The NCC 2008 Judges
Photo by S.
Wooten
Fred
Bradley
I bought my first English
Springer in 1980. I hunted native pheasants, quail, and
ruffed grouse along the Delaware River and bay in
southern New Jersey. We also had excellent woodcock
flights during the fall.
I met Ken Roebuck in 1987, when I purchased a springer
pup I named Abby from him. Ken and I became friends and
when he retired in1995, he gave his Cardenwood Kennel
to my wife and me. We changed the name of the kennel to
Hawthorne, and I stared training gun dogs and trial
dogs for a living. I also stared guiding hunts and
rough shooting the trial dogs, at private shooting
clubs in Columbia and Dutchess counties in New York. My
wife Alexandra started a successful dog grooming
business. I will always be grateful to Mr. Roebuck and
his family for believing in our abilities.
Over the years I have been very lucky to be guided in
my journey by great spaniel people, such as Mr.
Roebuck, Ed Whitaker, and Jerry Cacchio, just to
mention a few. I also have been privileged to have had
some of the finest spaniels, cockers, and labradors,
from either side of the Atlantic to come to me for
training, and trialing, and of course rough shooting. I
was fortunate enough to have won the Cocker
Championship 3 times, the first with Merlin, and then
two championships with Jill, the first to have won two
times, very special dogs. I think the owners of these
dogs for giving me the chance to take these dogs to
their fullest potential.
I also was honored to be asked to judge a novice cocker
stake in Yorkshire, England this summer.
This was my first time on the ballot, and I am
extremely honored to have been picked by my peers to
judge this years Cocker Championship. I will do my best
with your trust in me.
Thank you and good luck this year.
Fred Bradley
Mark Schinderle
I remember my dad telling stories about hunting over Springer Spaniels when he was just a youngster. The dogs were taught to tree grouse in the fall and during the long cold winter months, they’d run rabbits. These had been bred and trained by my grandfather in Upper Michigan.
Even with this history it was quite a surprise to receive my first Springer Spaniel puppy for a graduation present from Optometry school in 1977. It’s embarrassing to admit that I taught my first dog to hup as soon as he smelled a bird and wait ‘til I was ready to call his name to bust into the bird. Needless to say when I went to my first field trial as an observer I recognized my error and could never quite remove that hitch in his flush that I had so created in my training.
At this trial I met Roger Houk to whom I am ever so grateful for his early help. He found me a field trial bred puppy who we named Up Wind Wonder. She was a rocket and became an AFC and FC her first season and I believe won five trials in a row. This definitely hooked my wife, Aileen, and I into the field trial game. Looking to find a puppy with as similar bloodline as we could find, the Lord blessed us with NFC FC AFC Wind Riding Streak. She entered our home at 5 ½ wks old and was a wonder dog in all categories for 16 years. Then came NAFC FC AFC Windy Acres Lucky Penny, FC AFC Braw Bag Piper of Burtree, and FC AFC Windy Acres Zip Dang; these were five great dogs and I would never have had any success if it wasn’t for such sharing and helpful people as Dan Langhans, Dave Lorenz, Janet Christiansen, Jerry Ray Cacchio, Don Brunn Sr.1, Dean Brunn, Jess Sekey and Dominique Savoie.
Family and business made it difficult to continue trialing, but I still do spend as much time as I can in the grouse woods of the UP with my Springers.
I love spaniels and consider it such a privilege to be in the front row observing the finest dogs in the nation. Come to the line confident and relaxed knowing that I enjoy your dog just as much as you do.
Thank you so much for this privilege,
Mark Schinderle