First, we'd like to thank all who, with different degrees of effort or interest, have dedicated a few minutes of their time to know the history of our dogs and our lives with them.

We will tell you where we are. We live in the Province of Caceres, exactly 15 kilometers from Trujillo which is a city with lots of history and monuments. We live in a house where we raise cattle so as you can imagine we have a large piece of land where our dogs can run around with freedom and no barriers.

It was at the first dog show we went 12 years ago that we decided to buy our first dobermann, a dog we had liked for quite sometime for its stance and strength. And there was Dardo, our first dobermann. He was big and with a lot of bone, yet friendly and sweet to everyone that came to meet him. He soon became the object of our affection and attention at the same time he subtly took ownership of our house and grandpa's armchair particularly. We thought about taking him to a show and see what came out of that adventure. You must know that we had never taken part of such an event. We had no idea how to present him or what the judge would be looking for. As you all know, as you go on the ring the judge asks the dog to be seated to check his teeth, but as the judge approached him and started bending over to carry on his duty, our beloved Dardo tried to reach his face to greet him with a few licks. Needless to say the judge didn't appreciate this. His gestures of rejection an disapproval were evident. Furthermore, later as he circled the ring he didn't have a better way to express his excitement than to start jumping around as he went. This was a new world for him and he was ready to enjoy it. When we tried to make him pose with the rest of the dogs he let himself fall on the grass and started to frolic as if he was home. This was a great ending to our first incursion in the world of dog shows. We never brought him to a show again, not for lack of desire but for other circumstances of life with which we are not going to take your time right now. Today Dardo is still with us. Old but always willing to lick anyone who comes home, whether he knows them or not.

As with men, we think dogs shouldn't be alone so we decided to look for a female with the intention to eventually have puppies and increase our family. We decided the best way to go about was to contact a breeder and they sent us Kika. We noticed her character to be stronger and more alert than Dardo's and we soon saw that she was made to work with cattle. She soon learned without any guidance, just by watching and listening to my husband. She was the only one directing and showing the way to the herd, she would bite the tail of the cattle and remain hanging as she was a work tool. She followed orders and she liked it so much that it was cl ear she was just waiting for the next morning to do her job with my husband. Before she left us, suddenly and pregnant when she was six years old, she left us a lot of puppies and unforgettable memories.

Sugar was born in the first litter between Dardo and Kika. Who hasn't kept a puppy from the first litter? Like the rest of our dogs she grew free and only knew the place where she lived. Big as her father and even more temperamental than her mother yet affectionate and attentive with the ones she loved she became the perfect guardian of our home. Unlike her father she didn't like strangers and whoever tried to come in would have to deal with her. She liked to run away with her father jumping over a fence five feet tall and to run around the land looking for something or for someone to scare. Fatally, she also left us when she was six. She was suffering and we had to put her to sleep.

It was then that we decided to go back to the world of dog shows. During all that time we kept in touch through magazines and publications about the world of dobermanns. And so we decided to go to Barcelona. We returned home with Jazmine de Grifew, a sweet and very feminine female from a lineage of champions. Her father is Xandor de Grifeu. We started traveling all across Spain with her getting with results sometimes and not so good other times. We learned to move the dogs on the floor, to pose them, to make them obey. There is no doubt that going and observing the shows is the best way to learn. People gave us good advice and we made lots of friends that remain so until today. We decided to cross Jazmine, whose name since birth was Ada, with Oscar de Swarlazd. We knew his owner and breeder and so we dared to become parents again. Senda d e Rio Alto and Thor de Rio Alto came out of that union. Later we crossed her with Tranqui Tronco de Swarlazd (later we'll tell you about him) y Asia de Rio Alto arrived. There you have Thor. A dog that has won its place with the dedication and passion of one who has become a friend forever, Rafael. With Senda, a well behaved small brown female with a nice temperament and as sweet as Dardo though she doesn't have any blood ties, we started winning in breed, CAC and CACIB. So much success for two beginners put wings on our effort.

Asia, though we only saw her twice, has a beautiful body and we'd like to see her more often just like with her parents Monica and Jose Luis, a charming couple.

Then it came the day when mother Nature called for Senda to be a mother and we chose Tranqui Tronco de Swarlazd, a dog that so fortunately and unexpectedly came into our lives when he was nine months old and now is Champion of Spain and Gibraltar. Since he was nine months old he started winning breeds everywhere in Spain and Portugal where he obtained first places among older dogs. Those of you who know us have already heard us tell you about her character and morphology. Those that don't, will have an idea by the accomplishments she has had in shows in the past four years. Few other dogs can compete with her and beat her. As we were telling you, Senda and Tranqui became parents giving birth to puppies like Bosanova, Come On Baby and Cheroki Boy, and I'm just mentioning the ones that are leaving their mark on show floors since unfortunately the majority of puppies go to people that are not int erested in shows and thus we loose contact with them.

We sold Bosanova to our beloved Rafa and Maite. She has an exceptional work instinct and as far as her looks, you can appreciate her beauty on the web and confirm that I don't exaggerate if I say she's set to win many competitions. Cheroki and Come on Boy are siblings from the second litter also produced with Tranqui who is known in the family as Frodo.

Cheroki is a one year old male with a very sociable disposition and a strong and compact build. Of course we must thank his owner, Manolo, for all the love and dedication he provides.

Lastly, I will tell you about Come On Boy. She was taken to Zaragoza by Angel together with her blood cousin Thor de Rio Alto. In shows, she can pose like few others. Although not heavily built, she is very compact and harmonious and when you add that to her attitude it makes me wish I could show her over and over again.

I also want to tell you that in April we imported a young female from Russia, Beladonna de Sant Kreal and we bought another one from our friends De Rizzi, Quiara Vara de Rizzi. To those of you that are just starting let us help you by saying that it's not the best idea to stick to a reduced lineage. On the contrary, whether it's dobermanns or other breeds, it's important to renovate and import that which you lack. This is what we did and now we expect even better results we can share with you. You will not be disappointed.

Thanks again to everyone that has believed in us and to all that gave us valuable advice. Even though some of you are now far away we are still united by friendship. And to all of you who haven't met us yet, we invite you to learn more about Rio Alto. We will not disappoint you.

Regards to all of you friends of the dobermann.