2015: Testimony from Dr Magdalena Lukasik-Braum DVM, BVSc:
When I brought Rocky (Sant Kreal Granat) to South Africa I started researching Dobermannns and Dobermannn breeders in the country, believing that one day we would be able to breed him to a good fit female here. By good fit I mean the combination of the pedigree match, temperament, health and of course this special, tough and focused Dobermannn look. I also was looking for the breeder that breeds a few, but carefully selected litters, and raises them in the home environment with plenty of enrichment and TLC.
Felicity proved to be an amazing, conscientious breeder, but unfortunately the pedigree of her dogs at that time was not the best fit for Rocky, so I was really excited when Felicity advised that she was ready to import a puppy girl and shortly afterwards a pregnant adult Dobermannn from Europe. The big adventure of searching, researching and finally contacting the breeders began, which resulted in Novika Elite House and then Eckeen Veram de la Villa Valliano, pregnant with Dobergaarden Forever Athos arriving to Haverhill in 2014. Soon afterwards the M litter was born in South Africa, with which arrived additional four girls with pedigrees fitting Rocky for potential future breeding.
Novika was chosen specifically for Rocky, to fit his Pedigree, but also to counteract his few shortcomings: strong and powerful, but somewhat lacking in elegance, typical to Sant Kreal beautifully deep, but with little fore chest, rib cage and also to add a bit of unruly fire to Rock's stable and confident character. Novika's sire, Oksamit de Grande Vinko is the highest ranked Dobermann in European IPO rings, and his father, Leo v. Märkischen Land was one of my favourite sires, with an amazing drive and energy still at the age of 10. Vika's mother, Indhira Elite House we chose because of her good working drive and elegance inherited from her Gino Gomez del Citone side and valuable old Dutch blood lines, which she shares with Rocky. I am really looking forward to see if this combination confirms our expectations in future!
Eckeen was an unexpected gift of fate. After months of trying to find a fit and healthy adult female with the type and pedigree that we like, along with an owner willing to travel with her to a different country for mating with the chosen male, and still within the available budget we became a little disheartened. Then an amazing message arrived from French breeder Didier Tachain whom we both so admired for producing the G litter de la Villa Valiano, with two top Dobermannns in European rings: Gangster and Gaia. And the female Didier was willing to share was closely related to the mother of G litter, and an amazing working dog too! On top of that Didier became enthusiastically involved in our project and helped us tremendously every step of the way, for which we are going to be grateful for ever!
Eckeen is big and strongly built like Rocky, and also of brown colour, so we quickly did the dilute gene test and we received another gift of luck, neither Rocky nor Eckeen are carrier of the blue dilute gene. Eckeen, though it does not show in her exterior, is also carrying the Gino Gomez del Citone genes, and even more important the solid old Dutch lines carried from the famous T is Slavnoy Stai litter, which also shows in the pedigree of Rock. This T litter was one of the most amazing litters in Dobermannn history, born in Russia, a combination of the best imported genes, which astonished everyone. Pretty much every dog became an international champion and most became very successful sires and dams. Names like Tamerlan, Tsarevich or Tigr iz Slavnoi Stai are well known to Dobermannn lovers around the world and are a lovely indication for the breeding success from this combination. Puppies from Eckeen and Rock will all be brown, strongly built and should have very stable characters. Another litter to watch for!
And finally Eckeen/Athos daughters, still puppies, but already showing so much potential. Apart from Eckeen genes they have fair amount of the famous Baron Nike Renewal genes from their father. Most of the girls are more slender and elegant than their mother, and are perfect candidates for breeding with Rocky in future.
