We are sitting here remembering Penn...Ring Round The World. He is at the heart
of the Balrion at Weathertop breeding program.
Everything in the kennel today goes back to Penn, his littermate Katy, and Moria.

We have our three wonderful bitches, Westerly (by El Nino), Lorna Doone (by Storm Cloud)
and Rhiannon (by Tom Jones), out of Oceans Apart (called Katy after Kate Perry).
Both Penn and Katy consistently passed down their "museum quality" otter tails.
With the world wide lack of good tails we are very fortunate to have those two great producers of true otter tails behind all of our dogs.

Penn won Stud Dog at Potomac and his motto was...I'll mate no bitch before her time.

Dot Galvin stood him at stud during our migration from North Wales to Carmel.
She and Jack were wonderful stud dog managers.
Their records were impeccable and he had a wonderful life with them.

We brought him home from Henningsmill  to Carmel especially to mate to Moria.
She was a hard bitch to mate because, as we now know, we kept trying to mate her too early. Penn had just flown in from Ohio and wasn't at all interested in her. John was still living
 in Wales at the time but was with me in Carmel for two weeks. We kept putting them together but Penn wouldn't have it. I asked John if perhaps Penn was having a mental break down.
Then on day 19 (the day that John was to fly to Wales then on to judge in Japan) suddenly Penn was hanging from the ceiling by his toes. We were rushing to leave for the airport but thought we'd better try the mating one last time. We got a 45 minute tie...on our knees sweating bullets that John would miss his flight. This mating produced Am Ch Weathertop Storm Cloud.

In Carmel Valley we used to sit and sip G&Ts by our pond at sundown and  laugh while Penn  waded in like a hippo and picked up stones from the floor of the pond. The giant bullfrogs would circle him like crocodiles with just their eyes showing.
 It was like being in Botswana for Sundowners.

Penn got his name from his pedigree.  His sire Hawksmoor Webster was out of Kate Perry's bitch H. Raven's Flight who was   out of NZ Ch Mascot Rayners Choice who was by a  dog that John sent out to NZ named NZ CH Balrion Fortune Teller.

Before we moved back to North Wales we sent frozen semen to Sylvia Power (Zenchel)
in Australia...both El Nino and Penn. A few years ago Jan and Peter Wallace (Mistybrook)
 in New Zealand  used Penn on a Southerly bitch they had from Pat Woollaston.
From that mating came Mistybrook Make Mine Mink (Grace). She went on to become the top winning Labrador bitch in NZ. When they asked us how to breed her and we suggested El Nino. They had the first El Nino  litter to be whelped after he died.  
I  had an email from them last week.

<<Our puppy dog Mistybrook Mr Bojangles (the El Nino son) won the CC (his third!!!),
Best of Breed and Best in Show at the Waikato Gundog Specialty Show on the weekend. 
The Judge was L Richter from Australia (she handles Labradors for G Spagnolo).  
His sister Mistybrook Mustang Sally won the CC (her first!) and at the All breeds show their mother NZ Ch Mistybrook Make Mine Mink (Balrion Ring Round the World daughter)
 won the CC and Reserve Best of Breed.>>

Always a gentleman and all around great guy...thanks Ron, Jennifer, Tanner, Scott and  Jacob  for giving Penn a happy home.

Please have him cremated so we can bring him home for the last leg of his ring round the world