.AS READERS will know by now, Dorothy Seaton (Seacross) died peacefully in her sleep on Jan 17, only a few weeks short of her 85th birthday. She had been fighting a number of physical concerns, latterly cancer, and had spent the last several weeks in hospital. Diane and Dave Forknall (Avidore) and Jose McDonald were able to see her as well as her cousin, on a continual basis up until the end. Dorothy requested flowers or donations to her two designated charities, the SC Rescue and TABS.

I realise that by now the funeral and cremation ceremony have already been held, but the funeral director is taking donations to the two charities for the next five weeks. Cheques are to be made payable to the funeral director, J E Hackett, and sent to 95 Leicester Road, Bedworth CV12 8AH. Please mark on the cheque that it is in memory of Dorothy Seaton. He will compile the donations and forward the money as well as a list of donors, to the relevant society.

Readers will be familiar with the SC Rescue, or can access the breed club’s webpage for more details, but TABS is a charity I am not familiar with so I have found the following information: “TABS is a charity that takes disadvantaged people from the UK to Africa for a voluntary experience by sharing skills and experience with local African communities, they enhance their own lives and the lives of those they come in contact with.” This charity is local to Bedworth and is one that Dorothy supported.

Ian Millar, with some help from others, has sent to the dog papers a short article on Dorothy’s life in and out of dogs. An article will also appear in the next issue of the SC newsletter. Many of us currently at the ‘top of the pile’ in terms of longevity in the breed, owe our start/development in the breed along the way to Dorothy and the Seacross Schipperkes. Just to name a few kennels which at one time owned a Seacross Schipperke or used one in their breeding programme would take up quite a lot of space, but primarily the currently active breeders at Aradet, Avidore, Ludwyn and Lyncathmor feature prominently. One could always depend on Dorothy to render her opinion on the breed and never suffered fools gladly, but kept her own counsel on many things.

She was a popular fixture in the Midlands canine societies, serving on several societies as committee member and officer; she had a deep interest in her other breed, Cairn Terriers. Her work commitments in running her boarding kennels meant she would not get to as many shows as she would have liked, but the stamp on the Seacross lines she and her father developed in Schipperkes, through the blending of the Schippland and Mottram lines, was quite definite.

The Seacross dogs were most remembered from the father and son duo of S Sir Henry and his son, Ch S Rogue, one of the early Schipperke group winners at championship show level back in ‘75. Personally, I think the dog who had the most bad luck or timing, was S Baron, a lovely dog with two CCs and quite a few RCCs, most won at the time of the height of Ch Pudi of Moorehaven’s prominence in the show ring. He along with S D’Artagnan, another dog with two CCs and very much liked by Dorothy, was never able to reach the top tier, having also won a tremendous number of RCCs, so was retired.

I tried handling Baron on several occasions, but he was one of those boys who would times just give up and not show, or look out the ring, too interested in something else to pay attention to me, much not only to my disgust, but also that of the judges. Over the years Dorothy sent abroad several Schipperkes which won quite well, including the first BIS winner at an Irish (Eire) championship all-breed show, this dog was by a son of Rogue ex a Seacross bitch, and owned by Jerry Butler. About the same time as this, I sent over to Sweden a young promising Seacross bred dog, called Firecracker, who had already won a RCC at Crufts under breed specialist Eileen Vincent. Int Ch Seacross Firecracker for Aradet gained further glory by winning BIS at a Swedish international show, the judge being Moa Persson, who still judges here occasionally.

The Seacross kennels have more than made a mark in the history of the breed in the UK, thanks to Dorothy and her dogs, she helped so many of us develop not only our own lines but also our understanding of the breed. Members last saw her at the club open show in ‘10, a happy occasion for her to be once again surrounded by the breed she loved.

Mary Deats