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For several years I was active in club work in various functions, including editor, show manager and board member of the Sighthound Club of Denmark, which initially included IWs. In 1986, I was the primary initiator in forming the Irish Wolfhound Club of DK, and I was the president of the club for several years.
A number of years ago I was licensed to judge the breed. I have had the pleasure of judging several specialties in Denmark and abroad, including the Netherlands, France, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the U.S.A. Since I first got to know the breed, I have had a taste for strongly built, preferably light coloured Wolfhounds, and such dogs have also made up the majority of my breeding. Although the breed is no longer used for its original purpose - big game hunting - it is important to me that it represents the characteristics necessary for this kind of work. Meaning a large, solid, muscular dog in the curved shape of the sighthound, athletic and moving with power and ease in all situations. This is the kind of Wolfhound, I try to breed. Since 2000 I have lived on Funen with a - compared to earlier - very modest dog team. Thus my stock has been 2-4 dogs, and I have had a litter about every two years. I greatly appreciate the limited dog household and the more personal relationship with the individual dog, which will also be the concept in the future. Unfortunately, it is difficult to keep a breeding program going on very few dogs and rare litters. This is especially true when, as in my case, the dogs must represent the special characteristics of appearance and personality, I have learned to appreciate during many years of breeding, and which I find it increasingly difficult to get elsewhere. The current trend in Europe goes towards a more refined type of Wolfhound than what falls into my taste. My current breeding program aims at - mainly by means of good representatives of my own old strain - breeding hounds for myself that look and feel like my idea of a proper Irish Wolfhound. When there are more puppies than I need for myself, I hope that the others will find caring homes with good people who appreciate the special qualities of the Irish Wolfhound. I still show my hounds occasionally, but not with the excitement and ambitions that previously meant a lot to me. With a few hundred dog shows experienced, I have run out of enthusiasm. This does not mean that I put less emphasis on quality in my hounds than previously. In fact, I don't think I would be able to enjoy owning an Irish Wolfhound of less than excellent breed quality. I have lived with too many such hounds to settle for less. * | |||