Griffon Bruxellois"Sweden"

There have been Griffons in Sweden since the beginning of this century, but the breed is still numerically small with about 100 registrations a year. However, Griffons have their own fan-club of dedicated breeders who work hard to improve quality. Breeding is, almost without exception, based on English lines and many good dogs have crossed the North Sea.

In the 60´s the belgian dog Ch Jazz du Clos des Orchidées was frequently used at stud and some breeders, like myself, combined the lines to get some “fresh blood”. Int Ch Redcoat Sweet Likes This is an example of this combination (grand-daughter of Jazz, Int Ch enavant Zeeta, Ch Toymore Folly and Int Ch Nitsua Zea).
The winners of today almost all have English lines and I am sure that without the help from our English friends the Griffons over here would be of poor quality. Maybe the breed wouldn´t exist. Two kennels dominate the ring today: Backängen (Lena Hedfors) and Walliant (Gun-Ell Sehlstecdt) Mrs. Hedfors has a very strong bitch-line going back to old Swedish stock, althought she has frequently used imported dogs, or their sons, for her bitches. Many of her winning dogs go back to Int Ch Barratelle Golden Hoope, Ch Enacvant Bastion, and Enavant Quintail Bertillon Bas-Bleu. Lately she has used her own Int Ch Otterbourne Otuto. The star of the kennel is Int Ch Backängens Unison (Cachorros Rebell- Backängens Labostella). He has the breed-record with 34 BOB´s at Ch Shows and he has twice been “Griffon of the Year”. In 1981 Unison was BIS at the Club Show in Mariestad under frans Heerekens from Holland. Mrs Hedfors´bitch Int Ch Backängens Tarantella (Int Ch Backängens Polonäs - Backängens Eternell) won the same honour in 1980 under Howard Ogden and her son, Ch Backängens Elton ended up bIS last year under Keith Norman. The entry in Mariestad is always a good one (80-90 dogs) though the show is not official, no CC´s on offer. It is in fact, more difficult to win a class in Mariestad than to win at the Ch Shows. I should mention, maybe, that our shows-system is different from the English one. Roughs and Smooths are not competing as they are two different breeds in the Scadinavian countries. Smooths are called Petit Brabançon and Roughs are Griffon Bruxellois/Belge. There is one set of CCs for each variety. To compete for the CC a dog must first get a first prize in quality. You can get first, second, third or no prize in quality. Only the first-prize winners are allowed in the “winner class” where they are placed 1-5. The judge is free to withhold the CC and this happens quite often. A Griffon must be 9 months old to get a CC and can´t win his tittle before he is 15 months old. At the Int Ch Shows CACIBs are on offer and a dog becomes an Int Ch after winning four CACIBs in three different countries. Griffons must be 15 months old before they can win a CACIB. A Nordiv Ch is a dog who has won its titles in Sweden, Norway and Finland.

Last year´s top winning Rough was Miss Sehlstecdt´s Ch Walliants Zeppelin (Ch Polrose Prototype -Ch Walliants Arianna) and in 1982 her smooth bitch Ch Walliants Giovanna (Ch Crossgate Carfax-Int Ch Walliants Roquette). Zeppelin was closely followed by a Backängens champion, Caruso by Otterbourne Otuto. This year Caruso has already added another three BOBs to his list of wins and I am sure more will be heard about him in the future. The winning Smooth in 1983 was Ch Aramis (Ch Walliants Hokus-Pokus - Int Ch Tryggestads Riffa). He too started 1984 with one more BOB to his credit.
All dogs mentioned so far are reds, but we have of course, blacks and black-and-tans as well. The leading breed of black is Anita Hellman (Blackwin). She has won well with dogs imported from England and with home-bred stock. Being the only breeder specialising in the black variety. Mrs. Hellman hasn´t had an easy job.

Blacks-and-tans are rare and we have not had a real top winner since the Toymore Folly days, and that was a long time ago. There is, however, a new-born interest in this variety and I feel sure we will see more B/Ts in the ring in the near future.