Who are we?
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With so many breeders out there, and all so very different, I thought it would be nice to learn about who we are and what our goals are in breeding dogs.
My name is Rachel and Im married to Darryl. I applied to the Kennel club years ago for the affix Silvestre and was granted this name. This is the name we put in front of every puppy we breed, for example Silvestre Raven. This gives each breeder the unique name which you can track what they are doing. Breeders that do not have an affix are given a Kennel club affix and each year a new name is chosen, but it starts with Ken..... So if any affix has the words Ken in then it's a KC affix. We gave an interest in our affix to our son. But he does not take any income from what I do with my dogs. But if anything happens to me he can at least look after the dogs for me.
We started years ago with Weimaraner's and I bred my first litter I realised I had a love and passion for raising puppies. Fast forward and today I have established myself as a knowledgable breeder. It's taken years of dedication and love. Learning all about health problems, breed standards, and what we should be producing. My last Weimaraner litter was approx 10 years ago as I moved to breeding Hungarian Vizsla. I changed from showing Weimaraner's to Vizsla due to a disability I couldn't run a fast Weimaraner. I had job to stand one. They are a stubborn breed and they pull your body about. If you had of asked me back then would I be with out one I would have said no, but we have to be practical. When we brought our first Bracco I said to Darryl that he must show them as they are a big dog. But I can manage Nancy who's my Chestnut girl. I cant run her well enough but I try. There will be a day soon Darryl will have to run her.
Over the years I gained a lot of knowledge on breeding dogs, also about each breed standard. I have done so many seminars for the Kennel club on judging. But I also did an animal care course and dog grooming and have a NVQ 2 and 3. Which is equivalent to 2 A levels. This covered, diet, care, transportation with animals, cleanliness, health and safety, handling dogs properly. I also learnt more about animal construction and how to groom longer coated breeds. I also did a microchipping course. Ive also done First aid courses with dogs. Im looking always to do more with animals.
Darryl has now passed all the exams to go on the Vizsla breed club lists and we will be submitting the info very shortly.
Why show dogs when anyone can just breed a litter?
Showing dogs is about selecting the best dogs in the country who have become champions to be parents. This is why showing started all those years ago and crufts. Stockmen selected dogs which they felt would improve on their breeding bitches to produce better puppies. It is still the same today for many of us. However there is a current trend where it's not about the dogs and it's about the handlers. Human nature being as it is, some think it's about them not the dogs. A vet said to me last year that I was one of the few stockman breeders left in the UK, as he sees on a daily basis being a breeding centre breeders who should not be breeding dogs. That was indeed a compliment from such a high esteemed vet. I would like to think I have a good relationship with our own vet also as we can talk openly about all things to do with dogs. Its very important to learn what your doing.
Our breeding ethics
We believe that the parent's health and welfare is number one important. Their temperaments must be sound. They must also meet the breed standard before breeding from them. We will not breed back to back breeding with the mums. I believe the dog is an important part of family life, and should be with their owners not stuck in kennels 24/7. I do have kennels for when girls are in season as it's better for the boys I own. If they all lived in the house we would have many mis-matings, and no control of whats going on. So we also have to be practical for the boys sake.
At the moment there are required health tests for each breed. But thats changing as the assured breeder scheme is going. So it looks unfortunate that breeders will not be required to health test in the future. But rest assured we will continue to health test our breeding stock. We will also continue to do more health tests as we believe every test we do is a step towards having healthier puppies and less vet bills.
We breed mainly Hungarian Vizsla, with the occasional litter of Bracco Italiano's. Then we have French bulldogs we breed every three yearly. Usually to keep a puppy and continue the breed line. We do not keep breeding the dogs because we can. We are selective. Girls will get a year off. Some bitches are ready at 2 to have a litter and others are not ready until 3. We do take each one singularly and look at them to see what they can cope with. We also will retire a girl if we think she did not enjoy the whole raising of puppies.
