Terras D'cister Kennel

In August 2003, my wife Arminda and the real protagonist of this story, my daughter Ana went on vacation to the highest mountain of our charming country, our Estrela Mountain and in this nothing special except my passion for our friends. with four legs, which led me and my family as a consequence to visit some (real) breeders, and when I arrived in Gouveia it was time to visit Mr. Lourenço and his dogs with the affix MONTES HERMINIOS
When arriving next to the excellent specimens that live there my daughter who was afraid of dogs put her small arms around the neck of a huge dog to my and my wife's amazement, there was also a litter at the time who were children of the aforementioned bitch about whom my daughter immediately said that she wanted one.
As a large part of Portuguese families, our life is not exactly easy, and that is why Ana was asked the following question, if you really want the dog we have to give up the rest of the holidays, to which she replied promptly, yes.
And this is how our matriarch G`ziga dos Montes Herminios aka “giga” appears, a very special dog with an exceptional character, who had all the conditions to be a dog to obtain great classifications in the so famous canine morphology exhibitions.
As time goes by, the passion and admiration for this beautiful breed grew, and all its unique characteristics, it is perhaps the most complete dog in the world, the fierce guard of its territory and belongings and at the same time the most gentle and careful with everything that is more fragile, all of this may be explained by its origin, guarding the large flocks and protecting the small and fragile lambs from the wolves that at that time abounded in the mountain range of the land of this great animal.
Passion and admiration led to reading and wanting to know more about the breed, the conversation with friends led to the first crossing that did not go there very well but that has passed, after a second successful attempt, I got another Babusca dog, past a few months and with a balanced and harmonious development.
I started to take her to exhibitions with good results and positive reviews was born the famous pet of the exhibitions, that is to say I never stopped even the good results.
This is the story of how it all started, as an ordinary citizen who only had a great passion for dogs.
From one moment to the next started to have a great passion for a specific breed.
Breeding and selecting a breed, is much more than breeding dogs to make litters to make money, "if anyone can do it with all the necessary care", it is purely and simply the ambition to preserve, maintain the characteristics so that all this beauty and intelligence does not go into extinction like so many other animals in our universe.

TERRAS D'CISTER KENNEL

Terras D`Cister is a project based on love and passion for Estrela Mountain Dog in which I give the best of myself, to help promote this breed that I find so noble.

I never refused (and never will) to show my dogs everywhere and submit them to all the judges- I can handle all criticism but more than that, I try to learn from them so I can do better each day.

I believe in my work and I`m proud of it- I never used someone elses name to promote my dogs and my kennel, only my work!

I suppose it`s easy to sell puppies cheap when you don`t do the work and you don`t have expenses ... and you only use someone else`s investment and work. Those kind of peolpe don`t submit their dogs to a judge- they know they wouldn`t survive an expert`s opinion.

On the other hand, although Health is a big issue and a big concern, morphology can`t be forgotten- unless you want to see dogs completely off standard discrediting the breed we love so much.

ETHICAL BREEDERS

-Ethical breeder is the one who does not deviate from what he believes, who keeps his word from the beginning, who has well-defined goals about breeding, respects the dog as well as his standard, takes responsibility for his dogs, gives total support to future owners, elucidating them of the defects and virtues of the breed, ensuring that the breed is the right one for them.

-Ethical breeder is the one who does not hide behind health tests as if it were really the only important thing, for me this is being responsible.

-Ethical breeder is the one who makes each crossing believing that he is contributing to the improvement of the breed.

-Ethical breeder is the one who respects all ancestors and values them, if he does not do so, it is because he does not believe in the result.

-Ethical breeder is the one who is not ashamed of being helped and helping when the situation justifies it.

-Ethical breeder is the one who breed through passion and love.

 

VETERANS ARE THE PRIDE OF A BREEDER

Veterans are the pride of a breeder and are also the mirror of the work done by him.
Today much is said about health tests, there are even some breeders who make these the main slogan of their affix, even forgetting the morphological aspects, however they sell the idea of ​​so much health, but where are the veterans of these same breeders?

If a dog becomes a veteran in perfect health, it is living proof that the breeder has done a good job, if this breeder keeps all his veterans with him it means the love he has for his dogs and the passion he has for the breed..

More by the veterans than by the young dogs you can measure the quality and seriousness of a breeder.
The only thing I regret at the exhibitions is that due attention is not given to the veterans, as they already have at least 8 years of exhibitions on their curriculum and hundreds of kilometers traveled, several titles in their luggage, in addition to being the breeder business card are also an excellent business card for caniculture in general, give credibility to the breed dog among other aspects.

For this reason and others I think that they should have a prominent place in the exhibitions as well as a special status, at least the veterans final should have the same notoriety as the Portuguese breed final and the Best In Show.

 

Francisco Silva