I wrote to Raider's breeder about a week ago to let her know how he's going and to thank her for her efforts in raising such a lovely, beautiful, friendly and affectionate boy before coming home with me at 8 weeks. This is her reply:

Its great to hear from you. I really enjoy hearing from all our puppy buyers. Of course I know who you are and which one Raider was.....I am glad that he has turned out to be such a lovely boy. I must say that he is quite a nice looking boy too. When I opened the first photo of him running straight into the camera, he did make me glance twice. Very very nice looking boy. You know, thank you for your compliments regarding his temperament. We put a lot of effort into their first 8 weeks of life, to give them as much exposure as they can tolerate being babies, which gives them a great start, but the credit regarding his nature and temperament certainly lies with you dear, because its thanks to your ongoing attention and love that he has turned out to be something to be proud of. Job well done.

Please keep up the pictures because I save all of them when I get them. If you have a look at my website, you will see one of Raiders sisters went to New Zealand “Kanjelese dogs abroad” and she is doint very well in the show ring. If you don’t mind I would like to put Raider on the website.

What a lovely reply. I've never thought his temperament had anything to do with me. I've always thought he was born that way and it came down through his parents. His mum was very placid and friendly (ok he's not placid but she had a great temperament). His photos should be on the website soon. How exciting!