Zerline's Family Tree, Beyond The Berlin Wall

The long-time readers of this blog will have guessed this post was right around the corner. I researched Zerline's roots, like I did with Kenzo and Tilde.

The Wolf and The Hovawart, Old Foes Or a New Beginning?

Wolf in Ovstrup Hede, Denmark. Photo: Carl Skovbjerg Johnsen

The wolf has returned to Denmark. I am delighted, thrilled and excited all at once. Not only for the wolf, but also for what could follow in its path. What may lie ahead is a new understanding. A new definition of the Danish relationship not only with nature and wolfs, but also between the Danes and dogs in general.

Let me explain. Due warning though, this will be a long essay.

König The Hovawart Founder Revisited: From Mice and Hovawart, to Heimwart

As you could read yesterday, in König The Hovawart Founder Revisited: The Myth Of The Hoffwart, it was the conviction of Max von Stephanitz, to favor function over looks in the breeding of German Shepherd dogs, what appealed to Kurt F. König. König was a diligent breeder of German Shepherd dogs and became a very active member in the local branch of the "Verein für Deutsche Schäferhunde" founded by Max von Stephanitz, in Thale, Germany.

König The Hovawart Founder Revisited: The Myth Of The Hoffwart

During the dark ages, dog breeds as we know them today, weren't established yet. Dogs were kept and bred mainly for their function. And in Germany during that time, one of those types was the "Hoffwart", the farm guard. The alleged predecessor of todays Hovawart.

Tilde's Mothers: Farm Dogs Like Kenzo's

Just because I am curious, I thought I'll research Tilde's roots, like I did for Kenzo. Although I know her father was most likely Aapo vom Moseleck, I cannot get that confirmed to be certain. I do know though with certainty who her mother was: Cherry van de Rovihof.

Unfortunately Cherry's family tree, like Aapo's, ended up in the wrong hands, to say it mildly. I couldn't find info online about Cherry, but Cherry's breeder was helpful to give me the names of Cherry's father and mother, Tilde's grandparents, and that enabled me to trace Tilde all the way back to the first Hovawarts, and even learned Kenzo and Tilde share a common ancestor in 1946, around 14 generations back:

Kenzo The Saluki

When I found out an actual Saluki sighthound was used in the "re-creation" of the Hovawart, I started looking at Kenzo for clues of such an ancestry. And indeed, when he uses all the muscles in his face to retract that, otherwise beautiful, Newfoundland facial skin, it does show:

The Mystery Of The Blond Hovawart

When you see this photo of a Russian yellow retriever, it is compelling to believe his supposed ancestor, the Russian tracker, could be a Hovawart ancestor as well. Especially when you know it was used for guarding life-stock and had the size of the current Hovawart. On top of it, it would explain how we ended up with a blond Hovawart.

As the myth goes, the creator of the Russian yellow retriever, Col. William Trench, roamed the Russian mountains for these dogs and brought them back with him to breed Golden retrievers.

Blond Retriever Or Golden Hovawart?

They do look a like, the blond Hovawart and the Golden retriever. I always wondered if both could have an ancestor in common that we don't know of. Not all Golden retriever "types" do look like blond Hovawarts, a german Golden is unmistakenly not a Hovawart also because of its smaller size. But when you look at the large North American Golden retriever, it gets a lot more difficult to see who is who.

These photo's from retrieverman's blog set an excellent example, who is the retriever and who is the Hovawart?

The Hovawart Family Tree

During the mini-quest to track down Kenzo's ancestors on his father's and his mother's side, I discovered a lot that fascinated me. It all started for the fun of it in the Facebook group Hovawart's family, sharing "old photo's", and in my case, got a little out of hand. Here is what I observed and learned so far, in an attempt to write something down, before this exercise ends in me writing a multiple volume book about Hovawarts and genealogy.

Kenzo's Mothers: I Am A Farm Dog

After following Kenzo's father's roots, that ended with Markus the Newfoundland, lets have a look at Kenzo's mothers. And as the experts say, holds a lot more genealogical value.

Kenzo's mother was Freja, or by her official name, "Sveablik's Freja". She had in all three litters, and Kenzo was part of the first litter. I only have printed photo's of her, and she is not even in the work-dog.eu database, just in the registry of the Danish Kennel Club. Following the direct line from mother to mother we found our "Eve": Dina Geisler, a mix of two farm dogs, also called a "Hofe wart" (old-German for farm guard). These were dogs the first breeders found on farms, resembling their ideal of a Hovawart.

Kenzo's Fathers: I Am A Newfoundland

Sparked by Min Inches, we embarked on a small genealogy project of our own to find Kenzo's roots. Together with the registry of the Danish Kennel Club and working-dog.eu, this is what we found out of on Kenzo's father's side.

Kenzo's father was "Odin", or by his official name, "Chaccomo vom Bohrertal", and we were so happy to have meet him once. Odin was a Danish champion and he only had one litter. Following the direct line from father to father, we found our "Adam": Markus, a 100% Newfoundland!

The Forgotten Hovawarts

"Wildmarken" Hovawart, courtesy of
www.die-hovawart-familie.de

This good-looking boy on the picture to the left is a Hovawart too. Meet Rico, a "wildmarken" Hovawart.

What? you might think, did I not tell you on this blog they are either black, blond, or black-and-tan. True, I did. Let me explain what happened.

In short, what happened was the German Kennel Club and the FCI.

Once Upon a Time There Was a Mutt

The modern Hovawart

You probably remember the BBC show Pedigree Dogs Exposed. In 2009, it revealed how breeders prefer exterior characteristics above health. Crippled and sick dogs became the winners of dog shows and were used in breeding. The end of the pedigree dog as we know it was predicted.

What about the Hovawart?