A miracle

On 17-07-2014 a little miralce happened. In Poland, with Dorota and Pavel Bodzioch of the Macoes Pl, 4 puppies (2 males, 2 bitches) have been born. Why a miracle???? Because the father of the puppies, our very famous Male “Kassenknüller aus dem Elbe-Urstromtal” is. He was born in 1980 and became the father of many beautiful puppies (of which 17 became Champion). Exactly 30 years ago, I believe it was 1984, I thought I should keep something of this extraordinary Male: his semen.
In 1984, nobody had ever heard of such a crazy idea and there was also no one with expierence in this field. But when I have something in mind, I don’t give up that easy. My veterinarian by that time, Dr. Kurt Witteborg from Schneverdingen/Germany, brought me on the idea, to have a word with the School of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover. Misses Dr.Günzel-Apelt (now Professor), was in those years a young veterinarian and working on the department for fertility. She had never ever frozen any semen of a dog before, only bulls and stallions. My wish and thought had woken her interest. I got an appointment to have semen being taken from the dog. The two of us on our way to the University of Hannover and ended in a huge white tiled hall, where was only room for 3 bulls. Here I stood with my “Knulli” and people where staring at us. The question that was asked was: “What do you want”? Obviously, none of the people present knew about my arrival with this dog. The situation changed quickly when Dr. Günzel-Apelt showed up. And there we all stood, not knowing what to do as this was a new situation for all of us. Luckily, “Kassenknüller” was a very easy going dog who didn’t mind that he had to stand next to a large bull, not having a bitch around who is in season, but does that what is expected from him. From this once in a lifetime semen donation, 4  portion where gained by the in those days know possibilities. One portion should be enough for an insemination. Many years have gone by, and the sperm had moved in several instances. It went from Hannover to Utrecht, because in 1988 I went to live there. Later on it was transferred to the University of Liege/B, as we moved in 1996 to the Wallonië. Since 2013 the semen was kept in Eersel/NL, under auspices of Maarten Kappen. During these years, I have sold one portion to Finland in 1993. Here, 2 bitches where fertilized and there was a litter with 4 puppies and one with only 1 puppy. I my self tried it twice, but that unfortunately failed. In these 30 years, the technics of fertilization have improved much further. Today it is very common, to freez semen and sent it all over the world. The method of fertilization is of a high Quality and not special anymore. This last portion of semen was 30 years old, as it was send of to Poland in the beginning of May. Dr. Marczak, of the University of Warzaw, was already looking forward to it. The bitch that had been picked by Dorotha and Pavel, is a littersister to our “Niki”. Her name is: Aryakas Nephele. 4 weeks later we received an e-mail from Poland, stating that the “Nephele”, was pregnant and 3 puppies had been seen. I was as if I would be in trance. Would my dream ever come true?
The following 5 weeks took for ever and I could hardly wait anymore, to finally hear that the puppies where born. Still everything could go wrong. Finally on 17-07-2014, the redemtive message arrived that 4 puppies had been born. After this excellent news, I had to be alone for a while and process all. Thirty years is a long time, isn’t it? Many pictures came to my mind. “Knulli’s” wonderful parents, his beautiful grandfather, “Buckswood Desperado” and his many beautiful children. “Kassenknüller” himself, was not a large male, but had a breathtaking personality. I could not put my happiness into words. Of course I have asked myself the question: “have I made a mistake, by not using the sperm myself’?” I just didn’t have the energy to go for an adventure like this. Anyway, with money this semen can’t be paid, as in those days the storage of the sperm costed DM 100 per year and in the euro time it became 200 euro’s.

In a couple of weeks I would like to travel to Poland , to see these puppies in reality and certainly a couple of teras will flow. Het is and stays a miracle.

The puppies, one day old.

more picture of the, 2 days old.

This is Kassenknüller, an extraoridinary dog witha once in a lifetime caractre.

on Friday September the 5th I spend a Visite to Dorota and Pavel in Poland to see this wonderul puppies alive