The history of Necku Great Danes and Italian Greyhounds Teija with Multi Ch Necku Ebony Elf & Necku Iosono Monopoli ANCIENT TIMES There has always been dogs in our family, but the first purebred dog we can recall was a lovely rough collie Joutsenlammen Mister Moore born May 6th, 1966. Moore was bred by Mrs Tellervo Säämänen. He was shown once, even though his main purpose was to keep company to us children. Joutsenlammen Mister Moore & Jaana Urpelainen INT & FIN & S Ch FINW-84 Henriksbergin Hassan PAST GDs When Moore passed away, we decided to get a Great Dane. It was just to decide the colour and blue sounded most peculiar so blue it was, Atte, bred by Mrs Leena Kettula. Atte was born 1978 and died at the age of 3. He was shown a few times and he was awarded one CAC. Our interest in obedience started with Atte. He needed company, and 1980 we got a new family member, a fawn male Henriksbergin Hassan, 1980-1987, who eventually became FIN, S, INT CH, FIN W-84. With him our interest in showing dogs grew and we imported a fawn female from kennel Hotpoint in Norway, Hotpoint´s Kind Regards. Riesa died too young in a car accindent, and her brindle half sister Hotpoint´s Overseas News joined the family. Metku was BIS in a Great Dane specialty and she was Finnish and Norwegian Champion. She was the dam of our first GD litter. We got to know harlequin Great Danes when we visited Borghild at kennel Hotpoint, and it was only a matter of time when our first harlequin, Hotpoint´s Treasure Hunter (FIN CH), arrived. We also imported two harlequin females, FIN CH, EuV-91 Sheboane Papsi from Canada and BMW Staretta from the USA. These two bitches are behind every Necku harlequin GD and in the pedigrees of many of the most winning harlequins in today´s Finland. PAST IGs Our interest in IGs goes back to late 70s and early 80s when we showed our Great Danes and there was always a lovely black IG male at our local shows and we were always there admiring him. He was Sobers Oliver owned by Tiina Työlahti (nowadays better known as Tiina Kippo). Tiina lives currently with several IGs from us and she is one of the most important persons behind the success of Necku Italian Greyhounds. Our nephew Antti was born and we promised to buy a dog to him. He was too youg to choose the breed but his parents went through some books about dog breeds and decided to choose - an Italian Greyhound! That´s how our foundation bitch, Sobers Pethola, moved to Finland 1987. Pethola had an outstanding show career (FIN DK CH WORLD WINNER -89, 2 X GROUP 1ST), and she is the dam of first two Necku IG litters. Bitte Ahrens from kennel Sobers helped us to find a black male from Germany, Moskito Della Casetta Pucci, who joined us 1989. He is perhaps the one dog that has influenced most to the line whe have tried to establish and if it were possible to get a new Mikko we would pay anything for him. Jaana and Sobers Pethola In 1989 we got to know another person who became a good friend and a partner in breeding IGs: Eva Partida, a Finnish lady living in the USA. She found us the bitch of the bitches: Winsapphire Marquise, an outstanding brood bitch giving her best qualities to her progeny even in the second or third generation. She also leased us Tekoneva´s Desdemona and then sell us (or Tiina K...) her full sister Tekoneva´s Felicia. These are basically the early dogs behind the success of Necku Italian Greyhounds, even though we have imported several other dogs from Europe and the USA to broaden the gene pool of the IGs in Finland. PRESENT AND FUTURE You can get to know the dogs we currently own and the bloodlines we are working with by visiting other parts of our site. Multi Ch Necku Stradivarius