Our friend, Mr Hradil, asked me if I could find a bitch puppy as a companion for
Vincent. For a long time I had admired the wolfhounds of the Mangialupi kennel
in Italy, so I asked the breeders, Marcello Poli and Daniela Lori, if they had
any plans for a litter. Their answer was positive: they planned a litter for spring
2004, and sure enough, on 8th March 2004 a litter of four males and four females
was born (Hibeck Rodney ex Ch Miss Moppet dei Mangialupi). In the photos of the two day old puppies, I found my love - a light brindle girl. Each week Marcello sent photos of the bitches, and my choice never wavered, although Mr Hradil preferred another puppy. The next step was to visit the kennel to make our choice. Although Mr Hradil still preferred 'his' girl from the photos, he agreed that if she wasn't good quality, we could choose another. When we saw the litter, I couldn't help but love the girl I had originally picked out from the photos. The attraction seemed to be mutual, because she spent a lot of time with me. The fact that Mr Hradil's preferred puppy was also a top quality puppy made the decision difficult, but 'my' girl won! A few weeks later, when puppies were twelve weeks old, we returned to collect our girl, for whom we had chosen the name Camilla from Daniela's list. The journey home took us a whole day, and Camilla was so good that when I gave her to Mr Hradil to take home I stood at the door with tears in my eyes, as though one of my home bred puppies had left to go to their new home. Now, Camilla is called Roxi and is the most promising young wolfhound I know. She has grown into a first-class wolfhound - big, strong and elegant, with a lovely, gentle character. She has won several shows in the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary, and she has also had good results in Austria and Germany. We hope to have a litter out of Roxi under our affix in 2007. |
Camilla dei Mangialupi |
