How did it all begin, I have asked myself this so often, and thinking about it again, sent me back some 40 years or so, but I guess it started even before this, to way back into my childhood, for I never remember a time when I wasn’t surrounded by animals. I was brought up in the heart of the country in the county of Shropshire, in a small village called Yockleton, too far from any school to be able to attend so

I was educated with a governess along with my sister Joan. Although the governess taught us the three R’s, it is no secret that my academic education leaves a lot to be desired, however she did teach us about nature and to appreciate the wonders of the countryside, as we had no neighbours and no other childhood companions besides each other, we were encouraged to keep all manner of animals and pets as companions. Four dogs, always of various breeds, ponies, donkeys, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits and canaries to name a few. So I learnt early about the responsibility that livestock brings and loved them all. Each was mourned over and buried with due ritual, even the canaries were wrapped in a clean handkerchief, and put into a tin box and buried in a special place in the orchard.

As I grew up and went out into the world I took up nursing, and so there followed a period and when it was not possible to keep a pet, but later still when I left the hospital and went into digs with a very dear old lady, she understood my passion and said I could keep a small dog in my rooms, so I bought a Welsh Terrier puppy, from a street market [Oh what ignorance] and what a sick puppy he was. Within a matter of days he had died if distemper!!! This must have been my first lesson in “Buy from a Pedigree Breeder” . I was truly heart-broken. No other dog has affected me quite so badly, I was heart broken and mourned and wept for days, especially when the Vet said I could not have another dog for 6 months.

In 1949 I got married to a male nurse and we were very poorly paid in those days, I was only earning £4 a week and out of this had to pay 12/6 rent [75p] but again I fell for a wee mongrel in a pet shop window and went in and bought her, we called her Sally, and she lived to be 14 years old and numerous litters of puppies [none planned I might add] somehow or other she always managed to escape, she was so small, little bigger than a Yorkie. She was a marvellous Mother, and later when I acquired Border Collies she would steal their puppies whenever she could, but we all loved her.

During this period of my life I went to the Old Bingley Hall in Birmingham to the National Dog Show and watched with amazement the competitors in obedience, and within was born a desire to have a collie to train. Some months later I set out to buy what was advertised as Shetland Sheepdog puppies, here I purchased what the called a Sheltie, which turned out to be crossbred of uncertain pedigree! A sable and white Border Collie we called BlazeI they registered her in the KC obedience record as Blaze of the Warf as I lived in Wharf Lane, and it would be true to say that this dog changed my life, she put me on the map!!!

I bought John Holmes book, “Obedient dogs and how to have one”, and every day whatever the weather Blaze and I would do our training. When she was nine months old I entered her in Test A where she won 1st losing only one point. This was the first of many thrills which Blaze was to give me during our lives together, she went on from strength to strength until she got her Test C and we learnt many things together and formed a great partnership.

In 1958 I visited Crufts for the first time, what a thrill that was. I intended to see everything, but in reality I saw little except the Rough Collie ring! That was the year that Champion Lochinvar of Ladypark won best of breed at the age of 10 years, and once again a new ambition was born within me, I too would show at Crufts one day..

Some time later I purchased my first Collie, “Soubrertte of Glenmist” from Frank Mitchell, however domestic and marriage problems prevented me from keeping her and I was forced to part with her, so for the time being my ambition had to lie dormant, but it never went away. In 1959 I remarried this time to a wonderful man, who shared my interest and love of dogs, it was then that DUNTIBLAE came into being, which was the name of my husband Grahams grandfather’s farm in Scotland.

In 1960 we wrote to a well known Collie breeder Miss Clare Maloney of Westcarrs fame asking her for a Rough Collie puppy to show and breed with. She offered us a bitch in whelp called “Westcarrs What”, who had been mated to Ch Liberty of Ladypark, she produced two puppies only. A pet dog and a lovely bitch whom we registered as Duntiblae Doorknocker, hoping she would open many doors for us! We campaigned her, and she won her first CC at Bournemouth under Mr Mycroft of Mywicks fame, at eight months old. Overcome in the ring I thanked him and he said in broad Yorkshire, “ Don’t thank me lass, I didn’t give it thee, I gave it dog”. I never thanked a judge again!!!! She gained her next CC at Crufts in 1962. after the judging the judge came to speak to me and said, “ that’s a bonny bitch you have there, who are you!!”. I tell you this to prove what I have always said you can win with a good dog—whoever you are!

