Champions have been owned and/or bred in all three colours.  Here are Bev White's Ch Foxearth flourish, winner of 26 CCs, Ch Col Mustard of Mistoff; and Ch Cownbred Blithe Spirit at Foxearth, top smooth 2000.

Before Fenix went off to plunder Italy, he had mated Jacanapes, producing Ch Foxearth Frappant,  Flambera, the sister to Fever and Fenix, was mated to Winnings the Game, a Gold Fever son, and this produced Foxearth Freeman, yet another champion. 

Frappant was mated to Ch Astrellita The Silversmith to give Pat Duncan another Foxearth champion in Ch Foxearth The Blacksmith.  His brother, Foxearth Tinsmith at Cownbred,  had several homes before he returned to Foxearth from where he too won his title.

By the mid '80s Foxearth was proving to be a dominant force.  For example, in 1985 five different Foxearth males won CCs while Frappant won four CCs, all with BOB, after having whelped two litters.  Remember, too, that Smooths were not getting large numbers of CCs each year - 15 sets in total that year..  Breeders were soon to realise the potential of Draught Guinness as a stud dog.  He produced 11 UK champions, several of those from a very successful union with Pat Lister's Ch Newarp Silver Moonlight, which gave her several champions including her big winning Ch Newarp Silver Moonbeam and Ch Newarp Dark Crusader at Jesenda.  In 1986 the lion's share of the CCs went to Guinness children.

The Hayward's let a bitch, Femme Fatale, go on breeders terms and after she was mated to Guinness, Ch Andrew of Francolls was allowed to be registered by his owner although technically bred by the Hayward's - few breeders would be so generous.

While many CC and RCC winners too numerous to mention flowed from Foxearth, often with novice owners, the next big winner was Ch Foxearth Flourish, a tricolour bitch who won many CC's for Bev French (now Bev White).  She was by Guinness ex Frappant and her brother, Furlong, was a CC winner for the home kennel.

Not a lot has been heard of the original 'one that got away' (but came back!) Silver Fountain, and while she was not a great influence on the kennel in the early '80's, she had produced a daughter, Silver Fontan, by Guinness.  Fontan's litter to Gold Fever resulted in Ch Foxearth Firecracker.  She also had litters to Dark Crusader and to Freeman which were to produce important stock.

Foxearth Silver Florin, from the Fontan-Crusader litter, won a RCC but it was when mated to the untitled grandson of Guinness, Newarp Cat Dancing at Dakotah, that she made her way into the history books, for in this litter was a blue merle dog called Sharidon Silver Phantom who, which little encouragement, added the Foxearth affix to his name at an early age.  Born at the end of 1990, he won his first CC and BOB at Crufts in 1992 under Pat Lister when still a junior.

At Manchester that year, when Phantom was still a junior, I recall judging Smooths and being very impressed with a sable dog who was intriguingly entered in novice dog.  So impressed was I with Col Mustard of Misstoff that I gave him the CC over Phantom who took the reserve.  He was by Furlong ex a Freeman daughter and later won his second and third CC's under Trevor and Birgit. 

In due course circumstances dictated that Mustard should be rehomed and the Hayward's were offered the dog, which they gladly accepted.  However, it says much for their sense of fair play that they felt they should get a least two more CCs with him if they were to consider him a "proper champion"... after all, he was living in their home and they had given him two of his three tickets!

Despite having homebred Foxearth males to campaign, they showed Mustard to get four more CCs so there was no disputing that his title was more than justified.

Ch Foxearth Firelancer was made up in 1993, by Fido, a Frappant son, ex Formula, a Frappant daughter.  Col Mustard (who sadly went sterile at an early age) had been used on Flippant, a Guinness daughter, and produced several RCC winners.

Silver Phantom then began to dominate the breed, culminating in the breed's CC record, and a remarkable glut of champions to his name - (as at May 2001) with several more sitting on one or two CCs.  Among his more memorable wins was BIS at the Working Breeds of Wales Ch Show, where the BIS judge was the very same who 'only' gave him the RCC behind the novice winner at Manchester a year or two earlier.

The Bellises made up Ch Foxearth Flash of Steel, another Phantom son, while the Hayward's acquired another Phantom son, Highland Gwain at Foxearth, a tricolour, who proved a useful stud.  Among his winning children was Ch Foxearth Playing with Fire, ex Fire Bird.

Although not a champion himself, Fido, a son of Frappant and Formula, sister to the big winning Flourish, proved a useful sire.  Apart from Firelancer he sired Ch Foxearth Aim for Fame of Sunnyhurst, made up by Pauline Hayden.  The Hayward's' own Ch Foxearth Eternal Flame was ex Int Ch Foxearth Fire Imp, litter sister to Fire Lancer, and like so many Foxearth Imp was exported (in this instance to Germany) but not before she had contributed to the home breeding programme.  Flame was sired by Silver Phantom.

Of the Silver Phantom champions, Several were either bred or campaigned by the Hayward's.  Among these were Ch Newton's Guinevere from Foxearth (ex a Foxearth bitch) and Penny Sewell's Ch Foxearth Farah whose dam was Flippant.  Flippant was also the dam, but by Fire Cracker of Carole Smedley and Aileen Speding's Ch Foxearth Absolutely Fab for Antoc.

Guinevere has a poignant story - her breeder was the granddaughter of Mr Newton, a big name on the breed in the early 1900s. who had been mentor of Mrs Rhys, among others.  She had always wanted to breed a litter of Smooths, so the Hayward's whelped and reared the litter for her.  Happily, one of the puppies became a champion before their breeder's death, tragically young from Multiple Sclerosis.

The top winning Smooth of 2000 was the Phantom daughter, Ch Cownbred Blithe Spirit at Foxearth, while the Hayward's also have in partnership with Bev White a blue merle dog Foxearth Snow Flurry who is the kennel's latest champion made up this year.  (at time of article, May 2001) He should breed on as his grandparents are Silver Phantom and three different Guinness children.

You would think that having done so much in their breed - homebred UK champions in both sexes and all colours, top sire and breeder on numerous occasions, and more overseas champions that you could shake a stick at, the Hayward's could be allowed a little complacency.

But no, ever keen to maintain quality not only in their own kennel, but in the breed at large, and increase the gene pool somewhat, they have recently brought in two males, one from Finland and one from Sweden, who are both 'on loan' for a year or two.  the Finnish boy, Kangasvuokon Put up the Pow-Wow, a tricolour, debuted in fine style with the CC and BOB at LKA 2000 just days after his arrival.  In the third generation of his pedigree is Finnish Ch Foxearth Frankie (twice), a Guinness/Frappant son, and also Ch Foxearth Freeman.  However there are also a few lines which bring back some of the 'old' lines which have been rather diluted in the UK in recent years.  Indeed, in the fifth generation will be found Glennfields dogs, bred by Birgit when she was still Mrs Jeneby!

The Swedish dog, a sable, One Way's Skalle Per, has a pedigree which is the same, but different, and it is hoped that both dogs will be able to advance the British Smooths even further.  Certainly they are in the right hands.

Birgit and Trevor are typical of the progressive dog breeder who believes in working with the universal breed in mind, co-operating with people who share their goals with monetary profit never being a motive.

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