Cusidh hopeful Ruairidh has been accepted by the Kennel Club as a registered Deerhound under the Kennel Club's pilot scheme for registering dogs of unverified parentage. Ruairidh was born on 28/04/2010 and is the 5th generation from a Deerhound * Greyhound litter. So congratuations Ruairidh MacRatha of Cusidh you've made it.

Here is Ruairidh's story. It all started with a Deerhound * Greyhound mating which produced Oidhche Mhath (2nd generation) a strong and workmanlike bitch. This bitch was owned by Claire and she was mated to Beardswood Lewis le Cusidh. A daughter from that mating (Caol Ila - 3rd generation) was then mated with Cusidh Coille Hallaig. Mr and Mrs Bromfield owned Caol Ila and they successfully raised 13 lovely pups. Hallaig is best known as Dog World's Top Deerhound Stud dog in 2009 as he was also the father of Ch Drawing Down the Moon to Cusidh and Ch Greyfiars Gille of Beardswood (owned by Sarah and Heather Helps) from his two matings with Deerhound Misty Lee. A daughter from the litter of 13 was kept by Sheena Reid (Caileag Bheag - 4th generation) and Caileag Bheag was mated to Leoch Fiddich owned and bred by Wattie Milne and Carole Andrews. Ruairidh MacRatha of Cusidh is from this mating. He is therefore the half brother of Cusidh Homecoming (Stud Book No. 2884CX) from an additional mating of Leoch Fiddich with Riding the Wind with Cusidh (Stud Book No. 1770CS). Please see Ruairidh's pedigree here.

Ruairidh has been assessed in 2012 by two Championship Show Judges appointed by the Kennel Club who have confirmed that Ruairidh is representative of his breed. Ruairidh has undergone DNA profiling and has been tested for all the relevant health tests recommended by the Kennel Club and is Factor VII clear. He is  76.2 cm (30 inches) and 39 kg (86 lbs). He has now been admitted to the Kennel Club with three asterisks next to his name. Ruairidh is a much loved dog with a super nature. We hope that his careful breeding for over 10 years can bring new genetic diversity into the breed.

Thank you to everyone who has helped, with what we think, is a very worthwhile project.

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Ruairidh (1 year old) with Lachlan
Ruairidh at 2 years old
Ruairidh (1 year old) with Claire

Update 01/12/12 - We've added some more photos now.

Judges assessment

Here is some information from the Kennel Club judges assessment of Ruairidh.

Consider him to be a honest and workmanlike representative of the Deerhound breed.

He has a rather plain head being a shade broad in skull and lacking facial furnishings but he has nice dark eyes, small, soft, well folded black ears, an exceptionally good mouth with full dentition, large white teeth, a correct scissor bite and a strong underjaw of good width.

He has a good length of neck, good layback of shoulder, correct topline and broad thighs. His feet are strong, deep padded and with strongly arched toes. He moves well behind showing parallel back pasterns and a decent width between the hocks. Front movement was ok. He also has a lovely temperament.

In my opinion he would not look out of place in a Deerhound class. He lacks furnishing and for me coat. What he does have is a super topline, excellent front and is sound.

Photos

 

Here's a selection of photos of all the generations where available. Some of the photos aren't such good quaility I'm afraid as they've been scanned in from photos over 10 years old.

First up Oidhche the result of the Deerhound * Greyhound mating who was owned by Claire.

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This was Oidhche as a puppy above and at around a year old on the left.

Oidhche is also shown below with Beardswood Lewis le Cusidh who she was later mated to.

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And here are some of the resuting puppies. This is Delias on the left and with his friend Tod on the right and his brother Cupar in the middle. 

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One of the girls from this ltter was Caol Isla and here she is below with her owners Mr and Mrs Bromfield (second and third in from the right) with some of her 13 puppies and their new owners from the mating with Cusidh Coille Hallaig. The photo was taken at the 2005 St Hubert's Hound Sanctuary annual show at Balgonie Castle which was organised by Claire. It was very good of everyone to come. Claire is wearing the hat and she's also holding Caileag who would later continue the line on.

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More photos of these puppies are given below. First up is Pilgrim who is also on the far right of the photo above. Pilgrim was owned by Denise McGranaghan who also runs the Greyhound Awareness League.

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A further dog from Isla's litter is Uisge (see below) who went to live at the Kings Hotel in Balquidder.

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Well, we're nearly finished now and last up is Ruairidh's mother Caileag. Caileag was mated in 2010 to Leoch Fiddich. Caileag is owned by Sheena Reid and Leoch Fiddich (Dug) is owned by Wattie Milne and Carole Andrews. Here they are.

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And finally - here's Ruairidh at home in January 2011 with his half brother Cusidh Homecoming (Ronan - front left) and Cusidh Righ Innse Gall (Righ - back) with Claire and on his own in January 2013.

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Again, a huge thank you to everyone who has helped.