News Archive
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Catching up 24 / 10/ 10
Busy times. We are in the middle of a big move to a new place in the country, so news has been slow to get updated. Bella’s puppy plans have been moved into next year, and she has made a limited return to the show ring, picking up a RCC at Bournemouth. Young Balthazar made his European debut winning a 2nd in the youth class at the prestigious annual gathering in Leonberg. We had a nice visit with Rufus’ sister Luka recently, and she is looking more and more like their mother every day. The boys from the C litter have had their first birthday this month, and all are growing up into lovely big Leos. The photo above shows them all with their mum Ellie enjoying their big day. There are loads more pictures of the lads on their pages under past litters, which you can find here.
C Litter puppy reunion 18 / 05 / 2010
At the Southern Leos Carting Group this past Saturday we had a lovely gathering of the 4 boys from our “C” litter, born on the 14th of October, 2009. At just over 7 months old, all are growing well and turning into lovely big dogs. You can see them all here with their proud mum Ellie (Altonastigens Esmeralda). I have also updated their pages with new photos, (past litters), and put a new video of them playing at the top. I will be off to the World Dog Show at the end of June. Looking forward to catching up with Leo friends from across Europe and – hopefully- finding a nice boy for our Bella.
Spring gathering 11/04/10
Yesterday, we had a lovely time at the Southern Leonberger Carting day, where we had three of the C little boys together for a romp in the sunshine. Here is a class reunion shot with momma Ellie. At the top of this page is a VIDEO of all three of the lads playing together.
28/03/10 Update
Unfortunately, our younger girl was scanned and found to be empty, so we are back to the drawing board. Meanwhile, the C litter boys are doing well, and we have had a few update photos added to their pages, which you can find by clicking here. I will be off to the World Dog Show in June to scout for nice males, and we will be trying again with Bella later in the summer. Keep an eye on our plans page for more details.
21 / 02 / 10 Bella’s Dutch Holiday
Bella has spent an enjoyable week in the Netherlands visiting Matu Woscany, which we hope will produce a lovely spring litter. There are new photos of the gorgeous Matu on our plans page here. The day before we departed for Holland, we went along to the annual Leo Club Valentines Day party where the lads from the C litter gathered for a photo call. It was a fun day and the highlight surely must have been the fancy dress parade, won by young Balthazar in his full Coeur De Lion regalia.
10/01/10
We have updated our plans page with information on the planned litter between our Bella- Lionscourt Belisana and her intended, Matu Woscany. You can read more about it and see the handsome Matu here.
16/12/09
All of the C litter lads are now in their new homes and the house has gone eerily quiet. The pups, who for some odd reason have all got pet names starting with “B”, have all settled in well and I hope to find the time to set up their details on our site. We look forward to our first puppy reunion in February.
Our breeding plans for next year have had to be changed, unfortunately, due to the stud dog suffering a serious injury. We understand that “Romeo” is doing well and wish him a full and timely recovery. I will be posting news of our revised plans as soon as things are settled. This will be our Bella, Lionscourt Belisana’s first litter. You can see her details here.
08/12/09
The C litter pups are now 8 weeks old and will soon be off to their new homes. They have been a very outgoing and content litter and we will certainly miss them. They had their vet check today and official weigh in. As expected, they are big lads, with weights between 9.5 Kilos through a whopping 12 kilos. I have added a final batch of photos to the C Litter picture gallery.
3/11/09
On the 14th of October our third litter arrived. The pups were very large, 550 to well over 700 grams in weight. Unfortunately, we had two breech presentations which lead to a c-section. Ellie is doing very well and has been an excellent mother, but sadly, we lost the 2 little girls she was carrying. We are pleased that the four big boys are doing so very well and growing at an amazing rate. All are spoken for an eagerly awaited in their new homes. You can see weekly photo updates here.
In the new year, we are planning on mating our younger bitch Bella, Lionscourt Belisana. We are in the process of finalising our choice of stud dog and details will follow. If you are interested in contacting us about a Lionscourt pup, please give us a call, You can find our contact details here.
21st September, 2009
5 weeks ago, our Ellie, (Altonastigens Esmeralda), enjoyed a romantic holiday with a fine upstanding young Leonberger gentleman called Zeus, (Sylberts Emperor Ridge at Sancholees). After the run of bad luck we have had, we are very happy to confirm that her scan showed 8 healthy pups. They are due mid October and we are eagerly preparing for busy times ahead. If you want to have a look at Zeus, you can see him here.
In other news, our Rufus, (Lionscourt Arcturus), had developed the tell-tale signs of Laryngeal Paralysis in the spring, so in June he visited the Royal Veterinary College and had a tie-back procedure. He has made a full recovery and is back to his happy bouncy self. You can see how Rufus is looking in his stylish new trim here.
September 13th, 2009
Welcome to the new and improved Lionscourt site. More news coming soon!
News Archive
01/04/09 Update Sadly, our Ellie once again remains empty following her recent excursion to France for a romantic fling. We will try again and have our eyes on a few likely prospects. Details will be posted on our plans page when we know more.
We recently enjoyed a visit from Ellie’s Swedish family who came over for Crufts and a bit of holiday in the English countryside. Ellie was beside herself with joy every time they cooed at her in Swedish. Congratulations to her half brother Altonastigens Kaiser for becoming Swedish Winner 2009!
Congratulations also on Rufus and his litter brothers and sisters for their 6th birthday. Rufus has been enjoying his new agility classes and thanks to Becki for all her efforts. To find out more about the Leonberger Agility group, have a look http://www.leoagility.co.uk/ Have posted a few new photos of Ellie and her kids, Bella, growing into a lovely lady. Sister Kya, who has grown into such a lovely substantial lady and brother Tsar, so much like his mother!
20 / 12 / 08 New Puppy Plans
Following our disappointed attempt to get a litter via insemination with frozen semen, I have been engaged in a long and often frustrating quest to find a dog to put with our Ellie for her second and final litter. Although I think there are some lovely dogs here in the UK, I have become increasingly concerned about limited diversity within many UK lines, which are subject to the limitations of a gene-pool restricted by quarantine, (both here and in the Scandinavian region where many of our lines originated). Part of this concern has to do with the lifespan of Leonbergers, who are all too often dying at what I consider to be too young, especially many of the males.
After seeing hundreds of Leonbergers at the World Show in Stockholm, at the German national show in Leonberg and here around the rings of our own UK championship shows, I have decided to go to a dog that I met years ago in France. He is a lovely fellow called Rastafari-Zanort du Temple d'Artemis, known as “Titan” at home. Unlike many of the Leos in his home country, he has a lovely harmonious construction, with broad deep chest, thickly boned straight legs ending in tight correct feet, superb rear angulation, a terrific level topline and ideal long straight tail -correctly carried- which Ellie especially needs! Rastafari is 8 years old now, still very fit and active and maintaining his lovely elegant movement. He also has the temperament of a lamb. His lines are especially strong for longevity, with many near ancestors who lived to a very healthy age, (his mother is now 11 ½ ), and he even had a paternal grandmother who achieved the distinguished age of 14 years!
With this mating I hope to bring these new (old) lines into the UK and I hope they will bring with them some of the health and vitality that we need. You can see a recent photo of Rastafari here, showing his natural elegance despite being out of coat and a tad underweight due to the bitches being in season, or learn more about this mating by going to our Plans Page., where you can click on the photos to expand them.
