jamross65
Well-Known Member
So I am not accused of hijacking any particular thread, the following was sent to me by our friend, Rudi Van Kets, who you will see is the chairman of the Flemish Society. He has been involved with tracking dogs all his life and scenthounds for the last 25 years. What he has to say is worth listening to if any members are serious about sourcing a scenthound.
This is posted for information only and SD members have the choice of either acknowledging it or going off and doing their own thing, that is up to them...
This however is his take on the current situation in this country and abroad.
"Being a member of Facebook for quite a few months now and taking a
very keen interest in HS and BMHS (I am the Chairman of the Flemish
deer dog
Society) I have watched with some puzzlement the occasional posts
regarding HS and their pedigrees.
It may be useful for potential buyers if I set out the somewhat
complicated situation on the continent. In this post I'll focus on HS
only, BMH can come later.
The German custodian of the breed is the Verein Hirschmann, founded in
1894.
It has at present some 700 members and breeds around 50 pups a year.
Before breeding is allowed the hounds have to pass strict tests
(Vorpruefung and
Hauptpruefung) as well as a confirmation test. The Verein is a member
of the German Kennel Club which in turn is a member of the FCyI, the
Federation Cynologitique International), the Federation of Kennel
Clubs with 86 country members. Numerous other countries, Austria,
Hungary, France, Italy, the check republic as well as Denmark, Norway
and Sweden to name a few have their own Societies. All abide by the
FCyI rules and all of these will issue FCyI approved pedigrees.
I must warn readers that there also exist a somewhat shadowy
organisation confusingly also named FCI (the Federacion Canina
International). Whilst not illegal its pedigrees are not recognised by
any of the above mentioned Societies, it has no website that I can
find but the FCyI website carries the following warning "the FCyI
warns all its members and contract partners that it holds no official
relations with the Federación Canina Internacional and its members and
that it does not recognise this Federación." I leave
readers to draw their own conclusions as to why this Society uses the
same
FCI initials. A number of South American Societies are members but as
I said information is difficult to obtain.
But the UK is not a member of the FCyI and also does not recognise the
HS breed to make life complicated. It is therefore impossible to buy
pups in the UK with an FCyI pedigree. The only thing people can do is
to look carefully at the pedigrees of the parents to make sure they
have a hound with proper papers.
If people have doubt when buying a pup I will be quite willing to help
if they can scan me the parent's pedigrees.
There also exists a second category of HS, what I would call with
doubtful
papers either by a former East German Society or issued from Bulgaria
or suchlike. For layman confusing. Send the papers to me.
And thirdly HS without any papers. These are advertised in every issue
of the German Shooting Times. Some are very good some less so but in
buying them and category 2 hounds you run the not neglectable risk of
epilepsy that is prevalent in the breed.
Although talking money is somewhat distasteful when you intend to buy
a lifelong companion I would say that a dog from the first category
costs about £ 7-900 in Europe. I have no experience with category 2
but obviously it should be less whilst category 3 is around £ 500.Travel
costs on top.
If readers have further interest in this fascinating breed I'll be at
the Kelso Fair in March to answer any questions under the "Vlaamse
Zweethonden
Group" banner.
Regards
Rudi van Kets."
This is posted for information only and SD members have the choice of either acknowledging it or going off and doing their own thing, that is up to them...
This however is his take on the current situation in this country and abroad.
"Being a member of Facebook for quite a few months now and taking a
very keen interest in HS and BMHS (I am the Chairman of the Flemish
deer dog
Society) I have watched with some puzzlement the occasional posts
regarding HS and their pedigrees.
It may be useful for potential buyers if I set out the somewhat
complicated situation on the continent. In this post I'll focus on HS
only, BMH can come later.
The German custodian of the breed is the Verein Hirschmann, founded in
1894.
It has at present some 700 members and breeds around 50 pups a year.
Before breeding is allowed the hounds have to pass strict tests
(Vorpruefung and
Hauptpruefung) as well as a confirmation test. The Verein is a member
of the German Kennel Club which in turn is a member of the FCyI, the
Federation Cynologitique International), the Federation of Kennel
Clubs with 86 country members. Numerous other countries, Austria,
Hungary, France, Italy, the check republic as well as Denmark, Norway
and Sweden to name a few have their own Societies. All abide by the
FCyI rules and all of these will issue FCyI approved pedigrees.
I must warn readers that there also exist a somewhat shadowy
organisation confusingly also named FCI (the Federacion Canina
International). Whilst not illegal its pedigrees are not recognised by
any of the above mentioned Societies, it has no website that I can
find but the FCyI website carries the following warning "the FCyI
warns all its members and contract partners that it holds no official
relations with the Federación Canina Internacional and its members and
that it does not recognise this Federación." I leave
readers to draw their own conclusions as to why this Society uses the
same
FCI initials. A number of South American Societies are members but as
I said information is difficult to obtain.
But the UK is not a member of the FCyI and also does not recognise the
HS breed to make life complicated. It is therefore impossible to buy
pups in the UK with an FCyI pedigree. The only thing people can do is
to look carefully at the pedigrees of the parents to make sure they
have a hound with proper papers.
If people have doubt when buying a pup I will be quite willing to help
if they can scan me the parent's pedigrees.
There also exists a second category of HS, what I would call with
doubtful
papers either by a former East German Society or issued from Bulgaria
or suchlike. For layman confusing. Send the papers to me.
And thirdly HS without any papers. These are advertised in every issue
of the German Shooting Times. Some are very good some less so but in
buying them and category 2 hounds you run the not neglectable risk of
epilepsy that is prevalent in the breed.
Although talking money is somewhat distasteful when you intend to buy
a lifelong companion I would say that a dog from the first category
costs about £ 7-900 in Europe. I have no experience with category 2
but obviously it should be less whilst category 3 is around £ 500.Travel
costs on top.
If readers have further interest in this fascinating breed I'll be at
the Kelso Fair in March to answer any questions under the "Vlaamse
Zweethonden
Group" banner.
Regards
Rudi van Kets."