On August 11 2001 we went to pick up Kenzo, whose kennel name is Roseole's Tarte Lintzer. Kenzo is a Beauceron, a French herding dog, and he was bred by kennel Roseole's in Uppsala, north west of Stockholm, in Sweden. Kenzo was about 8 months when we bought him.
When our rottweiler Bibbi had moved to my friend Anneli I started having thoughts about another dog. Beauceron was a breed I had considered for a long time, actually the first time was in 1988 when Kenzo's great grandmother, Candie des Vaux Rouges, was imported to Sweden. I read about the breed and immediately thought: "I'm going to have a dog like this!" Well, it took 13 years, but considering that the dog we got was Kenzo I'd say it was well worth the waiting.
I do wonder why I stubbornly kept wanting to have GSD's when we no longer had Akilles... I should have changed to Beauceron already then, considering all the problems we've had with our last GSD, Isse. Well, you can't do everything right, can you? ;-)
Anyway, with perfect timing, kennel Roseole's had an ad for two young dogs - now I couldn't resist anymore so I called the kennel and asked if we could come and visit to meet their dogs, both the younger ones that were for sale and also their own dogs in the kennel. I wasn't at all sure about buying a dog at that time, at least not until I had learned more about the breed. So during our first week of our summer vacation we drove to Uppsala (it's about 300 km from where we live) and the first Beauceron we met in the kennel was Kenzo. We stayed for several hours and talked about dogs and studied Kenzo and other dogs from the kennel. We decided that we should think about it and call back the next day, but as we sat in the car on our way home we quickly found out that there wasn't a whole lot to discuss, since both me and Martin was quite taken with Kenzo and his great behaviour.
Today there is no doubt that we made the right decision in buying Kenzo. Finally I realise what it is like to really have a dog. Akilles was a great dog, but he lacked "engine" and "drive" Now we have a dog with a wonderful mentality, on/off button, great personality and a lot of will to work. Add to that a lot of balance and lots of charm... and he is also a very funny dog. He is a great personality and it is a privilege to own such a wonderful dog.
In the autumn of 2007, Kenzo and I competed in Obedience class Elite and he finally became Swedish Obedicence Champion!
Photos of Kenzo's mother Nadja (at Kennel DOM-Anricoss' homepage).
Photo of Kenzo's father Roseole's Poulet à la Bergére.