With our German Import Steffi - 8 weeks
Ian & Elkie in Frya Norway for NBSK Show
Jill with Madi and Uschi in Norway
Oska - Our 1st Bernese
Oska
Geilo with the Silberhorn
Jill with Jodi,Tascha,Madi,Heiko & Oska
Bottoms Up!!
The Family
About Us
We have both been brought up with dogs and small livestock all our lives, Jill’s parents had Border Terrier's and my brother who was a police officer had German Shepherds and Springer Spaniels. It was inevitable that we would have dogs of our own as soon as possible after we were married and settled in our new home. I always wanted German shepherd’s, we were fortunate that our first dog was fully trained when we got him, Rebel was my brothers police dog. He had to be retired early due to sustaining an injury to his shoulder while on active duty, Rebel had everything we wanted in a dog, and he had wonderful temperament and character. This has always been one of the most important factors in any dog when we have been looking to breeding or bringing a dog into our home.
Having obtained our first German Shepherd female who we were unable to breed from due to her suffering from epilepsy we searched for a good female with a view to breeding. We located a female who was bred from a new German imported male who had some very good breeding lines and the temperament we were looking for. We mated her to another German import and our breeding lines began, we applied to the Kennel Club for our Affix – ‘Staubach’ in 1987. It is named after a waterfall in the Lauterbrunnen valley in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. The name of the waterfall was the Staubbach Falls, unfortunatly when we applied to the Kennel Club for our affix we missed out one letter 'b' from the name. We informed our Kennel Club but they would not allow us to change the spelling so it has a slightly different meaning.
It was not until around 1990 that we were on our annual holiday to Switzerland when we met our first Berner Sennenhund. We were walking in the mountains near Murren when we came across a young ten month old male. After speaking to his Swiss owner and asking lots of questions we decided that this would be a breed we would like to have when we did not have so many German Shepherds. When we saw our first Bernese he was only about half a mile from the water fall in the Lauterbrunnen Valley that we named our affix after, this must have been fate.
In 1993/94 we started our search for our first Bernese, we visited Keith Creasey and Ann Pickering (Alphanova) where we saw our first litter, they made us very welcome and introduced us to their dogs, they also asked us many questions to make sure they approved of us. At this time they had not decided which puppy they were keeping, we liked the look of one of the female's who turned out to be UK Champion Alphanova Shenzi, we prefered the female's to the males. On reaching their decision they decided to keep her and offered us another puppy, however as it was not what we wanted we decided to look elsewhere. This was Keith and Ann's first litter, it proved to be a very successful litter who attained good longevity.
Our search continued and we located a litter in Basingstoke, Hampshire, the breeder Mrs Soper-Dyer had a litter of two, one male and one female, we could have the male if we were interested. When we first saw him he was just what we wanted having good bone, head, markings etc and what we thought a perfect pedigree. His sire was an import from Switzerland with an impeccable background, so we brought home our first Bernese puppy when he was eight weeks old.
We had even though of a name for him before we had even found him, we decided on ‘Oska’, what a surprise when we found his breeder had named him ‘Tregairn Oscar. He shared our home with two German Shepherds for a time, when our male Max died suddenly we began our search for a suitable female Bernese. At this time we were not interested in showing as we both did not have the time due to our other interests.
Having obtained our first German Shepherd female who we were unable to breed from due to her suffering from epilepsy we searched for a good female with a view to breeding. We located a female who was bred from a new German imported male who had some very good breeding lines and the temperament we were looking for. We mated her to another German import and our breeding lines began, we applied to the Kennel Club for our Affix – ‘Staubach’ in 1987. It is named after a waterfall in the Lauterbrunnen valley in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. The name of the waterfall was the Staubbach Falls, unfortunatly when we applied to the Kennel Club for our affix we missed out one letter 'b' from the name. We informed our Kennel Club but they would not allow us to change the spelling so it has a slightly different meaning.
It was not until around 1990 that we were on our annual holiday to Switzerland when we met our first Berner Sennenhund. We were walking in the mountains near Murren when we came across a young ten month old male. After speaking to his Swiss owner and asking lots of questions we decided that this would be a breed we would like to have when we did not have so many German Shepherds. When we saw our first Bernese he was only about half a mile from the water fall in the Lauterbrunnen Valley that we named our affix after, this must have been fate.
In 1993/94 we started our search for our first Bernese, we visited Keith Creasey and Ann Pickering (Alphanova) where we saw our first litter, they made us very welcome and introduced us to their dogs, they also asked us many questions to make sure they approved of us. At this time they had not decided which puppy they were keeping, we liked the look of one of the female's who turned out to be UK Champion Alphanova Shenzi, we prefered the female's to the males. On reaching their decision they decided to keep her and offered us another puppy, however as it was not what we wanted we decided to look elsewhere. This was Keith and Ann's first litter, it proved to be a very successful litter who attained good longevity.
