About Us
Our kennel is, as the name suggests, in Hamburg, in the west of the city, not far from the River Elbe. We walk to the shore of the Elbe several times a day, so it makes sense to include this in our kennel name.
We are often asked how we got to Kromfohrländer. And as with so many, the answer is: research on the Internet. A few months after saying goodbye to our Bordercollie Ede, in 2012 we started looking for a suitable breed for us. It was clear to us that we wanted a dog for whom there could be nothing better than being with us. I am sure that our Ede was really happy with us. Despite giving him meaningful occupation, agility was his most favorite, we could never offer him a flock of sheep. So we wanted a dog that is active and enjoys sporting activities, but does not want to guard, hunt or do any other work.
In photos we found a certain similarity of the smooth-haired variant to our Ede, so we got in touch with a breeder-couple, Ursula and Winfried Theres, with their kennel “von Crumps Mühle”. I had a long, informative and very nice telephone conversation with Winfried Theres, and we made an appointment to visit them and their two bitches in the beautiful Vulkaneifel. We had to postpone our meeting because their Kromfohrländer bitch, Bayuna, went on a honeymoon with Apollo von der krausen Eiche, but three weeks later we met the Theres-family. We were especially taken with Bayuna and had a wonderful day there. The D-litter from Crumps Mühle was born six weeks later, the seventh of the eight puppies was our Doola.
From today's perspective you have to say that we were very naive to introduce ourselves to only one breeder. We knew nothing about waiting for a Kromfohrländer and were just lucky that it fit so well.
We were allowed to visit our Doola and her siblings twice and were very impressed by the loving breeding of the little angels, which lacked nothing. We are still very grateful to Ursula and Winfried, now we know very well how important a good puppy room is for the further development of pups. In mid-July we were allowed to bring Doola home at the age of almost nine weeks. Since then she has been our great treasure. It was a pleasure to see her grow up, and she enriches our lives in the most beautiful way to this day.
Our great enthusiasm for Doola soon gave birth to the idea of breeding. We live in a house with a garden, and I work as a photographer in a studio attached to it, so these conditions were great. We became a member of the breed club, the kennel name was applied for and approved and the kennel was approved.
I attended several breeding preparation seminars, read many books and prepared Doola for RZV licensing. We also took part in a pedigree dog show in Steinhausen. But then things were about to change. On the "Kieler Ostseespaziergang" I met Frank and Gabi Bachmann who told me about the ProKromfohrländer association and its work. I was quickly convinced of the great benefit of the crossbreeding project for the breed, so we left the RZV despite the very friendly reception.
Our breeders were initially sad, but were understanding and supported us further in our wish to participate in this project and later in Doola's pregnancy and birth preparation. Doola was found to be suitable for breeding after the compulsory health examination and the charakter test in the Steller Heide. She celebrated her wedding in Hundorf near Schwerin with Jaron vom Hof Löwenzahn, a Danish Swedish Farmdog (Dansk Svensk Gårdhund), and on February 22nd 2014 the first smooth-haired F1 crossbreed was born with our A-litter from Hamburg Elbstrand (four males and three females).
The birth was very easy, within two hours and seventeen minutes the seven lively Elbsträndler entered the world, and Doola instinctively looked after her children. The little ones developed splendidly. As expected, they are all smooth and short-haired like their father, but can also pass on long, smooth fur. We very quickly fell for bitch No. 3, she would become our Anneliese.
We left the choice of names for the other six to their new families because we wanted and still want them to be called by these names. They are called Aspasia, Alfons, Arnie, Albo, Aimée and Aron.
Like most Kromfohrländer breeders, we have very strict selection criteria when it comes to determining the new home for our puppies. One of the most important considerations is that the dogs won't have to spend even half their day alone at home. There are some among our families who work at home, are retired or can take their dogs to the office. Others have organized loving day care.
Following the example of Doola's breeders, we have also equipped our puppy room. We converted part of our living room into their first home and put up the whelping box there. The floor is covered with thick mats on which they take their first steps, play bellows, fool around and sleep.
