PAERDECROON BREEDER

We are Henk and Edith Salm, owners of Rhodesian Ridgeback kennel Paerdecroon and we live in the little town Esbeek, near a forest, in the South of The Netherlands for over thirty years now. Thirty years ago, our focus was on equestrian sports (dressage) and horse breeding and in Esbeek a dream came true to be able to stable, train and pasture the horses at home. Now we still have 1 horse aged 23 and fanatical horse riding has been out of the question for a long time.

Before 2003, we have always had several older rehomed dogs looking for a new home. The Rhodesian Ridgeback had caught our eye much earlier, but at the time we were not familiar enough with this breed to take the risk of going for a rehomed dog. In 2003 when the renovation of our house in Esbeek was behind us, the opportunity presented itself to buy a Rhodesian Ridgeback bitch puppy from kennel fan ûnder de Mûne owned by Winie Meijer in Stiens. This bitch puppy was Ferra’s Chuma Mexx fan ûnder de Mûne, call name Mexx. To keep up to date with the breed, we also became members of the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club Netherlands (RRCN).

When Mexx came into our family in 2003, there were absolutely no show or breeding ambitions, but this started rolling seriously when Mexx positively stood out on the offspring day in 2005 as a more than excellent breed representative. Henk was encouraged to take Mexx to ring training, participate in shows and think about ‘’breeding a litter’’. We were still fanatical dressage riders at that time and showing a dog did not really fit into that picture then. Nevertheless, Henk decided to take the advice of a ring training and after the necessary exercises, we entered some shows. Mexx indeed turned out to be liked by many judges and in no time she won a lot of shows. It took another two years of preparation and getting used to the idea of breeding a litter. And so, in 2007, Mexx became the foundation dam of our kennel. In retrospect, it is a pity Mexx only entered the show world at a later age otherwise she could have won a lot more.

The kennel name “Paerdecroon” was formally registered by the Dutch Kennel Club on 8 June 2007. Many people wonder where this name comes from or what Paerdecroon means. The Dutch words for horses and crown are paarden and kroon. Horses (paarden) is obviously a reference to our horse life and crown (kroon) is a reference to the crowns in the ridge. We wrote these two words slightly different and put them together and so arose our kennel name Paerdecroon.

Our very first litter with Mexx was born on 6 May 2007 so still without the addition of the kennel name. This was followed by 14 more litters until 13 May 2023. A total of 15 litters in 16 years with 8 of our females in combinations with 11 different males mainly from abroad. Diversity is paramount. From 2003, we have had 21 Rhodesian Ridgebacks from puppyhood, socialised and entered them in shows. Of these 21, 13 were born in the Paerdecroon whelping box and 8 we were able to welcome home from home and abroad at 8 weeks; 6 of these 8 are offspring of one of our own (breeding) males and 2 have ‘’foreign blood’’. 4 times we kept 2 Ridgeback puppies at the same time and 1 time a Ridgeback and Beagle puppy at the same time, which was a real challenge.

With Mexx, we were lucky to start our kennel with a more than outstanding Rhodesian Ridgeback bitch. Mexx’s show successes caught our eye as newcomers and already put our kennel on the map in the Ridgeback world. Despite the late start, Mexx became Dutch and International Champion. Our name was definitively established with the successes of Paerdecroon Baron Borg, born in our second litter. Borg was very sound as a puppy and always has been. Borg had already won 2 CACs and one reserve CAC at his first three Dutch shows, was already Dutch Junior Champion at 12 months and at 14 months he became Junior

World Winner and BOS at the WDS in Herning in 2010. Another highlight was achieved in 2013 at Crufts. Borg won best male and BOS there. Borg also became Belgian, Luxembourg and International Champion, VDH Frühjahrssieger and VDH Rheinlandsieger. Unfortunately, Borg died just 5,5 years old. A tumour in his throat that could not be removed meant that we had to say goodbye to Borg, who meant so much for our kennel, far too soon.

His daughter Aminiafu’s Hishima Henorr (Henorr) then took over from her father achieving many show successes. She is Dutch Youth Champion, Rheinland Jugend Siegerin, Dutch, German, Luxembourg and International Champion, Holland Cup Winner and VDH Bundessiegerin. Henorr won the RRCN Club match in 2014 and 2017 and the Belgian Club match in 2015. Other successes from our kennel include: Mumoja; is Belgian Youth Winster, Paerdecroon Flower Fleur de Lis; Dutch Youth Champion and Dutch Champion, Paerdecroon Henorr’s Hilfiger; Dutch Youth Champion, VDH Europa Jugend Sieger, Junior Benelux Winner, Dutch Champion and best male RRCN Club match 2021. Paerdecroon Duchess Gaby; Dutch Youth Champion, Kimani’s Mojo fan ûnder de Mûne; Dutch Youth Champion, VDH Europa Jugend Sieger, DZRR Jugend Club Show Sieger, Paerdecroon Kindness Krizia; Dutch Champion, Holland Cup Winner, RRCN Club winner 2021, Belgian Winner And of the Ridgebacks we bred but do not own: Paerdecroon Double Duchess; Dutch Youth Champion and Dutch Champion, Paerdecroon Legenday Looxs; Dutch, Croatian and Bosnia and Herzegovina Champion and Winner of Winners 2022 and finally Paerde- croon Olympic on Top; Junior Split Winner and Croatian Youth Champion.