Our search continued and we located a litter in Basingstoke, Hampshire, the breeder Mrs Soper-Dyer had a litter of two, one male and one female, we could have the male if we were interested. When we first saw him he was just what we wanted having good bone, head, markings etc and what we thought a perfect pedigree. His sire was an import from Switzerland with an impeccable background, so we brought home our first Bernese puppy when he was eight weeks old.
We had even though of a name for him before we had even found him, we decided on ‘Oska’, what a surprise when we found his breeder had named him ‘Tregairn Oscar. He shared our home with two German Shepherds for a time, when our male Max died suddenly we began our search for a suitable female Bernese. At this time we were not interested in showing as we both did not have the time due to our other interests.
After researching Oska’s pedigree we found a breeder in Kent, she had imported Oska's father from Switzerland so we went to the home of Sonja Gorbould (Glanzberg) and her husband Reg (Todd) to see a litter they had. We were offered a female who would fit in with our plans for breeding, either with Oska or with another suitable male, We had our first litter of Bernese in June 1999, we used another of Sonja's Swiss imported males with our Glanzberg female Tascha. Having decided to keep one male and one female from this litter, this would be the start of our future breeding plans and our plans for starting Therapy work.
The two we kept, Madi (Staubach Blaue Wasser Falle) and Heiko (Staubach Blaue Wasser) were temperament assessed by the BMDC of GB, they were also assessed as Therapy Dogs, they both visited a local Residential Care Home. We were invited to speak at a Special Needs School, I had Madi with me and we were asked if we could visit the children each week, we agreed and Madi continuted to visit the school untill about four weeks before she died. When Madi had her first litter two puppies also become Therapy Dogs. Madi’s daughter Jodi who we kept became a Therapy Dog when she was six months old two days old, she was the youngest Therapy dog in the UK at this time, the rules have been changed now by the charity, a dog must now be around ten months old before it can be assessed as a Therapy Dog..
We only use for breeding dogs with 100% perfect temperament and character, this very important to us as we breed for good temperament. We also only use dogs that are hip and elbow scored and conduct a lot of research into the breeding lines of our dogs and any we would like to include in our lines. We also use the same criteria when assessing any female's whose owners would like to use our Norwegian male Geilo at stud with their female.
Over the last few years we have imported five female's, firstly there was Casji from Belgium, Uschi from France, Janka from Norway, Steffi from Germany and Katie from Italy in 2012. Our Norwegian female. Our Norwegian female Janka is a niece of Geilo, her mother is a very beautiful litter sister of Geilo's all have excellent temperament's and character. We have had two litters from our Belgian female Casji, one to our male Heiko and one to Dynamite van't Beertjes Hof of Glanzberg, a male from the same Belgian breeder. Unfortunatly our French female Uschi had to be spayed before we could have a litter from her due to a Pyometra. We were also unsuccessful in breeding Janka and sadly she died when she was four years old.
We also have also imported a male from Norway, his name is Geilo, he arrived in England when he was 10 months old, he has been shown in Norway and the Continent with success. He qualified for Crufts 2006 at his first Championship show, at Crufts he was winner of the Yearling male class. Geilo has also passed his assessement to become a Therapy dog and has also been Temperement Tested by the BMDC of GB were he passed with an excellent grade. We also show Geilo and his daughter Elkie (Tigerifik Lady in Red at Staubach) togeter as a pair on the Continent, they were awarded Best Pair at the Bernese Club of Switzerland Show (KBS) in 2010. Our final import was Katie in December 2011.
Why the imports? We believe to improve we have to look further afield than the United Kingdom, the breed needs new quality blood lines with good health, longevity, excellent temperament and character. We have studied the lines in great detail of the dogs we have brought in, we have looked into health related problems, temperament and longevity in breeding lines. With the scheme for hip and elbow testing being better than the UK in Norway you can see that all puppies are x-rayed and scored, even those going to be companion dogs. Other Countries on the Continent have very good health schemes and breeding tests, unlike the United Kingdome where there are no compulsary tests for Bernese, the Breed Club and Kennel Club only recommend testing. We will continue to import where we can and work together with our Continental friends with ours and their breeding plans to ensure we give our great breed our 100% commitment.
