VIKKAS
By Percy Elliot
My first involvement with dogs was with a German Shepherd Dog belonging to the family of a friend of mine I made a friend of him mostly to get to the dog!
When I was 10 years old my father bought a GSD puppy, a grey sable bred by Miss Dove of the Felkirk Kennel. His breeding I don't recall. The first one that I bought to show and breed from was Southdown Dorricot by Etzel of Brittas, out of a, Voss V Bern, daughter and again a sable. At our very first show we gained 5 firsts. Best of Breed at an Open Show under Mrs O'Brien of the Nonington Kennel.
I arrived at the Kennel name of Vikkas, which was a distortion of the name of the road in which I lived at the time, i.e. Vickers Road in Sheffield. Incidentally, my first choice was Rockley which the Kennel club did not grant to me. Later, after my marriage, my wife Nem told me that her prefix of Huitsand was her second choice also, her first not allowed was the same as mine. The reason we had from the KC was that there was an Airdale kennel in Canada with that name.
My favourite dog/bitch in the UK? It depends upon what you mean by favourite If you mean loved the most, it has to be a Chow Chow bitch that I owned pre-war. I shed more tears when she died than I have done since over a dog's death. Of latter years, I was very attached to Vikkas Alaric, and considered that he was very much what the breed should be like - a lovely GSD in every way.
My favourite dog/bitch in the world? My experience covers the period from the end of the war to the present day. During this time I have become more experienced and better qualified to analyse the great dogs of their day. On the face of it, it is easy to say that the dogs of recent times have to be better than those of years ago or else something is wrong. Hence with the question in mind now describe the dogs which I believe stood out from their contemporaries. In the late forties I was very impressed by Vagabond of Brittas, again a sable of lovely Shepherd type the likes of which we never see these days.
Worldwide of course takes us to Germany. The first dog there that really impressed, and incidentally taught me a lot was the Sieger of 59/60, Volker V Zollgrenzschutz Haus, a dog with no exaggeration anywhere and a superb movement that would open the eyes of some of our younger element today
Then at the 1976 Sieger show, a superb dark dog caught my eye. In my opinion he was the best dog that I had seen to date. His name was Eros V Hambachtal, a Sieger Marko V Celler Land son. He had the most beautiful outline, and had he not been around when the Sieger title was abandoned I'm certain that this dog would have made Sieger - he certainly looked like one.
Ten years later at the Sieger show came the Young Odin V Tannenmeise, the best of them all so far. Beautifully constructed, well pigmented, masculine and super general appearance. On the debit side he could have had slightly broader thighs and been more athletic.
The next great dog was double Sieger Fanto V Hirschel. Not quite as perfect in construction as Odin but better on the move, displaying superb deportment. This brings us to what I have written previously - had these two dogs met at the Sieger Shows I think Fanto would have beaten Odin. However had they been shown in England in smaller rings and classes I would have placed Odin at the front.
Of the bitches the double Siegerin Vanta V d Wienerau is generally considered to be the best. An Odin granddaughter, she is of his type and general appearance. Ideally I would have liked her to be a shade lighter built but she is easily the best Siegerin to day. From memory I would think that the bitch most likely to give Vanta a real run for her money would be Atrice V Klammle, a Canto daughter who made Youth Siegerin in the late seventies under Alfred Hahn but then went to the USA. Incidentally, her litter brother Asslan was Youth Sieger and went to the USA also.
Percy Elliot Vikkas GSDs