07/07/08 Leonberger Tourism and other news
I have been over to Stockholm for the World Dog Show- this time with only a camera and no dogs. The day before we also attended a Leonberger specialty show just outside of Stockholm, so two shows in two days- bliss. It is always refreshing to see a brand new population of dogs to compare with those in your own backyard. We enjoyed seeing many fine dogs, mainly from the Scandinavian countries and it was especially nice to see a small but determined UK contingent in attendance. Special congratulations to UK born and bred SYLBERT EMPEROR RIDGE AT SANCHOLEES who won a CAC behind Best Dog on both days, KNOCKANDO'S LORD NELSON who has just had his second birthday- quite an achievement for this young dog. Also lovely to see our Ellie’s sister, ALTONASTIGENS ELANOR, also take the bitch CAC at the World Show, along with her grandfather GRIZZLY V DREIBURGENLAND who won best veteran. At 10 years, he is still such a lovely fellow and moves with effortless grace.
Back at home, we send special wishes to all of our B litter on their second birthday- hope to have some lovely new photos to post of them all soon. Meanwhile, we have a couple of more recent pics of young Bella and Tsar to share. I have recently added a few health related articles to the site, which you can find here.
02/04/08 Update Five weeks of agonising wait ended this morning when a scan showed that Ellie is –alas- not carrying any pups. Sad news, but we have been here before, so we will simply have to try again. Ellie is very fine, she has been enjoying all the extra attention and will be returning to the show ring in the meantime.
Congratulations to the Lionscourt A Litter on their 5th birthday. All seem to be doing well. We have a new photo of Coco, which you can see on her page. Also, new pics of Rufus and Bella have been added.
09/02/08 Expect the unexpected At LKA, the last championship show in 2007, our Ellie, Altonastigens Esmeralda, picked up her 8th first place win of the year and Best Bitch along with that first illusive CC. Since then things have been a bit quiet through the holidays and beyond, with only a quick run up to the show in Stafford earlier this month. A slight lameness kept Ellie to 3rd in Open Bitch. Our Rufus, Lionscourt Arcturus, has now had his fourth heart test; he certainly has one of, if not the most thoroughly monitored hearts in the breed. Although he himself has been confirmed as being in perfect health, we have unfortunately learned more details of another sort about a past relative of his, and this has lead us to make the hard decision to not breed him. Difficult though this choice is to make, we feel it is the right one. Here is a photo of what were to be the happy couple taken just the day before we learned it was not to be.
Thankfully, we still had time to arrive at an alternative plan before Ellie’s season. After a lot of careful thought, we have decided to take the unusual step of going right back to the source of what I feel are so many of the qualities we had hoped to continue through using Rufus. Thanks to the efforts of John Feehan of Manorguard Leonbergers, semen from one of the great Leos of the past, Sund Stamm’s Design of Golden Art- “Dart” to his friends- has been re-imported into the UK and will be available to us. Dart was a very sound dog, both in his physical characteristics and in his lovely calm temperament. He comes from long-lived lines and was himself nearly 12 when he passed away. Having met him when I first got involved in the breed, I knew him to be a true gentleman; with the sort of generous temperament we all seek in our Leos. He passed on superb confirmation, excellent type and a fabulous head to his offspring and he is found in the pedigrees of no less than 8 of our UK champions. Every finger in the house here at Lionscourt, (and quite a few of the toes as well!) are crossed in anticipation that this legacy mating will produce a beautiful litter sometime in the spring. Details can be found on our Plans page here.
13/11/07
UK Club show We recently attended the Leonberger Club of Great Britain championship show, which this year saw the largest entry ever. Our youngest, Bella (and her happy tail), managed a reserve place in a large class of 15 Junior Bitches. Our slightly gimpy Rufus managed a solid third in a strong field of 9 in Limit Dog. (His old leg injury sadly still affects him, and he will probably only be shown lightly from now on). Our momma Ellie did us proud once again by taking first place in a beautiful line-up of 17 in Limit Bitch. You can see her lovely photos care of Terry Pover here, here and here.
Things will be quieting down for us until the new year, when- health tests permitting- Ellie will be mated to Rufus in what we hope will be a lovely combination. I hope to be finalising our list for this litter in the next few months, so if you are interested in a Lionscourt puppy please contact us and we can have a chat.
We have a new photo of Alfie, (Lionscourt Almeisen) looking like a very proud lion. We wish he and his family well back in the states.
3/10/07 Greman Leonberger Show 1,300 miles of driving later- we are now safely back from our adventures at the 2007 Clubsieger show in Leonberg. This year saw the largest entry ever, with something in the region of 375 beautiful Leonbergers from right across Europe attending. Although the weather driving to and back was atrocious, the weekend in Leonberg was perfect and the show was packed. We were among a small but strong contingent of UK exhibitors who were braving the waters at this premier meeting of Leonberger dogs world-wide.
The classes are huge and the judging very thorough, so the day was long, and for those of us not used to the FCI system, quite confusing at times. A special thanks to the crack team of Glenda Rothery and Heather Niall, who took Rufus under their wing and showed him in sparkling style in an open class of 49 entries, where, in spite of being underweight and out of coat, he gained an Excellent (V) grade and lovely critique, although he missed out on the final four places.
Thanks also several others for their kind help in allowing me to juggle Ellie and Bella between two rings running simultaneously. Young Bella could not contain her excitement - or her tail – and so received a Very Good grade in her Jugend Klasse of 27 entries. Ellie was able to remain somewhat more composed and put in a solid performance, managing to win Excellent V4 in the largest and perhaps one of the most challenging classes of the day (in terms of endurance if nothing else), the female open class with 50 beautiful entries. The winner of this class, a lovely bitch called Lorena Woscany, went on to win best in show.
We were also pleased to see the many successes of Ellie’s close relatives at the show, including:
Half brother - Amadeus from Magic Castle - Club Sieger 2007
Half brother - Altonastigens Kaiser – Club Jugendsieger 2007
Uncle - Uras Lowe vom Osning – V1 in champion males
Uncle - Bjorntassen Ralf – V2 in Champion males
And of course Bella’s half brother “Louis” - Brandon vom Lowengarten - V2 in Intermediate males.
Other British dogs at the show also managed to achieve excellent placings, and we’d like to congratulate those who succeeded in making it all the way to the ring of honour:
Jodukus Lowe von Walhall V1 in Intermediate males,
Stormchaser Ta Pinu V2 in Junior males,
Kumamatata Awesome Boy for Lionslord V3 in Open males.
Unfortunately, running from ring to ring, I left my camera behind and sadly, have no photos to share. You can check out the complete results on the German club website here.
14/9/07 French Leonberger Show We had a lovely lightening visit over to France recently to take in the French Leonberger Club show at Romorantin. Had to leave our own dogs at home as the girls are both in season and poor Rufus is struggling to maintain his dignified composure. I think it is always very interesting and useful to set eyes on a completely new population of Leonbergers, as we are all so accustomed to seeing our own local dogs time and time again that we perhaps lose the ability to see them through fresh eyes. The weather was perfect, the French hospitality was of course generous, and a great time was had by all. The best of breed this year went to a bitch named VERTIG de la Pierre Oiseau, and the top dog honours went to a large dark fellow who impressed me 2 years ago when I attended the show in Cluny. His name is RAOUL du Manoir de Löwenberg.
12/8/07 New Forest We have been to a few shows recently, where young Bella has finally started to blossom into a lovely leo lady. She took top honours in her first junior class at Paignton, just three days past her first birthday , and, (after a hiccup at the National Working and Pastoral show, where she firmly decided that the condition of her teeth were nobody else’s business, thank you very much), she was back on form at Bournmouth, taking another first place out of a strong junior class of 12. But by the time her mother Ellie got into the ring, it had been a long wait and she had wilted a bit, failing to impress the judge at all. We did have a lovely chance to catch up with two other pups from the second litter, who are both looking splendid. You can have a peek at Kya and Tsar on their updated pages. The day was very hot and we all enjoyed the relief of a wonderful swim in one of the local New Forest ponds afterwards. You can see the dogs thoroughly enjoying themselves here and here.