A door leads from the living room enclosure directly into the fenced garden, which has the grandest dog amusement park with bouncy castle, swing, puppy tunnel, carousel and lots of toys (we avoid plastic). All this serves to train their sense of balance and orientation, so they are as optimally prepared for their life as possible.
The first visitors are allowed to come during the fifth week of life. The puppies get to know small and tall people, other dogs after six weeks, sources of noise and much more. We practice driving on several trips and show them parts of the big wide world, into which they will be released after nine weeks.
The departure of Anneliese's siblings made us sad, but then the joy of regained freedom quickly prevailed, especially since we are in close contact with the new families and can still participate in the puppie's lives.
And we still have our Anneliese, who quickly formed a wonderful unit with Doola. The two get along very well, they romp with each other, race against each other and sleep in the same basket. Our hope that Lieschen would one day give us an F2 litter came true three years later. On September 6th, 2015 Anneliese and her brothers Arnie and Aron were found to be fit for breeding in Bielefeld.
27 months after the birth of our A-puppies, Doola gave birth to her B-litter in Lieschen's presence on May 17, 2016. The father of the three males and three females is the Kromfohrländer Aron vom Schloss Judenau. In Austria, the two quickly fell in love, and we were happy to welcome the next generation. This was a picture-perfect birth, and all six B-puppies were healthy and well. Like both their parents, Benni, Bali, Buster, Birdy, Bayomi-Lotti and Bruno are smooth- and long-haired.
In March 2017 we traveled to Austria again, this time with our Lieschen. Kromfohrländer Fimo von der Weberkarde was waiting for us, and these two liked each other straight away. Nine weeks later, on Doola's Birthday, May 16, 2017, Anneliese gave her mom six grandchildren, 5 males and a bitch. Our C-Litter is the first F2 smooth-haired litter in the world.
Two of the puppies (Coffee and Casper), are long-haired, the other four (Cooper, Carl, Camino and Cleo) have a short coat, but can also pass on the long hair.
One year later, and 25 months after her second wedding, Doola met Kromfohrländer Agno von der Butjenter Wiese in Swabia. The result of this beautiful connection was the birth of our D-litter on June 16, 2018 with four males (Duke, Dubbis Flitz, Don Dooley, Donnie) and four bitches (Darcy, Deela, Devi, Dara), all smooth- and long haired like their parents.
A now very experienced mother, Doola also gave birth to her third litter without any complications and is now enjoying well-deserved retirement.
Devi stayed with us and completes our pack in a wonderful way.
On May 16, 2020 our E-litter, another F2-litter, was born. The parents are our Liese and Danus (Bello) von der Nussbaumer Höhe. We were happy to have 5 females and 4 males. They got these names from their new families: Elli, Enya, Eddie, Enno, Easy, Ebby, Enjo, Ejja and Ede.
Our three ladies get along very well and are a great pleasure for us. We hope that Devi can become a mother for the first time with us in 2021. The wedding with Bernard (Jerry), a wire-haired Danish male, took place on Boxing Day 2020.
After Liesi, Birdy made our Doola a grandmother again in 2019 with nine beautiful A-children vom Hohnsensee. In 2020, in addition to our E-litter, it is continued with the A-litter of Doola's son, Aron, and Lenja vom Schloss Judenau from the kennel aus den Hamburger Walddörfern, and Liesi's brother Arnie as well as her daughter Cleo and Doolas daughters Deela and Darcy are to be mated. The Elbe beach trader community is growing steadily, and we hope that we can make our contribution to the preservation and recovery of this great breed.
With the cross-breeding project to increase genetic diversity, targeted mating and the obligatory genetic health test with DNA analysis, we strive to reduce the incidence of diseases and give our puppies a good basic structure for a healthy and long dog life (more information can be found HERE ). With this high standard, we feel in good hands in our breeding club and thank everyone who accompanies us on our journey for their great and varied support.
Kind regards from Hamburger Elbstrand, Möller family with Doola, Liesi and Devi
