ABOUT US

We are a small hobbykennel situated near Tartu, Estonia. We breed Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, owners: Gea and Dina Lepik. Our kennel was founded in 2001 when our first cavalier - tricolour bitch Cawinton Alson - gave birth to her first litter. The central part of our kennelname "alder" comes from the English version of our familyname. In the beginning and in the end of the name there is something from our whole family (Gea, Dina, Rein and Kaido), who all have made their contribution to taking care of the dogs, litters and preparation of this homepage.

   We took our first cavalier in 1998. We were hoping that she could be successfully shown and later used in breeding. As a matter of fact Alson was not meant to become a top winner and as we were realistic enough and self critical too we ended her show career after having obtained 4 "excellents", two Res. CAC, one CAC and one BOB from the Estonian shows. Instead, Alson turned out to be a wonderful mother. In 2005 when Alson was 7 years old we took her to Finland for health tests. Her heart, knees and eyes were examined and she was completely healthy. It was a great relief for us because we have mated her four times and all her litters have been big, strong and healthy.

   From the mating of Alson with a beautiful black&tan male of New Zealand origin Prestonville Aris Tweed, owned by Annukka Paloheimo, Finland, six wholecolour puppies were born. We left at home a black&tan bitch puppy Galderden Night Fairy. Fairy became the first champion raised in our kennel.

   Fairy`s black&tan sister Star lives in Moscow in kennel Tomhof where she was bought for breeding. Star is RUS CH by now and she has given birth to two nice litters in Moscow.

   We have mated Fairy four times alltogether and she has given birth to 24 puppies! From her matings with a nice ruby male EST, LV, LT & BALT JUN CH, LV JW03, LT JW03, BaltJW03, EST & LV CH, INT CH Zeus von Oppermann Schlosschen we have left at home two bitches Galderden Magic Lady "Maggy" and Galderden Ma Petite "Betty". Both are bl & tan bitches of good type and size. Daughter of Fairy and Zeus Galderden Candeleda lives in German kennel Royal Hero`s. Galderden Caballero "Cappy" lives with a wonderful family near Tartu and you can find about him here. The young and prospective bl&tan bitch G. Eden Rose (living in Finnish kennel Giggling) is also Fairy`s daughter (the father is our bl&tan boy Caesar Gamtos Isdaiga who joined our kennel in 2006).

   The last litter from our new charming ruby German boy D CH Royal Hero`s Jules Verne "Moses" is only 3 weeks old at the moment (May 2009) but we hope them to grow into good-looking and healthy cavaliers as well.

   By now the owners have made official health examinations to seven Fairy`s puppies and everybody has been absolutely healthy (heart 0, knees 0/0 and eyes: no PRA, HC or RD).

   Fairy has already got several successful grand-children. The children of Maggy: EST & LT JUN CH, the 4th junior of Tartu Spanielclub in 2008 G. Franz Joseph, EST & LT JUN CH, the 3rd junior of Tartu Spanielclub in 2008 G. Fräulein Theresa and the BIS-1 puppy of the cavalier king charles spaniel special show in 2009 Galderden Grimaldi; also Betty`s children EST & LV & RUS JUN CH G. Divine Princess, EST & LT & BLR JUN CH G. Distant Drizzle and the BIS-2 baby of the cavalier king charles spaniel special show in 2009 G. Hugo Boss. Franz, Theresa and Boss live in our kennel, Deivi is coowned by us and lives near Tartu. With the matings of Maggy and Betty we have brought in new blood from Germany and from Sweden.

   Although we are more dedicated to the breeding of wholecolour cavaliers, You can meet also some blenheims and tricolours in our kennel. In 2002 we bought from Finnish kennel Blenmarin a blenheim male puppy Blenmarin Gold Legacy "Lexa" who by now has become EST J CH; EST & LV & LTU & BALT & RUS CH.

   The most promising of Lexa`s and Älli`s puppies - Galderden Sweet Diamond - lives in Finland and she is coowned by Marianne Trogen, kennel Blenmarin . She has got "excellent" in Finland, she is healthy and she has also had two litters in Finland. Mandi`s sister Sweet Lily has been successful in Estonian showrings and she has given birth to one litter of two bitch puppies, Babbler`s Smoke Signal as the father. Both puppies, Galderden Amy Aquamarine and Galderden Annie Angelique are coowned by us and they live very close to Tartu. You can find more about Annie here.

   In the year 2006 our family was joined by a little blenheim girl Blenmarin Early Fatima "Mia" who by now has become EST & LV & LT & BALT JUN CH; EST & LV & LT & RUS CH, FIN JW-07, FINW-07, ESTW-08, LVW-08, BALT W-08, 5 x CACIB. Mia came to us from Marianne Trogen, kennel Blenmarin .

   During those eleven years with cavaliers and cavalier breeding we have learnt and developed a lot. We find our experience very valuable because it has come by self learning, later with a strong support of Finnish cavalierbreeders. In Estonia we have not found much support, rather felt ourselves as undesired competitors who need to be removed from the stage by any means. In spite of that we have used our common sense helped by our education of biologist and geneticist (both me and my husband) and got to know the cavalierworld more and more profoundly. Having met several obstacles and faced lots of problems ourselves we have tried to spare other Estonian cavalier breeders and beginners from those mistakes and tried to share our experience and knowledge on our special cavalierpage (http://www.hot.ee/spanjelclub/ ). With the help of an Estonian cavalierbreeder Kaarin Kaaviste we have written and translated articles about the breed standard, history, breeding, colours, genetics, health, taking care of cavaliers, buying the puppy and making contracts. Kaarin has translated several good articles about breeding, I myself have tried to set light to the inheritage of colours from the scientific point of view, write about the essence of the heart disease and teach the beginners how to make fare contracts. This material has been available from the year 2002 already. Giving information and teaching people has not always been liked by other breeders, possibly by threatening their monopolistic status and "easy and comfortable life" in Estonian cavalier-breeding. Anyway, public discussions have brought up several problems and shortcomings and in the past years Estonian cavalierbreeding has started to develop quickly and the knowledge of people, even puppy-buyers, has risen tremendously. We hope that we have made our contribution to this and will give still more in future.

   We are the members of Estonian Kennel Union, Tartu Spanielclub, Estonian Cavalier Society and the Finnish Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club.

   In our breeding we follow the rules of Finnish Cavalierclub, learn from international positive experience, try to find like-minded friends in other countries at the same time trying to make the best of our biological education in order to breed healthy and good-looking cavaliers.