The Hovawarts
Initial interest in this fascinating breed of German dog started in 1983. John first saw the breed at a Kennel Club exhibition (a forerunner of Discover Dogs) which he attended with a Wolfhound. It was 1986 before we finally owned one; a black and gold bitch named Tegan, aged 14 months.
Elaine's interest then was obedience and Tegan achieved a reasonable standard, taking part in demonstrations to Novice level. We didn't know it at the time but the breed grew on us so much that within a few years, we had five.
Tegan did have a litter but it was not without health problems and so we worked for an alternative, having been totally "grabbed" by this breed. It was the time of the fall of the Berlin wall so we decided to visit East Germany, initially to see a stud dog exhibition, but we were most captivated by a bitch called Rakete. Later in the year, Gill Stockton spotted that Rakete was in whelp and with some trepidation we contacted Volken Weinrich to see if there was any possibility we might get a puppy. Amazingly, he agreed and so we visited again to see the litter.
Jordis and Arpad
We agreed with Volken that there should be 2 puppies together in quarantine and so he found a Black male, Arpad, for us. Surprisingly, he allowed us to take the pick of his litter, Jordis, and so we returned, driving these two little puppies back across Europe.
At Dover we were met by H.M. Customs and our two charges were taken and duly installed in a sunny quarantine kennel, happily only a few miles from our workplace. We visited Jordis and Arpad almost every day.
Jordis was reared and then mated some three and a half years later to a Finnish male called Baron, imported to the UK by Janet Kibble (breeder of Tegan).
Pioneer Puppies
The resulting litter produced our "pioneer" puppies. The sole bitch puppy was kept and called Hilary, after Sir Edmund Hilary, the Everest climber. Pines Hilary didn't climb mountains but did achieve fame by going Best in Show at the Hovawart Club of Great Britain annual show in October 1997 (Judge Gisbert Langheim), with Pines Hudson (her brother) awarded Best Opposite Sex. A truly memorable day.
The Irish Litter
We repeated this meeting with Baron, keeping another bitch (Pines Illustrious Buckle). At 18 months it became clear she needed a family of her own and Valerie and Vincent Polding were ideal, having recently lost their young Bailey all to soon. We arranged to have a litter with her and travelled to Duke Alexander in Ireland. Again we were very lucky and kept a bitch (Pines Limerick). We were very proud when her sister Pines Tipperary, owned by Ann Travis, was declared BIS at the HCGB Show in 2001. (Judged by Ans Schellekens from Holland and Elizabeth Dietschi from Switzerland.)
Going Forward
With the removal of quarantine and the introduction of the K.C. Pet passport arrangement, Volken Weirich was again consulted about the possibility of a German/English union. On his recommendation Arek von Schleuseberg was selected. A tried and tested mating, with Sire and Dam holding a common Grandfather, a dog called Lasko. Line breeding is to us the correct way forward to ensure steady temperament, good heath and consistent type. The outcome of this was ten super puppies of which we kept one bitch and named her "Mercedes".
Our next adventure was to take Limerick to Holland, to a German bred dog, Wotan, selected for his temperament and breeding to match ours. Like all our bitches, Wotan was black and gold, so imagine our surprise on having 10 black and gold puppies and 1 blonde! It was a summer litter and we had a visit from grandchildren to liven things up a little more.
To date Pines Hovawarts have brought pleasure to folk all over the world. Our dogs are in the USA, South Africa, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Hong Kong and of course, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
If you are interested in owning a Hovawart or would like to find out more about this wonderful breed, visit our contact page to express your interest.
