Nuba came to our family in 2005 and at that moment my greatest wish came true - having my own dog. Before I decided for a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, also known as ''swissy'' I gathered information on some other breeds, but none of them suited my requirements completely. I was looking for a dog that is active enough to accompany me at running, hiking and riding; a dog that is friendly but at the same time reserved to strangers; a good guard dog that is easy to take care of and that can be trained. Then I found a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog and knew that this breed is perfect for me. When I saw "swissy" litter for the first time, I fell in love with this breed. Nuba went home with me that day.

Nuba, 4 months old

We never had any problems with Nuba. She was a very good puppy. Well, once she did a little research in our kitchen's drawers and scaterred cookies, pasta, cocoa etc. all around the house. When I came to the living room, I was horrified.
We cleaned up the mess, but Nuba wasn't let loose in the house for some time.

Nuba, 8 months old

We live in the countryside in a house with big garden and conditions for the dog are almost perfect. We are surrounded by forests and meadows, where we can go for our daily walks.
Behind the house  a brook flows where Nuba likes to refresh herself (esspecially in summer). We don't have a fenced yard, but she never wanders off.
She spends most of the time with us, in the house; she is actually our family member. When we go on a trip, we always take her with us. She goes everywhere with me - for a coffee, on parties and so on. She is a very important part of my life.

Nuba, 1 year old

Nuba is a typical representative of her breed with excellent character. She was born on 20.05.2005 and her pedigree name is Nera. In the Slovenian pedigree book she is registered under nr. 202.
She learns very quickly, which is very helpful in training. She is very self-confident, a little dominant and an exceedingly stable bitch - she doesn't fear thunders and lightning, crashes etc. She is a very reliable guard dog, never aggressive and she behaves very well in town or in new situations. She is used to pets and gets along well with them, but she likes to chase  cats (not the domestic one). She frequently goes with me when I go horse riding (and she adores this). She is reserved and suspicious towards strangers until she is convinced that they don't have bad intentions. Then she let's herself be petted like no other dog in the world! She gets along well with children, and she is a little bit clumsy sometimes.

Nuba, 2 years old

In March 2006 we started with search and rescue work. We joined the search and rescue club Kranj (http://www.klub-vrpk.si/portal/), whose members we still are. In training Nuba learns how to search and climb over obstacles. Although this breed isn't the most appropriate for search and rescue work because of it's weight and size, I am pretty amazed by Nuba's work. In future a smaller and lighter dog will join Nuba, which will be more suitable for SAR, but in the meanwhile I can learn a lot from Nuba.
In 2007 we started also with Rally obedience training and took part in some RO competitions, where we were very successful. In all competitions we were among the first three competitors, in the last two competitions we even won. We defeated breeds that are know for their easy training and proved, that with the appropriate motivation "swissies" can be highly trained.

Search and rescue training and Rally obedience competition

Nuba passed following exams:

• Exam from obedience with behaviour test in the city (meeting bikers, runners, other people, other dogs) and writing exam for the owner (Bbh)
• Rally obedience 1 exam (RO1)
• Rally obedience 2 exam (RO2)
• Rally obedience 3 exam (RO3)

I hope we will pass RO4 exam in 2008 and in the future also search and rescue exams.

In 2006 we also started to take part in shows, where she was very successful. In her category she won many times in Slovenia and abroad. She is junior beauty champion of Slovenia, beauty champion of Slovenia, international beauty champion, beauty champion of Austria, european vice winner 2008, Tulln bundessieger 2008, Slovenian club winner for the year 2007 (with 19 months), in a special show for Swiss breeds in Mallnitz (Austria) she won in open class and got CACA, in the European dog show in Zagreb (2007) she was second in open class and got res.CAC.
Although she is very successful we will visit dog shows only occasionally in the future. I prefer working and competing with my dog rather than showing him at dog shows.

In April 2007 we past the breed suitability test. It is a preliminary condition for breeding and consists of evaluations of appearance, character and X-ray evaluation of hips. She got the highest grade (1st breeding class). Her X-ray results are HD B, ED 0, OCD 0 (X-rayed on Faculty of Veterinary medicine in Ljubljana, Slovenia and estimated by prof. dr. Bojan Zorko).
She is also completely free from all eye diseases. That means she doesn't have PRA (progressive retinal atrophy), cataract, distichiasis, entropium, ectropium, etc. This examination was performed by ECVO specialist, dr. Hannes Gressl from Austria.

Nuba and Rina	Nuba, Best and Athos

PEDIGREE

YOSTER V. RALLIGHOLZ SLRVpp-000179 SHSB 602130 HD A	DRAGON VON DER REGENHALDE SHSB 571624	DIEGO VON DER ERGHOLZ SHSB 543461
		ANIKA VOM PIERRE-PERTUIS SHSB 488414
	PERRY VOM RALLIGHOLZ SHSB 543023 Ch-INT	CHICO VOM TROTTEBÜHL SHSB 518977
		BIBI-BALU VOM LÖWENHAIN SHSB 522967 HD B
MIŠA SLRVpp-000007 HD B	AXEL VOM GUTEN TON OHZB GR.SCHW.S 275 Ch-INT HD-frei	FALK V.D. BONSAI-RANCH OHZB G.SCH.S 272 HD-frei
		BIANCA VOM PIERRE-PERTUIS OHZB G.SCH.S 265 HD-frei
	LARA OD ART SLRVpp-000002 Ch.J.-SLO, HR, Ch-SLO, HR, Ch-INT HD-frei	CINO-FAJO VOM HOLZERBERG SHSB 500607
		EILA VON DER RHEINBENE SLRVpp-000001 Ch.J-SLO, Ch-SLO, HR, Ch-INT HD A