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Hello,
I've always felt a strong affection toward the
dogs. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact, that according
to the Chinese horoscope, I was born in the year of the dog. Ever
since I was a little boy, I dreamed of having one of my own. But
since my parents weren't that enthusiastic about the idea as I was,
I had to settle for the weekly visits at my grandfathers’ farm,
where I could spend time with his dogs. As time passed, even this
weekly ritual stopped. The dogs passed away one by one of old age,
and after his last one died, my granddad didn't get a new one since
he was already very ill himself.
But the wish never left my sub consciousness.
I always knew, that I will own (or be owned by -which is still a
rhetorical question that I often ask myself, he he) a medium or
a large sized breed. On the other hand, I also knew that a suitable
living environment is needed in order to achieve that goal.
When my wife and I finally moved to our own
house, I knew that the last terms were met. What good is a house
with a garden, and without a friendly furry four legged companion
from the canine family roaming in it? A time to get a dog finally
came.
So the quest for that perfect one, started.
We had certain demands, and some of them were: short hair, little
or no barking, affectionate and patient towards children, with a
stable, non aggressive character and a lively outgoing temperament.
Yet on the other hand, he should be a capable protector and defender
of his home and family.
After almost a year of research, I was still
choosing between few of the breeds, and was no way near the final
decision. So my wife made a decision for me. She was very affectionate
towards the dog of our friends, and one day, while discussing this
issue again, she stated that it will either be of a German Boxer
breed, like our friend's Billy was, or no dog will enter the house.
It was a clear ultimatum, and I had no choice, other than raising
my white flag high and declaring a "defeat". But actually
I was relieved, since I liked that rascal "Billy the boxer"
too.
Over the next months I dug deep into the cynological
literature, mostly about raising the puppies (especialy Boxer puppies),
got my first book about the German Boxer, and most of all, swept
the internet, looking for any kind of information on the German
Boxer breed that I could find. In the summer of 2000, a Boxer puppie
named Ben came to our home, and we nicknamed him Bark.
Bark has proven himself to be a real representative
of his breed. He became my full time companion on every walkabout
I had, whether it was walking on the river banks of river Sava,
or roller skating in the city park, drinking coffee in the old town,
or hiking in the near by mountains.
After a year, I started looking around for another
dog in order to get him a companion, since he had to spend the most
of the day alone, waiting for us to return from work. And of course,
an idea of a litter also crossed my mind. So naturaly, it had to
be a German Boxer.
I took my time, trained Bark some more (I had
a feeling that his expertise will be needed while raising the second
Boxer puppy -and I was right) and in the summer of 2002, Bianca
Stella Styria came to our home. We nicknamed her Brina. She was
a gorgeous Boxer puppy, housebroken almost immediately, responsive
towards training (and always willing to follow Bark's example),
and the world champion in cuddling. I could even make a presumption
with a paraphrase, that she is the best cuddler among German Boxers,
and the best German Boxer among the cuddling comunity.
In the year 2003 we made a new step. We moved
out of the city, to the countryside. We purchased the farm of my
granddad, and I literally returned to the scene where my "original
sin" was born. I was back in the place where my passion (or
should i call it wit a real name: obsession?) with the dogs had
started.
By that time, it was already clear to me, that
dog breeding in general is a difficult task if one wants to do it
correctly. Especialy when it comes to the breeding of German Boxers.
I knew that breeding is not only the mating of two animals of opposite
sex, and I knew that my two dogs did not meet the requirements to
be partners to each other. My goals in this respect were higher
then to "just have a litter". And of course, it was clear
to me, that Brina is not as perfect as one would wish his breeding
stock would be.
Let me just freeze the time, and make a bypass
to another boxer related issue, which also touched us in that period....
I got involved deeper and one of the "side effects" was,
that in the fall -soon after the Slovenia hosted the Atibox World
Championship; i actively joined the Boxer Club. By the refferal
of the Slovenian judge for the German Boxer Breed, mr. Srecko Zorko,
who was the breed warden at the Slovenian Club of the lowers of
German Boxer (KLNB) at that time, I became the president of (at
the time nonexisting) Group Ljubljana in the spring of 2004. My
only vision and task at that time was, to establish an local organisation.
I thaught it would be easy. But it wasn't. I was new to the Boxer
scene, and the "old" group which seized to exist some
years ago, was nearly "extinct". But there were some new
faces, so everything wasn't "lost" completely. A year
and a half later in september 2005, we organised the Open Box Festival,
with some of the local group members. It was an unofficial event
even thou almost all of the organisers were also the members of
the club, and it turned out to be a complete success. It was a happening,
where all the boxers could compete- no matter if they were purebreed
or non pedigree dogs. And of course, also the white boxers could
participate and compete.
Half a year after the OpenBox Festival (as we
called the event) the now existing comitee was elected. It consists
of fresh people, unspoiled by the politics, and my strong beleif
is, that they are the representatives of the avangarde on the slovenian
German Boxer Sceene. I finnished my mandate without candidating
again, since I feel, that now i need to focus more on the things
that actualy matter - Breeding itself. I'll have time for politics
when i'm old, conservative, corrupt and and without ideas -living
of my "old glory", haha.
Rollback to the Boxers...
The next dog that came to our house (winter
of 2003) was a true representative of the German Boxer breed as
the two guys before her were (and still are). But exterier-wise,
she turned out to be much better German Boxer then they are. With
her, I "discovered" the show ring, and started tasting
the winning. In her young class career she qualified into final
four in her class on two national German Boxer Breed Specialty Shows
(one of the Austrian ÖEKV and the other of the French BCF), got
five candidatures for Young champion in Beauty -one in in Slovenia
and two at the austrian shows (and eventually became Slovenian Young
Champion); got a BundesJugendSieger title of Austria, and won the
title of Champion SCG with only 20 months of age . Her name is U2
con Tilia.
The season of 2004-05 was perhaps the most rewarding
year in the current history of our kennel. In the spring and summer
2004, we "rulled" the show rings with U2 and in the fall,
our new German Boxer puppies nicknamed Hanna (Radmilla v. Eurozone)
and Polly (Speranza MIa v. Eurozone) from the Eurozone kennel came
to expand our family.
With them, I turned a new page in my life as
a breeder, since in addition I haven't get just two great dogs,
but also got two great mentors and friends, Alexandra and Zoltan,
who are always there for me when I need a good advice.
These were the stages in the making of our kennel.
In august 2005, we finally produced our first litter with our U2,
which consisted of two brindle German Boxer puppie females as a
final outcome. And now...we plan to do some more :)
Before I stop this monologue, I would like
to say something about the German Boxer to the newbies in the breed
(since I think that all other Boxer people already know these "facts
of life"). Living with a German Boxer is a challenge and a
joy-ride at the same time. A German Boxer dog is a real deal for
a beginner who truly wants to learn and understand the canine race.
And of course for the one, who is realy willing to invest some time,
energy and hard labour into his new hobby -his new friend and most
of all: his new part of the family. Not to mention a lot of sence
of humour, and patience (which requires nerves system made of iron,
haha). After having a true specimen of the German Boxer dog, the
ownership of any other breed seems easy. Or not quite so, because
of the old saying that goes: "Once a Boxer, always a Boxer".
The Baron among the dogs. Nobleman and a hedonist, or in Mark Twain’s
terms: the Prince and the Pauper. All at the same time.
Aleš Medvešek
Vernek, junij 2005
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