For a start we must remember that the skin of a dog is one of the largest parts of its body.  Short coated dog breeds you will see skin hives or allergic reactions quite quickly.  If you owned a Golden retriever then you would not see them as there is so much coat covering the skin.  Dogs run through plants, get insects attached and we do not always see what's happened.

What you need to remember is this!  If I got hold of you and threw you into a patch of stinging nettles not only would I not be popular, but you would suddenly have hives all over your body from the stinging nettle.  Now when your dog runs through grasses and goes through stinging nettles you'll then see hives on the body.  I think the population is starting to loose common sense as Im seeing on social media loads of people who seem to think that their dog shouldn't get hives. Why shouldn't it? Just because you have paid money for a living being, doesn't mean it won't be subject to reactions. An animal is a living breathing mammal, just like us.  We are all able to have hives. 

It doesn't just stop at Stinging nettles.  Their are a multitude of poisons plants in the UK.  If we ran them over our skin, we could get burns rashes hives, open sores. Why should a dog be any different?
Its not a breed thing, its not a breeding issue.  These are reactions to which any dog, human would also get if coming into contact with stings or poison. 

Then we have insects oh those lovely insects.  Did you know if you went to Scotland in May to September the midges would in fact feast on your skin too.  Dogs get little red bites all over their soft underbelly as it can be seen the easiest there. You may not notice as much where the fur is.  We also have some insects which inject a rather nasty sting which can end up with your dog having quite a nasty reaction.  

We also have snakes. The only venomous snake in the UK is the adder.  I have a paper on snakes in the hidden pages and what you need to do. 

What can you do as a pet owner if your dog repeatedly has hives.  You can buy a vest which protects the chest to help minimise sting risk.  You can also walk your dog in a different area whilst the plants are growing. Stinging nettles are at their worst when they are just growing.  We call them fire nettles. They hurt.  The dog may want to bite the skin as its really stinging for ages afterwards. 

You can use antihistamines. These can be brought from the local chemist once you know which one is okay to use.  Piraton is usually prescribed by UK vets.  Not pirateze.   Ring your vet or get a phone conversation with them to see what type they suggest for your dog.  Do not just treat a dog yourself as the will have the right advise for you. 

What can you use to calm skin.?  We can go holistic and use creams which are natural and calm skin.   We can boil some water, add a few drops salt in.  Then bathe the area to cool the skin and help remove anything in the fur we can't see.    Their are natural skin balms you can buy.
Dont be tempted to wash with shampoo as this can make it worse.  The skin is irritated enough to start with. 

Their is a natural antioxidant which is known to help allergic dogs. It is called Quercetin.  Your may well ask a holistic vet for advise on usage. It is called naturals natural antihistamine. 


For more about allergies I have written a paper for the hidden pages.  It will soon be updated.

Hope this helps but just remember, try not to worry about hives.  Its not just your dog, its any dog, just like if we put our hands into stinging nettles.  

We also have in animals food allergies.  These are harder to sort out.  If you suspect your dog has a food allergy then if your feeding the raw diet it is one of the easiest diets to eliminate food groups.  But that is another subject entirely. Today we just talk about reactions to plants that are now growing in the spring time.

​Good luck xx 

I have just added to the hidden pages an article called Puppy vaginitis.  Its worth having a look if you think your dog may have this.  

We are raw feeders and we can say that our dogs have been fed raw for many years.  We did go from raw to kibble again but that lasted about a year, and then after a dog of ours died from bloat, and the autopsy showed fermented food had caused the gas we then went back to raw. Ive got so many stories which I share with you in our hidden files.   

Raw has so many benefits, and the biggest one is health of the dog.  Dogs which are raw fed are dogs which generally have less allergies.  Puppies reared onto raw have a bigger chance of never developing an allergy if the puppy has had the correct diet from weaning.  But if your dog did have an allergy you can do a food elimination and easily find what food is not suiting.  But if your feeding dry you will find that its harder to eliminate.  Dried food is a product which has so many chemicals on it.  Lets look at it like this.  If you got a bit of stale bread and put it in the bin, it would go mouldy with in a week.  Dried food is opened and actually is going to decay in the same way unless you have a lot of chemical and preservatives to try and stop it decaying.  It's common sense.  How is it possible for an opened bag of dog food to not decay?  Common sense tells us its soaked in a preservative.  They also say as food sits warming up in a bag that it can activate bugs such as salmonella and you can find more in a sack of dried food than a frozen pack of meat.   Did you know that dogs acid in the stomach is very different to humans, and this is why they can dissolve bone easily.  But this is also why bugs get killed in the stomach acid. 

There are many health issues in animals which can be prevented by raw feeding.  Such as bowel disease, obesity, skin irritations, diabetes, and cancers. 

