Dogs of Importance…
3 – 4
Chywoon Entrepreneur of Jonsmae “Woody”
Woody was imported from England as a pup in 1997. He has a strong pedigree, with the five most important setter males in Britain the past 25 years all in the nearest generations: Wee Piper of Jonsmae (his father), The Blue Maestro (his mother’s father), Tyone Banner (who was the father of Maestro), Storeskars G. Snorre (a Norwegian import to Ireland) and Sharnberry Donald.
Woody has had a huge impact both as a trial dog and at stud. When I came to the country and first met Leon, he was in the process of training the young dog. I still clearly remember when he showed him to me in the field, and straight away told me to excuse him if he had to whistle the dog. The training of Woody is decribed in Leon’s book “Bird Dogs – Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow”. Leon got the dog incredibly polished and got the best out of what from the start was huge, raw potential. There was a long period, where Woody virtually was unbeatable in field trials. He had the stamina, was fast and big running, covered the ground systematically in a text book pattern, was flawless in his bird work and in perfect contact with the handler. His strong dominance in field trials probably reached its height, when he in 2001 won the North Island, the South Island and the New Zealand Championship. He is the only dog ever to have held all those three titles in the same year. There have also been many more titles to add to those.
In addition to this he has put a strong mark on his pups. Leon himself unfortunately only managed to use him once (on Wingfield Velvet), which gave pups of great appeal and some success at trials. Leon himself kept Winterbreeze (described below), who also became the mother of the last Wingfield litter. Woody has directly through several other litters, and indirectly through some of his progeny got a high presence in most setter lines downunder today.
Wingfield Winterbreeze
Though Breeze both gained her Q.C. and became Novice Wild Game Trial Dog of the Year 2002, she was a dog that didn’t get to reach her full potential. When Leon and Joy both fell ill and had to reduce the number of dogs, Breeze was one of the dogs that had to go. Breeze had already bred a litter, which gave Xpress, Xfactor and Xtra (desribed on the previous page). She was sold but with Leon keeping the right to breed from her again. That was unfortunately never to happen.
Breeze was not as hard-running as her own progeny was, but she was a beautifully stylish dog to watch in her bird works. I have seen her quite a bit in training, while I had her litter brother Wingfield Warrior (a stable dog who got several prizes in trials and was an excellent hunting dog). Unfortunately she disappeared from field trials and breeding far too early, otherwise I’m sure she would have had an even more impressive list of merits. The one litter she had was hardly line bred, double up with Woody and very similar female lines both on the sire’s side and on Winterbreeze’s side. It would have been very interesting to see a complete outbreeding on her, which I also believe was Leon’s intention for her next.