I went on to breed many more Collies and made up quite a few champions. In 1968 I was asked to judge my first Championship Collie show, at the London Collie Club, I was so thrilled at this invitation and I remember Miss Margaret Osbourne bringing me down a peg or two by saying, "What made you think you had enough knowledge to judge a championship show".... I must have managed ok as I have judged the breed many times since, indeed looking at my diary of judging engagements, I judged the breed almost yearly up until the early 1990’s.

t was through Collies that I entered into the world of Bernese Mountain Dogs, and so begins another exciting period of my life. In 1969 I went to the Amsterdam Winners show and saw Bernese for the very first time. I was smitten. When I returned home I could talk of nothing else and contacted the Kennel Club at once, only to be told that there were not any in this country and what’s more they were not recognised by the English KC, I cannot tell you how disappointed I was, and so began the long wait.

What I did not know was that a Mrs Creigh had also become interested in the breed through sending a Mastiff puppy out to Switzerland, the recipients of the puppy had sent Mrs Creigh a picture of the Mastiff puppy on which was also a picture of a Bernese, which captured the imagination and heart of Mrs Creigh, who proceeded to import a pair of them from Switzerland. About this time I discovered an advertisement in the Kennel Gazette under the heading Bernese Mountain Dogs and the name of the kennel which simply said Nappa and her telephone number. I rang this number to discover she actually had a litter which had been born in quarantine, and yes she had a bitch puppy left. In fact the two whom Mrs Creigh had brought in had been mated in quarantine and produced this litter, one of these went to Lena Robbins and became the foundation of the Tarncred dynasty. It turned out that my bitch was not a good foundation for me mainly because she was incredibly nervous.

However by this time I had become completely hooked on the breed, I had helped in the foundation of the first club, being a founder member. And was by this time talked into becoming secretary of the club, I was in it up to my neck, I couldn’t get out, but as I was then I could not move forward either, so after much soul searching between Graham and I we decided to try and import a pair ourselves, but from Sweden, where we had also seen the breed during my judging trips abroad. We had also exported quite a lot of collies there and had a trusted friend in Ulla Persson and she promised to help us if she could.

Several months were to go by before we were to get our Bernese. Ulla first found us a dog puppy from Eva Berndt of the Sennengarden prefix, so we made arrangements to go and see him and meet Eva. After we had seen the puppy, Ulla took us to another breeder and here we found a puppy bitch, which they were not prepared to sell, so we upped the price until he was persuaded to part with her. Both these puppies were very young, the dog was to become Duntiblae Nalle, to go by, this being November and we had to wait until the following May before we could bring them back into quarantine.

Well time passed and it was with a great sense of excitement and some trepidation that we left this country, and took the car and our caravan over to Sweden. We toured round Sweden and into Denmark seeing old friends and getting to know the dogs before we had to leave them in quarantine. We tried to teach them some English as they had only been spoken to in Swedish. Eventually after about 2 weeks we took the boat back to England taking the puppies with us of course. We had made previous arrangements with a quarantine kennels in Bedford, and we were met at the ferry by the kennel who took the pups away, and so with a heavy heart we left them there!

The kennels were in Bedford, which was a two hour journey from our home. We tried to visit them once a fortnight. Spending considerable time with the puppies, playing with them, grooming them and trying to train them. This was not easy in such a confined space. We were thankful that there was two of them and therefore would not suffer from the solitary confinement in quarantine as so many did. We were also lucky that they both had such extrovert temperaments and we found them completely unspoilt by the time they came to the end of their term. When we finally collected them the following May they jumped into our car and settled down for the journey home as if they had been doing it every day of their lives!

So at last our dream came true. We had a fresh start in the breed. It is hard to remember that this was 1970, when there was a mere handful of Bernese in this country, and there were no classes for the breed at all, never mind CC’s, so showing them was a real campaign to get them recognised, by everyone, not least the judges!! Today’s owners of this lovely breed have much to thank the pioneers for, some of whom are no longer with us, but those of us who are still here remember them with pride and gratitude.

