Jean and Jackie Duff have been involved with German Sheperds for over forty years and strive for perfection in both their breeding and training.
Jackie
Jackie has been involved with dogs since the early 1960's and registered with the Kennel Club in 1967. Throughout his career he has accomplished many great feats including:
President of the NIGSD Training and Working Trials Club.
International Ch show breed judge.
Past committee member of the GSD club of NI.
Introduced the concept of the working dog to NI.
Trainer of GSDs for the NIGSDW&WT club.
Qualified animals in, and trained others, international working trials.
Conducted discussions on temperament and working ability of the canine species.
Well known personality in the exhibition dog world.
Trainer for Councils in connection with responsible dog ownership and their Good Citizen Schemes.
Member of the British Institute of Professional Dog Trainers.
Successfully completed a course and examination on the training of dogs.
Jean
Jean also became involved with dogs in the 1960's and also became registered with the kennel club in 1967. Along with Jackie's achievements, Jean has also had her fair share of career highlights, some of which are listed below.
Championship breed show judge
Past committee member/Assistant and Secretary of the GSDCNI
Produced the GSDCNI quarterly magazine
Presented several articles to top GSD publications
Educational committee member GSDCNI
Innovator of the hip scoring scheme being used in NI
Introduced the concept of survey in NI
Produced the Irish Year book for GSDs – Shephazine
Member of the Institute of Animal Care Education and Animal Care College
Successfully completed courses and passed examinations in:
Animal Psychology and Canine/Human Interface
Dealing with problem dogs
On top of their outstanding careers, Jackie and Jean also jointly administer and control the training for the Ards Borough Council and North Down Borough Councils of their Good Citizen Dog Schemes. They also give talks and lectures on request of other Councils and Schools.
The Past
Our most memorable animal from the past has to be our male WILLOWDALE ALF. This dog did everything he could for us and we loved him dearly. He was a superb animal.
Before him even though we had a female, who although not of correct temperament and had bad hips, was a loyal pet – Eveleys Arabella Stewart (Warrant of Ansville x Bunessa of Flawforth). Typical of her breeding but one we were glad to have owned and loved. After her came our next long timer Mandy of Wenden, bought from a shed at 1 year old where she was not wanted (not from the Wenden kennels I might add). Mandy and her daughter Herta lived out their years with us and were certainly an asset to our small kennels.
These animals and many more are all remembered and deserve a place in the annals of time at Willowdale.
The Present
For the present read on through the site and we hope to show our breeding programme and what new bloodlines we are bringing into the country for the benefit of the Willowdale Kennel and the GSD breed as the whole.
