Mulder Anglais

This is Mulder's first Best in Show. Isn't his owner-handler Danick proud? Mulder doesn't have the perfect pose but on that Sunday afternoon,
after three group placings, all he wanted to do was play and celebrate his success.

Mulder is an exceptional quality liver and white dog. He has a wonderful temperament, calm, patient and outgoing. We are proud to call him our foundation stud. He was bred by our great friend and mentor Anne Hutchinson of Serenade. He came to us as our second showdog. We almost didn't get him as Anne almost kept him for herself but I'm glad he ended up with us.

Mulder is a wonderful show dog, our first "Specials" dog. He finished his Canadian championship at a yound 8 months of age from the Junior puppy class. He started placing in group at only 18 months in 2004 and has never stopped since. He ranked 4th in the breed in 2004. In 2006 and 2007, he was ranked 2nd in the breed and third in 2008! He won his first Best In Show under judge David Eadie in May 2007. He became an 8th generation Best In Show winner. He completed his American Championship in 2009, handled by Mr Howard Huber Jr, with 17 points, including 4 majors.

In 2008, Mulder earned his Canadian Grand Champion (GCh) title. He is the 2nd Springer in Canada to earn the title and the first in Quebec. He is the second consecutive generation of Canadian Grand Champion (GCh). In January 2013, Mulder becomes the 1st Grand Champion Excellent (GChEx) in Canada, immediately followed by his daughter Magic, who becomes the 2rd Grand Champion Excellent (GChEx) in the breed and the first bitch to obtain ths prestigious title.

2013 : Mulder won Best Veteran at the Canadian National Speciality undere breeder judge Stephen Dainard.

2014 : When shown for the very last time in his life, Mulder wins Best Veteran in Group.

At home, Mulder is the typical Springer. He loves to play, loudly! He grumbles and barks when at play just to make sure we know he's having fun. There is nothing he loves more than a good mud bath after a tough show weekend! He loves to run, play with sticks (the bigger the better) and snoozing at our feet or preferably our pillow.

Mulder is a well-proven stud dog, having produced show-quality puppies and large-sized litters of up to 8 puppies. He's sired many show quality puppies and some have become Canadian Champions with more on the way. We have 3 of his kids (Arthur, Magic and Rose) in our current breeding program. He is OFA good, elbows normal, CERF'ed yearly and PRA DNA tested Carrier. He is available to stud to approved bitches.

He was only ten weeks on when he entered our lives : a big brown and white ball of fluff, with such bone we were constantly asked if he was a St-Bernard puppy.

Catherine drove to Ottawa to pick him up from our mentor Anne Hutchinson at Serenade, while Danick was finishing the tax blitz at the accounting firm he was working at. Discussions with Anne about getting him were… unique. She initially told us that at 8 weeks, she wasn’t sure he was a show prospect. With her experience? We didn’t buy it. She did eventually confess to wanting to keep this gorgeous boy for herself, but entrusted us with him to give him the show career he deserved. With his pedigree, we could expect great things: as a son of (Lately) and gradson of (Dexter), he didn’t disappoint.

Mulder began his show career at the Long Sault show and he made quite an impression, turning may heads. Indeed, Mulder had an extraordinary innate talent. At six months, he could naturally do perfect free stacks. He even won four points in that first weekend, over adult bitches.

He finished his championship as a Junior puppy (under 9 months of age) and at 18 months, he won his first group placement. From then on, his show career took off. If he was in the group ring, he’d place at least three times out of four, even winning a Best In Show. Danick was the only one at the end of the lead. Always. Well, almost; Catherine got to show him a time or two and Howard Huber Jr. handled him for his American championship. He is the first English Springer in Canada to have ever earned the Grand Champion Excellent title.

On his last run around the ring, Mulder won Best Veteran at the Canadian National Speciality under breeder judge Steve Dainard.

One can only imagine what his show career would have been had we let him go with one of the many handlers who wanted him.

But for Mulder, there was only one person to show for, only one master: Danick and no one else.

There was one notable exception to that rule: Juniors. We have lost count of how many Juniors took Mulder around the ring to learn: JC, Ariane, Roxanne, Camille, Laurie, Justin, and many more I’m sure. He KNEW what his job was. He would watch the judge and even tug the Junior in the right direction but he would sometimes need to be put back in his place a little!

At home, Mulder turned back into a hunting dog. His first stop out of the ring was the closest puddle or mud hole. He loved to carry sticks around; the bigger, the better. He would show his happiness with pig-like grunts and grumbles, as well as friendly head-butts. He loved water, to the point of running off into the night to spend hours into the St-Lawrence when Catherine didn’t close the RV door properly last summer. We didn’t have to look for him for very long: he was standing in the water, looking a little lost but happy, if a bit chilled.

When we would travel, he’d take his spot between the two RV seats and after an hour, move to Catherine’s lap and once there, he’d take over the driver’s seat and keep watch. Everyone knew him. He was the co-pilot, the watcher, the relief driver.

He could spend hours asleep on Danick’s chest, both of them together on the armchair in the living room, both perfectly content to snore together.

He gave us many wonderful litters and of those, we kept a stunning girl; Magic. She is the first female in the breed to earn the Grand Champion Excellent title. To our knowledge, Mulder and Magic are the only Sire-Daughter pair to ever accomplish this feat.

Mulder hasn’t been able to show these past few years, but the desire was still there. You needed only to show him a treat to get one of those famous free stacks. To the very end, his coat was still shiny, flowing and in perfect condition, almost as if he’d step into the ring the next morning. Still, he became a bit of a grumbly old grandpa, known as Mr GRRRE to his closest humans.

Mulder left us on Tuesday evening, taking our hearts with him. All we can do now is let time pass and hope it heals the wound.

Thank you, Mul, for giving us everything. Safe travels, love, and we till will meet again on the other side of the rainbow bridge.

The two half-brothers dominate the Quebec Spaniels Club Specialty in 2009.
Best in Speciality "Darby" and Best Veteran in Specialty "Mulder".