Piedimonte Italian Spinone, Melbourne, Australia.

Italy's Utility Gundog

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Piedimonte Story

Italian Spinoni have been in Australia since 1986, however they are still a very rare breed here. Present numbers would be less than one hundred in the country.

Erwin & I met the Italian Spinoni by chance at the Melbourne Royal Show in 1994. It was love at first sight, as it has been for many owners we have met since that day. The breed has also brought us in contact with many other like minded Spinonista around the world and we discover the breed is just as naughty as ours all over the world! We show our Spinoni occassionally, preferring to enter shows where the public are able to meet the breed. Most of our Spinoni have obtained their Australian Show Championship title. Some compete in Tracking and have also become Tracking Champions and Tracking Search Dog Champions.

In February 1995 we were lucky enough to have Alfred (Ch Mulvine Cesare) come into our lives, from the Mulvine Kennels in Orange, NSW. Erwin & I are avid fans of the English TV series 'Heartbeat' and our Alfred was named after the scruffy Lurcher 'Alfred' who had stolen our hearts. As we soon learned, Spinoni are like potato chips. You can never stop at just one. We imported Claude from the highly respected Kevardhu Kennels in Cornwall, UK in 1999. What other name could this little bloke have, but Claude, after Alfred's rogue owner Claude Jerimiah Greengrass! Claude was  a cheeky little chap who could let himself in and out of every door in the house. An avid food thief, Claude introduced us to the true, cheeky personality of the Italian Spinone.

Claude sired our foundation bitch, Gina in 2001. Gina was from Montiverdi Spinoni, Victoria. Gina was just like her dad. A cheeky girl with a passion for stealing food, raiding the kitchen bin and stealing underwear and her mother's passion for foam and dacron. How many pillows and doonas did she shred!

When Gina was three, she produced a litter of eight white/orange pups with our Alfred. From that litter we kept Kira & Millie. Millie now lives and shows in Tasmania. Kira is a very loving and caring girl. She is our nurse and will stay in bed with us when we are unwell. She is also our most skilled of food thieves. Kira had her litter when she was three, in 2007, to Bernardo. A brown roan dog imported from Italy. Kira had eight pups. From this litter we kept Rodger & Lou. Lou enjoys being shown and is the family clown. Rodger, or 'Jolly Rodger' was a very happy boy, always wagging his tail. He was a smoocher and also a homebody. Very much missed.

In January 2012 at the grand age of 12yrs and 8months, our Claude sired eight gorgeous pups to Dual Ch (T) Pagliaccio Emiliana. Piedimonte welcomed son of Claude, Pagliaccio Claudius (Claudio) to carry on in his father's footsteps.

March 2015 we welcome the beautiful Craigsraven Sylvana from New Zealand to our family. Sylla is the daughter of the also stunning NZ Champion Javal Ambersweet &  Eng Sh Ch Una Volta Per Sempre Sorriso del Riccini who was BOB at Crufts in 2013 & DCC at Crufts in 2015.