The History of Conquell

From a little girl I have always loved animals but due to our family circumstances was unable to have anything other than a pet rabbit, but I satisfied my ‘need' by walking virtually every dog in our neighbourhood. Eventually upon leaving home I was able to fulfil my dream & in 1978 bought my first German Shepherd, a bitch called Kamajan Brynhilde of Conquell – Quella turned out to be a wonderful companion whom I competed with in Obedience & Working Trials, the seed had been sown for my on going love of this truly magnificent breed, I had a litter from Quella who produced the first Conquell puppy, a fabulous long coat, Conquell Rongrun Ascher, I had success in a variety of disciplines, Obedience, Working Trials and I took part in several displays. I also did a small amount of film work as well as being featured on TV & in several magazines. I had trained him up to a very high standard including manwork & with his ability to switch on & off he was a tremendous ambassador for the breed.

'Kamajan Brynhilde of Conquell - my first GSD' 

I gradually expanded my GSD numbers & in the eighties and nineties some of our dogs had a fair degree of success in the show ring , although as I was by then developing my first training kennels in Devon, I didn't manage to get to a huge amount of shows due to business pressures & also showing & promoting our rare breed horses, which was to continue for the next 20 years, including moving the training kennels to Berkshire in the early nineties, which is why Conquell dogs are rarely seen in any numbers in the show ring.

In 2001 we decided to head for warmer climes & taking all of our pedigree Lusitano horses, German Shepherd dogs & too many cats to mention we relocated in Southern Spain, where we were for almost five years, only having one litter of GSD's whilst out there that ironically all came back to the UK on their pet passports to new owners willing to wait the extra few months just to have a Conquell puppy. Again, I think that says a lot for the confidence people have in our breeding! We have settled in South Wales where I intend to pick up the reins again & breed in a more active way. Our first litter by Ch.Lararth Houdini all went to people who had previously had a GSD from us years ago & upon hearing we were back in the UK were willing to travel, in some cases a considerable number of miles, to have another Conquell puppy. To say I was flattered that people think so highly of my dogs was an understatement, thank-you. We have also kept a male from that litter who I am delighted with & you never know we might actually get the time to show him !

Conquell Hannibal

My second litter to Champion Lararth Houdini arrived on 23rd April - 3 dogs & 3 bitches-  3 of which are gorgeous long coats.I am so very impressed with our first litter by him that I thought we'd use him again.

The original working lines have never been completely lost & continue as a thread in the Conquell kennels, known for years for producing sound minds & bodies Conquell GSD's are still very sought after by several Police forces who have had Conquell dogs over the years. Our kennel is renowned as producers for working,service & most importantly wonderful family companions, breeding for QUALITY not Quantity.

OUR FACILITIES

We relocated back to the Uk in June 2006, bringing with us from Spain a total of 29 animals , to include the nucleus of our GSD's, too many cats to mention, 8 pedigree Lusitano horses, & 6 Spanish rescue dogs who turned up at our farm in Spain in varying ways.

We have all settled very well on a small holding just outside of Carmarthen in South Wales. I have plenty of space for the animals, some 14 acres of grassland, 4 acres of woodland and 2 lakes which is perfect for all of our animals, allowing our dogs to have plenty of varied exercise which is SO important for mental wellbeing. My dogs do NOT spend all their life in kennels, they are all part of our family & they lead a very healthy lifestyle having lots of freedom here on our small farm, often accompanying me on exercise with the horses. I feel very strongly about this magnificent breed being kennelled for too many hours of the day, they are an extremely intelligent breed that thrive on ‘doing' things with you & it saddens me to see beautiful dogs confined to kennels for most of their life, it must be very detrimental to their mental wellbeing, often far too many being kept where there is too little space to give them anything other than a small concrete run, no wonder as a breed we are sometimes criticised by other breeds as being manic in the ring, its perhaps there only outlet? I have nothing against dogs being kennelled – I did after all HAVE kennels for some 25 years – but not to the detriment of their mental development & wellbeing, Variety is the spice of life not just for us but also our dogs.

LONG COATS

Long coats have always held a special place in my heart, as back in 1979 the first CONQUELL puppy was a beautiful long coated male ‘Spyrus' who I went on to have success with in Working Trials & Obedience, he was to be a very, very special companion who helped me through a difficult era of my life. Since then I have always had several long coats as part of the Conquell kennel as I know how very popular they are with people not wanting to show but wanting a glamorous companion.

The GSD standard states that the long coat is a fault & do not accept them in the show ring, many long coats do not have a correct undercoat which is detrimental to the desired weather proof coat. None the less, a long coat is always a very glamorous dog & always very popular for families wanting a loyal companion as an addition to their family. The Conquell kennel has become known for producing exceptionally handsome long coats being correct in every way except for the type of coat.