OUR FIRST MEETING WITH HJÄLMSEREDS SVEN!

AN INSIGHT TO HUNTING THE HAMILTONSTÖVARE IN SWEDEN! ( YES WE BOTH HUNTED, MAYBE PAUL A LIITLE MORE THAN ME!)

Sorry it has taken a little while to write about our trip to Sweden but here goes! We arrived at Gothenburg airport on Friday lunch time, lennart Ragnarsson (my puppies breeder) picked us up, as we drove to his home to see HjÄlmsereds Sven, I could not help but have a tingle of excitement as well as being a little nervous, I new exactly what I wanted from my new dog import. The quest for a mate for Florence had stated 2 years ago, as anything I had liked in the UK where the same lines to her, and rightly or wrongly I wanted to do my own `thing`. We pulled up outside the house and Lennart walked over to the kennels and let Sven out (at this point he was only 10 weeks old) . He came bounding towards me , so pushy, as he got closer and I kept looking at him, he was absolutely everything I could of hoped for and more!

The next few days we worked the HamiltonS, and what a pleasure it was to see, Lennart would send Swedish Show and Hunt Trial Champion HjÄlmsereds Molly (Sven`s Dam) off to bring a hare, we could here her returning 3 KM away baying as she brought the prey in for my husband to shoot. The terrain in Sweden is tough.

I learnt a lot in those few days, most of all why a Hamilton is constructed the way it is, and how and why each characteristic of the breed type is used in hunting, it all came together. A Hamilton that is a `Hunt Trial` Champion will also make a `Show` Champion as well. I came back with the opinion that if a dog is not constructed to `breed type` it does not make Champion status (these where my own observations).

Lennarts wife, Berit is a lovely cook. We tried lots of Swedish dishes, our first one was Elk, to me it tasted of strong beef, also Elk cheese, that was so good I brought some back, also Deer.

Sven will be arriving at the end of June on the Pet Passport Scheme, bring new blood lines with him, all I have to do is hope Florence likes him too!

A BIG THANK YOU TO BERIT AND LENNART FOR A WONDERFUL TIME IN SWEDEN!

PAUL`S (MY HUSBAND) FIRST HARE IN SWEDEN ! WITH LENNART

Home Future Plans NEW Our Hamilton Florence Meet The Family Showing and Hunting World Winner Dog Show Guest Book Västergötlands StövarKlubb (Archived News) Forum - leave a message LINKS	SWEDISH HUNT TRIAL AND SHOW CHAMPION HJÄLMSEREDS MOLLY WORKING IN THE TOUGH TERRAIN OF SWEDEN