English
PolskiNutcracker of Hilltop (Gawin)
Posted: June 30, 2013
Champion of Poland
 Nutcracker of Hilltop (Gawin) - December 1990 - October 2008 |
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Rosemary Charrington with Gawin’s father (to the left)
In Hallein Rif
Those times it was not an easy task to travel to Austria, not even to mention to bring a dog from abroad. You would need a formal invitation to get a visa; Rosemary took care of that. Dog would need a certificate of vaccination against rabies. However, Polish regulations on that subject did not match Austrian ones – according to the former Gawin was old enough to be inoculated, according to the letter ones – he was too young. We had to wait.
All in all we brought the puppy home in June 1991; he was then 6 months old. Streets of a big city with plenty of new things (vehicles, trams, buses etc.) stressed him a lot and he was heavily scared: for the first several days he was constantly treading on stiff paws and snuggling to legs. However, then he saw that the world so different than his so-far known kennel was not so dreadful after all.
In August 1991 we paid another visit to Rosemary. Gawin’s border papers were all right, but he crossed the border unnoticed sleeping behind the passenger seat. It was his nature – he was never interested in trifles. Everything was accepted by him with a stoic calm; may be that’s why he lived up to the age of almost 18 years. Sometimes we addressed him “Sir”, which salutation fit him very well. He seemed to understand and accept that form. He was of a totally opposite nature in comparison to Smyk. He showed no enthusiasm whatsoever, rather had quite lordly manners..
At last without puppy’s fur
At the time we arrived to Hallein Rif, Gawin was fit to the first trimming , so we were luckily spared of plucking Gawin’s „bear” fur – Ms Karolina Krainz, who took care of Rosemary’s kennel, dolled him up.
We set off with Gawin to dog shows in 1992 beginning with the open class. Soon in November 1992 Gawin became the Champion of Poland.
CACIB in Bytom
We ran in many shows. Collection of Gawin’s title’s was steadily growing: several CWCs, 3 x CACIB, Res. CACIB, a few BOB’s and BOG in the international show. In autumn 1994 he was presented at the Langenlebarn Show together with his father, Lollipop of Hilltop. That was the last time we met Rosemary. She died in summer 1997. Three days before her death she phoned us. Nothing in the conversation indicated that she would go away so unexpectedly. We phoned her a few days later and as soon as we heard her call answering machine we knew that something wrong must have happened. We learned that she died from our common acquaintances in Austria. We lost a friend.
Before encountering a bear
Gawin liked to travel, he accompanied us in all our journeys. We never had any problems with accommodation – he was so calm that almost unnoticeable. Only once something unexpected happened: during an excursion to the Babia Góra mountain a bear noticed us and set off to chase us away from his territory. Luckily the hazardous encounter resolved to a happy end: we managed to escape. Taking a rest at the mountain foot we still heard some roaring – bear was warning us not to come back (of course we did not have any intention to do so).
As years were passing, Gawin grew elder and elder. Gradually he was losing his hearing, his eyes became eventually covered with cataract. We could not accept the fact that a day when he would be missing had to come. Such day did come in October 2008. October was also the month we buried Smyk, his predecessor. October – the month our dogs passed away.
Once more our flat became deserted. Dog was missing. It was very bad time for us.
In May 2009 three-month old On Line vom Schloss Hellenstein arrived to us. He himself selected a name we called him: Braden.
