Grand Saga-                                                                  the first ten years (1998-2008) of Finnish grands

The last update 12/2008

6/2004 The Saga of Finnish Grands so far

The saga of Finnish Grand bassets started in 1998. At the same time the idea of importing a grand occured to some previous petit people. Three dogs; one male and two bitches were imported from Sweden, chenil Hoffen-Hills. These first imports were sisters Hoffen-Hills Krona des Frances (Faust des Hautes Clautzes x Hoffen-Hills Fina du Greffier du Roi) and Hoffen-Hills Cent of France. The third import was Hoffen-Hills Fee Greffier du Roi (To Hoffenhills du Greffier du Roi x Suede du Greffier du Roi). A little bit later I bought Mon Dieu du Greffier du Roi (Hoffen-Hills Domino du Greffier du Roi x Favorite du Roc de Deymier) from Jolanda Huisman and after that Nikeforos du Greffier du Roi (Dehra Extra Ordinaire x Zoe du Greffier du Roi) and Par Example du Greffier du Roi (Nireau du Barillot des Maladieres x Il y etait une fois du Greffier du Roi) came from Jolanda to Finland. All these grands became champions quite easily.

From these first grands Cent went back to Sweden and left no puppies to Finland. The first litter in Finland was in 2000 from the combination Hoffen-Hills Fee Greffier du Roi and Mon Dieu du Greffier du Roi. Bitch from this first litter, Airwind´s L´Air du Temps, gave the second grand litter for Airwinds in 2003. This seven puppy litter was sired by Riquadon van Tum´s Tum´s Vriendjes (Platon des Hautes Clauzes x Nouvelle de L´Oustal Viel) which was imported to Finland in 2003.

In 2001 Hoffen-Hill´s Krona was sired by Nikeforos du Greffier du Roi and puppies were born to kennel Belle Bagatelle. These puppies have been seen in the show rings quite rarely but a male Belle Bagatelle Benjamin is a champion. The father of this litter, Nikeforos, is by the way compeating in the highest class of agility.

In 2001 I brought Vaya Con Dios du Greffier du Roi from (Pipo x Pourquoi Pas du Greffier du Roi) Jolanda. In 2002 Mon Dieu du Greffier du Roi sired her and seven puppies were born to my chenil name, Mon Dieu. From this combination bitch, Mon Dieu Amazing Grace, stayed for me. Both, Vaya con Dios and Mon Dieu, have been used for hunting hair. Mon Dieu has also passed his "Brevet de Chasse".

Mon Dieu sired his third litter for chenil Minskuhoff´s and seven puppies were born in the beginning of 2004. The mother of these puppies was Par Example du Greffier du Roi. This was the last litter from Mon Dieu du Greffier du Roi in Finland at the moment.

This year I brought a male, En Vie Finlande du Greffier du Roi (Debucher Le Barbu*Walhalla du Greffier du Roi), from Jolanda. This puppy is co-owned by me and Pirjo Sintonen.

One more male has been imported to Finland, Hoffen-Hills Detroit of Cent (Hoffen-Hills Cent Des France x Hoffen-Hills Mamsel Greffier Du Roi), but he has not been used for breeding.

At the moment we are hopefully expecting puppies from the combination Vaya con Dios du Greffier du Roi and Narcus des Hautes Clauzes which is living in Sweden (kennel Rainstone).

These are the grands we have here in Finland at the moment. Four different chenils have been breeding this breed. The breed is still quite unknown in Finland but getting better known little by little. In the Finnish show rings grands have been group winners but fighting the place to be a BIS is difficult. The top winning grand basset in Finland has been Mon Dieu du Greffier du Roi and we could call him the ambassador of the breed because he has won many new adminors to this breed. He is Finnish, Danish, Latvian, Polish and International Champion. World, European, 2*Nordic, 3* Finnish Winner and BIS in Finnish and Danish Special Show as well as the best open class male in the French Special Show. From the bitches Par Example has been the queen of the show rings. She is FIN,DK,EST,LT,LV CH, FINW-00, LTW-01, LVW-01, NORDW-01 ESTW-01-03

So far the Finnish grands have been quite healty. Two epilepsia cases have occured and these grands have not been used for breeding. Eyes have been checked from four grands and they have all been healty. Slight biting faults seems to be the problem in our grands and several faults have occured in many litters.

2/2006

In August 2004, Vaya con Dios du Greffier du Roi "Penni", gave me a nice litter out of Narcus des Hautes Clauzes (4+4). The puppies were named after their mother, Penni. This litter turned out to be quite international. Penate went to Penni´s breeder Jolanda Huisman and Penny Wise "Finsky" went back to see her daddy Narcus to kennel Rainstone. One puppy found a lovely home from Denmark. I kept the bitch ,Penny from Heaven, for breeding.

In 2004 a litter was also born to kennel Airwinds (1+2). This litter was out of Airwind´s Louver de Paris (Hoffen-Hills Fee Greffier du Roi x Mon Dieu du GdR) and Riquadon van Tum´s Tum´s Vriendjes (Platon des Hautes Clauzes x Nouvelle de L´Oustal Viel).

The same year Vagabond v Tum-Tum´s Vriendjes (Toffee vTTV x Bassbarr Hero) was imported to Finland.

In April 2005 the second litter was born to kennel Minskuhoffs. This litter (4+2) was out of Par Example du Greffier du Roi (Nireau du Barillot des Maladieres x Il y etait une fois du GdR) and the father was Mon Dieu Ambassedeur, "Bronto", from my first litter.

