SNOWEY RIVER
Home of South Africa's First White Swiss Shepherd Dogs ......from the snow capped mountains of Austria, to the rolling green hills of Kwa-Zulu Natal
The
HOUSE of LEGENDS
Balou-Aramis Of White Mountain
Austria
The great BALOU was owned, loved and trained by Manuela Ritzmaier to the highest level of Schutzhund. He constantly conquered the breed ring in his day, and won the World Championships (specialist show) on 2 occasions. He was an awesome working dog and had numerous titles to his credit. As a stud dog he produced and set type. He was bred in Austria by Regina Smeilbido. I have always been a great fan of Balou's and as a young breeder in Austria always had dreams to breed a dog just like him - and then came the LUCK DRAGON, a mirror image of his forefather. Balou has many offspring, grand children and great great grandchildren in Europe - he was that great. Thank you Manuela for these truly special photo's of Balou, forever in our hearts.
If I had any advice to new breeders, it is this : find the closest breeding that you can to Balou's bloodlines , nurture it - it will fair the breed well for the future.
LEGENDS INTRODUCTION
Some dogs are born winners, the are the future and the past of our breed - never to be forgotten. They form an integral part of our history world-wide, each legend proudly representing their country. They are carefully selected to carry on certain genes, and to achieve new heights in the dogworld, and leave us with an unmistakeable sense of pride. Then there are dogs that have accomplished so much for us as breeders, promoting our kennels and showing their hearts out - charming and loveable. We have a great fondness of them, they have cast some influence on our breed in whatever way, they were not legends but they too achieved milestones - they become known throughout the world and become simply our ''favourites''. I have used some photographs of my personal favourites and some pics of true Legends (in no particular order) that I could get my hands on, with minimal information on all of them for those that are newcomers or those who love to go back in time...............because of lack of space it is not possible to compliment all WSSD Legends, I am using the following dogs to pay tribute to ALL LEGENDERY White Swiss Shepherd Dogs...................A big thank you to all owners/breeders who have made it possibe for me to showcase their FOREVER DOGS,the opinions expressed herein are mine (often based on the credability of many world wide breeders/those who are in the know of the breed).............I present to you today , dogs that are part of my PRIVATE COLLECTION - our LEGENDS of yesterday, today and tomorrow - the dogs that made it all happen for us.
Ladies & Gentleman, may I introduce
THE BIG GUNS OF THEIR TIME
Wayn-Condor von Ronanke
Who could ever forget the stunningly beautiful, Condor who sired around 427 progeny in Europe and had Sch 3, FH3 working qualifications. Condor had it all and was also V-Auslese graded ! He was the first officially registered White Shepherd in the Zuchbuch (Breed Stud Book) with the OKV (OHZB). Condor was born in the Ronanke Kennels on 25/5/1987. In 1989 he made a dashing appearance in the ring and out of 150 White Shepherds he was placed 1st and Best of Breed. Condor took a turn for the worst and died on the 14th October 2003 - he died healthy and MAJESTIC at the ripe old age of 16 years !
Condor is still missed by his family :
"Er war ein Ausnahme rude, ich denke noch sehr viel an ihn'' Pia Modl
Atlas-Sultan von AC Nordlicht
Atlas-Sultan stood stud for the well-known kennel of Sutumer-Grund in Germany, owned by Ingo & Manuela Bortel. Not enough can be said for this absolutely awesome male who produced many 'ultimate' White Shepherds. He was a truly fantastic specimen for his breed and admirers all over the world knew his name well. There are dogs that may come and go but some just go that extra mile - Atlas-Sultan was such a dog - he excelled as a working and breed dog with SchH3, IPO3, FH, and he was a V-Auslese graded stud dog..........He was ''everything in one'' and long will his memory live on for the Bortels and many of his admirers.
Arras of The Lovely White Shepherd
Arras was bred by Jan and Anneke Jongeneel in Holland and had a total of 97 offspring.
As a showdog he excelled in his career and spent most of his time at shows in 1st place !
His best title was WORLD CHAMPION Auslese in 1994 and1995, he had many National
and international titles. His character was open, he was willing to please and his famous
mark was his genuinely beautiful plush coat. His offspring work with the disabled,and as
working and rescue dogs. Arras had a great influence on the Dutch dogs which still stands
today.
From the Jongeneel Family :
''Forget him we will not''
Aliena of White Princess
Aliena was the ground breeding female for the Kennel of Sumter-Grund, Germany (Ingo & Manuela Bortel). It is always a proud sense of achievement when you start out with a genetically strong breeding female - Aliena was a legend certainly in her own right, she produced fabulous offspring and many White Shepherds today can boast her bloodlines. She was no 'ordinary' female and had very good working ability qualifying in SchH3 and IPO3 as well as achieving high grades as a breed dog. She is one of the 'unforgettable' dogs of our time and will be remembered by the world as quite an extra-ordinary lady.