We have been based in London since 2009, when I moved here with my family. I am enjoying finding out about the great traditions of dog owning/training/showing/breeding of this country. The very beginning of our kennel was in a small Northern European country Latvia. The first 5 litters that we had under the name of Amber Sea Dobermanns were whelped there and a big proportion of all of the dogs sti
ll live in Latvia. Our kennel has never been about quantity but about quality. We have always treated our dogs as members of family and great companions and we expect the same from the new owners of our puppies. My name is Inguna Grase and I have always liked dogs (well since I can remember anyway). So when I finally persuaded my Mum to get me a dog, the final choice fell to the breed of Dobermann. My brown Dobermann Greta (El-Emir x Vika) arrived from Moscow in 1985; she was an average female and was a very suitable dog to be the first dog for a 12 year old girl! We went for shows often even though we didn’t get very high places, and went for obedience training regularly. We even practiced some of the show elements they do in circus at a club called My Friend! Greta had one litter of pups but half of the puppies were born with 5 front teeth and even the ones that had full formula of teeth in later progeny gave pups with teeth missing. Unfortunately soon after having puppies Greta died … I got another Dobermann female soon after, called Keistli-Vlad but fortune wasn’t on my side and she went in a tragic way too…
This kind of made me think Dobermanns were not my breed and I switched to Bloodhounds for quite few years. But obviously (and I know you will understand what I mean!!!) I could not go long without a Dobermann and so in 1999 I had a chance to buy Tessa (here I have to say great THANK YOU to Yuri Pekarski!) and it seamed ever since then I am back on track with Dobes and my family (husband and two children) are in love with this gracious and loyal dogs! At the time I was working as a Customs Officer and I was given a chance to take part in a training course with my Tessa to become one of the first Drug search Customs Officers (with a sniffer dog of course). I gladly took the opportunity and we worked as a team for years to come and regularly took part in national and international trials too. We took part in World Customs Organisation Championship for drug searching dogs in 2003 and all our hard work paid off when we were awarded the title of European Champions not only in drug search but obedience too! Tessa has moved to a better place now (may she rest in peace) but is still the only Dobermann having served in Latvian and European Customs service. Whilst serving at Latvian Customs I was given a great opportunity to train at the Dog training facility at Surrey Police in Guildford in 2004. I also took part in a 15 week World Customs Organisation organised course in Czech Republic which has given me a qualification of judge of several disciplines: obedience, drug and explosives, to***co and CITES product search and selecting dogs for service. Having worked for Customs for over 10 years has given me a chance to gain vary valuable experience working with pure breed and crossbreed dogs, very easy going dogs and problematic dogs. At the present time we are concentrating on breeding and have already produced several litters here in the UK. Our first and foremost concern in the health and wellbeing of our puppies. All males and females that we use in breeding are carefully selected. We consider not only their exterior but even more importantly their characters and temperaments. Here at Tegrata we think having a dog should bring joy to his/her owner and who would want to have a scared or even aggressive animal? All our females are health tested and we select males who have been health and preferably temperament (ZTP) tested too. Our puppies are whelped at our home and therefore are used to human companionship from day one, they are familiar with all the household noises, our children, other dogs and even strangers who visit us. This means that the puppies will have the best possible basis for you to build on. Unfortunately we can not guarantee the dogs health or temperament throughout their lives as it is also dependant on how you as a new owner will mould their personality and how much care and exercise they will receive during their lives with you. If you choose to have a puppy from our kennel you should be prepared to spend in a region of £1000. It may seem a lot but we think it is money well spent when you are buying a puppy that has had the best possible start in life. You will receive your puppy at about 8 weeks of age, it will be micro-chipped, de-wormed and vaccinated. We sell puppies for all interests – family pets, show and work dogs – and we will advise you on which puppy will be best suited to your needs and circumstances. I hope this gives you a good insight of what and how we do things at Tegrata!
