About Us
The Seaheart affix is owned by me, Gill Smitherman and my long suffering dad Peter Smitherman. I train (in the looses sense) and show the dogs and Dad does all hard work behind the scenes, well as they say behind every great woman is an even greater Dad!!
How it all started…….
It has been tradition in our family, that if you achieve a better standard in your exams than the head of the household (my Dad) you can have a gift. So in 1991 having passed my GCSE’s I was allowed to name my prize!! My sister had had a new fangled CD player three years before to the value of £250. However since I was a child on every Christmas and birthday list at the very top was my own dog! And every year I got a snoopy sniffer, wind up dog, cuddly toy, but never the real thing. Having been presented with the opportunity to have anything I wanted there really was no other choice, it had to be one of those lovely shiny black dogs I had seen at Crufts, which conveniently cost at the time £250. Dad has always said it was the gift that just kept on taking (his money) but to me it was the gift that gave more than its value many, many times over.
In 1998 mum celebrated her 50th birthday with the purchase of our 2nd Flatcoat Christie (Woodsage Limbar) from working stock, shortly followed in 2001 by Jacob, Sh Ch Benvellyn Nephrite Jade of Seaheart. Jacob was to be our joint project, Mum was going to work him and I would show him. Sadly, after just a few weeks of having Jacob mum was diagnosed with Leukaemia and admitted to hospital. She died on the 8th November 2001 leaving dad and I to look after her most prized possessions.
On the 2nd of April 1991 Mountainwood Sweet William (Withybed Quadrille X Larksdown Jet) was born and eight weeks later Bob, our nearly April Fool as he became known joined the family. Bob was the most adorable puppy, biddable, so gentle and constantly at my side. He would meet me at the gate from college and carry my bags up the garden for me, he would help fetch the shopping in from the car without eating any!! Run upstairs in the morning to wake me up and always by my side for a cuddle in the evening. Sadly in 1993 I had to venture off to University, leaving Bob and my mum to look after each other!! Bob and mum became inseparable, having attended a Nefra funday, she started training him for Gundog work and he became her new focus in life.
Left; Bob aged 8 weeks
Mum & Jacob aged 8 weeks
Jacob did reasonably well in his early show career, and in 2004 Dominic Salt (Levelmoor) asked if he could use him at stud on his bitch Spera Vivace Tosca at Levelmoor (Fern). We had sadly lost Bob earlier in the year just short of his 13th birthday, and as Dom was unable to keep a puppy I asked if I could have pick of the bitches. On the 23rd October 2004 Maisie, named after my mother (Levelmoor Lanosa of Seaheart) came into the world screaming and kicking and has been making her presence felt both in the ring and at home ever since!!
Maisie had gave birth to the first Seaheart litter in December 2009 by Int Ch Wagging Tails Rolf Muntz. We lookforward to seeing then babies grow and to showing our own Seaheart Isabella.
I do hope that you enjoy looking at our website and feel free to leave a message in the guest book
Gill
