Category: News

It's been a while since we updated, mainly because there are so many things happening.  Show season for 2018 has kicked in full swing now in the spring and summer, so we would like to share some of the many successes & news of the dogs from our kennel.

 

 

In late April, Aludra's family took her off to her very first dog shows (and their first dog shows, as well!) as owner-handlers with UKC in Puppy Class up Northern California.  Congratulations to Aludra & the Feng family!  And thank you very much to Thurisia Alaskan Klee Kai for helping out 'our' owners and pups at their first shows.  Aludra's has also been attending Nosework classes.  We had the fine opportunity to evaluate her development in real life recently, and we are looking forward to her future potential here with our kennel Greyfarer.

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Aludra
Aludra
Aludra
Aludra
Aludra (L) & Ashira (R)
Aludra (L) & Ashira (R)
Adrammelech (L), Azov (R)
Adrammelech (L), Azov (R)

In early June, Greyfarer Adrammelech & Azov went to a meeting of the Czechoslovakian Vlcak Club of America which was held at World Dog Expo vendor expo in New Jersey.  There they held a Meet the Breed.  Thank you to their owners for representing the breed there!

Additionally, Adrammelech has been advancing along in his agility training with his family.  He already understands the basics of the weave/slalom and can do it pretty reliably!    Thank you to the Kastner family for the great work.  We can't wait to see him get better and better at agility.

In mid-June Greyfarer Ashira was at her very first UKC shows (we had previously shown her at a weekend of FCI International shows in Mexico) in Southern California.  She left with back-to-back Reserve Best in Show placements at just 11 months old.  We are very happy with her results and how she is developing as well.  She and Aludra are very similar in build, with amazing length of leg and body index.  They are nice improvements over their parents.  Ashira was shown in Breeder-Handler class, our very first.  Additionally, she completed her Barnhunt Instinct title and earned her second leg towards her Novice title with a High in Trial.  With that, she became the first Czechoslovakian Vlcak to title in Barnhunt.

At the end of June, Greyfarer Adlon was shown at the UKC Washington Classic.  Although he was the only Czechoslovakian Vlcak present, we are happy he was able to represent the breed nicely and he came away with another two Best of Breeds and a group placement.  Congratulations to the Baja family!

Ashira High in Trial!
Greyfarer Adlon
Ashira, 2x rBIS

Lastly, as I write this, Greyfarer Azov is at a show weekend, his very first as well as his owner's very first.  We are proud that all of the owners are very active with the dogs and willing to get out there with the Vlcaks. They certainly are not the easiest breed to handle and Azov has definitely given his owner a run for her money today, ha!  He came away with three Best of Breeds & is the only Czechoslovakian Vlcak at the set of UKC shows up in Maine.  His owner reported that he got a lot of socialization, pets, nice comments, and generally other people were very curious about the breed.  Thank you very much to the Azov's family!

I think through all this, our greatest satisfaction is that the owners are happy with the dogs, despite the challenges.  Too soon our litter-A will turn one year old and start year 2.  So far, the litter has been DNA profiled and parentage verified, and the entire litter has been tested for Degenerative Myelopathy and Pituitary Dwarfism.  Results can be seen here.  Additionally, 3 of the 5 puppies have received Echocardiograms with cardiologists and all three have normal cardiac results.  Eventually we hope the entire litter will have EKGs done, and we hope annually.

On a related note, we have received many inquiries about puppies.  At this time we don't have any projected plans for litters until 2020, and that's only if the dogs pass all of the health testing and develop well to our specifications measured against the standard. However, we are happy to refer quality import litters in the fall through spring, as that's when most CSV litters are born.  Thank you to our supporters.  We take our time to get to know interested owners, so it is never too early to inquire.

In August we will also be attending the XXII. KCHCSV European and Club Specialty Shows for CSV (the Slovak Czechoslovakian Vlcak Breed Club's annual summer camp and shows) in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia.  We're looking forward to seeing what dogs are up and coming, how the different lines are developing, and seeing the contemporary breeding and quality in the FCI patron country as well as attendees from all over Europe.  2018 so far as been heartbreaking with the loss of our beloved Morrow, but watching her puppies develop and their adventures in life is a blessing and a great joy.

