SHANDEL

Shandel: When this little girl was born in Etoile's first litter to Triomph,  she

appeared a soft silvery grey colour, quite distinct from the rest of the litter. Since learning about leonbergers, I've always said I'd love a true sand coloured one, never thinking we would produce one ourselves, as it is a

colour that doesn't appear very often, even when bred from parents that are

such. The only other sand coloured leo in New Zealand before Shandel, was the very first import into our country called Cadillac, who was brought in

from Sweden way back in the ninetees.

 

I knew that from this litter, she was a definite to keep, whether she would

ever be suitable to be bred from or not.  Shandel is elegant and graceful

like her mother,  well-structured and of good proportions too. Her keen,

intelligent dark eyes and pretty black mask sure make a stunning contrast to her lovely creamy, off-white coloured coat.

 

Shandel has passed her health tests and she has recently (2007) produced a wonderful litter with Uzi, with at least 5 much coveted sands. At this stage

the pups are still young, so a couple more could turn lion-yellow (like

grandma Etoile) when they mature. I can spot the definite sands at birth,

but the lion-yellow development is always a real puzzle and can't be

predicted. They can be born extremely dark with lots of black, yet turn to

lion-yellow as they grow up. We are keeping a girl from this lovely all

European combination to hopefully carry on our future breeding programme.

 

 

Updated 20th January, 2008.

 

 

Elsha

Leonburns Leonbergers