One may wonder why the PBGV has become my latest passion. Well that is easy, once you own one, you could never live without one, and believe me that is not just my view but one that is shared by many people who would not have believed this themselves until becoming besotted with these fun loving, intelligent little characters. But back to my discovery of them...

If you have read the Gordon Setter part of my Web site, you will already know I have been involved with dog showing and breeding for 30 years, having bred, shown, handled, and imported Gordon Setters since the early 1970's and now I enjoy judging them. The highlight of my career had to be my assignment in September 2001 and the honour of judging the Gordon Setter National in Allantown Pennsylvania, USA. You might also have read that I live with my husband, Russell, in a small village about 40 minutes from Melbourne called Gisborne, in Victoria, Australia.

I reiterate, Gordon Setters have dominated a major part of my life, but with age creeping up on me, to run around the ring with a dog of this size and continue to keep up the high maintenance that goes hand in hand with showing and breeding setters, I figured I had to make a decision to either continue for another few years in the breed and then retire or to look for a smaller more manageable breed that I could devote at least another 25 years to. (The Mini Smooth Dachshunds, a legacy of my son's involvement in the dog world, added another dimension to my dog life, but that is another story on the Rokeena pages devoted to them!!)

The search for a smaller breed sounded easy until I began to list the things I wanted: small, but not too small; hairy, but not hard to groom or look after; fun and alert, but not aggressive; good natured; eye catching in the ring; not too popular, but great as a family pet; and a dog I could get the pleasure promoting correctly and successfully here in Australia, as I believe I have done with Gordon Setters over the years.

The decision was made for me in a totally unexpected way as I had tossed about in my mind many possibilities, rejecting each one eventually for some reason or another, when in 1997, I began studying for my Hound License and came to the page describing standard of the Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen. Suddenly it began to fall into place; 13 to 15 inches high; up to 15 kgs; happy nature; rough-coated; shown untrimmed!!!! So where do I find one of these I thought.

Unfortunately, not in Australia at that time. So this began my quest to obtain one of these wonderful little guys, one which has turned into a complete and utter, passionate obsession and has seen me travel to the USA, UK, France and other European countries, meeting and making some of the most wonderful friends around the world that have not once got sick of me and my endless questions regarding the breed and now, because of their patience and help, I can proudly say my adventure has begun as I have now been lucky enough to import a number of well bred PBGV's to Australia since December 2000 from some really great International PBGV kennels which now form the nucleus of the foundation of Rokeena PBGV's of the future.

So, if you are interested, you are welcome to join my adventure and watch it unfold through my Web Page over the coming years. Feel free to contact me through my email and become part of it as I know you are going to be bewitched by these little characters just like I have been.

(By the way, I am proud to say I did get my Hound License in November 2001 and can now judge both the Sporting (Gundog) and Hound Groups at Championship Level)

11 The Willows Gisborne. Vic. AUSTRALIA. 3437 Phone: +61 3 5428 1787