Greyfarer Azov
Greyfarer Azov

The past weekend two young dogs from our A-litter made their debut at their first conformation shows.  Greyfarer Adlon participated in a local UKC show in Oregon, USA in the Puppy Class.  It was a small show, but nevertheless he did pretty well with his first time owner-handler and he seemed to take the show environment in stride.  We are very proud of him and his owners for giving it their best go.  Congratulations to him and the Lerin-Baja family.

szarik
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Additionally our very own Greyfarer Ashira went to her first FCI duoCACIB International Shows in Baja California, Mexico.  She placed Best of Puppy B twice with Excellent marks, Best of Breed twice and came away with two legs towards both her FCI Mexican Junior Championship and FCI Pan-American Championship.  Additionally, she took Group 1 and a Group 2 in a competitive group.  She did not stay till the end of the show for the Best in Show ring, unfortunately, so we will never know how she would have done.  But we are looking forward to her next shows, which will be her first UKC shows projected in June in California.  Thank you very much to Jade for handling her for us.  Her full results can be seen under her profile under Our Pack - Our Dogs.

Thank you to all of our owners and co-owners for being wonderful families to our dogs, whether they show or train in other sports.  We look forward very much to sharing more of their adventures in the future.

Just a few updates about recent goings-on here!  At the end of February, Ronin finished his UKC Elite Nosework title, joining our Harley as the only two EN Czechoslovakian Vlcak.  We are soooo incredibly proud of them!  In his career from the Recognition Tests to the end of his Elite trial, he placed first place 11 times.  He is now basically retired and will probably only rarely be at trials 'for fun' - he's earned his retirement!

Ronin basically is now let 'at pasture' to be a stud and enjoy his days sleeping, eating, and chasing squirrels.

Nosework trial.
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Our spring news is that today our bred-by Ashira earned her Barnhunt Instinct title and Q'd for her Novice Barnhunt title with a 3rd place in trial.  She is 7 months old and being her very first trials, we are very proud of her for being able to generalize and work in a whole new venue.  She was very distracted by the new environment, but managed to rally and pull it together enough to concentrate on the task at hand.  We're looking forward to her future training accomplishments!

Now that we've received confirmation and the results of the last remaining health screenings, we're happy to announce our B/C litter slated for the summer of 2018.  This will again be another dual-sired litter attempt with Morrow.

Click Here for Litter Pedigree

Land of Stud Standing - Lithuania 🇱🇹

COI5 = 3.68%

Click Here for Litter Pedigree

Land of Stud Standing - Finland 🇫🇮

COI5 = 3.17%

 

In our last litter A, we see that uniformly the pups now 7 months old are growing up with good body indices, with very nice long legs and correct chest.  So our B/C litter will really test how much of that can be attributed to Morrow - we have selected only distantly-related dogs to Morrow this time, with the closest line-breedings only in in 3-5 and 4-5 generations, respectively.  In this litter we really would like to capture better red coloration, bone, and a diversity in pedigree.

 

Both studs and of course our Morrow have had comprehensive and complete genetic and phenotypical/radiographic screening for the diseases known to affect Czechoslovakian Vlcak.  Puppies from this litter will be negative/clear for Degenerative Myelopathy and possible Pituitary Dwarfism carriers by parentage.

 

Lojma II z Peronowki (dam) - Gallery

(CH.SK. Hitt spod Dumbiera x J.CH.PL. Peymakilir z Peronowki)

Morrow is Morrow, what more to say 🙂 You can read about her on her profile here.

 

Stud 1 - Biesas Girios Dvasia - Gallery

(Enor Maly Bysterec x Multi.CH. Laudaj Girios dvasia)

Biesas has only one litter at Vieno kraujo kennel, Lithuania, but dogs from V-Vieno kraujo are successful studs in their own right already, including Volker Vieno kraujo, Spain.  The entire litter is uniformly red-colored and a marked improvement over the parents, so we are also looking forward to seeing what Morrow can produce with Biesas.

 

Stud 2 - Бруно Верный Волк / Bruno Verny Volk for Zodellin - Gallery

(RU.CH. Farn z Verne smecky x Cracovia Galicyjski Wilk)

Bruno represents an interesting intersection of Czech and Slovak lines.  He is a tall dog with equally good coloration, coat, and substance.  This litter will be a distant line-breeding on two of the most successful Czech dogs - Jerry Lee and Jolly z Molu es, as well as interesting additions of C-Stin vlka, Brest z Destne hory, Enor Maly bysterec, Askia Slnecny dvor.

This past Saturday our Harley became the very first Czechoslovakian Vlcak anywhere in the world to finish her title in UKC Elite Nosework, a month shy of her 2nd birthday.  She joins approximately 60 other dogs of all breeds to do so.  In her 15-month trialing career from the start of her Novice Nosework trial to her very last Elite Nosework trial, Harley has placed 1st Place in Trial 11 times.  This past Saturday she qualified in all four of her Elite Exterior and Interior searches, with time placements in three trials including one High in Trial!! We are incredibly proud of our Harley!!

