New Zealand Champion Ryslip Fabian, or Puffin, as he was known
The very first Swedish Vallhund to come to New Zealand
The History of Västgötaspets in Aotearoa
~ By Peta Dowle ~
First Wave - Introduction. Kennel Shan-Shao. The story of Swedish Vallhunds in New
Zealand begins in 1973 when Miss Maree Cooper, aged 16, was showing her
Pekingese dog at an Auckland show. She caught the eye of international show
judge, Joe Cartledge. Joe was impressed with her dog handling skills and
invited her to come out to England and work at Ryslip kennel with himself and
wife, Liz. Ryslip, a very large kennel facility, was involved with boarding, breeding, and quarantine work. Maree's parents formed a friendship with the Cartledges, and Maree was given permission to go once she finished her schooling and had turned seventeen years of age. So in 1974 Maree left New Zealand for England. She worked as a kennel maid for Joe and Liz for some 15 months. Ryslip had recently imported Swedish Vallhunds from Sweden and were just starting to breed them. Maree remembers thinking how different to Corgi's the little Vallhunds were. |
Shan Shao Skidora and Shan Shao Skavara, Tauranga, N.Z. 1979 |
"They had such different temperaments to Corgis. I thought them different, and an interesting breed. I liked them. Swedish Vallhunds also have very cute puppies!"
As the summer of 1975 arrived Liz bred her Swedish imported dogs Valle of Ryslip to Snackens Isa. A delighted Maree was able to select a puppy from this litter to keep. When Maree flew home to New Zealand, secure in the cargo hold of the plane in a travel crate was little Ryslip Fabian (Puffin), aged 5 months. Puffin was the very first Swedish Vallhund to arrive in Aotearoa. He spent 30 days in quarantine with Maree at home in Tauranga. New Zealand M.A.F regulation of the day required only that dogs not move off their owner’s property for a period of 30 days to satisfy quarantining laws.
Puffin holds the distinguished position of being the first New
Zealand Swedish Vallhund Champion. Maree remembers Puffin
well,
"Puffin was a wonderful dog he had been so well socialised at
Ryslip and was such a happy, outgoing, and lovely dog. His only fault being his
coat which was a little too fluffy."
A year later in 1976, through
Liz Cartledge, Maree brought a second dog out to New Zealand to join Puffin.
Maiden of Duncliffe (Margot) was Puffin's half sister and acquired from Major
and Mrs Hugh Perkins of Duncliffe Kennel. Maree recalls Margot as a quite
different dog to Puffin.
"Margot had a short hard coat,
was not as outgoing as Puffin, but a nice girl with more reddish colouring than
the sable grey and white that Puffin was."
A family friend in
Tauranga, Audrey Hyslop, was quite taken with Maree's Swedish Vallhunds and
decided to import a bitch as well. Ryslip came to the fore once again,
organising another Swedish Vallhund export out of England. And so in due course
(1977) Ormareon Astridita (Tuppence) arrived for join Audrey. Tuppence was
a darling, a delightful girl by all accounts. She was shown a limited number of
times in New Zealand. Unfortunately Tuppence developed ovarian cysts and was
spayed before she could be bred to Puffin.
In the November of 1978 Maree
did breed Puffin to Margo. This was their only litter, from which there were
just three puppies registered under the kennel name Shan-Shao. They were Shan
Shao Skavara, Shan Shao Skidora and Shan Shao
Skiva.
"They were beautiful puppies with lovely white
fronts. We were pleased to see they had inherited Puffin's lovely temperament.
We socialised them lots and they were sold as pet dogs “ Recounts
Maree.
As lovely as these first dogs were the lines came to an end in
New Zealand, as Puffin, Margot, Tuppence and all three puppies were
desexed.
This then was the first introduction of the breed to New
Zealand.
Second Wave - Promotion.
Kennel Valdemar.
The second wave of Swedish Vallhunds came about when Ian and Lesley Gray imported two dogs from the U.K. Their subsequent involvement in showing, agility, obedience, and trialing did so much to promote the breed here. For fifteen years, the Gray’s were the face of Vallhunds in New Zealand. Many people discovering Swedish Vallhunds for the first time did so as a result of seeing the Grays competing with their well-trained and capable little dogs in public settings. They impressed all who were fortunate enough to meet them.
So our story picks up again in Avondale, Auckland, 1982. Ian and Lesley Gray were in search of an interesting hobby to enjoy after Ian's retirement from a career in education, (due to occur at the conclusion of 1984). Initially a glasshouse was purchased with a view to grow orchids. Then Ian discovered pottery, attending night classes. He was aware though, that working away at a potter's wheel would involve much sitting and little exercise. So in a discussion with Lesley they determined that having a dog to walk would be a good idea. A dog would have to fit with their life that involved sailing their yacht. It could not be a big breed of dog. Nor were they interested in a breed that had, had it’s nose and ears intensively bred into ‘unusual shapes’.