From our Olympic Litter we kept a male Paerdecroon Olympic Onyx and a female Paerdecroon Olympic Olyve. Both just started their show career. On their first CACIB show Olympic Olyve became at the age of 9 months Best of Breed and second best junior in the group. On 3th September 2023 she became Best of Breed at the RRCN Championship Club match at the age of 13 months (124 entries). Four times out of the last nine RRCN championship club matches we have participated in, one of our ridgebacks has become best of breed.

With this win, one of our ridgebacks has become best of breed four times out of the last nine RRCN championship club matches we have participated in. It seems that Olyve is following in the footsteps of our previous ridgebacks. With Olyve becoming Best of Breed, one of our ridgebacks has become Best of Breed four times out of the last nine RRCN Championship Club matches we have participated in.

In all those years, we have participated in many domestic and foreign shows, followed various cynological trainings, and in the meantime the time flies. We are 6 generations Paerdecroon and 20 Rhodesian Ridgebacks many champions and titles further, all our bred dogs have very fine characters and Henk has been a judge Ridgeback breed specialist for 9 years now and last year we won the Winner of Winners kennel competition for the Rhodesian Ridgeback from the Dutch Kennel Club.

We have literally and figuratively invested a lot to be where we are now. Only now to start thinking about winding down given that we are heading towards retirement. For the future, there is still 1 puppy in planning to stay with us. This one will be sired by Paerdecroon Baron Borg, because fortunately we still have frozen sperm of Borg. With that in mind, we bought the bitch Livernose Rules Laurent-Perrier (Maan) three years ago. She will be Borg’s future partner.

Currently, we are in the rich possession of 11 Rhodesian Ridgebacks (3 males/8 females, all intact) ranging in age from 11+ years and the youngest offspring Paerdecroon Pride Prada is from 13 May this year. Proud to report that from 1 line we now have 4 generations (great-grandmother, grandmother (and grand uncle), mother, child) at home. We can say that we live with the 11 Ridgebacks and have to settle for a kitchen chair and piece of sofa. We can confirm the statement that a Rhodesian Ridgeback has no boss but staff, off course to a certain extent. A very occasional holiday is in the cards when a dog housekeeper can be arranged at home; so, we try to create as much holiday feeling as possible in the small daily routines.

In all these years, we have rehomed 3 (1 female/2 males) of our own adult Rhodesian Ridgebacks; not because of incidents but simply because it was better for them as individuals and by chance their new owners came their and our way. The rehomed female was totally unhappy with puppies and she was also spared motherhood.

Throughout the years we have been loyal visitors/participants of the RRCN breeders’ meetings, offspring and/or young dog days, club shows and also attended regularly the coursings and workshops. We also attend lectures organised by the Dutch Kennel Club on various topics such as breeding, inheritance, genetics, raising and socialising puppies, hereditary diseases, etc. and other refresher courses. Henk takes the refresher course for exterior judges twice a year. This refresher course is required by the Dutch Kennel Club and covers everything that has to do with cynology. In our opinion, keeping cynology knowledge up to date and learning new insights is compulsory for anyone seriously involved in dog breeding.

Every breed association does have the goal of improving the breed. Ultimately, this is easier said than done. Of course, a breeder aims to get improvements on his lines. We believe that having and keeping quality is already quite an achievement and improving is quite a big task. Through the influences of the males we have used for our breeding, we also see that the appearance of our current Ridgebacks is slightly different from Mexx, whom we started with. However, we have never compromised on type, construction and movement. Combinations were and are not made by just looking at bloodlines, but also at the type of Ridgebacks in the lines.

The siblings of the dog and bitch are also important, after all, you are breeding with the genes of the entire litter. Finally, health and character also have to be alright and then it is clear that finding a suitable male is quite a puzzle. Fortunately, our years of experience with horses and breeding have helped us a lot in making certain choices. We have never regretted that, despite the fact that the high expectations we sometimes had beforehand have not always come true.

Of all the puppies we have bred, about 90% are fine family dogs. Besides the ones we keep ourselves, just a few new owners entered for shows, so that is the 10%. For us, owners really don’t need to go to a show. Ultimately, a dog is bought to be a nice family member and to have fun with and everyone does that in their own way. We are just as happy to receive a photo of the dog sleeping on the couch with the children as a photo that the dog is placed first at a show.

For the near future, we still have a number of young females with whom we are definitely planning litters. However, not before they are three years old. Our experience is that a bitch is really mature at three years, not just physically but also mentally. We kept a bitch (Prada) from our last litter. In all probability, Prada will be our last bitch.

We look back with pride at what we have achieved since 2003 with a little to no cynological knowledge at that time, and we hope to continue this for several more years with the Ridgebacks we now own. Although as time goes by, our pack will decrease in number, but as long as it goes a Ridgeback will be part of our family.

We wish everyone good luck in pursuing their breeding goals and who knows, maybe we will see you in or out of the ring.

Name Henk & Edith Salm

Country The Netherlands

Affix Paerdecroon www www.paerdecroon.nl