17/06/07 Update Our Ellie, Altonastigens Esmeralda, was on good form this past week, when she took best bitch in breed at 3 Counties Championship show. She wasn’t entered in the bitch classes at the Leonberger Club open show as the judge, Bill Crawley, had handled her in the past, but Rufus took a respectable second in the Limit dog class. We have also added a few new photos of Ellie, Bella, (presently in her Hyena stage), and Rufus.
23/04/07 Update Things have been quiet here at Lionscourt as both of the girls have been in season so we have not been out and about much recently. Rufus has had his third echo-cardiogram test and we are pleased to note that his heart is – in the words of the cardiologist- better than ever. His next is scheduled for winter 2008. We have had a fairly regular stream of visitors coming to meet the dogs and our reservation list for next year is beginning to fill up. Have a look at our plans page here to see what we are hoping for.
We have also been getting some lovely new photos of the B litter puppies as they grow up into young dogs. You can have a look at the latest on Kya, Tzar or Bella on their pages. The show season is about to get into full swing so, provided the dogs hold onto their coats, we hope to get them back into the ring in the coming months with at least one European trip planed for later in the summer.
12/02/07 Puppy Meeting We recently attended the Leonberger Club’s annual Valentines puppy party, which was great fun as usual. Unfortunately, due to various winter colds and other commitments, we were only able to get three of our latest litter together for the event, but all had a great time seeing each other and their mother Ellie again. You can have a look here to see how these lovely young ladies are coming along aged just 7 months.
4/1/07 Happy New Year Just a quick update to wish everyone a happy New Year. All the recent pups are doing well and many have been sending in new photos, so have a look at their pages here to see how they are coming along. Bella has been growing fast and doing a lot of ring craft classes to get her ready for her new career. Nothing more to report so here is a nice picture of her doing her best Hound of the Baskervilles impression.
16/11/06 Various news All of the B litter pups are doing well and growing at a fast pace. Many of their new families have been sending in photos, so have a look at their puppy pages to see how they are doing. We have only been to one show recently, the Leonberger Club of Great Britain’s 2006 championship show, where Rufus did us proud by taking second place among stiff competition in a very nice Limit class. Thank you to Carol Lear for taking him round for us. We have been traveling to far off places since then. Nothing really relevant to these pages other than the fine Central Asian Shepherd dog I photographed at 12,000 feet along the Karakoram Highway between China and Pakistan. You can see him here.
01/10/06 Update Things are finally getting back to normal here following the recent arrival of Ellie’s first litter. The proud mother has now regained her fitness and pervious girlish figure, but has misplaced her lovely thick coat and so is looking a bit threadbare. The last little girl “purple” has now settled into her new home and is called Elsa. You can see her page here. Bella has started her puppy classes and has also been seeing the world, initially from a safe vantage point, but now she is happily romping in the park with the big dogs.
12/09/06 Update We are pleased to say that the pups have settled into their new homes and are doing well. You can see their new details here. We have one girl who will be staying with us, Bella, who is fast making her mark. Because of changing circumstances, we also have one lovely girl left needing a new home, little “purple”. Please drop us a line if you would like to learn more about her. Our details can be found on the contacts page here.
27/08/06 Puppy update and more... We are sorry to report that have had a very sad loss when the Yellow Boy suffered a serious illness following his second worming at 5 weeks, which ultimately lead to his developing a critical 20 centimetre Intussusception, which is a condition where a portion of the intestines folds into itself. Many infant animals can occasionally suffer from this rare problem, including humans. Here is what the Leonberger Club of Great Britain says about it in their health section: “Intussusception is a more common condition than you may think. Almost always found in puppies, the conditions is where the intestine telescopes in on itself, this in turn restricts the blood flow to the intestine and if allowed to continue, the affected tissue will die and ultimately, so will the puppy. This condition can kill a puppy in a matter of days. Although easily treated via an operation, removal of the affected intestine and a short time to heal, the important thing is catching it in first place.
Signs of intercusseptiion are; being off food, lethargic, want to pass a stool but not being able too, a temperature, lack of activity in general. In particular, these symptoms can be see after a period of Diarrhea
This condition is difficult to detect to the untrained eye and often the professionals can't find it until they operate.”
We are very saddened by the loss of this beautiful boy, who had been named Mister Bingley.
The six remaining pups are all thriving and 5 of them will be off to their new homes in just one more week. Hopefully, we will have finally decided which to keep by then!
We had some further sad news from Germany. The sire of our B litter, Niklas vom Lowengarten, has sadly passed away following surgery to remove a toy ball from his stomach. Although Niklas had no trouble with the operation itself- he was a strong fit dog- he tragically died suddenly two days later from a postoperative blood clot that had blocked the main artery to his brain. Any surgery carries the slim risk of such an event, and we share the deep sorrow of his owners Klaus and Marion for the premature loss of this fine dog. Here is the last image of Niklas, taken just two months earlier during his summer holidays in Scandinavia.
We have received some new photos of Zulu from our A litter, who is living the good life. You can see how he is looking by checking out Zulu's page here.
27/07/06 Update Not much to say other than have a look here to see the B litter growing up.
8/7/06 B Litter Ellie has given birth to seven lovely puppies at home this past weekend, 5 girls and 2 boys. All are doing very well, but unfortunately, our camera did not survive the delivery and is not working- so no pictures sadly L You can see the details of this litter by looking at this page.
16/06/06 Puppies on the way Following our adventures in Germany, and 5 weeks of anxious anticipation, we finally got Ellie scanned last week, and I am pleased to say that we have puppies on the way. Ellie has been relaxing in her favorite cool spots, trying to beat the heat while awaiting her big day. Meanwhile Rufus has been recovering from his recent injury, and is working on regaining his fitness by dragging us down to the pond for regular swims, which he enjoys greatly. We have also received some lovely new photos of Rufus’ sister Astra, now called Luka, who is thriving in her new home. You can see how she is doing here.
10/05/06 Ellie's visit to Germany Our Ellie recently decided that she was tired of all the suspense, and so she chose to come into season 6 weeks early. This made things a little complicated, as our choice of stud was a German dog and, surprisingly, there are no requirements for hereditary cataract tests within the German Leonberger Club. As of this year, the Leonberger Club of Great Britain requires such tests for all foreign dogs used for breeding with UK based dogs. So, a few frantic phone calls later and we had arranged for Niklas vom Lowengarten to be checked. For any UK based colleagues who may find themselves in this predicament, I recommend that you check out this website, Dortmunder Kreis – DOK, for information on a scheme in Germany that does complete eye tests under the E.C.O.V., the European College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists. This website gives details, in German, and more importantly, where such tests may be done throughout Germany. Very useful.
There followed a mad dash to Duisburg, Ellie’s third European journey, so by now she takes such things in her stride. While waiting for her to decide that the time was just right, I had the good fortune of visiting the European Championship show in nearby Dortmund. There were about 60 Leonbergers entered, and it gave me another chance to see first hand what the dogs in their homeland are like. I also had a chance to meet Ellie’s father, Int. Ch Simon Lowe vom Osning for the first time, and he was a very large and very sweet fellow. Once again, the two things that stood out most for me as a visitor from the British Leonberger scene, was the substantial build of the German dogs, especially the density of bone in their limbs. Also, I do not think I saw a light eye all day, most leos there having deep chocolate eyes. The winner and new European Champion was Simon’s younger brother Unkas Lowe vom Osning.
Back in Duisburg, Ellie and Niklas had a lovely romantic weekend together, which we sincerely hope will result in a splendid batch of pups. She will be scanned in about 4 weeks time, so for now, we keep our fingers crossed.