Harley will continue to trial under NACSW and perhaps AKC in the future, but mainly just for fun.  Her next big thing event on the horizon is her OFA hip and elbow screenings, which we have scheduled for the end of February.  Fingers crossed!

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Here you can also see Harley's final Elite Interior trial, the one that earned her a High in Trial with a completion under 2 minutes:

Ghost & Lorelei z Peronówki & seven other CsV.
Eligo & Churel II & Enfield II z Peronówki
Wintermoon z Lasow Preczowskich
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Hi all!

So I thought I would write a short update regarding a very frequently asked question we often get.  Of course, I'm purposely leaving out THE most common questions - 'do you have puppies' or 'when will you have puppies' because those answers are very plainly and obviously found in even just any basic review of our pages.

We often get questions from folks who would like to stop by and meet the dogs or the breed in general.  Many times people would like to meet 'the father and the mother' or 'the breeding pair'.  Here we'll address this question.  Yes, we have male and female dogs but no, they are not "breeding pairs" in the sense that people think.  We don't just buy some male and some female and start breeding them, and repeat litters with them every year.  And we don't buy several males and females and breed among our owned dogs exclusively together, either, because that is not what it means to breed.

 

 

In our opinion, to breed is to select and consistently strive to improve on both the individual parents, and the genetic pool at large, especially in a rare breed.  Anything else is just production.  Producing a bunch of full siblings year after year helps neither of the goals of breeding, even in the unlikely instance where you have exactly the best male for your female in your own house.

So it is extremely unlikely that you will get to meet both parents if you visit us, as we look for the best studs for our females no matter where they live in the world.  We don't own these studs and they don't live with us.  We find them through various breed activities and contacts, and pay a stud fee for the privilege.  And we are always, always, looking for high-quality studs with good, complementary pedigrees for our girls.  And likewise, for our males, we are very selective in which bitches from other kennels they can cover.  We hope that every litter we plan will have the potential to contribute further in the future to the breed (and that's also why we are very careful in selecting every single home.)

I hope that this clears up some things about how we work. It unfortunately does mean that should you like how a particular dog from us is turning out, there will still be no repeating of the litter.  However, you can always ask what our future plans are for the dogs in a litter you like.  And of course, folks can always come meet our dogs at any of the many events we attend every year!  Seasons Greetings!

Happy Holidays

2017 has certainly been an exciting year of many firsts for us.  Morrow became the dam to our first litter, Ghost became our first Veteran-class entry, and Harley and Ronin became the first & second CsVs to finish their UKC Master Nosework titles.. it was also a year we did not participate in any exhibitions state-side, although the FCI World Dog Show experience more than made up for that.

 

We are very happy with how our A-litter is developing and moreover with their wonderful families and owners.  Adlon, Adrammelech, Azov, Aludra and Ashira are all currently in group classes and we could not be more proud of them and their folks.

 

Here's to a bright 2018 and the fulfillment of more goals, big and small, for all our pack!  Greetings to our friends and family around the world!

card2017

This year we had the pleasure to take part in our very first FCI World Dog Show with Morrow, as well as the German Winner Show 2017 in Leipzig, Germany.  In early November we left for Europe planning to attend the largest dog show in the world with over 31,000 registered entries.  It was a fun experience, and shopping the vendor stands was par none!  But moreover, we planned to travel from Slovakia through Czech Republic, through Germany and onwards to Belgium and back to see some of the studs that we may have interest in for future breedings.

 

With Frei and Morrow in tow, my good friend Sasha and I took a road trip through Europe and on the way ate and drank everything, hiked the Saxon Switzerland with our friends Sebastian and Iris from z Karpatskej straze kennel, even got the chance to stop by and play with some 5 week old Czechoslovakian Vlcak puppies just outside of Brno, Czech Republic.  We saw almost all the studs that we had set out to see so I am very satisfied with our trip.  Moreover, I had a great time in general with all of our old and new acquaintances.  Our stop for the World Dog Show allowed us to see some more of the dogs we had wanted to see in person, including Bary Stříbrný úplněk, Eros Storm Body Vlci Demon, our usual favorites Nikolaj Zlata Palz and even some we hadn't planned to see like Baron Vlci Tlapka and Ezra si Nasce Lupi del Montale and a few others.

 

As for how Morrow fared at the shows - we didn't expect way too much especially since she was just 14 weeks from whelping and had a very threadbare coat (and also when we had left California we had just had a 32C heatwave..).  But she still received an Excellent note out of her Open Female class of 25 bitches, and that's good for us!

