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A Short History
(By Meri)
A little background:
My very first dog was a black Labrador Retriever "Nana" that moved into
our family in 1990, at the time I was seven and my sister Auri was four.
At almost exactly same time Cita got her first dog, an English cocker
named "Juni". I met Cita when starting the first grade of school and I
think we have been best friend since then...
 Sebastian and his sister Izabella (who is co-owned by me and lives with a
good friend of mine, Cela Ståhlberg) have been the first Afghan Hounds
that we have owned, even though Afghans had made their presence already
earlier, in the form of two Afghans that we used to show in junior
handling competitions.
 Besides Afghans, in junior handling it felt always important to get
experience of as many breeds as possible. Through my good friend Carita
Schröder (and her two Setters, "Sheriff"
and "Kip") I was introduced to Leena Rönhovde-Juslin and
her husband Kristoffer.
Leena, a succesful breeder of English Setters herself, also owned an
Afghan Hound bitch called "LouLou" (Ch Scaramis Pardon Me Boys) and I
think you could say it was then, when it all actually started…
Sebastian is born:
Sebastian's mother, LouLou was the sweetest Afghan that I had ever met and
I remember always thinking there was – and still is - something very
special in her. She is very Scandinavian or Boxadan-looking in type and
line-bred on the famous “Master” (Boxadan Xercise Makes Master).
Before Christmas 1999 LouLou was bred to a very exciting, very arrogant
and extremely stallion-like young American male, "Draco" (Ch Boanne´s
Dragonheart).
I saw Draco and his dam, the great “Izzy” (Xandali Isabeau of Boanne, the
top speciality winning Afghan bitch of all times) for the first time in
February 2000 when visiting the famous Westminster show in New York.
To say I was very impressed by them would almost be an understatement as I
think I made the biggest telephone bill of my life when I had to call
Leena right away from the hotel and tell her what I had seen... LouLou’s
10 puppies were 3 weeks old at that time.
 Breeding LouLou to Draco was in many ways a risky decision in itself as he
had had no previous offspring and wasn’t even finished at that time. Also
these two different bloodlines hadn´t even been combined before, but Leena
felt that they would complete each other very well.
As it very soon turned out to be; she was more than right…
There were 10 puppies in the litter; 6 males and 4 bitches. Only 4 of them
stayed in Scandinavia and besides Sebastian and Izabella there is Enzo (Ingenue
Enzio Ferrari,who has gotten many very nice wins in Sweden and Finland)
and Halifax (Ingenue Snowshoe, who hasn´t been shown a lot yet but I think
the pictures will tell you more than the words..). Also one of the bitches
(Ingenue Xenia O’Boanne) is American champion.
Show achievements:
There must be very few Afghan Hounds in the world that have achieved as
much at such a young age as Sebastian:
By the time he was only 2,5 years old, he had won the Finnish national
speciality (one of the biggest speciality shows in Europe) twice, under
such respected opinions as Betsy Hufnagel and Lynne Schanzle, and Best of
Breed at Skokloster/Tammsvik - one of the most prestigious Sighthound
specialities in the world (& one of the best weekends of my life, too!) in
addition to numerous international Best in Shows and group wins.
He also became #1 Afghan and #1 Sighthound for two years in a row and now
belongs to the winningest Afghan Hounds in Scandinavia.
 So all in all you could say that these dogs have far exceeded all the
expectations one could have for their first Afghan litter! Please visit
the Ingenue website to find out more about them and read the latest news.
What I can say about Sebastian is that in my eyes he is pretty close to
what could be described as THE ideal Afghan Hound - whether it be at home
or in the show rings. We have experienced so much together…I hope that all
the photos and stories on this website will be able to demonstrate at
least a part of it what I feel for him…
Please enjoy your journey through our website- and remember to leave your
pawprints in the
guestbook before you leave!
Best in Show, September 2004, Judge: Hans Müller
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