I will never breed whats current or trending. I will only breed from dogs which please me in looks. I have been in the dog world for many years now and have seen how some breeds have changed so much they are nothing like they were 25 years ago. So I made a promise to myself to only breed what I like, so if my dogs look like they did back in the day then thats a good thing. There is a current trend to breed to long legged Vizsla which looks like Giraffes.
Temperaments are very important to us and we only breed from parents which have exceptional temperaments. If we didn't think one had a good temperament it would not be bred with. Offspring temperament we have no control of as thats down to you the owner to train your puppy for six months, socialise the puppy early on, and continue with the social skills. We cant control what we do not have in front of us.
We under go training with each of our dogs as all are show trained. We also obedience train our dogs to be good valued members of society. We know that if we neglect the social skills they wouldn't be as good as they are. It's important to us to own good dogs. Our dogs go on holidays with us, and they go on day outings with us. We cannot imagine going out without our doggy companions.
We understand the importance of social skills and start these very early on by early handling. Then moving to let puppies play with a wide range of toys, have different surfaces to tread on. Games to play, treats to chew, grooming. I introduce a wide range of noises to our babies so they go away bomb proof. Everyone tells me how confident their puppies are which is fab.
The Vizsla puppies are quite demanding and this means being there for their every need. They call them velcro dogs for a reason. Their inherent need to be with the owner.
Our dogs have gone into various homes for different activities.
We have produced Scent dogs, pat dogs, search and rescue dogs, working dogs on beating line, field trial dogs, agility dogs, show dogs, pet dogs, blood tracking dogs. We are proud of each and every one as it means they are having a fulfilled life with their owners. We have produced multiple stud book entries at the kennel club. We have produced Lux Champion, Belgium champions, International champions, holland champions, Czech champion. Our stud dogs have produced Russian champion, Belgium, international champions. We have showed a Vizsla which became a United Kingdom champion. We have produced dogs or brought dogs which have won tickets and reserve tickets in several countries, including the UK. We are very proud that our dogs have done so well. I want to thank all the judges who have thought so highly of our dogs over the years. Our dogs have proven themselves time and time again now and this means we are doing something right. Long may it continue.
My name is Rachel and Im married to Darryl. I applied to the Kennel club years ago for the affix Silvestre and was granted this name. This is the name we put in front of every puppy we breed, for example Silvestre Raven. This gives each breeder the unique name which you can track what they are doing. Breeders that do not have an affix are given a Kennel club affix and each year a new name is chosen, but it starts with Ken..... So if any affix has the words Ken in then it's a KC affix. We gave an interest in our affix to our son. But he does not take any income from what I do with my dogs. But if anything happens to me he can at least look after the dogs for me.
We started years ago with Weimaraner's and I bred my first litter I realised I had a love and passion for raising puppies. Fast forward and today I have established myself as a knowledgable breeder. It's taken years of dedication and love. Learning all about health problems, breed standards, and what we should be producing. My last Weimaraner litter was approx 10 years ago as I moved to breeding Hungarian Vizsla. I changed from showing Weimaraner's to Vizsla due to a disability I couldn't run a fast Weimaraner. I had job to stand one. They are a stubborn breed and they pull your body about. If you had of asked me back then would I be with out one I would have said no, but we have to be practical. When we brought our first Bracco I said to Darryl that he must show them as they are a big dog. But I can manage Nancy who's my Chestnut girl. I cant run her well enough but I try. There will be a day soon Darryl will have to run her.
Over the years I gained a lot of knowledge on breeding dogs, also about each breed standard. I have done so many seminars for the Kennel club on judging. But I also did an animal care course and dog grooming and have a NVQ 2 and 3. Which is equivalent to 2 A levels. This covered, diet, care, transportation with animals, cleanliness, health and safety, handling dogs properly. I also learnt more about animal construction and how to groom longer coated breeds. I also did a microchipping course. Ive also done First aid courses with dogs. Im looking always to do more with animals.
Darryl has now passed all the exams to go on the Vizsla breed club lists and we will be submitting the info very shortly.
Why show dogs when anyone can just breed a litter?
