NELUNGAL00
How it all began!

Running dogs ranging from Greyhounds greyhound crosses to whippets played an important role in Kevin's childhood. He was never without two or three staghounds, constantly impressed by their build, speed and courage.

During the 50's when rabbits were so numerous, the majority of farms in the district possessed some form of long dog. Kev's home was no exception. Endless hours were spent hunting rabbits arid foxes as well as observing nature in general. These observations proved to be invaluable when later breeding purebred sighthounds.

My first visit to the farm was also my first meeting with Kev's staghounds. 1 was most impressed with "Pieface'. That afternoon we went for a walk, Pieface caught a fox and 1 was completely overwhelmed by the excitement of the chase and the rugged beauty and talent of this big. shaggy, grey dog.

We were married in 1968 and for the first few years continued to enjoy our staghounds. We were however, always searching for dogs with more size and in 1972 we discovered the Deerhound.

What began as a desire for a better hunting dog has since turned into a way of life. The deerhound introduced us to the world of dog shows, dog clubs, travelling here, there arid everywhere and a wealth of funny, interesting and wonderful friends worldwide.

Our first deerhound was Rickaby Ann. We purchased Ann from Maune Troman who now lives in Gilgandri. First impressions are so very important and Arin was everything we had hoped for. She was strong, beautiful and an excellent hunter.

One thing leads to another and it was not long until we purchased a second deerhound. This time a male puppy from Chas Venables. His name was Atlas Reiver. It was from these two dogs we bred our first litter and amongst the litter was our foundation sire Ch Nelungaloo Top Hank.

Hank was a large hound and we adored him. When we ventured to Melbourne in 1976 for the Deerhound Club Parade we had seen very few deerhounds and as a result we were inquisitive, excited and a little nervous. Hank won the Parade and we were on top of the world.

As most deerhound owners would know, it is hard to just have one or even two deerhounds, and before we knew it we had five. These included two bitches Ch. Pleiades Athena, bred by Carney and Donothy Doyle, and Atlas dai Sheba, bred by CA Venables and Kevin and Jocelyn Davidson. Ch. Plaiades Atheria lived only two years. She left no ffspring, but she did leave her name in record books when she won Best in Show at Enthurst P&A Show in 1977. The first deerhound to win such an award for 15 years.

Hank was bred to numerous bitches and proved a successful stud dog.

Atlas dai Sheba produced a litter from him in 1977. The first two puppies born proved to be a very strong influence in future generations of Nelungaloo deerhounds. They were Ch Nelungaloo Loosen Up and Ch Nelungaloo Huntalong.

We had then and still do have strict criteria which our hounds must meet before they are bred from. They must be pleasing to the eye, exhibiting strength, soundness, speed and brains. These attributes must be combined with excellence in the field. Interestingly enough, our very best hunting hounds have also been our best show dogs. If the two do not interact successfully we do not keep them.

Nelungaloo Allissa

Loosen Up and Huntalong were super examples of what we were striving for, between them they put Nelungaloo on the map. They accounted for numerous show awards including Best in Show at All Breeds level to Specially and Royal Show challenges. Their greatest asset however, was their ability to produce quality offspringLoosen Up unfortunately died young of torsion, but not before producing a litter to Davidson's Ch Atlas Banshee which resulted in the multi talented male Ch Daidh Lord Douglas.

Huntalong was an exceptional producer. She had four litters to three different dogs and in each litter there were quality deerhounds. Included in her offspring were nine Australian Champions and one American Champion - Fleet and Streak both won Best in Show, while other sons and daughters won numerous Royal Show challenges and other show and racing awards.

In 1980, all deerhound club members in Australia were so excited at the prospect of Anastasia Noble judging our Championship Show. By some strange twist of fate Miss Noble had life long pen friends living in our home town of Parkes. We could not believe our luck when she wrote to us and asked if she could return to Parkes with us after the show, visit with her friends and perhaps watch deerhounds hunt. We talked well into every night that Anastasia stayed with us and learnt from her so much about deerhounds and her Ardkinglas hounds. It was the start of a warm and long friendship which resulted in a return visit in 1987 when she once again judged the Championship show.

The eighties continued then to be full of fantastic deerhound experiences. Many of these experiences we shared with other deerhound breeders, particularly the Parnells, the Corthornes, the Oates, the Cox's, Kenneth Cassells from the UK and last but not least Chas Venables.

Long nights by outdoor fires with the hounds, tired from a good days work would enhance ideas and merriment beyond compare. It was during one such night that Kev bought Casbairn Go Lightly from Kaye and Sieve Parnell for twenty cents.

