I first met Michael Collings many years ago when he was tinkering about with, among other breeds, the King of Terriers, my beloved Airedales. He has tinkered about with a lot of breeds and countless dogs in that laid back, almost casual way of his, for far more years than he cares to remember.

Actually, Michael’s breeding activities amount to a great deal more than tinkering. I would say that in any contest for the best terrier breeder of our generation, Michael Collings would be a favourite for a medal. He has the golden touch, extending from breeding the winner of a minor puppy class at a breed club open show to breeding the Best in Show at Crufts. Many know, but likewise many do not realise, that Michael was, for about ten years in the 1960s and 1970s, a vicar; a man of the cloth; a Methodist minister no less. So how does he compare his life in the church with his life in the dog game. Well, he told me, "I was once paid to be good - now I am good for nothing"!

His affix of Purston has been around for a bit. He started in dogs in the early 1960s having been interested since a boy. Interested, in fact, "in anything live that moved"! Born and bred in this country Michael now lives in the United States, and has done so for many years but it seems to me that his visits back to our shores are now so frequent that he is becoming a regular face around our ringsides again.

Michael has owned and/or bred champions in West Highland White Terriers, Airedale Terriers, Welsh Terriers, Greyhounds and Bullmastiffs, has had a CC in Lakeland Terriers and took with him an Irish Terrier champion when he moved to the USA. It goes without saying that he has also excelled at the same level in Wire Fox Terriers. Other notable achievements have included owning Dog of the Year with a Welsh Terrier, Ch Groveview Jubilee, the only Welsh Terrier to have been awarded that honour and winning Best in Show at The National Terrier show with another Welsh, Ch Serenfach Erica. In the USA three Best in Show exhibits at Montgomery County (the equivalent of our National Terrier) have been sent from the Purston Kennel, two Westies and a Wire. At that famous show over the years some seven Best of Breed winners have come from Purston. At Westminster Show (the equivalent of Crufts in the USA) he has won the Terrier Group with a Wire. A Welsh, Ch Groveview Minstral of Purston and an Airedale, Ch Double Trouble of Clare have each been awarded Dog of the Year in South Africa. I could go on but by now you will have some idea of the depth of Michael’s experience and expertise.

However, eclipsing all that I have written above is his incredible association with the ultimate prize in the world of show dogs, Best in Show at Crufts. He has bred one winner of that title, Ch Purston Hit and Miss of Brocolitia, owned by Ann Maughan and handled, shortly before his death, by Frank Kellett. That was in 1995. The following year the Reserve Best in Show at Crufts was won by Jean Halliwell’s Ch Purston Leading Lady at Wigmore, another Welsh Terrier bred by Michael. In 1998 yet another Welsh Terrier, Judy Averis’ Saredon Forever Young won Best in Show and he was sired by Ch Purston Hell of a Fella another of Michael’s breeding. Earlier, in 1986, Best in Show at Crufts had been won by an Airedale Terrier Ch Ginger Xmas Carol, sired by Ch Double Dutch of Clare, a litter brother of the aforementioned Ch Double Trouble of Clare, both of which had been bred jointly by Michael Collings and Bill Milner. I doubt that anyone else can claim such a diffuse, yet close, connection with the ultimate show award.

At the present time Michael, his wife Mary and her partner Jean Mason claim to have one of the strongest kennels of Wire Fox Terriers in the United States. He adds ‘I also breed some very nice Welsh. If I had an epitaph I hope it would read "He always showed good dogs". I had my first Wire as a young boy from the kennel of Charlie Higginson. I have loved the breed as boy and man. They are the premier show dog.’

With the keenest of eyes for a good dog, a passion for the breed and forty years of experience what greater qualities could the Wire Fox Terrier Association desire of its President, and judge of the 2005 championship show.