2008 Update

Alyeshka have had an exciting year to date, a highlight being our young boy Anakin ‘Lihuk Empire Strikes Bak – Imp Aust’ becoming the youngest Siberian Husky to win BEST IN SHOW All Breeds at just 15 months old. We are also over the moon to have Edge ‘Aust Gr Ch/NZ Gr Ch Sibelk Striding Edge – Imp Aust’ return to NZ shores, and Edge is now owned by Alyeshka Kennels.

It has been a year since Johnny and Sarah’s move to their 2 acre lifestyle block, and the dogs still love every minute of it. The building and development is all but finished, with a new garage, dog runs, and deck (two things for the dogs one for the humans – if only someone could tell them that the runs weren’t for us!). Although, there is always some big new idea that the girls are coming up with so I’m sure we wont get to sit back and relax just yet!

We are enjoying a great year of success in the show ring this year, and Tamzin is away most weekends around the country with members of Team Alyeshka. We are very excited about what the rest of 2008 has in store.

2007 Update

This year has seen some big changes at Alyeshka; following the import of 5 Siberians from Australia in the last 2 years and some very exciting breeding planned we (Sarah and Johnny) decided to make the move back north to establish new kennels in the Waikato and of course it’s a bonus to have Tamzin so close to the us and the dogs again.
We are now settled on two wonderful acres of flat land and are busy setting it all perfectly for the dogs, who are thoroughly enjoying their new environment, especially being able to zoom around crazily in the fenced paddocks.
So most weekends see the boys busily building kennels, runs, whelping room etc while the girls are off at shows; we have been fortunate to have Lisa Johnson (amongst others) showing our dogs very successfully this year when Tamzin has been away busy with several different projects.

Sarah

 

Alyeshka Kennels was founded in 1991 by Sarah Halliday (Pitt) and Grant Pitt.  From this time our family have continued to be competitive in Conformation Shows and Sled Dog Racing, Grant racing the top Six Dog Sprint Team in New Zealand for many years and all three children, Tamzin, Brylee and Robert having raced in Rig Races with excellent results.  Tamzin also raced in Open Races on dirt and on snow in Australia during the winter of 2001, and Tamzin and Sarah are qualified Race Marshalls for Sled Dog Sports.  Brylee and Tamzin have competed in the National Junior Handler Competitions and have shown and titled many of our dogs.

We were the first kennel to import a dog from Alaska to NZ, from the famous Anadyr Racing Kennels.  We have bred 7 Sled Dog Champions, and almost 30 dogs that have achieved their Sled Dog and Sled Dog Excellent titles.  The first Siberian bitch in NZ "Ch Alyeshka Marieke Kaatje SDCH" and the first Siberian in the South Island "Ch Alyeshka Majik Aulluri SDCH" to be multi titled Show and Sled Dog Champions, were bred by Alyeshka.

With the addition of Tamzin to the Alyeshka kennel name in 2003 and Grant leaving the kennels, our focus has moved more towards the Show Ring.  Although we are one of the very few kennels in NZ that continue to have dogs performing successfully on the race track and in the show ring, it is a small sport in this country and we see more scope for our dogs in the now very competitive Breed Ring, taking pride in having bred 14 Show Champions in our kennel name and counting.  We still retain an active interest in Sled Dog Racing as many of the dogs we have bred recently are continuing to be competitive.

We continue to take up the challenge of furthering the breed in New Zealand.  Alyeshka Kennels prime objective is to produce quality dogs with superb temperaments, sound structure, type and overall excellence while keeping within the breed standard.  To achieve this we are very selective in our breeding program, having imported two dogs in 2005 and the Top Winning Dog in NZ for 2006, Aust Gr/NZ Gr Ch Sibelk Striding Edge.