17/4/06 Change of Plans We have unfortunately had a change of plans for Ellie’s first litter. This is because the dog we had hoped to use, DKCH Kikhanen’s Papyrus, has unfortunately missed with the last three bitches he has been mated with, and another recent sperm test has shown that he is sadly no longer viable as a stud. This is unfortunate as he is a fine dog who will not be passing on his qualities to future generations. We wish Pyrus a long and happy life with loving owners Jan and Birte. Thankfully, we had arranged to met another lovely fellow on our travels to Europe last autumn. He is Int Ch Niklas vom Löwengarten - We saw Niklas at both Leonberg and Cluny. He has a marvelous presence and a very relaxed and easy temperament. We are thankful to Klaus and Marion Becker for allowing us to bring Ellie to meet him, hopefully sometime in the next 6 weeks. In other news, our Rufus has unfortunately injured his leg – too much rough play with Ellie in the woods we suspect, so he has been resting up and taking full advantage of being pampered. He should make a full recovery and be back in action soon.
11/2/06 Update We have had a quiet winter, cold at times, but sadly all that lovely snow has somehow managed to miss us here in London other than the slightest early morning dusting. So much for this year’s Christmas card pictures…Rufus and Ellie have both had birthdays recently, so we’ve put a few more recent pictures on the site. Have a look at Rufus’ page here, or Ellie’s page here. We’ve also received a few from Rufus’ littermates and added them. We have started to visit a few dog shows again, including Crufts this past Thursday. Ellie had a special visit from Ingela and Lasse, her breeders from Sweden, to join us for the big event. She and Rufus managed to sneak away with two second place ribbons in the good citizenship classes, having failed to impress in the much larger post graduate classes. Brother Blaze maintained his solid form with a respectable reserve place in this his very fist limited class, standing as the baby of the class alongside some very respectable competition. Blaze has his own website now, which you can find here.
28/11/05 Plans Last month we attended the Leonberger Club of Great Britain Championship show where our Ellie, Altonastigens Esmeralda, got a first in her class. Our thanks to Bill Crawley for handling her while I was busy with Rufus in the next ring. Blaze, Lionscourt Alderamin, took a respectable forth place in another very full postgraduate class. Meanwhile our Rufus, Lionscourt Arcturus was up to his old playful tricks and got sent to the showers early as a result. This past weekend we stopped in to visit Alfie, Lionscourt Almeisen, who is doing very well, although he is maintaining his svelte cheetah-like figure with all that running about he does. You can see how he is looking at his page here.
07/10/05 Travel Update We have just returned from a wonderful trip through Europe where we visited Leonberg to see the German club show. We then went on through Switzerland for a bit of hiking with the dogs. They certainly showed themselves to be fine Mountain Dogs. We then went on to Cluny to see the French Leonberger club show. It was very interesting to see so many sizes, shapes and types of Leos. We think we may have spotted a fine figure of a Leo to introduce to Ellie when she is ready to be a mother next year, more on that as we get nearer.
11/09/05 Update Just a quick update to say we have had our hip and elbow scores back for both Rufus-(hips 2/3, elbows 0 ),and Ellie-(hips 5/6, elbows 0). Eye checks will be done for both later in the year. We stopped in to visit Zulu (Lionscourt Al-Jabar) and he is looking great. There is a new photo of him on his page. We are off to Leonberg and Cluny in a few days and will be meeting a few eligible bachelors to consider for Ellie’s first litter next year.
20/07/05 Update We have had a few busy weeks to report on. First of all, Astra has had a lovely holiday at Alfross Acres and has now settled into her new home, which she seems to love. Check out her page here to see how she is doing. Ellie and Rufus have been co-opted into the High Fashion industry, doing a photo shoot in our local woods. They loved it and mugged for the camera right on cue. Blaze has been showing just how versatile leos are by taking up the trampoline in his spare time. The showing season is in full swing, and we have had some good results, including a first for Rufus and best brace for the pair at the recent Leonberger Club Show. Blaze has also been maintaining his form well, taking firsts at 3 Counties, WELKS and Windsor. Over the next few months we will be touring around visiting potential mates for Ellie, which she is looking forward to, (although I HAVE told her that auditions are not on!) Enjoy the summer.
10/05/05 Update Ellie, (Altonastigens Esmeralda), has settled in well and has been turning a few heads in the show ring, having at last discovered the difference between pacing and trotting- finally! We hope it sticks. She has now qualified for Crufts, having got a second at the Birmingham National this past Thursday. See her complete results page here. Congratulations to Blaze (Lionscourt Alderamin), for also qualifying. He is maturing into a magnificent fellow and is consistently placing well in championship shows, well done to both he and his pal Jason. Brother Rufus, (Lionscourt Arcturus) is still struggling to free himself from the “gangly youth” stage and has been working to rediscover his form from last year. He has been enjoying his new agility classes and seems to be a real show off in this. He finds carting less tempting so far, but does enjoy the days out. Water training now beckons, which should be fun as both Ellie and Rufus adore swimming. They have now both attended the superb Temperament Assessment sessions run by Neil Ewart from the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, and I am pleased to say both scored “Excellent” (the second time for Rufus, having attained an Excellent rating as a puppy). I can’t recommend these sessions highly enough and encourage all UK Leo people to take up the opportunity to check them out.
03/04/05 New pictures of Coco We received some lovely new birthday pictures of Coco (Lionscourt Andromeda) who seems to have successfully made it through her “ugly duckling” phase and is now maturing into a lovely lady. These days she spends far less time tearing around the fields cultivating her greyhound figure and is now mainly concerned with looking after Rupert, her new 15 week old “little brother”. From the size of his paws, (not to mention the look in his eyes!), it looks as though she has her work cut out for her.
29/03/05 Crufts etc. We enjoyed our visit to Crufts again this year, although as usual the crowds were at times quite overwhelming. Rufus was a bit distracted by everything and failed to impress the judge, but his brother Blaze showed a good deal more composure and got a second in his large yearling class. Everyone seemed quite pleased when their half brother Graceanna Allegheni at Shamwaki won best in show with his wonderful easy movement around the big ring, well done Alison and of course Midge for their well deserved win. Ellie has been learning the ropes in her first open shows despite a few growing pains and seems to be enjoying the excitement of getting out to meet all the new faces, both human and doggie. We send out our best wishes to all of our A litter pups who seem to be living happily ever after with their respective families.
27/02/05 Lionscourt Website I have now stumbled my way through a basic introduction to web design and have finally decided to take the plunge and make a site for the dogs- so, without further ado, here is the Lionscourt cheap and cheerful website! It is primitive and guaranteed to be free of any bells, whistles or other such flourishes, but I hope it will provide at least some information on what we have been getting up to here.
20/02/05 Ellie's first show in the UK Ellie had her first show in the UK on Sunday, braving the bitingly cold wind to take part in the Horley and District Open show. I am pleased to report that she seemed to get the idea of what this showing game is all about rather quickly, but was much happier to show off her fine pacing than any ungainly trotting we might have preferred. She came second in a cosy little pack of three young dogs, so was not totally disgraced, and thoroughly enjoyed the day out. Burrrrrrr.
06/01/2005 Ellie arrives After a breakneck journey involving 4 ferry rides and over 1,000 miles of European motorways in 24 hours, our new import Ellie – Altonastigens Esmeralda – has safely landed on UK soil. She is a lovely young thing, 10 months old and full of friendly confidence. We are so grateful to Ingela and Lasse for bringing her up so well for us. I am sure they miss her, as does her brother Frodo back in Sweden. Rufus and Ellie have now met and I am pleased to report that they adore each other. For more details on Ellie, have a look at her page here.
