Guisachan.

The birth place of the Golden Retriever.

(sadly now just a ruin)

 It was once a magnificent house set in its own grounds just on the outskirts of the centre of the Village of Tomich which is about 12 miles north of Drumnadrochit, which is almost at the top end of Loch Ness in Scotland.

 If you are a Golden enthusiast it would be worth a visit before the old house ends up as just a pile of rubble ! 

The origin’s of the Golden Retriever have been well documented and the breed was started by Lord Tweedmouth during the last century at Guisachan.

 In 1868 Lord Tweedmouth mated a Yellow Wavy-Coated Retriever (Nous) to a Tweed Water-Spaniel (Belle).  He continued to line-breed down from this mating between 1868 & 1890, using other Tweed Water-Spaniels, and outcrosses using two black Retrievers, an Irish Setter and a sandy-coloured Bloodhound. [It is now known that one of the most influential Kennels in the first part of the century, which lies behind all present day Golden Retrievers was founded on stock bred by Lord Tweedmouth.

 Lord Tweedmouth was a keen shooting man and used these breeds to produce a keen working dog to retrieve the game shot or wounded. So all our beloved Goldens go back to these dogs, which is why both Rich and I believe in keeping this working instinct going in our show bred dogs.

 Sadly the breed today has become ‘split’ into 2 distinct types.

There is the Show type and the Working type, but all go back to the same lines and all should sill possess that instinct to hunt and retrieve, but sadly some never get the chance to enjoy what they were bred to do. Having said that all Goldens have the instinct to also be the loving companion which fill many a household with love companionship and joy. They are a very adaptable breed with a biddable affectionate nature and are quite happy to be a couch potato as well as a Gun Dog, Show Dog, Guide Dog or Assistance Dog and many do Obedience, Working Trials, Fly Ball and Dancing to Music, among other things.

 So thank you to Lord Tweedmouth for producing the foundations of our wonderful Golden Retriever Breed !

The TREVACAT Ragdolls are my other hobby and all started because my daughter, Sally wanted a cat and she was given a Ragdoll by my ex-boss. The love of the breed progressed from there.

We haves moved around a bit and I started my hobby with Goldens back in Essex. We then moved to Hertfordshire for a short while, before moving to Wiltshire. It was during my time in Wiltshire that I met Richard, who had always lived in the heart of the Cotswolds.

During the Foot & Mouth epidemic I moved all my dogs and cats in with Richard so as to be able to keep the dogs exercised on the estate where Richard lived and worked. This then became a permanent home for them till 2004, when the estate was sold, Richard had been the Gamekeeper their for 18 years. Richard had to find a new Gamekeepers job and a home for the menagerie, which by then included 16 dogs, 4 cats, numerous Ornamental Pheasants, Peacocks and Chickens + a pond full of Koi Carp.  He managed to secure a new Gamekeepers job on the border of Worcestershire, Shropshire & Herefordshire, where we moved to in April 2004.  This move was a logistic nightmare, as the 16^th century cottage had, at that time no road to it and everything had to be moved in by 4x4 vehicles and trailers,  through 2 fields of sheep and lambs. This was eventually managed, but it took 9 weeks to achieve.