In September 2009 we imported Gwen-Stefani von Bernice Love, a female from Germany, her mother was Norwegian and her father American in the hope she will enhance our breeding plans. in These new breeding lines will link in well with ours and they will also have lines not in the UK at this time. The German Bernese Club and German Kennel Club are very strict on breeding and all breeding dogs must be temperament tested and authority given to breed from the dogs. We mated Steffi and Geilo in early 2011, we had a litter of eleven puppies, we kept a male (Johann) and female (Jenta) from the litter. We were so impressed with this litter we decided to have a repeat mating in 2012, the result being a litter of six, again we were impressed with the puppies and decided to keep a male (Kheno) and female (Khono). If all goes well with their health tests etc we should have good generation to proceed with our breeding plans for the future.
Having bred live stock for over forty five years, and dogs for more than a quarter of a century we have always bred to strong healthy breeding lines, we do not only look at the parents we also look at their brothers and sister’s aunts and uncles. We look at any health related issues within these lines, temperament, soundness, and also hip and elbow results. When breeding exhibition budgerigars we always said that there is more to a good bird than what you can see, it is like an ice berg, 25% you can see 75% you cannot see (under the water line) the 75% is what is hidden in the breeding. This is why we believe research into the lines is very important, you cannot go on visual qualities of the sire and dam only when breeding.
THE FUTURE: We adhere to the guide lines set by the breed clubs and are founder members of the Kennel Club Accredited Breeder Scheme No. 128843. We are members of the following overseas clubs: K.B.S. (Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Switzerland, the N.B.S.K. (Norwegian Bernese Mountain Dog Club) and the Deutscher Club for Berner Sennenhunde (DCBS - Germany), all have very strict codes of breeding ethics. We are memebers of the B.M.D.C. of G.B. whose code of ethics is not as strong and is not compulsory, we are also members of the Northern Bernese Mountain Dog Club and the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Scotland.
Our first love is for the breed and all our dogs who are with us for their whole life, when we do breed it is for the love of this wonderful breed, all our dogs are house dogs and do not live in kennels, when we have litters they are reared in our home with lots of attention and care. We take the same care in finding suitable homes for our puppies, we insist that all prospective new families visit us at our home. We would never place puppies in new homes where we had never met the prospective family, all prospective new owners must visit us before we would consider anyone suitable for one of our puppies..
Exhibiting: We do show our dogs as you will see from our show results, we are the only U.K. Bernese owners/breeders who have shown their dogs on the Continent and Scandinavia, in the following Countries Norway, Sweden, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Netherland's, Germany, England, Scotland we have also shown in Ireland. We are also the only UK Bernese owners/breeders to have shown at Bernese Club Shows in eight (8) countries. These being: Great Britain, Scotland, Ireland, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, France and Germany.
However using our dogs as Therapy dogs and working with children with Special Needs is more important to us, to see the improvements they can make to the children and to see the happiness and joy they bring to them is greater than attending any show. It is not only the children who love the dogs to visit, the staff also get a lot of satisfaction and this helps with any stress they may feel too. We also work with other children who can be violent at times, it is very rewarding to see the impact our dogs have on these children.
Therapy work: This is by far the most rewarding thing we do with our Bernese, attending a local Special Needs School for Children the rewards of seeing the inter action of the children with the dogs is unbelievable. Our oldest female Madi was a natural at visiting, she could assess every child and immediatly see how they were feeling, Madi was the star of the school, she was known not only by the children in the classes we attend but throughout much of the school. One Easter Madi accompanied the children to the local Parish Church for their Easter service sitting in the pew's with the children, she was happy with the singing and piano playing and all the children meeting her after the service. In 2007 the school we visit nominated Madi for a National Award you can read a copy of their nomination on Madi's page. In 2009 when Madi was 10 years old the children baked her a special Birthday cake, made her cards and had a party for her, she could not have had a better celebration of her 10th birthday. She always looked forward to her visits to school, we are sure these visits kept her fit and active. We decided to retire Madi a few months after her 10th Birthday and work with our other Therapy dogs to take her place, each week the children and staff always asked how Madi was getting on. Sadly just before Christmas 2009 when she was 10.5 years old Madi died leaving a big hole in our lives, and big paw prints for our other dogs to fill in their work as Therapy dogs. Some of the children ask about Madi and want to know will she be ok in Doggy Heaven. I explain she is with her mother, father, brothers and sisters and they are all having a good time playing together in the fields of Doggy Heaven.
Our German female Steffi has passed her Therapy test and has taken over the visits of Madi at school, she is also accompanied by our male Geilo and his daughter Elkie, we also visit a local Ecology Centre and work there with children of all abilities. We have started training our new Geilo daughter Freya to become a Therapy dog, from three months old started visiting school after the children had left, Freya has become accustomed to the special toys, musical instruments, specialist equipment, teachers, staff and the environment of the class room. When she is older and has passed her assessement Freya will be able to go straight into the classroom environment without any problems. We have also been taking Freya to socialisation classes, show training and she meets lots of people, all good training for her future as a Therapy dog.