hurley, thus the Kanandarque kennel pre-fix. Breeder C. N. Myers later acquired him for use as a stud dog at Blue Bar Kennels as he was first developing his line of English Setters. It was at Blue Bar where Rackets Boy gained a measure of fame and his place in Mr. Tuck’s book. He sired a landmark litter, known then as the “Litter of Seven.” This litter, out of Inglehurst Matchless, was whelped on May 12, 1938. When the last champion from this famous litter was crowned in October of 1941, six of the seven litter mates had finished. This was unheard of at the time and set a record for most English Setters finishing from one litter. This record stood until the early 1950’s when it was surpassed by a litter out of Frenchtown Blue Feather by Ch. Rip of Blue Bar. That litter yielded ten AKC champions. The Litter of Seven boasted two of the first noteworthy home bred Specials for Blue Bar, Best in Show winners Ch. Blue Bar Limited and Am./Can. Ch. Sig of Blue Bar, and it helped build the relatively new kennel’s burgeoning reputation. 

Notable English Imports Edition. Am./Eng. Show Ch. Ernford Highflier. (Ernford Apollo x Teal of Yaresyde, Born 1954. Breeder: Mrs. K. Broadhead.) Elsworth Howell imported Highflier from England and finished his AKC championship. Highflier sired three AKC champions, who were, in turn, very productive sires and dams. One was Ch. Pirate of Polperro (out of Howell’s Ch. Betsworth Gold Flake, b. 1958). Among Pirate’s champion get was Ch. Valley Run’s Dyna Mite, who was the grand dam of Ch. Calumet of Makepeace. Calumet was the dam of five AKC champions for Meadowset. Highflier also sired Enid of Cherry Lane (out of Bunnydale’s Daisy Belle, b. 1959), who produced 14 AKC champions for Cherry Lane and Hidden Lane. Thus, Highflier’s Ernford bloodline contributed to the success of some notable breeding programs: Cherry Lane, Hidden Lane, Polperro, Meadowset and Valley Run

Int. Ch. McConnell’s Nori (Am./Can. Ch.Racket’s Rummey x Ch. Grayland Snow Bird, b. 1924. Breeder: J.J. Cottle. Owner: Norman McConnell.) with his owner after winning Best in Show in Tacoma, WA in March 1928. Nori was McConnell’s best ring performer, winning multiple Bests in Show. His sire was a Ch. Mallwyd Ralph son. His dam had the great Eng./N.Z. Sh. Ch. Mallwyd Albert as a grandsire. Thus, Nori’s pedigree had a great deal of Mallwyd influence close up. McConnell operated his Selkirk Kennels in Vancouver, BC. He only bred one AKC champion and three Canadian champions, but he did breed one of the most important producers of the Mallwyd type in North America. McConnell bred Nori to his Ch. Selkirk Juliet in 1927. In 1928, he took two puppies to a dog show and tried to sell them – and he wasn’t getting any takers. Mallhawk’s Earl Kreuger watched with some amusement as McConnell failed to unload his puppies. Kreuger took one of them. She became Can. Ch. Selkirk Mallhawk Juliet, who infused her Mallwyd blood into Kreuger’s Mallhawk bloodline. McConnell was forced to take the second puppy home. She was eventually imported into the United States by Eric Bergishagen (Jagersbo) and then sold to Henry Steigerwald (Stagboro). That puppy was Selkirk Snooksie. In Steigerwald’s capable hands, she produced a number of notable AKC champions who went on to make contributions to several breeding programs. The best known of these was, of course, Rummey Stagboro.

Ch. Daro of Maridor with owner Charles Dimon (Chadim) in a publicity photo from the 1944 Westminster Show. (Daro and Dimon are seen here encouraging the recycling of animal fat for the war effort.) The 1944 show was Daro’s swan song at Westminster. He went Group 4 at nearly seven years old. His return to Westminster in 1942 after a bout with distemper was a much-celebrated event. One might think that the 1942 event was Daro’s first return to the show ring, but he had in fact been busy in the years leading up to that show. Daro competed at the 1940 Westminster show as a class dog, finishing fourth in his class. (Brother Maro went Group 3.) C. G. Dimon acquired Daro from Maridor’s Dwight Ellis just before the 1940 ESA Specialty, which was held at the Tuxedo Park Kennel Club show on September 7th. Daro “hit the best in show jackpot,” winning the breed under breeder judge H. F. Steigerwald (Stagboro) and Best in Show at that event. Gazette columnist A. L. Jones (Marional Farms) wrote that “Put down in prime condition, (Daro) looked like a worthy competitor for the top winning setters of today.” Daro went on to finish his championship in March of 1941 (the last of the Litter of Four to do so) and win his second ESA Annual Specialty held at Priscilla Duke’s (Prune’s Own) Tuxedo Park estate later that year. The 1944 Westminster show marked the end of a remarkable run by Maro and Daro. Together they placed in the Group six out of the seven years between 1938 and 1944. Daro took Best in Show (1938), Group 2 (1942), and Group 4 (1944). Maro went Group 3 (1940), Group 2 (1941 and 1943)

The English Setter Open Bitch Class at the 1938 Westminster Show. (Handler Charles Palmer is seen at upper left with Desire of Maridor.) Of course, we all know of Daro’s great Best in Show win. But there is more to the story. Maridor brought its largest entry in any one show to Westminster in 1938. A total of seven Maridor English Setters were entered. Maro of Maridor started things off by winning the Puppy Dog Class. Littermate Daro followed by winning the Am Bred Dog Class. Pal of Maridor (a littermate to the aforementioned Desire of Maridor) won the Open Dog Class. Daro went Winners Dog over his kennel mates in the Winners Class. Mora and Dora of Maridor (littermates to Daro and Maro) went 1st and 2nd, respectively, in the Puppy Bitch Class. Maxie of Maridor (a littermate to Desire and Pal) took the Am Bred Bitch Class. Desire of Maridor won the Open Bitch Class and took Winners Bitch. The Best of Breed competition saw Daro take Best of Winners over Desire, and also win Best of Breed over a field of ten Specials that included notables Ch. Robin Hood of Marional, Raymond Hurley’s Ch. Mallhawk’s Jeff, and Am./Can./Eng. Ch. Pilot of Chrombie of Happy Valley. When the dust had settled, the seven Maridor English Setters had taken six Class wins and one 2nd place, in addition to all the big breed prizes. Daro had made history by also taking the Group and Best in Show in his first time in the ring at the tender age of ten months and 23 days. Clearly, the future looked bright for Maridor after the amazing performance turned in by its entry at Westminster in 1938. A few months later, Maro nearly repeated his famous brother’s effort by taking Best of Breed and Group I from the classes at the 1938 Morris and Essex show. (He also won the ESA Futurity Sweepstakes held at this show.) But Maridor was in fact already withdrawing from the show scene after its wildly successful showing at Westminster. Maro was the only Maridor entry at that Morris and Essex show. When the 1938 ESA Annual Specialty was held later that year, Maridor was a no show. They had in fact began dispersing their show stock later that year. Only six Maridor setters finished their AKC championships, mostly after being sold. The Maridor name was made famous largely by the future exploits of Maro and Daro under other owners.