Busy times. We are in the middle of a big move to a new place in the country, so news has been slow to get updated. Bella’s puppy plans have been moved into next year, and she has made a limited return to the show ring, picking up a RCC at Bournemouth. Young Balthazar made his European debut winning a 2nd in the youth class at the prestigious annual gathering in Leonberg. We had a nice visit with Rufus’ sister Luka recently, and she is looking more and more like their mother every day. The boys from the C litter have had their first birthday this month, and all are growing up into lovely big Leos. The photo above shows them all with their mum Ellie enjoying their big day. There are loads more pictures of the lads on their pages under past litters, which you can find here.
C Litter puppy reunion 18 / 05 / 2010
At the Southern Leos Carting Group this past Saturday we had a lovely gathering of the 4 boys from our “C” litter, born on the 14th of October, 2009. At just over 7 months old, all are growing well and turning into lovely big dogs. You can see them all here with their proud mum Ellie (Altonastigens Esmeralda). I have also updated their pages with new photos, (past litters), and put a new video of them playing at the top. I will be off to the World Dog Show at the end of June. Looking forward to catching up with Leo friends from across Europe and – hopefully- finding a nice boy for our Bella.
Spring gathering 11/04/10
Yesterday, we had a lovely time at the Southern Leonberger Carting day, where we had three of the C little boys together for a romp in the sunshine. Here is a class reunion shot with momma Ellie. At the top of this page is a VIDEO of all three of the lads playing together.
28/03/10 Update
Unfortunately, our younger girl was scanned and found to be empty, so we are back to the drawing board. Meanwhile, the C litter boys are doing well, and we have had a few update photos added to their pages, which you can find by clicking here. I will be off to the World Dog Show in June to scout for nice males, and we will be trying again with Bella later in the summer. Keep an eye on our plans page for more details.
21 / 02 / 10 Bella’s Dutch Holiday
Bella has spent an enjoyable week in the Netherlands visiting Matu Woscany, which we hope will produce a lovely spring litter. There are new photos of the gorgeous Matu on our plans page here. The day before we departed for Holland, we went along to the annual Leo Club Valentines Day party where the lads from the C litter gathered for a photo call. It was a fun day and the highlight surely must have been the fancy dress parade, won by young Balthazar in his full Coeur De Lion regalia.
10/01/10
We have updated our plans page with information on the planned litter between our Bella- Lionscourt Belisana and her intended, Matu Woscany. You can read more about it and see the handsome Matu here.
16/12/09
All of the C litter lads are now in their new homes and the house has gone eerily quiet. The pups, who for some odd reason have all got pet names starting with “B”, have all settled in well and I hope to find the time to set up their details on our site. We look forward to our first puppy reunion in February.
Our breeding plans for next year have had to be changed, unfortunately, due to the stud dog suffering a serious injury. We understand that “Romeo” is doing well and wish him a full and timely recovery. I will be posting news of our revised plans as soon as things are settled. This will be our Bella, Lionscourt Belisana’s first litter. You can see her details here.
08/12/09
The C litter pups are now 8 weeks old and will soon be off to their new homes. They have been a very outgoing and content litter and we will certainly miss them. They had their vet check today and official weigh in. As expected, they are big lads, with weights between 9.5 Kilos through a whopping 12 kilos. I have added a final batch of photos to the C Litter picture gallery.
3/11/09
On the 14th of October our third litter arrived. The pups were very large, 550 to well over 700 grams in weight. Unfortunately, we had two breech presentations which lead to a c-section. Ellie is doing very well and has been an excellent mother, but sadly, we lost the 2 little girls she was carrying. We are pleased that the four big boys are doing so very well and growing at an amazing rate. All are spoken for an eagerly awaited in their new homes. You can see weekly photo updates here.
In the new year, we are planning on mating our younger bitch Bella, Lionscourt Belisana. We are in the process of finalising our choice of stud dog and details will follow. If you are interested in contacting us about a Lionscourt pup, please give us a call, You can find our contact details here.
21st September, 2009
5 weeks ago, our Ellie, (Altonastigens Esmeralda), enjoyed a romantic holiday with a fine upstanding young Leonberger gentleman called Zeus, (Sylberts Emperor Ridge at Sancholees). After the run of bad luck we have had, we are very happy to confirm that her scan showed 8 healthy pups. They are due mid October and we are eagerly preparing for busy times ahead. If you want to have a look at Zeus, you can see him here.
In other news, our Rufus, (Lionscourt Arcturus), had developed the tell-tale signs of Laryngeal Paralysis in the spring, so in June he visited the Royal Veterinary College and had a tie-back procedure. He has made a full recovery and is back to his happy bouncy self. You can see how Rufus is looking in his stylish new trim here.
September 13th, 2009
Welcome to the new and improved Lionscourt site. More news coming soon!
News Archive
01/04/09 Update Sadly, our Ellie once again remains empty following her recent excursion to France for a romantic fling. We will try again and have our eyes on a few likely prospects. Details will be posted on our plans page when we know more.
We recently enjoyed a visit from Ellie’s Swedish family who came over for Crufts and a bit of holiday in the English countryside. Ellie was beside herself with joy every time they cooed at her in Swedish. Congratulations to her half brother Altonastigens Kaiser for becoming Swedish Winner 2009!
Congratulations also on Rufus and his litter brothers and sisters for their 6th birthday. Rufus has been enjoying his new agility classes and thanks to Becki for all her efforts. To find out more about the Leonberger Agility group, have a look http://www.leoagility.co.uk/ Have posted a few new photos of Ellie and her kids, Bella, growing into a lovely lady. Sister Kya, who has grown into such a lovely substantial lady and brother Tsar, so much like his mother!
20 / 12 / 08 New Puppy Plans
Following our disappointed attempt to get a litter via insemination with frozen semen, I have been engaged in a long and often frustrating quest to find a dog to put with our Ellie for her second and final litter. Although I think there are some lovely dogs here in the UK, I have become increasingly concerned about limited diversity within many UK lines, which are subject to the limitations of a gene-pool restricted by quarantine, (both here and in the Scandinavian region where many of our lines originated). Part of this concern has to do with the lifespan of Leonbergers, who are all too often dying at what I consider to be too young, especially many of the males.
After seeing hundreds of Leonbergers at the World Show in Stockholm, at the German national show in Leonberg and here around the rings of our own UK championship shows, I have decided to go to a dog that I met years ago in France. He is a lovely fellow called Rastafari-Zanort du Temple d'Artemis, known as “Titan” at home. Unlike many of the Leos in his home country, he has a lovely harmonious construction, with broad deep chest, thickly boned straight legs ending in tight correct feet, superb rear angulation, a terrific level topline and ideal long straight tail -correctly carried- which Ellie especially needs! Rastafari is 8 years old now, still very fit and active and maintaining his lovely elegant movement. He also has the temperament of a lamb. His lines are especially strong for longevity, with many near ancestors who lived to a very healthy age, (his mother is now 11 ½ ), and he even had a paternal grandmother who achieved the distinguished age of 14 years!
With this mating I hope to bring these new (old) lines into the UK and I hope they will bring with them some of the health and vitality that we need. You can see a recent photo of Rastafari here, showing his natural elegance despite being out of coat and a tad underweight due to the bitches being in season, or learn more about this mating by going to our Plans Page., where you can click on the photos to expand them.
