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 We'd
been thinking of getting involved with another breed for a while and
several breeds caught our eye; three from the hound group: the
Griffon Vendeen, (both Petite and Grand) and the Potugese Podengo.
The other
breed we liked the look of was the Affenpinscher - from the Toy
Group.
We looked at
the Affens last of all, and the opportunity to attend the Affen
workshop in Buckinghamshire was too good an opportunity to miss. The
day started with a talk on the history of the breed, which was then
followed by a discussion about the breed standard and how this has
evolved since the Affen was introduced into the UK about 30-Years
ago. After a lovely lunch the chance to get our hands on lots of
Affens came, as half a dozen breeders had kindly given up their free
Sunday to bring along their stock, for us all to pick apart, (in an
educational way of course).
We felt that
all the breeders without exception, were honest in appraising their
stock on the tables, even pointing out faults that we did not
ourselves spot. We were very impressed with this aspect of the
workshop and we must have had our hands on at least 20 or so
specimens, ranging in age from 3-months to 10-years. We found the
dogs absolutely delightful and the temperament of all the dogs was
commendable.
We thoroughly
enjoyed the day and agreed this had been the best breed seminar we
have ever attended. We felt very positive about getting involved in
this breed if possible, but we wanted to see if we still felt the
same in a week or two’s time, which we did.
The only
difficulty now was trying to find a good specimen to start off
with....... we thought this would not be an easy task, when you
consider that this is basically a rare breed with just over 100
puppies registered each year, so we thought we might be in for quite
a wait...... however, luck was to be on our side!
We
subsequently became aware of a litter on the ground in Wiltshire,
the joint experienced breeders being Suzanne Pirrie and Dr Mhairi
Brown, bred under the “Brandubh” affix. We had met Suzanne & Mhairi
at the workshop and also saw the
sire of the litter, Orlock Marius. After some discussion, (and
persuasion on our part) we arranged to see the mother and litter, and
were most impressed with a lovely female Affen, who as part of the
breeding plan belonged to Mhairi.
Mhairi has
kindly agreed to let us purchase Milly on terms and will now be
shown in partnership with Mhairi.
Milly is truly
a delight to live with and gets along really well with the resident
Basset Hounds, Sophie & Douggie.
We will
endeavour to keep the site updated with news and pictures, and our
huge thanks to Suzanne Pirrie, for all the help and support since
day-1.
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