DEROCHE APPENZELLERS
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* ANNOUNCEMENT *
Deroche Appenzellers is pleased to announce the arrival of a litter of Appenzeller puppies born on Feb. 8, 2024.
We have puppies available.
We added our first Appenzeller to our family in February 2015 with no intention of breeding Appenzellers. We were primarily Pug dog breeders and wanted a large dog presence on our property to help keep predatory animals and birds away.
Because there are so few Appenzeller breeders in North America, we were asked if we would consider breeding Appenzellers. So, in 2017 we had our first Appenzeller litter. We have now had five (5) Appenzeller litters including our most recent litter.
We are CKC (Canadian Kennel Club) member breeders and are member breeders in good standing with the AMDCA (Appenzell Mountain Dog Club of America). We currently have three (3) Appenzellers, CH Highleigh Ulric aka Rik, Bucanevue of Alpine Appenzellers aka Buca, and Daenerys von den Sommer Wald aka Dani. All three are registered with AMDCA, AKC and CKC.
Effective, July 1, 2023, the Appenzellers are a recognized 'breed' with the CKC (Canadian Kennel Club) in Canada in the miscellaneous class. Appenzellers are also considered a rare breed with the AKC (American Kennel Club). Appenzellers can be registered with the CKC, AKC FSS (American Kennel Club Foundation Stock Services), and/or the AMDCA (Appenzell Mountain Dog Club of America). Appenzellers can also be registered with and enter UKC (United Kennel Club) and IABCA (International) conformation and performance events held across North America.
In addition to being registered with the CKC and the AKC, our Appenzellers are registered with AMDCA. All of our Appenzeller litters will be registered with the AMDCA so new puppy owners will have the option of having their puppy registered with AMDCA, AKC and/or CKC.
About the Appenzeller Sennenhund Breed
The Appenzeller Sennenhund is a Swiss breed of medium-sized herding/working dog. It originates in the Appenzell region of north-eastern Switzerland and is one of four regional breeds of Sennenhund or Swiss mountain dog, all of which are characterised by a distinctive tricolour coat.
History
The Appenzeller Sennenhund is the traditional working dog of the Sennen – Alpine cattle-herders and dairymen – of the Appenzell region of north-eastern Switzerland. The earliest written description of it is that of Friedrich von Tschudi in Das Thierleben der Alpenwelt, published in 1853. In the late nineteenth century Max Sieber, a forester who had seen the dogs at cattle shows in eastern Switzerland, asked the Schweizerische Kynologische Gesellschaft [de] to recognise the breed a commission was established with financing from the canton of St. Gallen and the Appenzeller Sennenhund was recognised in either 1896 or 1898. Eight of the dogs were shown at the international dog show in Winterthur in 1898; they were entered in a new Sennenhunde class.
In 1906 a breed society, the Appenzeller Sennenhunde Club, was established at the instigation of the cynologist Albert Heim, who in 1914 drew up the first full breed standard. It was definitively accepted by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale in 1954.
It has spread from Appenzell to other parts of Switzerland and to other European countries. A study published in 2004 found it to be the most-registered breed in the canton of Appenzell, with 259 out of a total of 1358 registrations in the canton, or about 19%; in the whole of Switzerland it accounted for 360 of a total of 33470, or about 1.1% of all dogs registered by the Schweizerische Kynologische Gesellschaft.
It is the only Swiss dog breed considered to be at risk by ProSpecieRara, which lists it as gefährdet, 'endangered'. Numbers are stable but the gene pool is narrow; the association is in collaboration with the breed society, the Schweizerischer Club für Appenzeller Sennenhunde, to broaden it.
Characteristics
There are two coat colourations, black and havana brown
The Appenzeller Sennenhund is the third-largest of the Sennenhund or Swiss mountain dog group, which also includes the Grosser Schweizer Sennenhund, the Berner Sennenhund or Bernese Mountain Dog, and the Entlebucher Sennenhund. Appenzellers are a medium-sized dog: male dogs stand some 52–56 cm at the withers, bitches about 2 cm less; weights are in the range 22–32 kg.
The coat is double, the top-coat thick, straight, and glossy. It is always tricoloured: the principal colour may be either black or Havana brown, with white markings to the chest, face and feet, and reddish-brown areas between those and the base colour.
The tail is set high and is carried in a tight curl over the back when the animal is moving. The ears are set high and are triangular and fairly small; they hang close to the cheeks when the animal is at rest and are raised and turned forward when it is alert. Among the faults that disqualify a dog from registration are a wall eye, a kinked tail, a single coat and a coat that is not three-coloured. Dogs may be expected to live for some 12–15 years.
According to the breed standard, the Appenzeller Sennenhund is lively, high-spirited, athletic, and suspicious of strangers.
Use
The Appenzeller Sennenhund was traditionally used by the Alpine cattle herders and dairymen of the Appenzell region both to herd cattle and to guard property. It is often kept as a companion dog.
Please select the following links to see more information about Appenzellers and the breed standard:
Appenzellers have been recognized with the CKC in the Misc Class since July 1, 2023.
Appenzellers have been recognized with AKC FSS (Foundation Stock Services) since the mid-nineties