07/07/08 Leonberger Tourism and other news
I have been over to Stockholm for the World Dog Show- this time with only a camera and no dogs. The day before we also attended a Leonberger specialty show just outside of Stockholm, so two shows in two days- bliss. It is always refreshing to see a brand new population of dogs to compare with those in your own backyard. We enjoyed seeing many fine dogs, mainly from the Scandinavian countries and it was especially nice to see a small but determined UK contingent in attendance. Special congratulations to UK born and bred SYLBERT EMPEROR RIDGE AT SANCHOLEES who won a CAC behind Best Dog on both days, KNOCKANDO'S LORD NELSON who has just had his second birthday- quite an achievement for this young dog. Also lovely to see our Ellie’s sister, ALTONASTIGENS ELANOR, also take the bitch CAC at the World Show, along with her grandfather GRIZZLY V DREIBURGENLAND who won best veteran. At 10 years, he is still such a lovely fellow and moves with effortless grace.
Back at home, we send special wishes to all of our B litter on their second birthday- hope to have some lovely new photos to post of them all soon. Meanwhile, we have a couple of more recent pics of young Bella and Tsar to share. I have recently added a few health related articles to the site, which you can find here.
02/04/08 Update Five weeks of agonising wait ended this morning when a scan showed that Ellie is –alas- not carrying any pups. Sad news, but we have been here before, so we will simply have to try again. Ellie is very fine, she has been enjoying all the extra attention and will be returning to the show ring in the meantime.
Congratulations to the Lionscourt A Litter on their 5th birthday. All seem to be doing well. We have a new photo of Coco, which you can see on her page. Also, new pics of Rufus and Bella have been added.
09/02/08 Expect the unexpected At LKA, the last championship show in 2007, our Ellie, Altonastigens Esmeralda, picked up her 8th first place win of the year and Best Bitch along with that first illusive CC. Since then things have been a bit quiet through the holidays and beyond, with only a quick run up to the show in Stafford earlier this month. A slight lameness kept Ellie to 3rd in Open Bitch. Our Rufus, Lionscourt Arcturus, has now had his fourth heart test; he certainly has one of, if not the most thoroughly monitored hearts in the breed. Although he himself has been confirmed as being in perfect health, we have unfortunately learned more details of another sort about a past relative of his, and this has lead us to make the hard decision to not breed him. Difficult though this choice is to make, we feel it is the right one. Here is a photo of what were to be the happy couple taken just the day before we learned it was not to be.
Thankfully, we still had time to arrive at an alternative plan before Ellie’s season. After a lot of careful thought, we have decided to take the unusual step of going right back to the source of what I feel are so many of the qualities we had hoped to continue through using Rufus. Thanks to the efforts of John Feehan of Manorguard Leonbergers, semen from one of the great Leos of the past, Sund Stamm’s Design of Golden Art- “Dart” to his friends- has been re-imported into the UK and will be available to us. Dart was a very sound dog, both in his physical characteristics and in his lovely calm temperament. He comes from long-lived lines and was himself nearly 12 when he passed away. Having met him when I first got involved in the breed, I knew him to be a true gentleman; with the sort of generous temperament we all seek in our Leos. He passed on superb confirmation, excellent type and a fabulous head to his offspring and he is found in the pedigrees of no less than 8 of our UK champions. Every finger in the house here at Lionscourt, (and quite a few of the toes as well!) are crossed in anticipation that this legacy mating will produce a beautiful litter sometime in the spring. Details can be found on our Plans page here.
13/11/07
UK Club show We recently attended the Leonberger Club of Great Britain championship show, which this year saw the largest entry ever. Our youngest, Bella (and her happy tail), managed a reserve place in a large class of 15 Junior Bitches. Our slightly gimpy Rufus managed a solid third in a strong field of 9 in Limit Dog. (His old leg injury sadly still affects him, and he will probably only be shown lightly from now on). Our momma Ellie did us proud once again by taking first place in a beautiful line-up of 17 in Limit Bitch. You can see her lovely photos care of Terry Pover here, here and here.
Things will be quieting down for us until the new year, when- health tests permitting- Ellie will be mated to Rufus in what we hope will be a lovely combination. I hope to be finalising our list for this litter in the next few months, so if you are interested in a Lionscourt puppy please contact us and we can have a chat.
We have a new photo of Alfie, (Lionscourt Almeisen) looking like a very proud lion. We wish he and his family well back in the states.
3/10/07 Greman Leonberger Show 1,300 miles of driving later- we are now safely back from our adventures at the 2007 Clubsieger show in Leonberg. This year saw the largest entry ever, with something in the region of 375 beautiful Leonbergers from right across Europe attending. Although the weather driving to and back was atrocious, the weekend in Leonberg was perfect and the show was packed. We were among a small but strong contingent of UK exhibitors who were braving the waters at this premier meeting of Leonberger dogs world-wide.
The classes are huge and the judging very thorough, so the day was long, and for those of us not used to the FCI system, quite confusing at times. A special thanks to the crack team of Glenda Rothery and Heather Niall, who took Rufus under their wing and showed him in sparkling style in an open class of 49 entries, where, in spite of being underweight and out of coat, he gained an Excellent (V) grade and lovely critique, although he missed out on the final four places.
Thanks also several others for their kind help in allowing me to juggle Ellie and Bella between two rings running simultaneously. Young Bella could not contain her excitement - or her tail – and so received a Very Good grade in her Jugend Klasse of 27 entries. Ellie was able to remain somewhat more composed and put in a solid performance, managing to win Excellent V4 in the largest and perhaps one of the most challenging classes of the day (in terms of endurance if nothing else), the female open class with 50 beautiful entries. The winner of this class, a lovely bitch called Lorena Woscany, went on to win best in show.
We were also pleased to see the many successes of Ellie’s close relatives at the show, including:
Half brother - Amadeus from Magic Castle - Club Sieger 2007
Half brother - Altonastigens Kaiser – Club Jugendsieger 2007
Uncle - Uras Lowe vom Osning – V1 in champion males
Uncle - Bjorntassen Ralf – V2 in Champion males
And of course Bella’s half brother “Louis” - Brandon vom Lowengarten - V2 in Intermediate males.
Other British dogs at the show also managed to achieve excellent placings, and we’d like to congratulate those who succeeded in making it all the way to the ring of honour:
Jodukus Lowe von Walhall V1 in Intermediate males,
Stormchaser Ta Pinu V2 in Junior males,
Kumamatata Awesome Boy for Lionslord V3 in Open males.
Unfortunately, running from ring to ring, I left my camera behind and sadly, have no photos to share. You can check out the complete results on the German club website here.
14/9/07 French Leonberger Show We had a lovely lightening visit over to France recently to take in the French Leonberger Club show at Romorantin. Had to leave our own dogs at home as the girls are both in season and poor Rufus is struggling to maintain his dignified composure. I think it is always very interesting and useful to set eyes on a completely new population of Leonbergers, as we are all so accustomed to seeing our own local dogs time and time again that we perhaps lose the ability to see them through fresh eyes. The weather was perfect, the French hospitality was of course generous, and a great time was had by all. The best of breed this year went to a bitch named VERTIG de la Pierre Oiseau, and the top dog honours went to a large dark fellow who impressed me 2 years ago when I attended the show in Cluny. His name is RAOUL du Manoir de Löwenberg.
12/8/07 New Forest We have been to a few shows recently, where young Bella has finally started to blossom into a lovely leo lady. She took top honours in her first junior class at Paignton, just three days past her first birthday , and, (after a hiccup at the National Working and Pastoral show, where she firmly decided that the condition of her teeth were nobody else’s business, thank you very much), she was back on form at Bournmouth, taking another first place out of a strong junior class of 12. But by the time her mother Ellie got into the ring, it had been a long wait and she had wilted a bit, failing to impress the judge at all. We did have a lovely chance to catch up with two other pups from the second litter, who are both looking splendid. You can have a peek at Kya and Tsar on their updated pages. The day was very hot and we all enjoyed the relief of a wonderful swim in one of the local New Forest ponds afterwards. You can see the dogs thoroughly enjoying themselves here and here.
