INTRODUCTION
My name is Lou (Louisa) Garton.
I am 38 yrs young and live in a lovely village near to Chippenham in Wiltshire.
I am retired from full-time work and now do a small part-time job to help pay for the dog shows!
I previously trained for Chippenham & District Canine Society, teaching Ring craft and obedience and I was also their show manager.
Now, I have my own training Kennel Club listed Status dog club, teaching show handling & obedience.
I am a full member of the Kennel Club Accredited Instructor Scheme working towards accreditation.
i am a Kennel Club Approved examiner for the Good Citizen Dog scheme - Silver level.
I am a Kennel Club Assured Breeder
I am also a qualified BHSAI - horse riding instructor, and dairy herdsperson.
I won Best Overall UK Adult Handler in 2010 & Reserve Best Overall UK Adult handler in 2011.
FARMING
I started helping at a dairy/pig farm at the age of 10 and immediately loved it.
I went to Lackham agricultural college and took Farm business management, Milk production & tractors/power units and mechanisms courses.
I have worked both in England and Ireland as a dairy herdsperson, responsible for milking, calving and general management,
Unfortunately I am now physically unable to work in farming and I miss it terribly.
HORSES
By the age of 12 I was working part-time in a riding school to get riding lessons and I had my own horse - Widdy, an Arab x Thoroughbred. Quite a handful and he hated jumping, so we competed in both dressage and long distance riding.
I have been fortunate to work in Austria, Ireland and America in hunt yards or dressage yards, in the past.
At 18, I qualified as a British Horse Society Assistant Instructor and have taught both privately and in riding schools over the years
DOGS
Working in hunt yards at a young age introduced me to working with the hounds and I was lucky enough to be able to assist with kennel work, whelping, and showing them.
When working in America, the family I worked for bought me a Dalmatian puppy. He was a very spotty dog, but extremely faithful. He would follow me when out exercising the horses and was always by my side in the stables. On coming back to the UK, I wanted to get another and my partner Phil (has it been 16 yrs already!) bought me Willow - SHIROBEKKO OSCAR TOFFECHOC. Whilst not constructed well enough for winning, I enjoyed showing Willow immensely and he taught me to enjoy showing for the social side and not for winning. Thankfully, that has stayed with me and although the quality of my dogs has significantly improved, I still enjoy a show even when we come home without anything.
Willow also introduced me to the world of dog training and obedience. He was an exceptional dog and won several classes and was working to test C level. Through my first trainer, I was taught how to instruct and teach a class and I ran my own dog training school by the age of 25.
I decided to stick with male dogs until I learnt enough about the breed before venturing into getting a bitch and starting a breeding line. So next came Toddy - DALMARK THE PEPERAMI AT TOFFECHOC. Toddy was a much better constructed dog and did very well in the showring, wins including Best Puppy in Show at the British Dalmatian Club Show and a 1st in Mid-limit dog at Crufts.
Sadly we lost Toddy at the age of 6 to a brain tumour. 
BREEDING
After 10 years in Dalmatians and after doing lots of research, listening to my peers and attending seminars, I felt I was ready to get a bitch. I was determined to look long and hard to get the right one, with good lines of healthy and well-tempered dogs.
I fell in love with Ch & Ir Ch Dalynrics Mister Dillon, a lovely black spotted boy who also excelled in obedience and had such lovely long-striding movement. Fortunately, I heard that Dillon was siring his first litter to a bitch in Ireland and after a lot of phone calls and a trip over the water, I finally got Hazel. Hazel was my first liver spotted Dalmatian and completely won me over to this colour. She was a really special bitch, who required very little ringcraft training, she always stood four square and trotted out beautifully.
Hazel became Irish & International Champion KASARA TRULY SCRUMPTIOUS and won 5 reserve CC's in the UK, Best puppy in show, Best in show at Dalmatian club shows.
She has always been a joy to own.
Hazel had 2 litters. Her first was when I was living in Ireland (I was there for 5 years), when we mated her to Margarette Mullholland's lovely line bred boy Ch Mariscat Manhattan. From this litter we kept Comfrey - JABBAWOCK THE RINGLEADER, a liver-spotted bitch, who was always full of beans! Much harder to show as she was a great fidget, Comfrey has done very well in the ring and has her KC stud book number.
Hazel's 2nd litter took 3 years to plan. I knew I needed to bring in more bone, whilst trying to maintain the balance in construction that we had and research was leading me further afield to the Scandinavian lines who were producing such consistent quality in type and movement. Multi Ch Spotnik's Special Selection was already a top winner throughout Europe, but I felt his liver -spotted brother Ch Spotnik's Snow Storm owned by Helle Hoie was going to compliment Hazel better and so the plans began.
