Braccari

Our small high-quality Bracco Italiano (Italian Pointer) kennel is home to the only- and first ever- UK-owned/based Bracco Italiano Champion.

We currently love and own two wonderful Bracchi, Giada, an orange and white bitch we carefully selected and imported to the UK as a puppy, and Cornelius, an orange roan male bred in the UK. As a result of our recent trip to the Luxembourg International Championship Show, it is our 14-month old Giada who made breed history when she became a Champion (Junior Ch in fact). We also love and own Lily, an absolutely adorable blue/white harlequin Great Dane bitch.

We are located on the outskirts of London, England, right by the River Thames and live only 5 minutes away from a 77-hectare expanse of 8,000 year-old woodland and fields. Since the Bracco is a breed in absolute need of daily off-lead running to utilise their inherent hunting skills and boundless energy, this is ideal both for us and for them.

One of us began with owning Gundogs 27 years ago back in 1981 (English Springer Spaniels), the other was involved with rescues from 1980. We became very interested in the Bracco Italiano in 2001, slowly but surely becoming more involved, eventually via the breed club's Committee in 2003- and our first Bracco - Cornelius- was born that year.

Since 2006 we have made the effort to travel with and show our Bracchi in continental Europe where the breed originates & has been fully recognised for many years- unlike in England where the breed has loitered on the Import Register and now Rare Breed Register since the breed was introduced to the United Kingdom only in 1989. We strongly feel that if the breed is to be shown, it is important it gets to challenge other Bracchi in continental Europe, where it :

*** is most importantly judged by trained breed specialists, many of lengthy experience

*** can also be examined at these Shows in their important breed-natural ability to Hunt, Point and Retrieve, in terms of competing for the host country's Working Certificate. Our dogs will be examined properly in their working abilities by professionals in France, Belgium, Holland and the breed's homeland in Italy, whether each of these countries requires the breed to pass them or not,

***gains Challenge Certificate equivalents and can compete on an equal basis with Bracchi from various countries as well as all other breeds for the ultimate in show terms -Champion and Field Trial Champion status, in other words, an ideal representation of the breed in show and work terms.

***competes amongst Bracchi of a much wider gene pool, so that most entered Bracchi (low or high entry numbers) at these european International Championship Dog Shows are not closely related as they more often than not are, in the UK.

Sadly, bar one other, there are currently no Bracco kennels in the UK who take the time to recognise this very important need for breed-realism- by subjecting one's bracchi to European specialists and not just UK judgments- in respect of their dogs' true physical and behavioural qualities. Totting up rotating 'wins' against the same few UK dogs again and again, as has happened for a long time in the UK, does not necessarily mean one can truthfully say that objectivity is always being relied upon when appreciating one's own dogs' make-up of course, a point which applies to all of us.

In 2009, thanks to higher entries for the breed of late in the UK by UK owners, the bracco will compete at Crufts for the first time, and more and more breed-specific classes will in time be offered throughout the UK Show Calendar, those judging being able to begin to build up an examinable record in judging consistency (hopefully focussing more on HEALTH and CONDITION like in Europe than beauty or friendships with exhibitors for example), closely observed by the UK Kennel Club - and us- for true objectivity. There is a long way to go though to catch up with our European cousins in Bracco specialist judging and appreciation, if ever it happens. It has correctly been pointed out by someone with longstanding bracco experience that this relatively new breed will always need protection from the exploitation the show ring can bring, let us hope that 2009 does not then bring this to the fore as the breed becomes more and more popular as it surely will.

Having said that, our Kennel Policy means that our Bracchi, whilst being regularly put forward for examination by breed specialists in Europe, will always (much) more importantly be given the love, exercise and comfortable life they so richly deserve as fully-integrated members of our family and home.
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Breeding Policy and the UK Bracco gene pool

We are extremely stringent regarding breeding matters, and although many 'breeders' of the Bracco make this statement themselves, enthusiasts old or new of this breed can always be assured that at Braccari, we only ever make breeding decisions strictly geared towards the health betterment of the dogs in question and the gene-pool of the breed at large- for example we have never and would never breed to a dog or bitch with a very high hip dysplasia score (the Bracco average total score is currently 18), or to descendants of lines known to have produced problems. To us it is obviously never about just close availability of dogs or bitches in the UK.

No amount of persuasion or pressure from other owners or 'breeders' will ever change this approach.

However we will hopefully see more imports like our own bitch, a total outcross to UK lines, entering the UK, unrelated to existing stock of other people's kennels and to each other, which can only be seen as a good thing for the breed.

There is no point either in any of us claiming to be bettering the UK gene pool by choosing for breeding a foreign bitch or male or importing a puppy who is likewise closely-related to an existing kennel's UK bitch or dog obviously, although sadly for the small-numbered Bracco breed in the UK we know this is very soon likely to happen.
We would urge all UK bracco kennels to consider the demerits of such cases - especially in the light of current correctly-bad publicity surrounding shrinking pedigree gene pools in the UK- and consider the breed and not just the ease with which they can do it financially (a free mating for example) or due simply to friendships or others' friendships with Bracco kennels abroad, or of course due to a new desperate desire to have a litter.
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If you are genuinely interested in this breed for itself, and wish to know more or visit our dogs, we welcome you.

Please take the time to look at the following pages (links below) and photos and enjoy your visit to our beautiful, happy and healthy Bracchi.

Simon and Rom
Kennel 'Braccari'
England
September 2008

BRACCARI

http://www.champdogs.co.uk/breeder/12966.html