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Growing up in England we always had a dog. My love of poodles began when my parents brought home
a miniature poodle from the famous Firebrave kennels. With a very impressive pedigree I had the
desire to show her although my parents did not and sadly she was never shown.
When our family emigrated to Australia in 1967 my parents descided not to bring
any of our pets with us. They phoned the breeder of our poodle Mrs Ailda Monroe and offered
her back to her. She was ecstatic and left home immediately and I remember her arriving at 2 am.
Alida explained she had lost the particular line that our poodle came from and was joyful and excited at
having the opportunity to have her line back. I listened intently to her as she spoke of poodle type and
line breeding. She was so passionate about her poodles and that really impressed and inspired me.
After arriving in Sydney I began reading and researching all about poodles. About six months later I began
working in a grooming salon learning how to clip and groom not only poodles but all breeds. I was
lucky to be taught by two girls from England, one had studied at a clipping and grooming school there.
Later in 1967 I joined the RAS Kennel Control and bought my very own dog, of course a miniature poodle.
Although he did not turn out good enough as an adult he did do a considerable amount of winning as a youngster
My dedication, commitment and desire to own, show and breed poodles grew over the next
couple of years; and in 1969 I established Crosswynds Kennels.
My first show poodle was Ch Valencay Busybody "Bizzy" born in 1969, who was co owned with Mrs Primrose Dunlop
(who later became Lady Primrose Potter) and also was the breeder of Bizzy.
Bizzy lived all her life with me. She was my first real show dog and also became the first champion that I titled.
Bizzy was a multiple All Breed Best in Show and Specialty Best in Show winner and finished her title with
Best in Show at The Poodle Club of NSW Championship show with an entry of close to 275 poodles.
In 1971 the first litter under this prefix produced the black Australian Champion Crosswynds Not Again.
A multiple Speciality and All Breeds Best in Show winner and a very influential sire behind a large
percentage of today's miniature poodles in Australia.
Ch Valencay Busybody, Bizzy was mated to Ch Crosswynds Not Again, George.
The litter was born under the Valencay prefix. I kept a bitch from this this mating Ch Valencay Bossy Boots,
"Prudence" went on to be the foundation bitch for Crosswynds Kennels.
In the 80's and early 90's I bred and showed Toy Poodles. The most sucessful was Ch Crosswynds Izon Me.
A Specialty and All Breed Best in Show winner. In the late 90's I turned my focus back to miniature.
Over the years we have consistantly produced many champions in conformation and obedience
My daughter Tracy became actively involved in the late nineties and took over most of the showing due to
an accident I had in February 2000. A very capable handler she has titled many of our dogs since then.
Although our poodles carried a brown gene it wasn't until June 2003 that our first brown puppies were born.
This litter produced the brown Australian Grand Champion Crosswynds Full Throttle. An All Breeds Best in
Show winner and Best of Breed at two National Poodle Championship Shows in 2005 and 2007.
With a passion for browns we imported a brown dog from Sweden and we are looking forward to continuing
these brown lines well into the future.
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