Years 1997-2002

I received the kennel name Clefell's (short for "Clever Fellows") in 1997. It was clear right from the beginning that I won't aim at becoming a large scale breeder, as this is a beloved hobby for me and I want it to stay that way. A serious hobby, aiming at quality, not quantity – that is my goal.

In 1998, I bred my first, carefully planned litter. The dam was my first GP, Aaparevon Hillary and the sire was Ceriinan Lysti. The litter comprised of only to pups, a male and a female. The female Emerald Empress has proven to be a promising start for my breeding work. By the age of a bit over two years, Emerald Empress had obtained the titles of Finnish, Estonian and Russian show champion and the CACIB:s entitling to the International Show Champion title. But as the most important of all, I regard her BOB and BIS II -win of the Official Club Show of the Finnish Schnauzer-Pinscher Central Organisation together with The Giant Schnauzer Club of Finland on June 10, 2000.

In 1998 I also purchased the bitch Idaco's Filly Fiona for my foundation stock. In Filly Fiona's bloodlines there are the dogs that I most admire in the Finnish GP breeding: Ceda von Haingraben, Asta and Ceriinan Unramari.

Fiona became the mother of Clefell’s G litter in 2001, the sire was Fundora’s Charmat. Fiona proved to be a very good producer – the litter is uniform and the type is just what I wanted. The G litter has done well in shows as well. I kept Clefell´s Grande Dame of this litter for future breeding.

Clefell´s H litter saw daylight in August 2002. The dam is my foundation bitch Clefell’s Emerald Empress and the sire is Ceriinan Jerry. The 8 year old Jerry is still perfectly healthy and has quite an international pedigree spiced by the Finnish bloodlines I want to keep in my breeding programme.