Taxi

Registered Name:  CH Ghostwing Ash Armagh LHC*

Call Name:  Taxi

Date of Birth: 18 July 2000

Sire: CH Brierdell Royaldexcalibur NSD NRD

Dam: CH Eweimar Asterisksteffi of Ghostwing LHC 

Hip score: HD00  

Litter stats: 2002  (Maya Litter)   3 dogs, 4 bitches   

                     2003  (Bella Litter)    4 dogs, 5 bitches

                     2004  (Tatiana Litter) 2 dogs, 8 bitches 

                                                           including 1 dog, 2 bitches that are longhairs. 

We have attached the abbreviation LHC* behind Taxi's name, the asterisk denoting that he is an LHC that has produced long hair puppies. Similarly Steffi, his Dam, must have been a LHC, although she never produced long hair puppies, hence no asterisk. 

The Show Man  

Our Taxi has qualified as a South African Breed Champion. At KUSA Championship Shows he has earned 14 Challenge Certificates, 4 Best of Breeds,  14 Reserve Best of Breeds and 1 Gundog Group placing (3rd).  At FCI International Shows Taxi has earned 2 Best of Breeds, 2 CACIBs and 2 Pointing Group placings (both 1st).   

The Stud

Taxi Litters

1). Maya Litter 2002

PUPPIES were born to Eskobeni Dawnethian (Maya)  belonging to Diedie Tourell of Stellenbosch. on 6 October 2002, 3 dogs and 4 bitches.

Maya                                                 Taxi & Maya's son Franklin

2). Bella Litter 2003

PUPPIES were born to Barushka (Bella)  belonging to Greg and Andrea Altona-de Klerk of Hermanus. on 15 November 2003, 4 dogs and 5 bitches.

3). Tatiana Litter 2004

PUPPIES were born to Von Equestris Tanya-Tatiana LHC* (Tatiana)  belonging to Nadia Van Deventer of Goodwood, Cape Town on 15 November 2004, 2 dogs and 8 bitches. Of the 10 puppies 3 are longhair puppies, 1 dog and 2 bitches. It has been more than 12 years since 2 registered shorthair Weimaraners have produced longhair puppies in South Africa. In lieu of the stud fee, Ghostwing will has taken a longhair bitch, Ziggie (see 'The Bitches' page for more.

Taxi as a Puppy

Living with 8 pups certainly gave us plenty of time to get to know all our puppies; there were 8 in the litter, 4 dogs and 4 bitches. All were tagged with coloured collars since birth. Conscious of the fact that we wanted to keep the best puppy for ourselves, we compared coats, overall conformation and personality. We had set our mind on 1 of 2 males that we thought were particularly handsome, although we loved them all! As it transpired 1 of these males had made his mind up and had chosen us! He was the only puppy that was able to escape the pen. He was the first pup up and down stairs and seemed the most independent.

Why the name ‘Taxi?’ Well, at an early age he showed little regard for any speed restrictions, never gave any advance notice when he changed direction, basically out of control, with no brakes! You need to have lived in or have visited South Africa to appreciate the comparison! I also had this image in my mind of standing in a field, miles from anywhere, shouting ‘Taxi!’

Of course, his overall obedience has improved tremendously since then. He seemed to learn a lot of the basic stuff from observing his mother, Steffi. He was never taught to stop at a blast of a whistle; he just looks to see what she does. I can stop them both at a distance, provided they can hear the whistle. She sits and he stands, until I tell them to ‘go on.’

The Actor

In 2001 Taxi was the stunt double for his mom, Steffi, in a dog food commercial filmed by a British crew in Cape Town for UK television screening. He got the unruly, boisterous parts. In January 2002 he got a bit part in a Mercedes Benz TV commercial filmed by a French film crew.

There are opinions in dogdom circles frowning on the practice of using dogs in films and commercials. However, my views are that, whilst I share their concerns about dogs becoming fashionable because of movies like 101 Dalmatians, responsible breeders always interview prospective owners of their puppies, hopefully identifying those who are acquiring the puppies for the right reasons.

Even going to all this trouble to home your pups, mistakes will still be made. Despite there always being breeders that will exploit fashionable dogs, there are always good people who will see a breed for the first time, be drawn to them, research their history, give then good homes, and lo and behold we have another breed fanatic to soldier the cause and to fight for the rights of their breed. 

Who wants to only see Labradors and Border Collies, Great Danes and Dalmatians on TV anyway?

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