17/06/07 Update Our Ellie, Altonastigens Esmeralda, was on good form this past week, when she took best bitch in breed at 3 Counties Championship show. She wasn’t entered in the bitch classes at the Leonberger Club open show as the judge, Bill Crawley, had handled her in the past, but Rufus took a respectable second in the Limit dog class. We have also added a few new photos of Ellie, Bella, (presently in her Hyena stage), and Rufus.
23/04/07 Update Things have been quiet here at Lionscourt as both of the girls have been in season so we have not been out and about much recently. Rufus has had his third echo-cardiogram test and we are pleased to note that his heart is – in the words of the cardiologist- better than ever. His next is scheduled for winter 2008. We have had a fairly regular stream of visitors coming to meet the dogs and our reservation list for next year is beginning to fill up. Have a look at our plans page here to see what we are hoping for.
We have also been getting some lovely new photos of the B litter puppies as they grow up into young dogs. You can have a look at the latest on Kya, Tzar or Bella on their pages. The show season is about to get into full swing so, provided the dogs hold onto their coats, we hope to get them back into the ring in the coming months with at least one European trip planed for later in the summer.
12/02/07 Puppy Meeting We recently attended the Leonberger Club’s annual Valentines puppy party, which was great fun as usual. Unfortunately, due to various winter colds and other commitments, we were only able to get three of our latest litter together for the event, but all had a great time seeing each other and their mother Ellie again. You can have a look here to see how these lovely young ladies are coming along aged just 7 months.
4/1/07 Happy New Year Just a quick update to wish everyone a happy New Year. All the recent pups are doing well and many have been sending in new photos, so have a look at their pages here to see how they are coming along. Bella has been growing fast and doing a lot of ring craft classes to get her ready for her new career. Nothing more to report so here is a nice picture of her doing her best Hound of the Baskervilles impression.
16/11/06 Various news All of the B litter pups are doing well and growing at a fast pace. Many of their new families have been sending in photos, so have a look at their puppy pages to see how they are doing. We have only been to one show recently, the Leonberger Club of Great Britain’s 2006 championship show, where Rufus did us proud by taking second place among stiff competition in a very nice Limit class. Thank you to Carol Lear for taking him round for us. We have been traveling to far off places since then. Nothing really relevant to these pages other than the fine Central Asian Shepherd dog I photographed at 12,000 feet along the Karakoram Highway between China and Pakistan. You can see him here.
01/10/06 Update Things are finally getting back to normal here following the recent arrival of Ellie’s first litter. The proud mother has now regained her fitness and pervious girlish figure, but has misplaced her lovely thick coat and so is looking a bit threadbare. The last little girl “purple” has now settled into her new home and is called Elsa. You can see her page here. Bella has started her puppy classes and has also been seeing the world, initially from a safe vantage point, but now she is happily romping in the park with the big dogs.
12/09/06 Update We are pleased to say that the pups have settled into their new homes and are doing well. You can see their new details here. We have one girl who will be staying with us, Bella, who is fast making her mark. Because of changing circumstances, we also have one lovely girl left needing a new home, little “purple”. Please drop us a line if you would like to learn more about her. Our details can be found on the contacts page here.
27/08/06 Puppy update and more... We are sorry to report that have had a very sad loss when the Yellow Boy suffered a serious illness following his second worming at 5 weeks, which ultimately lead to his developing a critical 20 centimetre Intussusception, which is a condition where a portion of the intestines folds into itself. Many infant animals can occasionally suffer from this rare problem, including humans. Here is what the Leonberger Club of Great Britain says about it in their health section: “Intussusception is a more common condition than you may think. Almost always found in puppies, the conditions is where the intestine telescopes in on itself, this in turn restricts the blood flow to the intestine and if allowed to continue, the affected tissue will die and ultimately, so will the puppy. This condition can kill a puppy in a matter of days. Although easily treated via an operation, removal of the affected intestine and a short time to heal, the important thing is catching it in first place.
Signs of intercusseptiion are; being off food, lethargic, want to pass a stool but not being able too, a temperature, lack of activity in general. In particular, these symptoms can be see after a period of Diarrhea
This condition is difficult to detect to the untrained eye and often the professionals can't find it until they operate.”
We are very saddened by the loss of this beautiful boy, who had been named Mister Bingley.
The six remaining pups are all thriving and 5 of them will be off to their new homes in just one more week. Hopefully, we will have finally decided which to keep by then!
We had some further sad news from Germany. The sire of our B litter, Niklas vom Lowengarten, has sadly passed away following surgery to remove a toy ball from his stomach. Although Niklas had no trouble with the operation itself- he was a strong fit dog- he tragically died suddenly two days later from a postoperative blood clot that had blocked the main artery to his brain. Any surgery carries the slim risk of such an event, and we share the deep sorrow of his owners Klaus and Marion for the premature loss of this fine dog. Here is the last image of Niklas, taken just two months earlier during his summer holidays in Scandinavia.
We have received some new photos of Zulu from our A litter, who is living the good life. You can see how he is looking by checking out Zulu's page here.
27/07/06 Update Not much to say other than have a look here to see the B litter growing up.
8/7/06 B Litter Ellie has given birth to seven lovely puppies at home this past weekend, 5 girls and 2 boys. All are doing very well, but unfortunately, our camera did not survive the delivery and is not working- so no pictures sadly L You can see the details of this litter by looking at this page.
16/06/06 Puppies on the way Following our adventures in Germany, and 5 weeks of anxious anticipation, we finally got Ellie scanned last week, and I am pleased to say that we have puppies on the way. Ellie has been relaxing in her favorite cool spots, trying to beat the heat while awaiting her big day. Meanwhile Rufus has been recovering from his recent injury, and is working on regaining his fitness by dragging us down to the pond for regular swims, which he enjoys greatly. We have also received some lovely new photos of Rufus’ sister Astra, now called Luka, who is thriving in her new home. You can see how she is doing here.
10/05/06 Ellie's visit to Germany Our Ellie recently decided that she was tired of all the suspense, and so she chose to come into season 6 weeks early. This made things a little complicated, as our choice of stud was a German dog and, surprisingly, there are no requirements for hereditary cataract tests within the German Leonberger Club. As of this year, the Leonberger Club of Great Britain requires such tests for all foreign dogs used for breeding with UK based dogs. So, a few frantic phone calls later and we had arranged for Niklas vom Lowengarten to be checked. For any UK based colleagues who may find themselves in this predicament, I recommend that you check out this website, Dortmunder Kreis – DOK, for information on a scheme in Germany that does complete eye tests under the E.C.O.V., the European College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists. This website gives details, in German, and more importantly, where such tests may be done throughout Germany. Very useful.
There followed a mad dash to Duisburg, Ellie’s third European journey, so by now she takes such things in her stride. While waiting for her to decide that the time was just right, I had the good fortune of visiting the European Championship show in nearby Dortmund. There were about 60 Leonbergers entered, and it gave me another chance to see first hand what the dogs in their homeland are like. I also had a chance to meet Ellie’s father, Int. Ch Simon Lowe vom Osning for the first time, and he was a very large and very sweet fellow. Once again, the two things that stood out most for me as a visitor from the British Leonberger scene, was the substantial build of the German dogs, especially the density of bone in their limbs. Also, I do not think I saw a light eye all day, most leos there having deep chocolate eyes. The winner and new European Champion was Simon’s younger brother Unkas Lowe vom Osning.
Back in Duisburg, Ellie and Niklas had a lovely romantic weekend together, which we sincerely hope will result in a splendid batch of pups. She will be scanned in about 4 weeks time, so for now, we keep our fingers crossed.