I attended a seminar once on bloat at a referral hospital.  Bloat effects any deep chested breed of dog.  Weimaraner, Great Dane, Irish setter, Vizsla, Bracco Italiano.  When talking to the specialist the information given was if they get 3 dogs come in.  One fed dried, one fed tinned, one fed raw.  How easy is it to save the dog?  Kibble fed was the worst as the food compacts like concrete in the gut, causes gas.  Tinned was easy as it was soft and easy went through the digestive system and they could get a pipe into the stomach and suck it out with no problems.  But tinned meat had no proteins in it and no goodness what so ever. Then they have raw, they had to admit most raw fed dogs food had already digested and gone into the intestines, and it's much rarer to have bloat in a raw fed dog.   If you think food ferments and causes gas then the stomach extends and then gastric torsion occurs.  The stomach dies, all internal organs can not get the blood supply and the dog is dying in front of you.  So on just the evidence based on which dog would survive bloat the easiest and its raw fed dog, that is enough reason to feed raw.

We keep hearing from dried food companies that people who fed raw are at a higher risk to salmonella themselves.  When looking at statistics people who have had food poisoning its mainly salads we eat for human consumption.  Raw dog food contamination was not flagged up as the cause of human food poisoning.

The sensible thing is hygiene isn't it.  If you left some meat out in the sunshine for the flies to get in, and it warmed up, of course its going to get bacterias growing.  We have to think hygiene and put in a plastic box inside the fridge.  To be even safer have a shelf just for the dog meat.   So those companies who like to throw misinformation out there about food poisoning are just trying to put you off.  Of course they are as one rumour or two helps to destroy an industry that's working quite well.

The factories who make the raw are given on spot checks in the UK and they have to be very clean.  They say that in fact in the factory the hygiene levels are brilliant.  Where it can slip is when food is shipped by courier, they may of stored it in a warm area and the food starts to defrost.  This is why its important to buy only from companies who will keep the food frozen and only send with a quick courier. 

My dogs coats gleam in the spring sunshine, from good diet.  Their is no magic grooming product our dogs are given. 

The one thing about diet which I must stress is variety.  A dog can live on just chicken mince but its not getting a varied diet and therefore not all the nutrients they require.  Change the dogs food and give it variety.  What meats are available for dogs? Chicken, Turkey, Duck, Quail, Guinea fowl, beef, lamb, venison, wild boar, ostrich, pheasant, pigeon, partridge.  We have eggs, fruits, veg. 

The dog benefits from fresh food and by feeding a variety you will be giving your pet a much wider group of ingredients which in turn give the dog the right minerals, right vitamins, right amino acids. 

Our puppies are given warmed goats milk daily.  Fresh eggs which are laid daily, chicken minces, duck minces, veg, fruit, fish. When you buy a Silvestre you are buying a puppy that's had the best diet money can buy. This is why our puppies are healthy.   Our puppies do vary in weight depending on the parents.  Our pups leave us between 5 kilos and 8 kilos if Vizsla pups.  I will never have a thin puppy.  My father instilled it into me as a child the important of good diet for our animals.  He reared his own animals and had them killed for the table. I had once a Weimaraner who I could not get weight on.  He nearly flayed me alive when he saw it, and it wasn't that thin.  I ended up feeding the dog about 5LB per meal just to get her covered in weight. 

WE FEED THE BEST FOOD MONEY CAN BUY!

We do not always attend Crufts dog show because its a lot of work and preparation.  But we decided this year to go.  We took with us Three dogs.  You can watch me win with Silvestre, Silvestre Fortune N'Glory and Silvestre Whoo Hoo.

Geralt was first and he won his class!  Couldn't ask for more and lovely to come home with rosettes and red card.  This was also a Crufts qualifying place for Crufts 2023.

Indie was second and he got 3rd in his class. Their was 16 dogs in the class and lots of champions. The first and second place were English champions of quality and our gorgeous boy got third.  This not only qualified him for Crufts 2023 but he won his UK stud book number too.  So now we never have to qualify him for Crufts again as he has automatic entry. 

Ripley was third in the ring for us at nearly the last class of the day.  She did not get anything but she enjoyed herself, happy and was a pleasure to take out as always.  She is such a kind and lovely dog she had lots of attention from the public.

We are now booking championship shows in the UK.   

We want to say a big Thankyou not only to our judges on the day, but to also Geralt breeder in Hungary.  He sure bred one of the best movers Ive ever seen. I could watch this dog all day long. 

I have a large photo gallery to upload to the website very soon of our weekend at Crufts.  I hope you enjoy them.  Its nice to see the family doing well.



Also not just to our own dogs but lovely to see Tango offspring winning places. 
Wallaroo Hawk Eye was second in limit dog and he looked superb.
Carnlohan Morning star was 3rd in open bitch.  This girl is a champ of Belgium and international champion also.

