Dakross Kris Kristoffersen at Hannabee

Morse was purchased from me for Hannah Braimbridge, a very keen and eager Junior Handler by her parents Dave & Tina Braimbridge as an eight week old puppy in February 2002. Hannah had handled a variety of dogs for other Labrador kennels and decided that at the age of 13 she was ready for the commitment of rearing her own puppy for the showring, a task she readily took on. As a very young dog Morse took on his mother’s trait of being a bit of an ugly duckling, he was very rangy and lanky, it was all there to come but it became clear that it was going to take a good bit of time to do so. Morse spent his puppy career purely and simply making up the numbers in his classes and although it must have been frustrating for Hannah to be unplaced time after time, in all fairness to her (and her parents of course) she never gave up on the fact that I had said keep going, he will come good. At about 15 months of age he qualified for Crufts by winning a third place in Junior dog at Three Ridings Labrador Club Championship show but he didn’t actually win a first place at Championship level until just before his second birthday in 2003 where he won his first Championship show first placing at North West Labrador Club and hasn’t really looked back since then.
In 2004 at both Morse and Hannah’s first ever Crufts, he was entered in Undergraduate Dog, a very strong class of 26 entries, this is where he proved himself at what was probably his finest hour and he gave himself and his 15 year old owner/handler an unbelievable memory when he won first place in this quality class under judge Richard Wiles, there wasn’t a dry eye anywhere especially when Hannah realised just what had happened and gave in to her own emotion, if Morse never won anything else then it really wouldn’t matter as this win was simply the best but he does continue to win his classes and he continues to keep his Hannah one very happy young lady by not only being a good show dog but I think he is also her very best friend too.