PIERCE IRISH WOLFHOUNDS

Kvisto was born on 10 September 2002 at Salamon Antonia and Ludovica's "della Bassa Pavese" kennel in Italy. At the time I hadn't planned second wolfhound, but Andrej Vidmar (Vianho) was bringing three month old Kvisto to Slovenia and looking for a possible new home for him, and when he offered him to me I didn't hesitate. A week later, we brought him home from Italy.

Hektor was then four years old, and since he was our main dog besides our poodles, I was concerned as to how he would adapt to a new puppy. To my great surprise, he welcomed Kvisto as though he had been waiting for just such a companion. He loved him unconditionally and let Kvisto to do anything to him. Kvisto played with Hektor as much as he wanted and even when Hektor had had enough, he never snarled at the pup. When you saw them sleeping, Kvisto was always somehow lying on Hektor. It was true love between the boys, but unfortunately they were together for only nine months before Hektor had to be put to sleep because of illness.

Kvisto was lost without his "father", so I began having my mother's five year old mixed breed bitch, Zala, home for the weekends as company for Kvisto. Weekends turned into weeks and then months, and so she stayed with us. Needless to say, Kvisto had that sparkle back in his eyes once he had someone to play and romp with again.

When Kvisto was 19 months old, six month old Connan arrived. They connected immediately, and again Kvisto was happy to have a new friend. As Connan got older, he began to take on the role of alpha dog. Although Kvisto wasn't particularly dominant, he wasn't always willing to let Connan have everything his own way. Despite the fact that Connan knew how to show his power over Kvisto, the boys loved each other unreservedly, and if Connan fell behind on our walks Kvisto waited for him.
Kvisto had a wonderful personality, with a great appetite for life, whether it was his daily walks or meeting other dogs or people. He knew how to show you what he wanted, like licking you to remind you it was his dinner time, and if you didn't take the hint he barked at you. He was one of those dogs who would be anyone's for a handful of food and was so happy to meet new people that he immediately started giving kisses. He loved to travel, never missed an opportunity to jump into the car, and adored dog shows because there were so many new dogs and people to meet!

In June 2007 our pack was richer for a new wolfhound, Hulda (Highborne), Connan's granddaughter. At first, Kvisto was a bit anxious about his leadership of the pack but he soon discovered it wasn't so bad - suddenly there were lots of new toys to play with! He was always happy when he took a toy from Hulda and played with it, and you could see him smiling when Hulda tried to take the toy back from him. Although Kvisto loved Hulda, he was more of a father figure - she found her soul mate in Connan.

We planned to go to a show in Germany in October 2007. We had entered Connan, and Hulda went with us. We left Kvisto at home since it was a long trip and we thought he would be more comfortable waiting for us there. We didn't realise it was our last goodbye.

His problems started on the Sunday morning when he refused to eat his breakfast. Within a few hours he had problems with his breathing. I arranged for friends to go to my home to take care of him, but unfortunately, none of the help he received made any difference. The autopsy result showed the cause of death was pneumonia.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my friends who helped Kvisto; my brother Mihael, Ziva, Jana, Anton, Simon and Petra with Whoopy (a great Dane who donated blood at short notice), Tatjana, Tanja, Slavi and especially Dr. Vladka Erjavec.

Kvisto will always be in our hearts!