But what was even more better was for me seeing Spice although briefly at Crufts representing search and rescue for Sussex.

Away from Crufts I was over whelmed to hear About our Sniffing team.
Delilah the French bulldog only went an won reserve champion detection dog.
Then Mortimer was 3rd place over all in a Scent trial but he also has passed his level 3.  I was telling everyone I met yesterday about our super sniffing team.

WHO SAYS frenchies can't do nothing.  It goes to show you they are just as capable as any other breed or excelling at something.  Which in theory only long nosed dogs should do.  But this is not just the Frenchie it is their handler Beverly Hoddinott as she is the most committed dog owner that Ive ever seen.  So well done. 

Team Silvestre are pleased to announce that Indie, Maisie and Roux were all DNA tested for ECLE and are all genetically clear.  They can not have it themselves and can not produce it in their offspring.
This takes our health tests to number 8!  

What is ECLE - It effects German short hair pointers and Hungarian Vizsla.  
Exfoliative Cutaneous Lupus Erythemoatosus is known also as Lupoid Dermatosis and is inherited mono gene which means controlled by one gene.  A disease seen in German short haired pointers for some time and now Hungarian Vizsla.  It was down to one person who contacted me for a puppy who had brought a puppy from another breeder and it had died from ECLE.  She was so upset and distraught that when Laboklin came forward saying they now have a DNA test for it I thought!  We've got to do this.  You can google this and read much more, probably better than I can explain it.

But each Silvestre dog and bitch will under go DNA testing until the whole team is done before breeding from them.  Rest assured we are always listening to people, and always trying to learn new things about breeding dogs.  So we will do what we can to produce healthier puppies. 

​Rachel xx

Its heartbreaking as a real dog lover like myself to hear how other breeders treat people who buy puppies off them.  A few cases lately have come to my attention from various sources across the UK. You know that I've got to say this but most puppy buyers are pretty naive thinking just a scrap of KC paperwork will be enough to ensure their dog is healthy or come from the right source.  Sadly that's not the case 

This is how it works.

Any person, so let's say Joy down the road has a litter of puppies.  Went to a good dog on the internet which had a KC registration certificate and Joys dog has a Kennel club registration certificate and Mabel goes and buys the dog. But then is told the dog is ill.  Mabel takes the dog thinking its something that will get better, but didn't realise that in fact this dog could have a lifetime of issues health wise.  Mabel didn't sign up for a sick dog from day one.  Joy decides she doesn't give a toss what happens to Mabel or the puppy and on your bike.  Mabel thought just with having KC registration it would all be fine and dandy.  The KC reg is no guarantee that a puppy is healthy.
We are not talking of the inconsequential hernias (they rectify themselves), or acne (This rectifies itself) which puppies get.  We are talking of a serious health problem which is not going to go away. 

So this is why breeders like ourselves sign up to the assured breeder scheme to do more healthy tests and promote welfare.   Our vet will health check a puppy, and if he says it cant leave, it doesn't leave.  He has to do a health certificate for each puppy and they must be in full health to leave our home.  But Mabels breeder didn't do that. She didn't pay the vet for a health check or pay for the health letters, she cut corners.   Poor Mabel is now stuck with an ill dog as Joy did a scrap of a contract saying she is not legally required to give money back from leaving the door.  So this is the thing all breeders have contracts.    We all state no money back.  But this is the thing. If Joy had of paid £200 and got all the puppies health checked properly, then Mabels puppy would not be sick.  Its the breeders job to actually care for those puppies and rear as best to their ability, wether its a one off or ten litters a year. It makes no difference.  The breeder should absolutely fight to do the right thing.   By getting that letter you know no person is coming back to you. Its a guarantee for them and a guarantee for you.  It stops all unnecessary upsets.   

Now their is no such thing as perfection in animal breeding. Id really like to say their was but that would be wrong.  We can only strive to do what's best in the interest of mums and puppies.  But you can get health issues you've never seen in your life before.  Instead of sticking head in sand and pretending it didn't happen. Suck it up sweetheart and take it on the chin.  Try and breed this problem out.  Some things needs stopping straight away.  Others you can actually with selective breeding eradicate it. We can all be in the position of Joy, but we don't let the puppy go. That vet health check is worth its weight in gold it really is.  For you and for me.  So if your not buying from me, tell your breeder you want one.  Especially if they are charging £1800 plus for a puppy. 

Now this is actually how it works.  The Kennel club rely on honesty of the registering person that the dog is in fact pedigree, and not secretly their Labrador put to the Vizsla.  They will supply a certificate for anyone that has registration numbers.  Thats how it works.  So the Kennel club are not at fault. 

