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FRAMOD kennels was established in 1982. We are situated in the small, beautiful Island of Malta, 93 km south of Sicily. The Framod affix was one of the very first, if not the first, affix to be officially registered in Malta. It is also a registered kennel name in England. It was way back in 1982 that we started with Cockers when I bought a nice little golden puppy bitch, Golden Charms At Framod (Jenny), as a present to my fiancée, later to be my wife. It wasn’t our intention then to show this girl but on insistence from some of our friends, we gave it a shot, and that was it, we got the hook! When Jenny produced our first litter we kept a Black & White dog, Framod Apollo Blue Spirit, who did well for us in those early days of showing. The numbers of Cockers being shown then was very good, although they were all locally bred dogs and the standard wasn’t that of today. Soon dogs started being imported from England, thus the standard of Cockers in Malta started to improve rapidly, and this has brought the decline in the number of dogs being shown, as locally bred Cockers didn’t stand a chance with the imported ones. Thus we imported our first Cocker from England, this was the black dog Olanza Pure Jest bred by Poppy Becker. Not long after this we imported Canyonn Checkpoint Of Olanza, sired by Sh.Ch.Olanza Poachers Moon, and who already had done some winning in England, most notably going Reserve Best In Show at the Black Cocker Club. We had a good run with him and he won numerous Gundog Groups and even Res.BIS. Thomas was used on another Canyonn bitch and from that litter emerged Sh.Ch. Moralis Black Pearl Of Framod, an outstanding black bitch which later produced Sh.Ch.Framod Live & Let Die. In 1993 we imported another black dog, Perrytree Malvern Knight At Framod, which had a good show career and was quickly campaigned to his title. In 1996 we imported our “Golden” bitch, Robraine Samraan At Framod, which without doubt is the most successful Cocker ever to lay foot on Maltese soil. Mandy is the first dog (all breeds) to win Best In Show with all the different clubs in Malta, namely The Malta Canine Society, The Maltese Ladies Kennel Association, The German Shepherd & The Obedience & Agility Association and the Malta Kennel Club, and to date is still the only one with such an outstanding record. Our Kennel is also the only one to date to have won Best In Show with all existent Maltese clubs. We cannot thank enough Loraine Palmer for letting us have her and also to our great friends Philip & Sue Young (Canyonn) for finding her for us! We owe so much for our knowledge on this breed to Sue & Philip Young, their continuous support, advice and help is greatly appreciated. Our latest Cocker Spaniel import, Sh.Ch. Canyonn Classic Dreams At Framod (Billy), who was Best Puppy Dog at Crufts 2003, is now doing well for us in the local show scene. In his first few shows here he won Best In Show under Dennis Coxall in April 2004. Billy is producing outstanding puppies and his son, Framod Dream Chaser At Clarksland, who was exported to England in June 2004, to Barry Tomlin, who sadly passed away in August 2007. We are the first Maltese kennel to export a Cocker Spaniel to England to be shown in the British dog scene. This shows that even British breeders appreciate our blood lines. Our dogs have been constantly put up at shows by British judges, and particularly by Gundog & Breed specialist who have ALWAYS chosen our dogs and this makes us without doubt the top kennel in Cockers in Malta. We thank all the judges for thinking so highly of our dogs. In 2001 we decided to have a second breed, and our choice was the wonderful breed, the Beagle. We contacted our friends, Tommy & Ada Anderson, whose Rossmaith kennel is a well known Beagle establishment throughout the World. They promised us that they’ll keep an eye on their puppies and would let us have a promising pup. We waited for some time and in 2004 they’ve sent us a puppy bitch Rossmaith Pirouette, an outstanding tri-color that we fell in love with as soon as we opened her box in quarantine. She had to stay 21 days in quarantine, and when time came for her to join us at home, we picked her up from quarantine at 8.00am on a Sunday morning, headed straight to the show venue and got Best Puppy In Show with her! Since then she won 3 BPIS, 4 Reserve Hound groups and never got beaten in the breed. Since then we had puppies from this bitch, mated to a Dialynne dog, and her offspring is doing well and we already made our 2 Framod champion Beagles! We never thought of how wonderful this breed is, loyal, intelligent and fun! Pirri is our Beagle foundation bitch and we intend to campaign this breed at full speed! Thank you so much Tommy and Ada for putting us on the right track! On a personal point, Frank Borg is involved in the world of dogs in so many ways. He’s been serving in the Committee of The Malta Canine Society since 1981, and has been Secretary since 1990. He is also a founder member of The Maltese National Canine Federation, of which he is also International Secretary. Frank’s occupation since 1982 was that of a Police Dog Handler. In the year 2002 Frank was the first Maltese to be elected a member of the prestigious Kennel Club (U.K), and to date, still the only one. When one considers how restricted membership to the K.C was at that time shows that Frank’s contribution to the World of dogs was noted. Frank also represented Malta at the Conference for Commonwealth Kennel Clubs in London in 2000, 2004 and 2008, and at the International Political Canine Forum in 2004. Frank is also being constantly asked to judge numerous breeds in England, mainly Cocker Spaniels and other Gundog and Hound breeds. Frank served in the Malta Police Force for over 25 years, 21 years of which he served at the Police Dog Section as an explosives detection dog handler. He retired from the Police in June 2008 and is now a property consultant with Remax. In January 2007, Frank Borg was approved by the Kennel Club (U.K) to award Challenge Certificates in Cocker Spaniels in England, the first Maltese to judge at the highest level in the U.K. Frank judged Cockers for the first time on C.C level in Belfast Championship Show in September 2007. His next championship show appointment is at Darlington in 2009. Dogs have been our life for the past 26 years, and through them we made so many friends, both locally and abroad. We have enjoyed every minute of breeding them, showing then and even judging them especially in England. They are lovely to share life with, and we couldn’t imagine our lives without them now.
Frank, Moddy, Nicholas & Aaron Borg. June 2008. |
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JULY 2005. Seen here during a memorable stay that we thoroughly enjoyed with our great friends, Philip & Sue Young of the Canyonn Cocker Spaniels. Much of our knowledge on the Cocker Spaniel breed is owed to this lovely couple who always gave us the right advice on breeding, rearing, preparing and presenting the Cocker Spaniel in a professional way.
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Frank with Jean Boervoerts from Belgium and Elizabeth McLean during a memorable visit to the Lynwater Kennels in Scotland in July 1993.
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IT'S IN THE BLOOD! Nicholas & Aaron with Digit & Poppy having some fun.
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Frank judging the Home Counties Cocker Club Open Show in
the year 2003.
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