Nalle did his part to promote the breed in the ring as he was so very very sound, not a flashy dog in any way, and I know there were many times that he won on his movement alone. As he matured he was used at stud, and such was his influence on the breed, that he sired the first six champions, and won Top Sire Trophy, three years after his untimely death. Eva was seldom shown, she was rather small, and threw one leg out when she moved, however she was a good brood bitch and when the time came when we were able to mate our pair together, so began the alphabet of the Duntiblae Dynasty of Bernese Mountain Dogs.

In the first litter we bred Duntiblae Dark Avenger [Steed] who went to the Forgeman Kennel and became a champion, his sister Duntiblae Dark Attraction became the foundation bitch for Mrs Marie Steeles Caprima Kennel. These were exciting days for us and we were a very united bunch, all after the same goal to establish this wonderful breed in the UK. So unlike the atmosphere that is evident in the ring today, we rejoiced when one of our members won and grieved when tragedy struck any of us, which of course it did from time to time.

In case any one should think one only had to import a dog to gain instant success I think I should mention some of the disasters which overtook us during these early days. Sometime after Eva and Nalle had been in the country a few years we imported another bitch, this time from Denmark through some more friends of mine to whom I had exported several collies. I went over to choose her and she was 4 months when she came into quarantine. Where she grew and grew and grew…….when she came out she stood 27 inches at the shoulder, had a badly undershot mouth and had HD 3X3 which is the worst grade in Sweden, but she did have a fabulous temperament!! So I had her spayed and found her a lovely home, where she lived to be almost 13! By this time I was a bit older and somewhat poorer…

Another of my disappointments and expenses in the breed was when I decided to send Eva over to be mated in Denmark, this was the time when we desperately needed new blood to be able to continue. The idea was that she would be mated to a champion dog, return here at her 7th week of pregnancy, into quarantine to whelp, and when the pups were 6 weeks old we would be allowed to take them home leaving Eva to finish her quarantine. Well, the best laid plans of mice and men etc…..I sent my wonderful kennel man over to Denmark to bring her back, by boat so that she would not have the trauma of being crated and lumped about. The Danish vet said she was in whelp, so we all waited with baited our breath for the great day to arrive. Well you may all guess YES SHE MISSED. I think this was one of the many times when we nearly gave it all up. Poor Eva—I felt like a jailer, and visited her as often as we could, she couldn’t understand it at all, but then neither could we. The cost the stud fee, her board for seven weeks in Denmark, her return fare, plus her handler and then 6 months quarantine. I felt so guilty that I had spent all that money, - for what?

Then disaster struck again when Nalle was killed on the road just outside our gate, there had been a sudden storm overnight which had shifted the front gate so that it was not properly shut, which you couldn’t see from the house, I had let him out as usual in the front garden and a few minutes later I heard this loud bang!! I ran out to find Nalle dead in the gutter, there wasn’t a mark on him, he had been struck on the head and died instantly, he was only three years old. The shock and loss was enormous, we felt like all the stuffing had been knocked out of us and it took a long time to get over this and to want to try again…

About three months after we lost Nalle, Brenda Griffiths [Forgeman] who was then our rescue Secretary, rescued Forgeman Fusilier, whom she had bred and sent up to Scotland as a puppy, but the marriage had broken up and he had been badly neglected. She asked us if we would have him as she felt they couldn’t have another male as they already had Dark Avenger. Although we really didn’t want him as we felt it was too soon after our loss, we nevertheless took him. He was so pathetic, thin and rangy at 2 years old, his coat was a mass of knots and he was desperately shy of people. Well we nursed him and worked on him and later he became Champion Duntiblae Forgeman Fusilier and eventually sired my top winning dog Champion Duntiblae Dark Protector who eventually after we had been awarded CC’s in 1977 he was Best of Breed in 1986 and again in 1988. I had the honour of judging the breed at Crufts the third time we had CC’s in 1979, there were 40 entered! I have judged them practically yearly ever since, the last time being 2002 when the entry was almost 200, such has become the popularity of this breed.

So we stayed the course through a long and tough ride. I am still breeding and showing at 81 years old!!

By 1981 the breed was crying out for literature about the breed, there was nothing anywhere, not even in Switzerland the breeds’ homeland. Everyone was hungry for information of any sort. It began as a dream really, I dreamt I had written a book, and when I woke I was so disappointed to find it wasn’t true. This started me thinking, well why not write one, if I don’t who will? So I started scribbling in a note book, headings, facts, the names and whenever I had a few minutes spare, but it wasn’t until we went up to Scotland for a holiday in our caravan and the weather was wet that I began to formulate these notes into chapters, mainly for something to do.