Then we have cross breeds being registered on the activity register.  But you say we didn't know they could be registered.   Yes on the activity register and this is why your puppy advert says puppies have papers, because they do have papers.  This is correct.  But what Sally didnt realise was she was buying a cross breed because it said kennel club registered.  So that's another scenario.  The Kennel club aren't in the wrong, Sally's breeder wasn't in the wrong for registering, but she was probably in the wrong for advertising falsely that it was a pedigree and in fact it was a cross breed. Hence why the French bulldogs are in a mess. 

Then you have the assured breeder scheme and you will hear breeders saying oh I won't join that as its no guarantee what your getting.  Well here's the thing, their are a few more checks done on an assured breeder than a non assured breeder.  I recently had my inspection and I have to sign a statement that all the information I've given is correct. The assessor who is lovely checks all the dog accommodation and checks my breeding records, and so on.  So loads of points are looked at before they will issue you with the certificate to say you are a member.  

Dont be aggressive with your comments to your breeder, they are people too!  Work together to sort things out.  Some people pick up the phone out the blue and have a go at a breeder and that's really unfair if its the first time they heard about it.   Lets be sensible and courteous as their are two sides to everything.  But together Joy and Mabel could resolve their situation properly. Kindly.

Just think what's going on in the Ukraine right now.  I think its time to be nice to each other don't you.?

This week alone I've heard of 3 different things all covered above, and I feel for everyone.  I shall write soon about how you should find a breeder and do some checks.  The first thing is does the breeder have an internet presence ?  You'll get loads of recommendations for the breeder, a website helps, social media accounts, show repots online and so on. Then check the mums health checks. Not just hips and elbows.  We are required to do the Glaucoma test, plus BVA annual eye test also.  Then what private health tests are done.  If a breeder is doing loads they have the dog at heart as they really want to try and produce healthy.  Even ask for references and maybe someone whose had a dog off that breeder can come forward.  License? They should have one. Ask for their number.  

​Anyway I wish you well. 

Wishing all our friends going to Crufts dog show starting tomorrow at the NEC in Birmingham a lovely day and hope you all come back with wins.

I understand Spice the Hungarian Vizsla search and rescue dog a Silvestre is on the stand this weekend, so go along and introduce yourself to Vicky if your going. 

Last weekend the lovely Hazel who we bred went to an open show and won her class. Her owner Diane was very happy as Hazel missed out on all the training due to Covid lockdowns.  Hazel took it all in her stride.

The Frenchie team at Scentwork have been amazing yet again in housework games, and training. Both Delilah and Mortimer are in the top three at events at the moment. 

We just spent a couple of days away as you can probably tell from Instagram. Trying to recharge some batteries.  I shall be updating this site again with in the next month. So anyone with photos they wish to share on family page please do so.   Whats app is best.

Joshua's now on alert, and stopped working as Pepper is due next week.  So that he can be with her for her labour. Pepper has got very wide, and is packed tight with puppies.  Im wondering now if theirs going to be more puppies than we first thought.  Interestingly excited and its not my litter.

We have decided now to go ahead an mate Ripely when she comes into season.  She will be in season about July time.   As our Roux did not come into season when she should of done. So Roux litter will be 2023. This gives me the chance to show Roux at a few shows this year in the UK also. 
Roux will go back to training in two weeks when club starts up again. 

Our Bracco puppies are also doing very well in their new homes.  Hardly any what we call teething issues yet.  These babes are so amazing and we really want to continue with Bracco into the future now.  Vespa is going to club soon.  We shall try and make a show dog of her.  Not all dogs love showing and that's just how it is, so we hope she will enjoy it.  She is outgoing so hopefully its all going to be good.  

Sabrina our Pug has not come into season, which is so unusual. Maybe with the spring weather and the sun shining she will come in.  

So nothing for me on the puppy front for a few months. Just our sons litter and I can catch cuddles with the babies there. Im sure pepper will be an awesome mother as she is so kind with everyone else's babies, and she's chilled out and well mannered. Everything you want in a Vizsla mother, to then pass those good temperemnt genes to her offspring.

I am not making any more treat boxes up. Unless your local or wish to come in and buy some direct.  Reason is at Christmas I did several orders and Courier lost them.  This took any profit that I saw as I only put a few quid on each box.  I shall have treats and collars, leads available for puppy owners to purchase and happy to make a few snuffle mats for our own litters.  

We feel very sad what's happening in the Ukraine and lots of dog lovers out there too, show kennels have tried escaping. Some have done so.  The borders have dropped rabies vaccines so that it allows dogs through. Just can not imagine the heart ache for those people.   The Kennel club have announced they will no longer accept a Russian import puppy or give registration to them.  They have also told judges not to judge over there, and not to accept Russian judges here.  Each country kennel club is following suit.  

Is their anything you would like to see added to our website? Im always happy to take on constructive criticism.  I am going to rewrite a few pages.  I think I will have a new banner photo done again for the top.  Just to refresh everything.