During the years 2004 and 2005 Mod Dieu du GdR and Par Example du GdR still dominated the top Grand competitions but the yougsters started to enter the show rings. En Vie Finlande du GdR started to get Group placings and the sisters Minskuhoff´s Grand Egeria and Grand Emilia were collecting CC´s. These sisters became champions in the beginning of the 2006. Mon Dieu Alter Ego won BOB in the Annual Speciality both years and turned out to be the first Mon Dieu champion in 2005. In the end of the year 2005 two big shows were held in Helsinki. In the winner show En Vie Finlande du GdR was BOB and got the Winner title as well as Vaya con Dios du GdR (BOS). In the Nordic Winner Vaya con Dios was BOB and Mon Dieu was BOS in his old days. In 2005 MD Penny from Heaven entered hunting tests and she was the first Finnish grand ever to get a first price in a hunting test!

2/2007

Year 2006 only one litter was born. This litter was out of Minskuhoff´s Grand Emilia (Mon Dieu du Greffier du Roi x Par Example du Greffier du Roi) and Mon Dieu Master of Penny (Narcus des Hautes Clauzes x Vaya con Dios du Greffier du Roi) and these seven bitches and two males were born in August.

Four grands were also imported to Finland. Kennel Minskuhoffs imported the young bitch Silvamoon Skylark (Pays-Bas Orange van TTV x Silvamoon Sancree) and the four year old male Un Favorite van Tum-Tums Vriendjes (Pays-Bas Orange van TTV x Optimiste van TTV). Jolanda Huisman helped us to get here the two year old French male Vaurien du Relais Margot (Phoebus du Relais Margot and Int. x. Mabel du Relais Margot). He lives with the family Okkonen. Kennel Dinetten imported the puppy male :Luca I`Honneur Du Pied (Vexin Du Barbillot Des Maladieres x Emeraude I`Honneur Du Pied).

Mon Dieu dogs entered hunting tests and got good results. Mon Dieu Penny from Heaven got three first prizes and she was the first Finnish Hunting Champion grand. Mon Dieu Alter Ego entered the test in January 2007 and he also got the first prize with 84 points. This was his first in a test and also the first time hunting!

Year 2006 Dutch dogs (Bassbarr Hermitage and Triomph van TTV) won in the Annual Speciality. In the winner show 2006 the BOB was Minskuhoff´s Grand Egeria and the BOS was a handsome young male Minskuhoff¨s Grand Finlandais.

2/2008 Baby Boom

Year 2007 encreased the amount of Finnish Grands by 40 new puppies! Totally five litters were born and one male was imported. Kennel Minskuhoff´s started the boom with H- litter: six males and three bitches. Father of the litter was the multi CH Un Favorite van Tum-Tum´s Vriendjes and mother was Minskuhoff´s Grand Egeria. Kennel Airwind´s continued with four males and three bitches. Father of the litter was Airwind´s L´Amour de Loin and mother was his niece Airwind´s Esprit du Temps. After this it was our turn and two litters were born. Mon Dieu C- litter was out of my hunting and beauty champion Penny from Heaven and father was Minskuhoff´s Grand Finlandais. This litter lines to my own Penni "Vaya con Dios du Greffier du Roi". This litter included six males and three bitches. Mon Dieu Avant Gardiste was the proud mother of my D-litter. Four males and three bitches were sired by the French import Vaurien du Relais Margot. The last litter of this boom year was out of Minskuhoff´s Grand Eclair and it was sired by a young imported male Luca l´Honneur de Pied .

Kennel Minskuhoff´s imported one male to Finland. Jour Apres Jour Infini (Saxo du Barbillot des Maladieres x Valery van Tum-Tum´s Vriendjes) came from the Netherlands.

Quite many dogs have visited the show ring and at the moment we have 25 FIN CH dogs. When I started showing my grands it was quite common that judges had never even seen any grand before. Now a day the situation is quite different as we have usually over ten dogs in a ring.

Grands have been used too rarely for hunting. So far we have only one FIN HUNTING CH (Mon Dieu Penny from Heaven) and her half brother has got a first prize in a test. At the moment some Mon Dieu puppies are growing in hunting families so the future looks promising. Mon Dieu Master of Penny has also been used for tracking and he got a 2nd prize from his first test in 2007 .

Grands have been quite healthy so far. We have had some epilepsy cases both in Finnish born and imported dogs. Eyes of 20 grands have been researched and there have not been any problems. We have had also some biting faults and “French” front legs and one “long legged” dog. These faults have not harmed the every day living of these dogs but they are worth mentioning. Today many nice grands are also quite tall and heavy which is not always so good as this is a hunting breed after all.

12/2008

In 2008, three litters and totally 23 new puppies were added to the number. This year also introduced many young and promising bitches to the show ring.

Minskuhoff´s Grand Ideal (Minskuhoffs Grand Éclair x Luca I`Honneur Du Pied) launched her career. This young junior bitch was BOB in the Special Show (judge: Kari Järvinen), prevailing over the dominating male Un Favorite van Tum-Tum´s Vriendjes. Ideal did well throughout the year. In the Winner Show, she was beaten by an even younger bitch from Minskuhoff´s; Grand Hallo Hallo (Minskuhoffs Grand Egeria x Un Favorite van Tum-Tum´s Vriendjes). The third promising young bitch was Mon Dieu Desdemona (Mon Dieu Avant-Gardiste x Vaurien du Relais Margot) who was not shown much but did well when entering the ring. In the Winner Show 2008, the BOB was awarded to Bravo van Tum-Tum´s Vriendjes who had only come to Kennel Minskuhoff’s for breeding.