We had at first applied for Artifical Insemination to the Kennel Club, which we were granted (a rare feat in those days!) and it was a lot of hard work finding out all the procedures and legislation as it wasn't very popular in this country at that time.
Just as we were 2 months off finalising everything (In Norway, the semen must be tested and held for so many days before it is allowed to be used), Hazel came into season 3 months early!!
So it was 1 week of hectic organisation and off to Oslo in the car!! We drove all the way from Holland and arrived to find Norway in a heat-wave, 40 degrees!
2 matings later, we headed home and crossed paws for good news!
Hazel had a healthy litter and from this we kept Charlie - JABBAWOCK JUXTAPOSE. Charlie is exactly the Dalmatian I was aiming for and his movement and front angulation are outstanding (thanks to the Spotnik genes!), but unfortunately Charlie hated showing. He was so unhappy in the ring, that we stopped and he is now my obedience dog. I love him to bits!
Comfrey has had two litters, both sired by Rita Stokes' Gwnmor Quality Label an import from the Netherlands. 'Quinto' comes from the Spotnik lines and being a black has been able to improve our spotting.
The first litter produced Wiglett - JABBAWOCK THE SORCERER AT RIBBLEHILL, owned by my good friend Jo Gates-Raw and we kept Pepper - JABBAWOCK PEPPER UP POTION. A black spotted bitch (I went against my colour preference as she was so nice!), who had a lot of promise. Sadly, Pepper was killed at 18 months by a hit and run. She had chased after a deer and by the time we got to her she had left this world.
Devastated by this loss, we later repeated the mating again and this time we got our young liver bitch Vanilla - JABBAWOCK JET PROPELLED. Vanilla takes after her granny Hazel and I am looking forward to seeing how she progresses.
Lastly, Wiglett sired his first litter in 2008 and Jo and I went to see the puppies. We found a beautiful litter and in the starring role was Taylor - a really promising liver boy. As both Jo and I have yet to win the lottery, we don't have unlimited funds, so when we saw him and both really wanted him, we decided to share the costs by owning him in partnership. He would be great for me in the future as a sire and Jo would have a Wiglett son.
Taylor - DALENDALE QUIET RIOT has grown into a really lovely boy and Jo and I are very proud of him. He has a wonderful temperament and gets on with Charlie very well.
Taylor was later transferred solely into my ownership, for which I thank Jo so much. We love our liver boy! 
LASTLY
At Jabbawock Dalmatians I am trying to slowly build up a line of healthy, well-tempered Dalmatians, who closely fit the standard. I would like to specialise in livers, although I understand the importance of mixing in the black to maintain pigmentation and spotting pattern.
I do not agree with breeding for profit, in fact we have yet to do so! I have always felt that to do it properly requires a lot of investment and we always hip-score, BAER hearing test, DNA profile and BAER test the parents. The puppies are microchipped and they also are health checked by a vet before leaving home.
As a dog trainer, I have learnt the importance of the early socialisation and training done by the breeder before they leave home. We handle and socialise each puppy individually as early as possible, on a daily basis and all are introduced to the house environmental noises etc and the garden.
I only have bred a litter when I wanted to keep one. There are already so many Dalmatians out there and finding good responsible homes for puppies is not an easy one. I don't want to add to those unfortunate Dalmatians who find themselves in rescue.
I take years to choose a sire when planning a litter and my plans are always about 10 years ahead, as I want to produce a good line of Dalmatians rather than just one instant winner. I love research and reading and soak up Dalmatian information like a sponge. My friends say Dalmatians are not my hobby, they are my obsession!!
I listen to advice from my peers, but also listen to my 'gut instinct'. I have a vision of where I want my breeding line to go and although it may take many years and I will always be learning more, I hope that I will get there and enjoy the journey on the way!!
I feel very protective over this wonderful breed and it saddens me to see bad breeding practices or those to who winning in the showring is far more important than the breed itself. I hope I will always remain humble and that I will have served my breed well during my time as custodian of these Dalmatians. I hope that I will always be encouraging and supporting to newcomers to the breed and continue to refuse to join cliques within the breed or be influenced by the latest trends instead of remaining true to the true Dalmatian type. I also hope that when judging the breed I continue to remain impartial, courteous to exhibitors, to judge the dogs 'on the day' and not to solicit for appointments or to rush 'up the ladder' as fast as possible. My peers will know when I am ready and I want to know that when I get there, I will have truly deserved it!!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank those in the breed who have helped and/or been an inspiration to me along the way.
And thanks go to my best friend Jo Gates-Raw (Ribblehill) whose mastery of canine health has helped me so much on the way and will always stop me getting too big for my own boots!
and to my VERY long-suffering partner Phil, who has found himself in a spotty household, with those annoying white hairs and more Dalmatian ornaments than you shake a stick at, and never being able to find anything due to all the doggy books/folders/paperwork everywhere.
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