Details:

Bred, owned, much loved & handled by: Caron Morton
Lived with & much loved by The Parker family, Cheryl, Dave, Ben & Beth for his last 5 years

Born: 31st August 1997
Died: 21st January 2008

Sire: Ch. Cambremer Tom Cobbley of Charway
Dam: Charway Ballymary at Dakross

BVA/KC Hip Score: 3:0
KC Stud Book No: 0036CJ
Optigen DNA test for PRA: Pattern A Normal/Clear

Dan the Man whose Kennel Club name is Show Champion Dakross Daniel Widdon JW was born on 31st August 1997, the day that Princess Diana died, he was one of eight puppies, 2 black girls, 1 chocolate girl and 5 black boys.

He lived at Dakross with Caron and Neil and of course his mum, Mary but he had to wait until he was 6 months old before he could go to his first show, he was actually 6 months and 1 week and he went to an Open show and won Best Labrador puppy at his first show. He then waited until he was 9 months old and went to another Open show where he again won Best Labrador puppy but he also beat all the adult Labradors too and won Best of Breed and then he went up against all the other different breeds Best Puppies to win the Best Puppy in the Gundog Group, he was certainly having a good start to his show career.

Dan the Man then went onto the bigger shows which are Championship shows, at these shows a dog can qualify to go to Crufts and has to win a first, second or third prize in his class. At most of his Championship show puppy classes he was in the first three places which meant he had qualified and could go to Crufts the next year. Dan the Man carried on winning all throughout his junior classes and he won an award called the Junior Warrant, which is a bit like a Junior Champion, this award allowed him to qualify to go to Crufts for life, gave him a special number called a Kennel Club Stud Book number and also allowed for the letters JW (which stands for Junior Warrant) to be added after his name.

To become a Show Champion a dog has to win 3 Challenge Certificates (or CC’s for short) under three different judges and a month before his 2nd birthday in 1999 Dan won his very first CC at Leeds Show held at Harewood House, he also beat the best bitch to win Best of Breed. For the rest of that year he won 2 Reserve CC’s which don’t count towards a Show Champion title but it means that the only dog to beat him is the CC winner and both times it was a Champion dog which beat him.
In the year 2000 Dan the Man won his second CC at Paignton Show and then again in 2000 he won his third CC and his title of Show Champion at Gundog Breed of Wales Show, a very proud moment, he was an excellent showman and loved to show off.

In 2001 Dan went to East of England Show at Peterborough and won his fourth CC in the most torrential, horrid rain, nothing put this Man off his showing off and then only 10 days later he won his fifth CC at Leeds Show held at Harewood House, that was a good showing ground for the Man. Dan has been to almost every corner of the country to shows but the furthest he has been is to Belfast in Northern Ireland, to get there we had to drive right up to Scotland and then get a ferry over the sea to Belfast but it was worth it as he won first place in his class and then won a reserve CC too.

His life at home was spent very happily lazing around and going for lovely walks in the fields and woods around where he lived, his favourite pastime was bog wallowing, running through the biggest puddles he could find and jumping into cow troughs, in fact anything which was to do with getting wet and stinky, Dan the Man could always find a dirty smelly puddle, even in the dry summer months. He really has been an absolutely fabulous dog both in and out of the ring, his temperament is faultless and he is such a fool, his favourite toys are teddies and soft fluffy things, he loves to make them all wet and smelly and then he rips them into tiny bits, in fact he rips just about anything into tiny bits, when Dan reached the age of five, it was decided to retire him from the show ring, at least not to go to as many shows and then we found out about this really cool home that was looking for a big dopey dog, Dan the Man fitted that description and The Parker family fitted his criteria too (he had to be loved all the time), when Dan and Cheryl met for the first time it was LOVE straight away for them both, so off he went to become a second son for the Parkers. The Dakross Labrador kennel have a lot to thank the Parker family for, and that is for giving one big dopey Dan a great home for the rest of his life and a very special dog deserves that.

This great dog was put to sleep at only 10 and a half years of age at the Parker home on Monday 21st January 2008, both his Mum’s and Dad’s were present, Dave& Cheryl Parker and Neil & Myself, he went to sleep eating sausages, his mind was very much all there but he developed a neurological problem and his back legs just didn’t work any more, to say this was one of the hardest dogs to let go is an understatement, if he were human he would just have needed a wheelchair but that was not an option, another truly special dog………..we all miss him so very much xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx sleep tight big lad, you can run around and bog wallow to your hearts content now with your lovely son J Boy.