Pictured: Scout with two of her pups, Clark and Liberty
About Us
We do not have a "kennel" as such but raise our dogs in our home as beloved family members. The primary focus of our breeding program is to produce healthy and sound Irish Water Spaniels meeting the breed standard with strong performance abilities and great temperaments. Health, soundness, temperament and working abilities are the highest priorities. To assist in reaching this goal, we breed IWS with at least the following health clearances; hips, elbows, thyroid and eyes (Cerf). Producing an "all-around" IWS, one that is beautiful, meets the breed standard, and also has great structure, health, temperament, and trainability is our aim. We make every effort to breed and raise our dogs naturally. Our Irish Water Spaniels compete in conformation, obedience, agility, rally, hunt tests but most of all, are great family companions.
My husband Jeff and I are committed to supporting our puppy buyers throughout the life of the dog. This is one of the reasons why we are infrequent breeders. Our philosophy is that it is not about the number of puppies produced each year but about the quality (health, temperament, trainability, working abilities) of the puppies produced. Great thought and careful consideration is given to each litter and to the parents of those litters. To learn more information about how we raise our puppies, please see the "Puppies & Litters" tab.
Cuardach (pronounced KOO-uhr-dahk) is Irish Gaelic for search or journey. Sharing our lives with Irish Water Spaniels is a journey as we search to understand, train and love this wonderful breed. Also, both Drake and Scout registered names have an explorer theme so it was appropriate for our kennel name to continue with it.
I started in dogs with Great Danes. They were my family companions and I also trained and competed with them in obedience. After loosing my first Great Dane at only 4 years old, I wanted to consider getting another breed. I was fortunate enough to meet some great people with Irish Water Spaniels and I just fell in love with the breed. I attended two national specialties before I got my first IWS and these events reinforced my decision to get an Irish Water Spaniel. That is when I got Drake, my first IWS in 1999. I wanted a dog with drive, trainability, good health and temperament and a longer life span than the Great Dane. I had trained obedience for many years but I also wanted to try other events. My Irish Water Spaniels compete in agility, obedience, rally obedience, hunt tests and conformation. Most importantly, they are my companions.
Here is Scout (closest to me), Seeker (next to Scout), and Clark (on the back of the sofa). Who says they aren't lap dogs?
Here is Glider and Scout snuggling with Steph on Christmas day 2008