Ian, who had grown up on farms, began researching dog breeds, and together he and Lesley visited dog shows. Pouring over dog books Ian stumbled upon the Swedish Vallhund and liked the look and description of them. But as they had not seen any examples at dog shows they realised they would have to undertake a search to find them
This search was of course in the pre internet days, devoid of instant emailing and instant replies to queries. They wrote to the New Zealand Kennel Club, The Australian Kennel Control and the English Kennel club. Eventually they heard back from the Swedish Vallhund Society in the UK. By this time the N.Z.K.C had put the Grays in touch with Maree Cooper and her mother. Puffin, seven years old by this time even went stay with Ian and Lesley for a few days early in the search. Ian recalls Puffin as a very likable dog and the visit cemented the desire to own a Swedish Vallhund.
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© Photos copyrighted all rights reserved
Lesley Gray and Ryslip Fabian, (Puffin).
Contact with the Swedish Vallhund Society in the U.K. was to prove successful. Ian and Lesley corresponded with the secretary, Nicky Gascoigne. Nicky owned Rosern Kennel in England. After much letter writing Nicky agreed to send a 9-month-old bitch she had bred called Rosern Vancy (Vancy) to New Zealand. Initially the Grays had considered possibly breeding their bitch to Puffin sometime in the future. But by now Maree and her mother had decided not to breed Puffin again. So Ian and Lesley asked Nicky to find a suitable dog puppy to accompany Vancy on her voyage out. It turned out that the Countess of Inchcape, who was the patron of the Swedish Vallhund Society, had a little dog pup of 4 months of age that she had bred named Santa of Rosern (Santa). The Countess was willing to part with Santa.
So in the March of 1984 Vancy and Santa flew on their long journey out to New Zealand. When they arrived Lesley reported,
"At our first glimpse of their little grey coats through the gratings of their crates, we thought there was some mistake. We'd been sent a couple of little possums! On closer inspection, it was all right. They were two beautiful Vallhunds"
Three weeks after Vancy and
Santa arrived, and while the puppies were in their 30 day quarantine confinement
at the home of the Gray’s, Ian invited one Mr Ivan Swedrup [and wife] to call at
their home. Ian was aware Ivan, visiting from overseas, was an All-Breeds
judge. Ian was unaware until the visit however, that Ivan had been the
Secretary General of the Swedish Kennel Club for nearly 30 years. Mr Swedrup
also was very familiar with Count Bjorn Von Rosen’s breeding programme having
been closely involved with it himself. Ivan was invited to give the puppies and thorough assessment and examination. Ian and Lesley, already impressed with
their new pups were further delighted to learn that both pups were, from a judges perspective, very well
bred dogs with good movement and confirmation. Mr Swedrup was equally pleased
to see quality dogs being exported for new breeding programmes
abroad.
After Vancy and Santa became New Zealand Champions, Ian and Leslie embarked upon obedience training. They had discovered early the intelligence of Swedish Vallhunds. Lesley said,
“As these are working dogs they need something to think about and work towards. Practising our Obedience exercises gives focus to our early morning walks. It makes a great start to the day.”
Success in Obedience competitions followed. As did a trip to the U.K in 1985 where the Grays met and stayed with several breeders and friends they had made through the shared interest in the little Västgötaspets. It was in England that they were introduced to the dog sport of agility.
“While in England, Jacqui Bayliss took us to watch the Dalerose Agility Club practicing. We became infected with the zip and zest of the activity. On return to New Zealand we were dismayed find that the New Zealand Kennel Club had tied up agility with heavy regulations to "prevent it being abused”.
Ian realised that the New Zealand rules only allowed dogs to compete in agility if they had high level obedience qualifications prevented much participation at all. The agility scene in New Zealand was virtually dormant. It was with Ian’s tireless lobbying and effort that the N.Z.K.C finally relented and brought the ability to compete in agility inline with the U.K. rules. Agility was to flourish under the new system. Ian started a magazine called “Agility Link, and he was instrumental in the formation of the Dog Agility Training Association.
© Photo copyrighted all rights reserved
With the breeding of Vancy to Santa, Ian and Lesley had begun their kennel Valdemar. Vancy proved a very good little mum with her first litter of five puppies, (the A litter), whelped August 1985. The puppies were named; Valdemar Adele, Valdemar Aroha, Valdemar Ariki, Valdemar Alpha, and Valdemar Aster. Ian and Lesley initially just kept Alpha from this litter. All the others were sold on as pets for families. Then when the puppies were all about a year old Aster, through no fault of her own, came back to live at Valdemar.
Lesley recounted the difference between Aster and Alpha, "Valdemar Aster was the last puppy born in our first litter. She was smaller than the others but she was such a go-er, that she was the same weight as all the others at 6 weeks. She has been a go-er ever since. She was sold, but owing to circumstances beyond her control, came back to us a year later. She had done no Obedience or Agility, but took to both like a duck to water. She obtained her CDX at the same time as her sister Alpha, at the Palmerston North RNDDA. Tracking was so exciting Dad. Lets hurry and get to the end was her motto. This was refreshing for her handler who had worked only with Santa who is very careful and methodical in his tracking. Aster is inclined not to notice articles on the track, she is so busy getting along the track in double quick time. The same eagerness is apparent in her Agility and whereas Alpha spent a long time being correct and not quite fast enough, so that she was placed in Starters, Novice and Open, but never won any of them. Aster soon found herself with Santa, only able to enter Open and Senior.
Santa, Vancy, Aster & Alpha plus Ian & Lesley Gray |
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