The History of the Oneida Kennel

During the war when my father first joined the RAF he was unable to get married quarters. So in 1943 my mother moved to London with her 4-year-old son, 2-year-old daughter and the baby – me to live with her parents.  As the bombing got worse her sister, who was married and living in Eire, suggested she should take us there.

Two years later father was given married quarters at RAF Upwood.  A week before we were due to leave Ireland my brother rushed home and told mother that – if she gave Mrs. O’Sullivan her old bicycle and £1.00 we could have Sally.

Poor, unwanted Sally was a Cocker Spaniel that had been given to the O’Sullivan's as part payment for a debt.  As she was not a farm working dog her food was the scraps lying around the farmyard and she slept under a hedge in the warm ashes from the O’Sullivan’s peat fire and looked brown instead of her natural blue roan.

Mother, ever a sucker where animals were concerned, agreed.  But she did insist she was given Sally at once so that she could clean her up before we left for England.

Sally O’Sullivan lived with us for the next ten years and became so much a part of the family that when she died the house felt empty and sad.

In the fifties my Grandmother came every year to spend the summer with us – the highlight of our year because she was always very generous.  So imagine our delight when she arrived the summer that Sally died with a present for my mother – a tiny Cocker Spaniel puppy with the very grand name (to us) of Periwig Greta.

Naturally we children insisted she be called Sally.  However hard our mother tried she couldn’t get us to change our minds  So Sally the second came to stay.

A couple of years later mother decided to let Sally have a litter of puppies.  That meant a Kennel name.  Even in the late 1950’s it was rare to get your first choice of Kennel name.  I believe ours – ONEIDA – was my parents fourth or fifth choice.  Father had suggested it as his mother was American and her family came from that part of America where the Oneida Indian Tribe lived.

Like me, Mother was a hobby breeder. She never had more than two or three bitches at a time, all of whom were her pets.  She gave me my first Cocker – Oneida Vicky – in 1967.  At that time I was working for the RNLI as a full-time fund-raiser so Vicky used to travel everywhere with me through out southern England.  Then in 1973 I married.  When Vicky had her last litter of puppies I kept a dark blue bitch, Tara, in the hope that I had founded my line of Cocker Spaniels.  Fate intervened.  Unfortunately Tara was unable to have any more puppies after her first litter and died in 1982.

By now my mother was in her eighties and was no longer breeding spaniels, although she still had one as a pet. In 1983 my husband and I and our four children moved to Papua New Guinea where we lived for the next six years. Upon our return I contacted The Cocker Spaniel Club and was given the names of several people who might have a puppy for sale.

Nama (Storm Duchess) joined our family in 1990 and was the perfect pet for a young and extremely active family.  Then in 1999 Rosie (Cilliene One More) came to live with us.
By now I found myself with a little more free time.  The children were either away at school or at University.  So I plucked up my courage and took Rosie to a few Open Shows where I met like-minded people interested (or should I say ‘besotted’) by the breed.

In 2001 Rosie had her first litter of puppies and Mother was delighted when I resurrected the ONEIDA Affix when I registered the litter.  From that litter I gave Oberon (Oneida Oberon White Dragon) to my husband and Cobweb (Oneida Moth) to my eldest daughter.

Then in 2002 Rosie had her second litter and I kept another blue bitch – Portia (Oneida One More Echelon).  In 2004, Portia was mated to Riondel Venture to Powerscourt and produced a super litter, from this litter I kept Blossom (Oneida One More Venture).  Blossom was a darling dog with a beautiful nature, she was also a real little show girl and was the first dog I qualified for Crufts.  Sadly she was involved in a traffic accident on New Years Day 2006 & lost her life.  She was a very special girl & her loss has been very hard.  Sleep tight sweetheart.

In the summer of 2006 Blackberry (Powerscourt Adriana at Oneida) joined the family. She did well in the few outings she made into the show ring in 2007 but since then has been awarded the Gold Medal of the Kennel Club Good Citizen Scheme and has passed The Gundog Club’s Grade II Junior Retriever Field Test. She even went to her first shoot in November 2007 as a picker-up and loved every minute of a long and tiring day. Currently Blackberry is expecting her first litter of puppies on 10th May, 2009.

Obie, (Starlincore Peach Sparkle) came to live with us in the middle of the worst snow storm we have experienced in recent years in this country. Obie is now four months and is currently attending ringcraft sessions with the Marlborough and District Canine Club. She is gregarious and mischievous and has brought much pleasure to all the family – four-legged as well as the two-legged members. We hope to take her to her first show in a couple of months time.

Once again, the Oneida Kennel is moving forward.  And with three daughters and one son I very much hope that in the not too distant future one or other of them will want to keep the name going.

Margaret Armand Smith