Returning home the task was put aside again for a while as we were running a busy boarding kennel at this time. I suppose it took about a year before becoming serious, by then I must have written some six or so chapters and decided to send them to one or two publishing companies. Then came the rub…...each time the manuscript came back with a letter which ran something like this….”

Dear Madam, we are in receipt of your manuscript, returned herewith, but while we think the content matter excellent, we regret that we are unable to offer publication as we feel the market for such a work to be very small indeed etc etc….”.

You can imagine my feelings, I began to dread the post so after a while I stopped sending the manuscript to anyone. Relegated it to the drawer in my desk and did nothing to finish it or find a publisher, until one day something stirred me again and I brought it out to have another go! I then wrote to the American publishers TFH as I had noticed they had recently published other books on rare breeds. After some weeks much to my surprise I received a reply that yes they were prepared to publish but could not offer any payment…...Well beggars can’t be choosers and who was worried about payment anyway. I just wanted it published so I went ahead with it with much more enthusiasm. Meanwhile a Swiss lady, Margrit Barschi, had written to me saying that she had heard I was writing a book on the breed and as she was coming to Crufts could we meet to discuss it. We duly met and there began a friendship which remains to this day. Margrit said many things that day, the most insistent of which was that I could not possibly write a book on Bernese without first visiting the breeds’ homeland, and if we could go over we could stay with her and she would introduce me to the people and places who could help me.

So the following June saw Graham and I set out on our Swiss trip to the home of Margrit Bartschi, we visited kennels and museums, publishers and Dr Raber, who was so helpful in supplying much useful information, but the museum was the place which we found so interesting and we were allowed to browse around to our hearts content, and amongst all the old books we found a box of old photographs of Bernese from the past, which they said they didn’t even know existed. These they subsequently allowed me to borrow and take copies to use in my book. It became obvious at this point that all the first part of my book would have to be rewritten, that which pertained to the history of the breed. So I came home with some very valuable material. All this new information, the photos and permission to quote from Dr Rabers book. Here I want to say how grateful we have always been for the help Margrit gave us who put herself at our disposal during this time and became involved and enthusiastic at the thought of a book on the breed. I am sure the book could not have been the success it has been without her help and encouragement.

Graham knew how much this project had cost me in time and effort and emotion and he really wanted me to publish this book, so he offered to finance me by selling some shares which he had. The sum estimated was £4000, as it turned out the final sum was almost £8000. perhaps it was as well that we didn’t know this at the time or we might not have felt able to risk it. So we made the decision to go ahead and publish it ourselves. We had set a deadline to launch—it was Crufts 1981 and to be able to do this it was decided that I should book into a hotel where I could work undisturbed, as I mentioned we were running a busy boarding kennel at this time, and could not complete this task unless I was able to work in peace. It took me just over a week to do this by working non-stop from 9am to 10pm only pausing to go down to the restaurant when I felt hungry. The actual process of collating, indexing, cataloguing, proof reading and finally printing took from July to the following January, and was only finished at the eleventh hour, one week before Crufts.

I was thrilled to be invited by the printers Adam & Son of Hereford to visit the works whilst printing was in progress, at its various stages, which was a fascinating and exciting experience. I suppose the arrival of the first four copies that came to us for approval via Securicor, must be classed as one of the GREAT moments of my life!! What had begun as a dream, developed into a nightmare, had finally been realised as an achievement. Now we had to launch it. We printed 1,500 copies, enough I thought to last at least 10 years. We hoped to recoup our money in say 5 years, but we could never have dreamt or expected it would be the success it has been. In just 14 months we had sold out of the first edition, recouped the money, and made a profit. So we launched a second edition, which was half the price of the first lot, this time we printed 2000 copies. By 1989 it was felt the book should be revised and most of the photos updated to include the UK champions which had been made up in the interim period

They have gone to many parts of the world, and when I get letters from all these people who have bought it and enjoyed it. I am deeply touched and satisfied, and feel it has been worthwhile. Before I close this story I must pay tribute to the many people who have helped me so much along the way, but principally to my dear late husband and mentor who helped me in every possible way to achieve my dream, and never stopped believing in me, I still miss him so much.

Diana Cochrane 2004