HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2016-02-17, Page 22 News Record • Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Submitted Photos
The Wagenaar family Christmas card photo features Leny Wagenaar-DeRuijter with her husband Dick
Wagenaar and their three award-winning Leonberger dogs Sky, Star and Angel.
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Trip to Holland begins love
affair with Leonbergers
CONTINUED FROM > PAGE 1
Wagenaar and DeRuijter
owned greenhouses in Hol-
land. Wagenaar also had a
six-year-old Leonberger
dog, named Bear. DeRuijter
relates, "I fell in love with
his dog. Such good charac-
ter and a big gentle giant."
From then on, they always
had male Leonbergers with
King and Duke following
after Bear.
The dog breed name
Leonbergers is derived
from the town Leonberg
which is near Stuttgart in
Germany. These long-
haired dogs were very
much in demand in the first
half of the 19th century.
Heinrich Essig, an early dog
breeder, wrote in his notes
that he mated a blank and
white Newfoundlander
with a St. Bernard. Later he
introduced the Pyrenean
Mountain Dog into the mix
and the Leonberger was
born. This is reported to
have happened in 1846.
Leonbergers are not very
well known in Canada.
There are five breeders in
Ontario, but they do not
have as many dogs each as
European breeders, making
the dogs more scarce here
than in Europe. Even in
Europe where they are bet-
ter established, the Leon-
bergers are not a largely
popular breed at shows.
All of the Wagenaar dogs
were from the same breed-
ers and were known as
Rosaceae Leonbergers.
DeRuijter used to dogsit for
others, sometimes having
up to eight on the property
at once, but only for those
who had dogs from the
Rosaceae breeders to
ensure they had the right
temperament so they
would get along.
When Duke, whose regis-
tered name was Rosaceae
Soldago, was six years old
the Wagenaars decided he
needed a mate. Their first
female, Rosaceae Elytrigia,
known as Sky, was intended
to come to Canada when
the Wagenaars decided to
retire to Canada in Clinton
to be close to DeRuijter's
brother Jake and his wife
June. Unfortunately Sky
died an accidental death a
few months before they left
Holland. DeRuinter
described the special
The Leonberger dogs owned by the Wagenaar's have won many
trophies, first in Europe and now in Canada.
paperwork, cages and pro-
cedures needed for the
dogs to travel to Canada by
air. She is very pleased with
the care and treatment
their dogs received by trav-
elling with KLM, well
known for accommodating
dogs. All of their Leon-
berger friends were at the
airport to see them off. One
very different document in
Europe, that Ontario veteri-
narians were not familiar
with, is the international
passport for dogs. Each of
the Wagenaar dogs has one.
It makes a lot of the paper-
work for travelling much
more streamlined. Most
Ontario veterinarians were
familiar only with the Dec-
laration of Health that is
required in Canada.
The dogs currently with
the Wagenaars are six-year-
old Rosaceae nonnea,
known as Star, three and a
half -year-old Rosaceae
Tecomaria, known as
Angel, and Star's daughter
14 -month-old Rosaceaen
Galonia, known as Gem.
The Wagenaars have
competed in many prestig-
ious dog shows. DeRuijter
explains, "We have trav-
elled extensively with our
dogs because we go to
shows. We have been to
Germany, Spain, Belgium,
France, Luxembourg, Aus-
tria and of course the Neth-
erlands and Canada." She
goes on to list successes.
"Our first show dog Duke
becames Champion of the
Netherlands. Our dogs Star
and Angel are Junior Dutch
Campion.
Having come to Canada
on April 1, 2015, their first
show here was this past
June in Caledonia. All three
dogs were entered and
placed. The next show was
in Missisauga in November.
DeRuijter reports, "The first
day Angel was second, Star
third and the second day
Angel became the Best of
Winners. Star was third." It
takes a lot of work to show
dogs.
DeRuijter is still working
on sponsoring her husband
to be able to stay in Canada
with a Permanent Status,
but it is a long process with
many problems that have
no quick solutions. They
are hoping that he will be
allowed to return to Can-
ada in April after a two-
month work/vacation trip
to Holland.