Showing dogs is about selecting the best dogs in the country who have become champions to be parents. This is why showing started all those years ago and crufts. Stockmen selected dogs which they felt would improve on their breeding bitches to produce better puppies. It is still the same today for many of us. However there is a current trend where it's not about the dogs and it's about the handlers. Human nature being as it is, some think it's about them not the dogs. A vet said to me last year that I was one of the few stockman breeders left in the UK, as he sees on a daily basis being a breeding centre breeders who should not be breeding dogs. That was indeed a compliment from such a high esteemed vet. I would like to think I have a good relationship with our own vet also as we can talk openly about all things to do with dogs. Its very important to learn what your doing.
Our breeding ethics
We believe that the parent's health and welfare is number one important. Their temperaments must be sound. They must also meet the breed standard before breeding from them. We will not breed back to back breeding with the mums. I believe the dog is an important part of family life, and should be with their owners not stuck in kennels 24/7. I do have kennels for when girls are in season as it's better for the boys I own. If they all lived in the house we would have many mis-matings, and no control of whats going on. So we also have to be practical for the boys sake.
At the moment there are required health tests for each breed. But thats changing as the assured breeder scheme is going. So it looks unfortunate that breeders will not be required to health test in the future. But rest assured we will continue to health test our breeding stock. We will also continue to do more health tests as we believe every test we do is a step towards having healthier puppies and less vet bills.
We breed mainly Hungarian Vizsla, with the occasional litter of Bracco Italiano's. Then we have French bulldogs we breed every three yearly. Usually to keep a puppy and continue the breed line. We do not keep breeding the dogs because we can. We are selective. Girls will get a year off. Some bitches are ready at 2 to have a litter and others are not ready until 3. We do take each one singularly and look at them to see what they can cope with. We also will retire a girl if we think she did not enjoy the whole raising of puppies.
I will never breed whats current or trending. I will only breed from dogs which please me in looks. I have been in the dog world for many years now and have seen how some breeds have changed so much they are nothing like they were 25 years ago. So I made a promise to myself to only breed what I like, so if my dogs look like they did back in the day then thats a good thing. There is a current trend to breed to long legged Vizsla which looks like Giraffes.
Temperaments are very important to us and we only breed from parents which have exceptional temperaments. If we didn't think one had a good temperament it would not be bred with. Offspring temperament we have no control of as thats down to you the owner to train your puppy for six months, socialise the puppy early on, and continue with the social skills. We cant control what we do not have in front of us.
We under go training with each of our dogs as all are show trained. We also obedience train our dogs to be good valued members of society. We know that if we neglect the social skills they wouldn't be as good as they are. It's important to us to own good dogs. Our dogs go on holidays with us, and they go on day outings with us. We cannot imagine going out without our doggy companions.
We understand the importance of social skills and start these very early on by early handling. Then moving to let puppies play with a wide range of toys, have different surfaces to tread on. Games to play, treats to chew, grooming. I introduce a wide range of noises to our babies so they go away bomb proof. Everyone tells me how confident their puppies are which is fab.
The Vizsla puppies are quite demanding and this means being there for their every need. They call them velcro dogs for a reason. Their inherent need to be with the owner.
Our dogs have gone into various homes for different activities.
We have produced Scent dogs, pat dogs, search and rescue dogs, working dogs on beating line, field trial dogs, agility dogs, show dogs, pet dogs, blood tracking dogs. We are proud of each and every one as it means they are having a fulfilled life with their owners. We have produced multiple stud book entries at the kennel club. We have produced Lux Champion, Belgium champions, International champions, holland champions, Czech champion. Our stud dogs have produced Russian champion, Belgium, international champions. We have showed a Vizsla which became a United Kingdom champion. We have produced dogs or brought dogs which have won tickets and reserve tickets in several countries, including the UK. We are very proud that our dogs have done so well. I want to thank all the judges who have thought so highly of our dogs over the years. Our dogs have proven themselves time and time again now and this means we are doing something right. Long may it continue.
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