Hotel stays at Kempi Dresden!
Hotel stays at Kempi Dresden!
out of coat but still in excellent form!
out of coat but still in excellent form!
Morrow, 3rd in from the left at the WDS breed presentation
Morrow, 3rd in from the left at the WDS breed presentation

The cherry on top of the month-long trip was being able to go up to our beloved High Tatras mountain range in Slovakia for a couple of days, where we made it just in time for fresh snowfall for Morrow to dash around in, and spending Thanksgiving, a very American holiday, with my friends in Europe.

In other news, our Ghost turned 7 years old at the end of November and becomes our very first Veteran class entry.  Seven years since we first learned he had been born and planning to go to Poland for the first time to pick him up, seven years of living side by side and learning from him.  Happy Birthday to my first Czechoslovakian Vlcak <3

As far as our 2018 litter plans go, we are fast cementing our final plans regarding the selection of studs for Morrow.  If all goes well, it seems we are planning yet another dual-sired litter with two very interesting studs in Europe.  All details to be ironed out, but of course we will update accordingly when they are finalized.  Hope that everyone had a very nice Thanksgiving holiday as we look towards the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018 - the UKC California Classic will be our first major event state-side in the new year.  Perhaps we'll see some of you there!

Our Ronin and Harley became the first and second Czechoslovakian Vlcak in the whole breed to finish their UKC Master Nosework title over the past weekend!  We're so proud of them.  Now Ronin is only 2 Q's away from finishing out his Elite title and Harley only 3 Q's away, with fingers crossed they will be retired from UKC Nosework by the end of this year.  Good job and congratulations to co-owner, trainer, and handler Marius Geykman for all his work with the dogs!  And also thank you to Kris Dzierzyc for handling Ronin to his potential 😀

Additionally our A-litter turned 8 weeks and the first puppies have started to head off to their new homes.  All of Litter A with the exception of Aludra have found homes who already have other Czechoslovakian Vlcak, all being experienced homes.  We look forward to seeing what they do in life.  It's been an experience for sure but one that I've truly found enjoyable, despite the setbacks and some heartbreaks.

For our litter plans in 2018, we're planning a cooperative litter with an outside female who will be bred under the umbrage of our kennel.  With this, we hope to better expand the genetic pool stateside.  The female we are looking to work with is still in the process of completing her health testing, but we have no doubt that she will pass them easily.  But we'll wait for them before we announce the finalized plans.

Last but not least, we have a new family member, our very first bred-by, Greyfarer Ashira is going to stay on with us.  Several of the puppies will be with us for some weeks yet, and it's really been a joy for us to watch them grow day after day.

Ashira
Ashira

Late last week we received the DNA profile and paternity results back from UC Davis for the litter.  To our great surprise, the entire litter has been sired by Jestan, although all of the breedings happened within a 36-hour span of time, both by live-cover.  But that's nature, I suppose!  I do hope that in the future we will have another opportunity to try again with Remus as our interest in his pedigree still stands.  And we would definitely still consider dual-siring in the future, we don't regret one thing at all.

 

So our A-litter now have all their formal names, as we were waiting on the paternity results to assign either A- or B- names.  You can see the litter details now on the page 'Our litters'.  We have sent out for UKC and FCI-recognized registrations, as well as put in our request for test kits for both Degenerative Myelopathy and Pituitary Dwarfism for the entire litter.  The parents of this litter have been selected such that only clear and carrier puppies can result, not affected, but nevertheless we would like to have the information on their carrier status.

We've been crazy busy with the puppies, from their weekly socialization parties to their Puppy Culture exercises including clicker loading and manding training.  Several of their new owners have visited us during these socialization parties, and some more on their own.  The puppies have time daily out on the patio in a puppy pen, since they're still small enough to fall through our regular fence, but spend the majority of their days indoors with us.  Their indoors puppy pen has been strategically laid out so the pups have largely litter-trained themselves, so clean up is really a breeze.  They have been so good, it's really tempting to just keep them all to myself!

 

Morrow has been gradually weaning the puppies now as they approach Week 6.  We just let the moms do it at their leisure, and make sure to support her and her puppies as best as we can.  Little puppies sure can go through mounds and mounds of food..

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In just a short few weeks the puppies will all be heading to their new homes when they turn 8 weeks old.  Although the puppies are very sweet and have been so enjoyable for us, all the owners have been duly warned (if they are not existing CsV owners) that the road ahead will be trying, challenging, and difficult, but we hope that we can make it through together in one piece.

Because the question is asked a lot, at this time, we provisionally plan a couple of litters for 2018.  Although we do not take formal waitlists, we do appreciate owners who get to know us, let us get to know them, and keep in contact with us especially as plans become finalized.  We always prioritize potential owners who put an emphasis on training, showing, or otherwise being very active with dogs.