ParkCariad Flat Coated Retrievers

Firstly a bit of history about us.

We are a husband and wife team who have been involved with dogs all our life.

My husband (Harry) grew up on the family farm, which we run together along with Harry’s mother (Sally). Being a working farm Harry has had border collies and German shepherds all his life.

I myself (Kim) got my first dog at 11 years old for my birthday, a very handsome black Labrador called Baghera who is 14 years old now. He would never play fetch or any doggy games and as a child he was very boring dog, but he does have a very cuddly side. Our second family dog was my mums choice and she had always wanted a Irish Red Setter (Jezika). She was fun, loving, loved to play ball and is 11 years old.

This is when I found my love of showing. We took Jezika to all our local summer shows, we won a few rosettes. But sadly Jezika didn’t really take to showing so we had to give it up. 

We currently have two beautiful boarder collies who aren’t your typical farm dogs, they spend most of there time on the sofa with Sally or having lovely walks around our fields over looking the sea. We don’t believe you should have a dog if your not willing to have it in the house. 

When myself and Harry moved into our little cottage we wanted a dog but we had different ideas on what breed we wanted. I had a found love for Irish Red Setters and Harry wanted a Golden Retriever. 

So I set a plan that I would go to Crufts and find a breed which we both would love.

Walking around the discover dogs area looking at all the Gundog Breeds and asking lots of questions about the breeds did take time, but it was worth it.

There was one breed that stood out from the rest.

The first thing I saw was a beautiful black shiny coat, and underneath that coat a dog so happy it never stopped wagging. When I went up to the pen the dog jumped up the side and gave me a kiss.

I had found the breed for us and was in love with the Flat Coated Retriever. 

One year later I found a super litter of Redbred’s Flatcoats from a lovely family home, and the breeder was kind enough to let us buy one. Eight long weeks later we finally had a wonderful Flatcoat Tallulah. 

Tallulah has the most wonderful temperament and loves to play with every dog she meets on the beach. Her most favourite toys are her teddy bears and she loves to carry them around showing them off to everyone.

She is a very obedient dog who listens closely to our commands, but in that typical Flatcoat fashion she gets distracted by food. She a very active dog who loves to swim and run. We are very lucky that we have the fields where she can run all day but her favourite thing to do on the farm is ride the quad bike. She loves to sit on the back of the quad bike, but also loves to run along beside. 

We are a 10 minute walk to the beach where she loves to swim and play fetch with her tennis ball.

During our combining season on the farm Tallulah loves to get involved riding in the combine and watching all the pheasants in the field. Once the field is cut she loves to run around it sniffing out all the new smells. 

I then set my goal to make her a show dog, to finally achieve my dream of getting to Crufts.

I found a ring craft class close to us every Tuesday night, with the lovely Ken giving me a starting point on how to train Tallulah for the show ring. Luckily for me this time Tallulah loved the days out at the show proving to be a very confident and outgoing dog much like the breed as a whole. 

Along the way we have met some truly wonderful people who have helped and guided us in the world of Flatcoat showing. 

In 2015 my wonderful girl qualified for Crufts with a first in yearling class at The Gundog Society of Wales Championship Show.

We are now moving on to the next stage and have been lucky enough to successfully mate Tallullah with the lovely Ethan (Seaheart Flatcoats), and are expecting pups on the 16th March 2016.

In December 2015 we were granted our Kennel Club affix ParkCariad – Park for where we live and Cariad meaning sweetheart in Welsh a connection between living in Wales and our wonderful first Flatcoat sweetheart Tallulah. 

Finding the Flat Coated Retriever breed has truly been a blessing not to mention all the wonderful people along the way we feel extremely lucky to have done so.

The Flat Coated Retriever

The Flat Coated Retriever is a slow-maturing dog, retaining their puppy-like qualities for several years, they are renowned as the “Peter Pan” of the Gundog group.  Extroverts, with incessantly wagging tails, always happy, eager to please and full of good humour.  They are tireless workers in the field, excellent water dogs and natural swimmers.  They love human companionship and should not be left alone for long.

They are in their element in the country and were popularly known as the gamekeepers’ dog, attracting attention when widely used in the late 1800s on the large shooting estates.