The history of the kennel

Walter with Dr. Funk

First of all hello, my name is Michael Rosén (better known as Micke) and the man
and the breeder, the biggest part of this page is dedicated to, was my stepfather Walter Martin.

Well, the story is long, more than 48 years breeding is a long time and there
would be a lot of more to write about. But first of all I want to thank Carola Hein
and Gina Kasbergen for helping me out with this translation. Follow this link, if you want to know more about the name "von der Wienerau"

But I´ll try to keep the the story short and more focused on Walter, personally.

It started in the late 40`s. But it should nearly last a decade until it became serious. At the beginning his priorities were
more into obidience and working dogs but that would change very soon. So he set up the kennel "von der Wienerau" in September 1957. The story of the name you find here (thanks a lot Gina for running this page).

Walter himself was a very charismatic man, who always went his own way - especially with the breeding of German
Shepherds. He consequently tried to follow up his vision for the look of the German Shepherd and never lost his goal through setbacks or failures. Against the common or general opinion he didn´t ---- have continious success with his way.

 In the first time his ideas of the German Shepherd were controversial. It was backthen time he became convinced.

"Jeder macht seins" (Everyone makes their own)

He´d say, everbody has to make their own decissions and has to go their own way. His vision of breeding dogs was, to come as close to the standard as possible and combine that with a deep red-brown coloring (wich wasn´t established back then). Critics may say, that he created a new standard. This should be quite right if you think about that Wienerau dogs are decisively involved in the "black-brown" colour standard of today.

Asso von der Wienerau

To his opion his first two litters had been less spectacular. So he followed the advice
of his father that success in breeding depends on the mother. This hint and the
conviction that a dog has to be very beautiful (as close to the standard as possible)
should be the key for success for the next decades and basis of his breeding capabilities.

As  a result of this he bought the female "Berta vom Lorscher Sand", which, as he
himself always said, had too much of all. Out of Berta came in her first Wienerau litter
Dixie von der Wienerau, which can be seen as the prototype of the Wienerau breeding.

And this was accompanied by success. Out of Dixie came the L-litter, Luno
(SG2, 1963 JKL-R), Lido (V1, 1964 GHKL-R), Landa (VA 1, 1965 GHKL-H) and
of course Liane. In this litter the deep mahagony-red coloring appeared for
the first time, which should be the tagging of the Wienerau-dogs later, and be
mocked by some as "chocolate dogs". The inbreeding of Dixie (Walter was in
favor of inbreeding) Dixie with Lido (as grandfather) led to Quanto in the
first line and in the second line (Via "L") by Liane to Canto. These two dogs
probably had more influence to the German Shepherds than any other dog back
in these days. For more than a decade you found both dogs in almost every
pedigree.

Lido von der Wienerau

Quanto von der Wienerau

Walter himself saw this period as the most influential of his breed with the victories of his kennel group in 1965, 1966, 1967, Siegerin 1965 and VA 2 in both male and female 1971.

Nevertheless his longing desire and dream of making a Sieger first became reality 21 years later.

Looking at the the BSZS-show results back in 1971, Walter had reached the peak. Nobody had achieved these results earlier and a repetition seemed unimaginable. But his vision of the perfect German Shepherd still pushed him.

The following years until 1988 he still had quite a lot of "Auslese"-dogs but
still this time has to be seen as a rather unsuccessful period. Throughout this period he never lost his love for the dogs and he liked to to use following short maxim: "7 rich years are followed by 7 lean years". And
there were a few years more than just 7 to work harder for the matter.
Well known for his breeding success Walter became a respected
international SV-judge and Körmeister.

He traveled around the world and found new friends everywhere.
When I was a child, nearly each week we had visitors from abroad and
this has made an indelible impression on me. These meetings were again
and again accompanied by funny stories. According to himself these had
been quite wild times. Finally, he wasn´t the only SV-judge who´d never miss a party.
In hand sight I would like to know, if he has seen traveling and judging
as a nice variety to the daily business , with the chance to think about coming litters.

Canto von der Wienerau

Walter while bustling

"I can only breed with the dogs I have at my disposal - that means only with
my females and the possible males. But if the blood doesn´t fit , it´s just good
luck if it results in a top dog." There wasn´t much time where he didn´t think
about dogs and breeding. On a usually Sunday evening during the show season
our phone never stood still. The lastest news and the newest rumors had to be
discussed.
And if he didn´t judge he spent most of his time in the kennel with the dogs.
He called it "wurschteln". I guess the translation is something like bustling around.
And believe me, he always found something to bustle.

In the following years he found like-minded enthusiasts for dogs and tried to reach his vision. Looking back, I guess, that in the beginning and middle of the 80´s
one of his wise insights came true: the blood didn´t really fit. But the bustling around was worthwhile. In 1992 his biggest wish came true: a Wienerau-male
finally made Sieger (Zamb). I remember asking him once back in 1990 or 1991 why
a "Sieger" was so important to him. He already was such a well respected and successful breeder. He gave me a surprising answer. As many related his breeding simply resulted in good females and he honestly wanted to show everybody that he couldn breed nice males, too.

Particularly he felt unhappy and kiind of ignored with Quanto. Remember as far as I know in 1972 and 1973 the positions
in the Auslese were given by kennelnames. Which means having a kennelname starting with "W" would always place your
dog in the back. For Walter Quanto had deserved the Sieger-title already back in 1972 as vice-Sieger 1971.

The period 1988-1995 was again very succesful for the kennel Wienerau and was crowned with the success in 1992 BSZS. Walter finally reached his dream, with
Zamb he had a male becomming VA1. Especially if you have in mind, nobody could
blame Zamb for being a Sieger as one of his daughters (Vanta) became VA1 and
another daughter (Nathalie) was Junghundsiegerin. Something never seen before.
The total success for 1992 ended with winning the kennelgroup. Comparing 1971
with 1992 Walter ment 1992 was the biggest success for the kennel meanwhile the success in 1971 was more important for his breed. And in Vanta he had archieved
his vision. To his mind Vanta was the most perfect dog he had ever bred.

Even if the next years were still filled with elite dogs, 2 times VA1 (Vanta 1994 and
Nathalie 1995) he always said, that more diffucult times will begin again. He knew,
from now on we would be judged by the success and the quality of 1992.

But Walter hadn´t been Walter without a new goal. Now he wanted to breed a
male with the quality of Vanta. It would have been very exciting to know where
his breeding had led to and if the blood would have matched.

Walter with Vanta and Zamb 1992

Unfortunately he had not time left to fullfill he new dream. In August 1996 he died unexpectedly. This was a severe loss
for a lot of people and,of course, for us. But it was clear very quick it had to be carried on. But since this time the running
of the kennel "von der Wienerau" is within the bounds of smaller possibilities. There never was any doubt of continuing the kennel. Neither when Vanta died quite young in the beginning of 1997 or when Joyce (a female out of Vanta´s last litter)
was stolen nor when a great part of the kennel burned down and we lost three dogs. The biggest part of our kennel was destroyed and a lot of keepsakes, too.

I guess this is the right point to end this story. There would be so much more to write about the man and breeder Walter Martin. But I hope all of you who never met Walter personally got to know a bit more about him and I succeeded in making him more real to you. At the same time I hope that all friends who knew him, agree with this portrait.