Kennel Caipirinha's (formerly de la Maison du Garde-Barrière) is located about 25 kilometers eastern from Vienna.

Love for animals, especially the love for dogs, was laid into my cradle. Since my earliest youth dogs had always been part of the family besides some smaller animals - first mix breeds and then German Shepherds. My heart was attached to this breed for a very long time, and today I still admire the one or other most dignified representative of that breed, but years ago I have decided for another breed, the BRIARD, and I have never regretted it!

Marko was very devoted - nearly "pathological": until the time he came here he had had four different owners - too many for such a young dog. At the training place I could watch that when Marko was joined by other dogs he did not continuousely search for me, and so I made up my mind: a second dog was needed, so off to see and find one. I intended to take a Dobermann, but at an international all breed show in Vienna my eyes were caught by a breed that I had not known until then: the BRIARD. Addresses of breeders in the country and also from outside were asked, information from lots of countries were caught and finally I decided for an Austrian kennel: von Anitzberg. In October 1990 the S-litter was born there and in December the second dog came to this home, SÁNDOR von Anitzberg, a male.

Marko was with me in the office from beginning on and naturally it happened that also Sándor joined us when going to work with train and subway. Marko was - some might think this is incredible - a dog without any mistakes. So Sándor could only learn good things from him, at home as well as in the city.

In summer 1991 I had to put down my cat (a British Blue) because of an indefinable virus - I had her since seven years. Both dogs searched for her everywhere in the house, so I decided that another cat had to come here. Within 3 days I found a rescue cat, a three year old Persian male, who had lived together with a Rottweiler and a German Shepherd. Remo stepped into our lives - from beginning on there were no problems between him and the dogs.

In October 1992 the first litter after Sándor was born - he had sired in Slovakia. Out of this breeding we decided for a girl that moved to our home in December. That was ARWA Betkin dvor, black like her father. Since it was impossible to take three dogs to the office, Marko and Sándor stayed at home since then - each day from noon on attended by my parents - and Arwa travelled with me to the office. She was so very funny and furry in the train, that I had to decide on the spot to go with the car and just take the last part of the trip with the subway. Arwa, too, turned out to be a safe dog in city traffic.

In August 1993 the breeder of Arwa had decided to get rid of her dam - Arwa Zevar CS; she wanted to put the 4.5 years old bitch down because she did not have the expected and desired success with breeding Briards. I did not hesitate a minute: Arwa Z was welcome in the gang. Seems she had not had a good time in Slovakia as she jumped into the open car immediately and did not even turn her head when we left. Having reached home she was integrated to the gang immediately. For her best friend she did not choose one of the Briards, but Marko. This friendship lasted until the much to early death of Marko - even afterwards Arwa Z's eyes were star-spangled when she got sight of a German Shepherd.

From now on Arwa B as well stayed at home. To prevent fights while nobody was at home the dogs were seperated: Marko and Arwa Z shared the ground-floor, Sándor and his daughter Arwa B shared the upper storey. At noon my parents came for walking them and then have playing time.

Arwa Z, Marko, Sándor & Arwa B

End of 1993 I began to take a look at aquarium life. I bought reading matter to study and then the decision was made to buy an aquarium. I was a lucky one with the fishes: the water was well prepared soon in the fish tank and I nearly had no cases of death. The only thing that has been changed is the aquarium itself: it has turned to be much bigger.

In 2008 we decided to stop this hobby and not buy any more fishs. After the last fish had died in 2010 we removed the tank. It was a nice time, something very beautiful to look at and to relax, but too much work.

In January 1994 the first litter of this hobby kennel (de la Maison du Garde-Barrière) was born: 5/2 puppies from Sándor and Arwa Z (1/1 tawny and 4/1 black) were raised. Mother and daughter Arwa shared the education as soon as the puppies started to walk. For Arwa B this was the pure delight. One male out of this litter was here in the gang until spring 1996: Aristide.

Something else that I always had in the household were various birds, beginning with budgerigars, zebra finches, love birds up to a lori and a white head amazone. My dream has always been a Kongo Grey parrot, if possible hand raised but at least tame. In May 1994 it happened that I heard about an approximately four year old Timneh Grey parrot, which had been given back by his owner to a pet shop because he had to move to an old people's home. Off I went to look at that bird: he was confiding and he whistled. I did not know if he was able to talk, but the decision was made without this certainty: Otto whom we called Gunki entered our life. After a short time of settling in I could realize that Gunki had a big vocabulary. He was very teachable and learned lots of new words and sentences.

Gunki was not really hand tame, but he flew around loose - of course being watched - and sat down on shoulders from time to time. As long as he was in his cage you can even pad and tickle him, but as soon as he was "free", that wasn't possible any more - then he liked to peck. We presume that he must have had bad experience in this direction, but we had no problem to live this way. In case he had to go to the vet we always found a way to catch him in a "soft" way. Gunki never showed any signs of illness. Therefore, his unexpected death on July 6, 2002, caused by cardiac arrest, was kind of a shock.

There were never problems in companionship between the dogs, the cat and the parrots. All of them accept the territory of the others, non of them ever tries to chase a hairy or feathered member of the family.

For a long time I had thought about importing a Briard girl from France. Since Marko turned to feel worse because of his hips I did not want to bother him with another puppy. Unfortunately the condition of Marko turned worse rapidly and so I had to come to the decision to release him from his pain. I think to serve pain killers for a long period of time is nothing lasting. In my opinion an animal shall be able to die in dignity, and that is why I decided to lead Marko to his last "trip" as long as he could tolerably walk on his four legs. It was not easy and the worst thing in this matter was, that I had to fix the day for good-bye already some time in advance, because Marko should be released at home, on the quiet in his well known area. My vet for such matters has Greyhounds and is showing them as well as going to races. So we both had to find a weekend that she had time: Day X was on September 15th, 1995.

I don't ever want to go through such a time - it is hell when you start counting the weeks first, then the days and finally the hours. Still it was the right decision: because of a surgery on his hips at an age of about 18 months Marko was always very stressed at vets, and this kind of stress was what I wanted him not to go through. Never in his life Marko was so calm and well-poised, and since months he had clear eyes again for the first time, without any sign of pain - as if he knew that he was released. Marko was lying in my arms when he started his trip over the Rainbow Bridge. This was the moment I wished that I could say good-bye to all my animals in this calm way when time has come.

Even the ones who have never met Marko personally can see in this picture that the pain was not easy to bear.

The last photo from the pack leader with his Briard family
(from left to right) Aristide, Arwa Z, "Boss" Marko, Arwa B &  Sándor