17/4/06 Change of Plans We have unfortunately had a change of plans for Ellie’s first litter. This is because the dog we had hoped to use, DKCH Kikhanen’s Papyrus, has unfortunately missed with the last three bitches he has been mated with, and another recent sperm test has shown that he is sadly no longer viable as a stud. This is unfortunate as he is a fine dog who will not be passing on his qualities to future generations. We wish Pyrus a long and happy life with loving owners Jan and Birte. Thankfully, we had arranged to met another lovely fellow on our travels to Europe last autumn. He is Int Ch Niklas vom Löwengarten - We saw Niklas at both Leonberg and Cluny. He has a marvelous presence and a very relaxed and easy temperament. We are thankful to Klaus and Marion Becker for allowing us to bring Ellie to meet him, hopefully sometime in the next 6 weeks. In other news, our Rufus has unfortunately injured his leg – too much rough play with Ellie in the woods we suspect, so he has been resting up and taking full advantage of being pampered. He should make a full recovery and be back in action soon.
11/2/06 Update We have had a quiet winter, cold at times, but sadly all that lovely snow has somehow managed to miss us here in London other than the slightest early morning dusting. So much for this year’s Christmas card pictures…Rufus and Ellie have both had birthdays recently, so we’ve put a few more recent pictures on the site. Have a look at Rufus’ page here, or Ellie’s page here. We’ve also received a few from Rufus’ littermates and added them. We have started to visit a few dog shows again, including Crufts this past Thursday. Ellie had a special visit from Ingela and Lasse, her breeders from Sweden, to join us for the big event. She and Rufus managed to sneak away with two second place ribbons in the good citizenship classes, having failed to impress in the much larger post graduate classes. Brother Blaze maintained his solid form with a respectable reserve place in this his very fist limited class, standing as the baby of the class alongside some very respectable competition. Blaze has his own website now, which you can find here.
28/11/05 Plans Last month we attended the Leonberger Club of Great Britain Championship show where our Ellie, Altonastigens Esmeralda, got a first in her class. Our thanks to Bill Crawley for handling her while I was busy with Rufus in the next ring. Blaze, Lionscourt Alderamin, took a respectable forth place in another very full postgraduate class. Meanwhile our Rufus, Lionscourt Arcturus was up to his old playful tricks and got sent to the showers early as a result. This past weekend we stopped in to visit Alfie, Lionscourt Almeisen, who is doing very well, although he is maintaining his svelte cheetah-like figure with all that running about he does. You can see how he is looking at his page here.
07/10/05 Travel Update We have just returned from a wonderful trip through Europe where we visited Leonberg to see the German club show. We then went on through Switzerland for a bit of hiking with the dogs. They certainly showed themselves to be fine Mountain Dogs. We then went on to Cluny to see the French Leonberger club show. It was very interesting to see so many sizes, shapes and types of Leos. We think we may have spotted a fine figure of a Leo to introduce to Ellie when she is ready to be a mother next year, more on that as we get nearer.
11/09/05 Update Just a quick update to say we have had our hip and elbow scores back for both Rufus-(hips 2/3, elbows 0 ),and Ellie-(hips 5/6, elbows 0). Eye checks will be done for both later in the year. We stopped in to visit Zulu (Lionscourt Al-Jabar) and he is looking great. There is a new photo of him on his page. We are off to Leonberg and Cluny in a few days and will be meeting a few eligible bachelors to consider for Ellie’s first litter next year.
20/07/05 Update We have had a few busy weeks to report on. First of all, Astra has had a lovely holiday at Alfross Acres and has now settled into her new home, which she seems to love. Check out her page here to see how she is doing. Ellie and Rufus have been co-opted into the High Fashion industry, doing a photo shoot in our local woods. They loved it and mugged for the camera right on cue. Blaze has been showing just how versatile leos are by taking up the trampoline in his spare time. The showing season is in full swing, and we have had some good results, including a first for Rufus and best brace for the pair at the recent Leonberger Club Show. Blaze has also been maintaining his form well, taking firsts at 3 Counties, WELKS and Windsor. Over the next few months we will be touring around visiting potential mates for Ellie, which she is looking forward to, (although I HAVE told her that auditions are not on!) Enjoy the summer.
10/05/05 Update Ellie, (Altonastigens Esmeralda), has settled in well and has been turning a few heads in the show ring, having at last discovered the difference between pacing and trotting- finally! We hope it sticks. She has now qualified for Crufts, having got a second at the Birmingham National this past Thursday. See her complete results page here. Congratulations to Blaze (Lionscourt Alderamin), for also qualifying. He is maturing into a magnificent fellow and is consistently placing well in championship shows, well done to both he and his pal Jason. Brother Rufus, (Lionscourt Arcturus) is still struggling to free himself from the “gangly youth” stage and has been working to rediscover his form from last year. He has been enjoying his new agility classes and seems to be a real show off in this. He finds carting less tempting so far, but does enjoy the days out. Water training now beckons, which should be fun as both Ellie and Rufus adore swimming. They have now both attended the superb Temperament Assessment sessions run by Neil Ewart from the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, and I am pleased to say both scored “Excellent” (the second time for Rufus, having attained an Excellent rating as a puppy). I can’t recommend these sessions highly enough and encourage all UK Leo people to take up the opportunity to check them out.
03/04/05 New pictures of Coco We received some lovely new birthday pictures of Coco (Lionscourt Andromeda) who seems to have successfully made it through her “ugly duckling” phase and is now maturing into a lovely lady. These days she spends far less time tearing around the fields cultivating her greyhound figure and is now mainly concerned with looking after Rupert, her new 15 week old “little brother”. From the size of his paws, (not to mention the look in his eyes!), it looks as though she has her work cut out for her.
29/03/05 Crufts etc. We enjoyed our visit to Crufts again this year, although as usual the crowds were at times quite overwhelming. Rufus was a bit distracted by everything and failed to impress the judge, but his brother Blaze showed a good deal more composure and got a second in his large yearling class. Everyone seemed quite pleased when their half brother Graceanna Allegheni at Shamwaki won best in show with his wonderful easy movement around the big ring, well done Alison and of course Midge for their well deserved win. Ellie has been learning the ropes in her first open shows despite a few growing pains and seems to be enjoying the excitement of getting out to meet all the new faces, both human and doggie. We send out our best wishes to all of our A litter pups who seem to be living happily ever after with their respective families.
27/02/05 Lionscourt Website I have now stumbled my way through a basic introduction to web design and have finally decided to take the plunge and make a site for the dogs- so, without further ado, here is the Lionscourt cheap and cheerful website! It is primitive and guaranteed to be free of any bells, whistles or other such flourishes, but I hope it will provide at least some information on what we have been getting up to here.
20/02/05 Ellie's first show in the UK Ellie had her first show in the UK on Sunday, braving the bitingly cold wind to take part in the Horley and District Open show. I am pleased to report that she seemed to get the idea of what this showing game is all about rather quickly, but was much happier to show off her fine pacing than any ungainly trotting we might have preferred. She came second in a cosy little pack of three young dogs, so was not totally disgraced, and thoroughly enjoyed the day out. Burrrrrrr.
06/01/2005 Ellie arrives After a breakneck journey involving 4 ferry rides and over 1,000 miles of European motorways in 24 hours, our new import Ellie – Altonastigens Esmeralda – has safely landed on UK soil. She is a lovely young thing, 10 months old and full of friendly confidence. We are so grateful to Ingela and Lasse for bringing her up so well for us. I am sure they miss her, as does her brother Frodo back in Sweden. Rufus and Ellie have now met and I am pleased to report that they adore each other. For more details on Ellie, have a look at her page here.
