Ellen Sutton – Puppy Coordinator

I have lived my whole life with gundog and terrier breeds, coming from a family that has always included dogs for many, many generations.  As children we were brought up to always to put the needs of our animals ahead of our own; it was explained that they depend upon us for everything and that a relationship built with an animal based upon care and respect is absolutely magical. 

My dogs are first and foremost family members; but I have also spent most of my adult life working my dogs and in the last few years I have also enjoyed showing.  I started to judge Curlies at the beginning of 2025 alongside a few other gundog breeds at open shows and have found the learning and development process for judging accreditation to be extremely valuable. I am no great dog trainer or show exhibitor – we never stop learning ourselves but if I can help someone else with their dog I always will. From my experience of owning and working several different gundog breeds I can confirm that individual dogs are as different as they are similar and different approaches are needed according to each dog. 

I got my first Curly Coated Retriever in 1998 and completely fell in love with the breed – we haven’t been without at least one Curly ever since and currently have four Curlies in the family.

Dogs are the only creatures on earth who love their family more than they love themselves and we must repay this by giving them the very best life that we can. I feel very strongly that everyone who owns and loves dogs has knowledge that is worth sharing and wants to learn from others – whether that is about their care, training, health, breeding or history. 

I hope that we can use the Curly Coated Retriever Association to promote our wonderful breed, I would love to see more people with Curlies and hope that one day they might “graduate” off the Vulnerable Native Breeds list.  Just as importantly I want to use the Association to encourage owners and support them irrespective of whether their Curly is a Champion show, agility, field trial, service dog or just a much-loved companion and family dog.  Pet owners make up the vast majority of all people who own dogs in the UK and it is important that their generations of family “dog know-how” is recognised and passed to new owners alongside the advice of experienced breeders.