I suspect Ch. Timberlane Colin O’Hegh was among them. We
started watching the Wolfhounds at the shows and began
talking to the breeders and owners about their dogs.
Janet was really interested in showing at that point, and
she knew purchasing a puppy was not necessarily a “for sure”
show dog. So she began inquiring about an older bitch, which
put her on the “red alert” list, I am sure. As luck would have
it, a lovely 18-month-old bitch became available through Renee Poston of Applearbor Kennels. She was an Irish import
named Roaree of Limerick, and she goes back to every dog
we have bred to this day. She was already being shown and
was halfway to her championship. Although not a big bitch,
she was lovely and had a temperament to die for. She was our
beginning, and we were very fortunate to have her.
DIR: Tell us about Limerick Kennels and some of your
most noteworthy accomplishments: the number of champions you’ve bred, top sires and dams, significant specialty
wins, any IWCA/AKC honors bestowed upon you.
LS: We have always challenged ourselves from the beginning to breed the very best dogs in as few litters as possible.
Even though we have never had a large kennel of Wolfhounds,
we have been blessed with many wonderful accomplishments.
Our very first specialty Best of Breed win came in 1980
under Anne Rogers Clark. We also went Best of Opposite
with the litter sister. We had the dam entered in the Brood
Bitch class, and I will never forget Annie Clark as we paraded
into the ring with the brood bitch and her two offspring. She
looked up and said, “Well, I guess this is going to be my Brood
Bitch winner!” She did not know yet that her Best of Breed
and Best of Opposite were littermates. Annie seemed quite
pleased with herself.
Our most important honor was winning the National Specialty in 2003 with our homebred Ch. Oxmoon Brogan of Lim-
erick. Jamie piloted Brogan to this win under Goran Bodegard
of Sweden in an entry of 313. Since then we have won three
Best of Opposites at the National with three different dogs
and bitches.
Another special achievement was owner-handling three
different dogs to all-breed Best in Shows. Multiple owner-handled Best in Shows with different dogs has happened only a
few times in our breed. We have had the No. 1 Irish Wolfhound
in the breed ring many times over the years. We had a straight
run with that honor from 2002 through 2006 and again in 2012
and 2014. In the mid ‘90s, our Ch. Noinin Cnoc Noll of Limerick defeated over 1,500 Wolfhounds in a two-year period and
won the Pedigree Award those two years.
To date we have bred 16 litters, producing 112 puppies
of which 53 have become champions. We have had some
outstanding Top Sires and Dams. In 1980 our Ch. Robin of Limerick produced nine champions in her one and
only litter. For several years she was the top-producing
SEPTEMBER 2016
58x66_KennelVisit.indd 59
Ch. Shaw of
Limerick, born
1977, sire of 22
champions in
only four litters
produced. He
was a multiple
specialty winner
and multiple
Group winner
and a top-ranking
Irish Wolfhound
in 1980.
DOGS IN REVIEW
59
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