In 1974, my parents, Antonia and Harry Salamon decided to move to a small village near Milan to establish our family in the 11th century castle of Sant’Alessio and lead a life in the country, surrounded by animals. Their dream was to breed Irish Wolfhounds, which led them to travel to Great Britain frequently to learn about the breed and its history.
After five years of study, they purchased a solid stock of mainly adult dogs bred in the UK.
IT CH Erindale Tasha [b. 1974, pedigree] (full sister to one of the breed’s most influential sires, Ch. Erindale Triston), bred by Mr and Mrs Saunders, became the foundation bitch of the ‘della Bassa Pavese’ Irish Wolfhounds.
Erindale Tasha was a sound bitch, an easy mover with commanding appearance and excellent mother. She easily became a Champion.
My parents also CH Camlet Fastolfe (b. 1973, pedigree), bred by Mr J Titheridge, a well balanced male with a valuable pedigree, strongly linebred to some excellent Sulhamstead dogs. Both of them are behind all of the kennel’s homebred Irish Wolfhounds.
‘Tasha’ was first mated with an Italian-bred dog and gave birth to the first ‘della Bassa Pavese’ litter in 1976.
Out of these puppies, it was Areta della Bassa Pavese who was to carry on the torch in the breeding puzzle: her one and only puppy, out of CH Sulhamstead Master , Kali della Bassa Pavese was mated with Corallo dBP (a son of ‘Tasha’ and ‘Fastolfe’), to produce Quodo dBP, a significant sire for our kennel.
The foundation bitch, ‘Tasha’ had another three litters out of ‘Fastolfe’, producing some significant offspring for della Bassa Pavese: Cimba […] , Cicala […] , 1977, aforementioned Corallo as well as Petruska […],
Petruska della Bassa Pavese (b. 1979) [link al pedigree] was exported to kennel Mapleton in the UK to and left his long lasting mark on the breed as a stud. One can still trace him back in Braehead, Berwick, Stoneybrook and Rockheart kennels (latter three from the US).
From 1978 till 1983, Antonia and Harry ran one of the greatest Sighthound Festivals in Europe of the time; the Raduno di Sant’Alessio, which was much more than just a Specialty show. Held under Club del Levriero (Italian Sighthound Club) regulations at the castle of the Salamon family, the event attracted an incredible attendance of around 2000 visitors in its heydays.
The show started as an Irish Wolfhound Specialty, but grew to be a Sighthound Specialty drawing a highly International entry of over 500 Sighthounds (in the 80’s !). The judges invited were all of great experience and history in their respective breeds. The late Florence Nagle, Bill Siggers and Barbara Wilton-Clark, and Göran Bodegard, Zena Thorn-Andrews and Bo Bengtson, to name a few, were all featured on the judges’ panel of the Raduno di Sant’Alessio.
As fascinated with the British stock as ever, we imported several more dogs from the UK, of which I need to single out Ch Sulhamstead Master (linebred to S Match), born in 1973 and It. Ch Seplecure Clyde (sired by UK. Ch. Witchesbroom Wizard) born in 1973.
It is on such solid foundation that the “della Bassa Pavese Wolfhounds” were established. Even if very involved with my mother’s breeding from the beginnings, it’s not before the 80’s the I started breeding actively.
I, and by then with the support of my dear husband, Michele, imported another female, Brachan Opal […] (b. 1989) to then produce the hugely successful CH Trostan della Bassa Pavese, a powerful, beautifully put together dog with an excellent front assembly, shoulder (like that of his mother), hindquarters and a gorgeous headpiece.
He produced CH Vanilla della Bassa Pavese , a wheaten , houndy and commanding bitch of high class. She was mated with another Brachan import dog to produce the beautiful High Society della Bassa Pavese Caredig, top brood bitch in UK in 2005, who was to become a brood bitch of particular importance to the breed worldwide.
The arrival of our american import dog, Int.Ch. Stoneybrook Kiowa at Bassa Pavese meant a significant milestone in the history of della Bassa Pavese, and left a very strong mark on the overall look of the kennel’s Irish Wolfhounds.
Kiowa was an amazing dog, and I’ll always be grateful to Lynn and Judy Simon for their generosity of letting me own and breed from him.
He not only excelled as a sire, but was one of the most prominent Irish Wolfhounds shown in his time: and FCI World Winner, he won Best in Show at the European Irish Wolfhound Club’s Specialty Show in 2002 and Best in Show at the Houndshow (UK) in 2011. Kiowa was top stud in UK in 2005 and he sired Ch. Caredig Jupiter and Ch. Caredig Kava of Sadé.
Amongst his numerous influential offspring were Multi. It. Ch. Dakota and Multi. It. Ch. Donnerhall della Bassa Pavese, both of whom lived up the expectations their pedigrees called for. At the European Dog Show in Geneva in 2013, the sister – brother duo won both European Winner titles as well as Best of Breed, which went to ‘Dakota’. ‘Donnerhall’ won the German, the Belgian and the French National Specialities, as well as CC, Best of Breed and Group-3 at Crufts last year. That day, the BCC went to his daughter, It.Ch. Halleluiah della Bassa Pavese (this was her second CC she won at Crufts; the first in 2014), making this the first double in Irish Wolfhounds at Crufts since 1976!
My latest Specialty Best in Show winner and American import, Nightwing’s Silent Donnerhall (bred by Joel & Wendy Mattson) is also a stud fee puppy out of ‘Donnerhall’, named after her father.
He also sired WW’14 It.Ch. Intrigue della Bassa Pavese, World Winner and Best of Breed at the World Dog Show in Helsinki in 2014.
Mated to Roger and Debbie Tebutt’s US import and proven stud, Berwyck Arcangelo, ‘Dakota’ was to give the torch over to her son and daughter, SBIS It.Ch. Kingarra and UK. F. It. Ch. Karishma della Bassa Pavese.
‘Kingarra’ proved to be an excellent stud not only for her own breeder, but various other kennels as well. One of his many beautiful offsrping, It. Ch. Miranda dBP won Best Puppy in Show at the Houndshow in 2016 and CC, BOB and Group-4 at Crufts 2018.
At the peak of his career, he won Reserve Best in Show at the European irish Wolfhound’s Specialty Show in 2016 and had two UK CC’s on his account, as well as a Reserve CC at Crufts.
In 2017, ‘Karishma’ gained her third and crowning CC in the UK (all three with BOB, a Group-3 and two Group-2 placements at LKA, WKC and SWKA, respectively) and became the first ever Irish Wolfhound bred and owned outside Ireland / the Great Britain to become a UK champion.
She also won Best of Breed at the prestigious Pompadour Sighthound Specialty in France in 2016, RCC at Crufts the same year and two Reserve Best in Shows at Italy’s largest Sighthound Specialty in Padenghe two years running.
The patriarch of the “della Bassa Pavese clan”, SBIS WW’17 It. Ch. Eragon della Bassa Pavese not only won a huge Specialty Best in Show on the Sunday of the EIWC weekend in 2016, but more recently won the FCI World Winner title with Best of Breed at the World Dog Show in Leipzig, 2017.
He was also shortlisted in the Group.
Eragon dBP was sired by UK. Ch. Caredig Denzil, bred and owned by aforementioned Mr and Mrs Tebutt. He retires from the show ring in style with a RCC at Crufts 2018 till he comes of Veteran age.
