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INTRODUCTION
Hi, my name is Zavattaro, Sergio Zavattaro and I am going to introduce to you my site dedicated to a wonderful and special dog breed: the South Russian Ovcharka.
ABOUT ME
I am a veterinarian;
I am married and I have a daughter named Eva. I live in the surroundings
of Genova on a green hill.
Since a long time I
am suffering of a sickness called “dog lover” (I am the happiest sick man
in the world :-)))) Ever since the time I was a little boy I had
a dream: to have a dog. I stressed my parents for along time. Finally one
day my father stopped to work and my first dog arrived: he was a Boxer
and his name was Tell.
Tell wasn’t an excellent
Boxer in morphology but he has been a wonderful dog. He lived with me for
14 years, 14 wonderful years.
I followed the Boxer
breed for 10-12 years and thanks to a friend of mine, Mrs. Gabriella Pedemonte
(a very good Boxer breeder since 20 years) I have learned a lot about the
breed but, the most important thing, about breeding and about the respect
for each breed. Respect for health, behaviour and origin.
When I grew up I changed
my character, my life-style and .......... the breeds that interested me.
I started to take interest
in a completely different dog breed than the Boxer, different in look but
above all different in the behaviour: the Hungarian Komondor.
I started reading
the poor information about this breed in dog books and magazines and then
luck helped me. One day in a Dog Show I met Mr. Fulvio and 3 Komondors:
this meeting changed my life.
With Fulvio I went
to Hungary several times to visit Dog Shows and to visit Komondor kennels.
The Komondor breed
started the interest for all livestock guarding dog breeds as well, specially
for livestock guarding dog breeds of the Eastern Countries. Some years
later this interest about life stock guarding breeds brought me to write
a book about 14 livestock guarding dog breeds of the Eastern Countries.
During one of my trips
in Hungary I met the South Russian Ovcharka, but this is another
story.
ABOUT MY FAMILY
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The members of my family
are: me, my wife Antonella, my daughter Eva (our little devil), some cats,
some goats and 4 dogs: 3 are SROs and 1 is a cross of a Caucasian Ovcharka
with a Pyrenean Mastiff.
Antonella is a lawyer
and a mother also so she is always very busy. She loves the dogs and the
“mix” on the paper is hers.
Eva lives with dogs
since her birth and her first word has been “dede”: in her language
it means dog!
Eva has a real feeling
with dogs and other animals also. I hope Eva will be “infected” by the
same virus I have, the “dog-lovers” virus.
HOW I MET THE SRO
During a trip in Hungary
with my friend Fulvio and another friend we spoke about the SRO: my friends
had never seen this breed. I had seen the SRO for the first time in the
Czech Republic some years before in a Dog Show but they didn´t
stir up big emotions in me.
We decided to take
advantage of this trip in an Eastern Country to see a real SRO.
In Hungary we stayed
at the home of a famous Komondor breeder, Mr. Povaszon. He is the owner
and breeder of Argentina Teri Felix, one of the most beautiful Komondors.
We asked Mr. Povaszon
if he knew a SRO that we might go to see. He replied to us that not far
from his house there lived a champion. He asked the SRO owner to make an
appointment for the afternoon.
When we arrived at
the house of the SRO owner we saw in the garden a white dog. She was sitting
down, not in a good condition and really without anything to show us. We
thought: is this the famous SRO? Not good.
For kindness we rang
the bell: suddenly from the back of the house around the corner appeared
a big man together with a wonderful giant dog with a long and full coat
(it was January). That was the champion, he was Knyaz Igor Albin. The other
SRO in the garden was his bitch and some weeks before she had puppies.
Igor was a very imposing
dog and he showed us a very friendly welcome: he allowed us to touch him
without any problems.
Some years later into
the ring of SROs in a Dog Show in Budapest I saw a young subject completely
different from the others SROs. A wonderful big and white SRO. I read in
the catalogue and discovered he was a son of Igor. His name was Vac Varosi
Astor. Love at first sight....
I decided to have a
puppy from that dog and spoke about this project with the owner of Astor.
2 years after that
meeting a letter from Hungary arrived at my home: there was a puppy for
me.
I organized the trip
and on the 7 of January 1995 I went to the border-line between Austria
and Hungary, waiting for my dog.
I remembered it was
a very cold day: 10 °C below zero at 12 o’clock a.m.
Alekszej arrived: he
was 7 months old, 37 kilos and he looked wonderful.
I touched him to check
if all was ok and when I checked his teeth.... he “bite” me.
All was ok, the documents
also: Ale jumped in my car and we left for Italy.
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© Sergio Zavattaro, 2009