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 imported Ch Camlet Fastolfe, 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 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 his kennel.
The foundation bitch, ‘Tasha’ had another three litters out of ‘Fastolfe’, producing some significant offspring for della Bassa Pavese: Cimba […], Cicala and aforementioned Corallo, as well as Petruska dBP […].
Petruska della Bassa Pavese 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).
