About Us
I have always been a dog lover, starting from a small child when I brought home every stray dog I found, begging to keep it. My family had a variety of dogs when I was growing up, and when I was a young teenager I became seriously interested in the dog show/breeding world. I bred my first litter (Siberian Huskies) at the age of 15 and began exhibiting the puppy I kept.
As a young adult I became interested in the Kuvasz and acquired two of them, Tavi and Isis, from my longtime friend Agi Hejja of Starhaven Kennels. Isis was the first dog I showed to a Championship. Then in 1989 I happened to see my first Leonberger. He was an 8-month-old male bred by Mary Decher of Bellevue, Washington. This dog was visiting a neighbor with his owners, and it was love at first sight. After learning all I could about the breed, including becoming a member of the Leonberger Club of America (LCA), I felt this was the right breed for me. At this time, there were only about 250 of these dogs in the country, so I felt very fortunate to have seen one. I then contacted Mary Decher and that summer, while visiting friends in Vancouver, B.C., I also visited Mary and Reiner and their Leos. In the spring of 1990, I flew to Washington to pick up my first puppy, Esia von Klingelberg.
I became very interested in helping to be a part of the preservation and protection of the Leo, and have been extremely active in the LCA for many years. I am currently on the Board of Directors and am an active member of the Judges Education Committee. I have presented a number of breed seminars to AKC judges. I have also obtained my provisional AKC license for judging Leonbergers. In past years I served on the Show Committee and the Breeding Committee. I very much enjoy being an active, participating member of the LCA and the Leonberger community.
In 1994, I imported a 2-year-old male from Sweden, Stjarnbackas Efraim von Poppel, better known as Baloo. At that time I became very interested in breeding and showing Leos. Baloo and I were a great team together, and he went on to earn his LCA and ARBA Championships, and he became the top winning Leonberger in the U.S. for 1996, 1997, and 1998. He won multiple Best of Breed awards, including two National Specialties and 6 consecutive LCNW (Leonberger Club of the Northwest) Regional Specialties. Baloo passed away in October of 1999; he was a once-in-a-lifetime dog who was both a wonderful family companion and an outstanding show dog.
In 1995, I imported an adult female from Leena Korpi in Sweden, Vriaslattens Josefina, and she truly was the dog who started the von Alpensee lines. She whelped my “A” litter in July of 1995. The litter was sired by the well-known Swedish male, Zeldas Working Class Herou. Several from this litter went on to become LCA Champions and the foundations for other kennels in the U.S.
To date, von Alpensee has produced 23 LCA Club champions, and since the Leonberger became fully AKC recognized in July 2010, 9 von Alpensee dogs have finished their CH with 3 earning their GCH title as well. GCH Valioso von Alpensee was the first Leonberger to win an all-breed AKC show in July, 2011; he is a multi-group winner and is currently (Aug. 2011) the top-winning Leonberger in the U.S.
When the Leonberger became an official member of the AKC’s Working Group the breed became eligible to compete in AKC events. Zelda began her AKC show career at the age of 10 and was the first of our dogs to earn her AKC Championship and Grand Championship, with some spectacular wins! She was the #1 rated Leonberger in all-breed points for several months in 2010, an amazing feat for such an old dog. Zelda finished her AKC Championship on September 5th, 2010, after being shown only five times. In those five times she won the Working Group twice and placed fourth in the group once. This is unheard of for a 10-year-old dog of any breed to win such high honors. She is a special dog in every way!
Our Leonberger family currently consists of six females ranging in age from 4 months to 11 years. Zelda, our 11-year-old, was imported from Belgium in 2000 and is the matriarch of the household. All of our females are related to both Josie and Zelda except for Tova, our recent import from Finland.
As a breeder, my goal is to breed only to improve the breed and to produce sound, healthy Leonbergers that are wonderful family companions, as well as being very good examples of the breed in the show ring. All of our breeding dogs have successfully passed a number of health tests/screenings prior to breeding. My puppies are raised in our home with my two daughters; Linnea, age 18, and Sarabel, age 15. I evaluate the temperaments of each individual puppy and try to match the right puppy with each family based on my observations of each puppy from birth to 8 weeks. I evaluate the entire litter at 7-8 weeks to help me determine which puppies have show potential for those who are interested in a show potential puppy. Many of my dogs have been successful and have titles in a variety of areas; the show ring, obedience, agility, rally, SAR (search and rescue) and water rescue. Our kennel has produced the greatest number of conformation Champions of any Leonberger kennel in the U.S.! Above all, my dogs are most successful as family companions.
If you would like to be interviewed for consideration for a von Alpensee puppy, please feel free to contact me by phone or email.
Thank you for your interest,
Alida Greendyk
von Alpensee Leonbergers