Go Lightly was the granddaughter of Ch Nelungaloo Top Hank and Ch Atlas Amulet. These two had produced three bitch puppies namely Pleiades Chloe, Cassandra and Chaos, all of which bred quality offspring. Go Lightly was tall and elegant and exhibited the type and bluelblack colour which typified that line and is still very prominent in our deerhounds today. Go Lightly produced four litters for Nelungaloo and she played an integral part in our breeding programme.

In 1981 Lord Douglas and Huntalong won both challenges at Melbourne Royal. In 1982 their six month old daughter Nelungaloo Huntress won Best of Breed at the same event and in 1983 Nelungaloo Billy Jay, a son of Pleaides Cassandra and Atlas dai Louis, won the coveted award.

1983 was the year well known America breeder Gayle Bontecou judged the Deerhound Club championship show. Nelungaloo Billy Jay did the double and won the dog challenge, Nelungaloo Texas Tea won reserve. Casbairn Go Lightly won bitch challenge and Best in Show with Nelungaloo Huntalong taking reserve challenge.

Gayle loved Go Lightly and would have taken her or her son Texas Tea back to the USA. We could not bear to part with either and instead she took Nelungaloo Screw Loose (Huntalong x Lord Douglas) home with her where he successfully bred with Gayleward bitches and produced some prominent deerhounds in United States competition, We in turn imported from Gayle a young dog, Gaylewards Embassador. Embassador was the first deerhound imported to Australia from the USA and he created a good deal of interest not only amongst deerhound enthusiasts but also hound people in general.

We needed new bloodlines and he provided them. Embassador was used extensively at stud as were many of his offspring. He threw many nice deerhounds but unfortunately his progeny did not always excel in field work. This in many ways was understandable able as not many modem day kennels place much emphasis on the deerhound's ability or desire to do what he was bred to do. To run, hunt and hang together is based on a functional build. determination and brains. These traits seem to be inherited. One cannot assume they will be there just because of a pedigree

When Gayle visited in 1983, Ch Nelungaloo Fleet was a baby puppy. Her front feet were as flat as pancakes and she stood most comfortably when they were at right angles to her legs. She hated being lead trained and was indeed the worst puppy I have ever had to work with. She did possess beautiful angulation even then and as her sire Ch Daidh Lord Doualas had not long died we never considered selling her.

At fourteen months Audrey Benbow (USA) gave her Best of Breed at Sydney Hound Club. This was the beginning of her illustrious show career Fleet was fortunate in that although her life was full of hunting and reckless chases, she sustained very little injury to herself and as a result she was shown for many years Fleet was rarely beaten and I cannot remember her not being placed. She won Best in Show All Breeds three times and Runner Up Best in Show another three. There were numerous groups, a top ten position in the National Dog Hound of the Year competition, and well over 500 challenge points. She was Best in Show at the 1986 Deerhound Club Championship Show, beating her friends Casbairn Go Lightly, Nelungaloo Streak and Nelungaloo Tallahassee for the challenge- She was Reserve challenge bitch at the 1989 Championship Show and again Best in Show in 1991 when world deerhound authority Nene Runsten Forstad placed her ahead of our young Nelungaloo Swift.

Ch.Nelungaloo Fleet (left) and Ch. Nelungaloo Swift - Best in Show and Runner up in Show, Deerhund Club Champion Show 1991

Fleet had two litters, one to Gaylewards Embassador and one to Ch Nelungaloo Swift. She is now eleven so it will be up to her children and grandchildren to carry on the precedent she has set.

Twenty years arid twenty eight litters after we fell in love with our first deerhound Nelungaloo hounds feature in pedigrees throughout the world. It really is unbelievable and would not have been possible without the Deerhound Club of Victoria, the breeders that came before us and the owners and breeders of Nelungaloo hounds that trusted in the direction we were taking.

As we still insist that the deerhounds we keep to breed and show are capable of maintaining themselves physically and mentally when put under the stress of field work, we do not believe our type or build has changed to any degree over the years, other than perhaps the hounds we breed today are a little smaller.

Of course, I have only touched the sides of the dogs that have made Nelungaloo kennels what they are today. There were many others, perhaps not as physically impressive as the top show winners but equally as impressive in our hearts. We have truly enjoyed every litter of deerhounds we have bred and every puppy has been a winner in one way or another.

The vast majority of puppies have gone to simply wonderful homes and for this we are very grateful. After all, the quiet, faithfull and understanding deerhound, so full of trust in human nature, should never be subjected to anything other than what they give to us.

Virginia Hawke