WORLD

BREEDERS
 

  
     
                 

Phyllis
and
Derek
Rigby


 
Phyllis with Ch Lythwood Secret Dreams   Derek with Ch Lythwood Sixsmith
 
  Situated:

Hunger Hill, Condover
Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY5 7BJ
United Kingdom
  Present shelties: Fifteen
  World breeders: For more than fourty-five years
  Reputation: Breeders of 30 champion dogs/bitches, carry the Lythwood prefix, well respected sheltie and collie judges
  Colours: Sable-white
 
FOUNDATION

Derek Rigby was born in India, where his father joined the British army. He came to England at the age of five. He did not come from a family that was interested in pets, but from a young boy he was interested in livestock, so whilst still at school, he started with mice, guinea pigs and rabbits. Derek did very well in the show ring as his ambition was always to try and improve the species. Derek: "My biggest success was with rabbits, when I gained Best Fancy rabbit with Ch Sundorne Snow Prince (a very small breed called Polish) at Bradford. Bradford in rabbits was equivalent to Crufts in dogs. The way we showed was to send the rabbits by rail to the show and you had to wait for them to return to see the prizes you have won, if any. On the occasion of Bradford Show, I did not know anything until I returned from school to be told by my mother that the daily papers had been on, as I had beaten all the top breeders in England."

In those days Riverhill and Shelert and many other top Sheltie breeders showed rabbits. Derek: "My prefix in those days was Sundorne, but when I applied for Sundorne in dogs, I was unable to have it, as the name had already been taken. So as I lived on Lythwood Road, I chose that as a prefix, so all my dogs and Shetland ponies have come under that prefix."

Derek first met Phyllis at a dance, in the days of ballroom dancing. After taking her home, he had to collect his rabbits that had been returned to the railway station.
Unfortunately, when he received his call up papers for National Service in 1953, he reluctantly sold his stock to other breeders. On having a medical, he was found to have suffered an sporting injury to his knee when he had played for a local club and this meant he was unfit for call-up.
 

Collie show in the early years		 Phyllis and Derek got married in March 1959 and their love for dogs soon developed. Derek's first love was the rough collie, but as they had a very small car and a small garden, he turned to Shelties and hence began their lifelong passion for the Sheltie. They later moved in a bigger house and Derek purchased his first rough Collie, with which he did quite well in the ring and breeding. Phyllis and Derek also had American Cookers and Yorkshire Terriers.

Derek purchased his first Sheltie with the recommendation of his friend Cyril Stanley, a Championship show judge of Toys and Terriers. Her name was Buttons and Bows of Beeswell and it was in 1960. Derek: "I mated her to a well-known dog at the time and thought I had a good litter. When the puppies were eight weeks old, I asked the opinion of an elderly gentleman called Arnold Cluff, the owner of Ch Watta Woodcut. When he looked at them, he said ‘if you want to get on in shelties, get rid of the bitch and the puppies and start again!’ I thought I knew best and I carried on for three years, then I realised the old man was right, as he said ‘you will never get rid of those big round eyes and a long fine foreface’. So I plucked up courage and started again. His words have stuck with me all my life, as I feel the first thing you look at is a Sheltie’s head and expression."