Nuba came to our family in 2005 and at that moment my greatest wish came true - having my own dog. Before I decided for a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, also known as ''swissy'', I gathered information on some other breeds, but none of them suited my requirements completely. I was looking for a dog that is active enough to accompany me at running, hiking and riding; a dog that is friendly but at the same time a little bit reserved to strangers (unbribable); a good guard dog that is easy to take care of and that can be trained in obedience or other sports. Then I found a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog and knew that this breed is perfect for me. When I saw "swissy" litter for the first time, I fell in love with this breed. But it was not easy to find a puppy as there were not many dogs of this breed in our country and all the puppies born at that time were already reserved-also Nuba. She should go abroad and was first pick up from the litter. Unfortunately (and luckily for me) her new owner had to cancel reservation because of personal reasons. When I found out that there is one puppy available, I call her breeder immediately and Nuba went home with me that day. There is no words to describe, how happy I was! I didn't have any real knowledge about breed at that time. Didn't know much about pedigrees, lines, health problems, constitutional requirements so someone could sell me just everything. But I know, Nuba was meant to me in some way...

Nuba, 4 months old

We never had any problems with Nuba. She was very good puppy-the one that every new owner would wish for. Happy, lively, completely unproblematic, open to other people and dogs. She was house clean with 3,5 months. Well, once she did a stupid thing-a little research in our kitchen's drawers (don't know how she manage to open them) and scaterred cookies, pasta, cocoa etc. all around the living room. When I came into the room, I couldn't believe what I saw-it really was a big mess. But you couldn't be angry with her-we cleaned up the mess and she never ever try to do something similar, moreover she never destroyed anything and she was always free in the house. I always took her everywhere with me-to my lectures at the faculty, to the coffe, parties and similar and she was easily used to different places and situations. If needed, she didn't complain to sleep few hours in my car-she just wanted to accompany me and was the most happy to spent day with me. She adores driving with car and the biggest punishent for her is, if she has to stay at home some day.

Nuba, 8 months old

We live in the countryside in a house with big garden and conditions for the dog are almost perfect. We are surrounded by neverending forests and meadows, where we can go for our daily walks. Behind the house a brook flows where Nuba likes to refresh herself (especially in summer). We don't have a fenced yard, but she never wanders off. She spends most of the time with us, in the house-sleeping on her big pillow. When we go on a trip, we always take her with us. She goes everywhere with me and is a very important part of my life.

Nuba, 1 year old

Nuba is a typical representative of her breed with excellent character, completely open to people. She was born on 20.05.2005 in Grosuplje (Slovenia) and her pedigree name is Nera. In the Slovenian pedigree book she is registered under number 202. She is compact, powerful, strong bitch, with strong bones and excellent constitution, very self-confident and an exceedingly stable bitch. She is a very reliable guard dog (who barks only when really needed), never aggressive and she behaves very well in town or in new situations-she actually doesn't care for anything. She is used to pets and gets along well with them, but she likes to chase  cats (not the domestic one) or squierrels. She frequently goes with me when I go horse riding (and she adores this). She is not reserved and suspicious towards strangers as it is said in the books swissies should be and I like this. But she would not go to the stranger-she ignores them. When I would stop and talk to someone she will be there immediatelly and let's herself be petted like no other dog in the world! She gets along well with children and is very calm around them. She learns very quickly, which is very helpful in training and at this time she is the only representative of this breed in Slovenia with so high obedience exams done.

Nuba, 2 years old

In March 2006 we started with search and rescue work (which was always my wish). We joined the search and rescue club Kranj, whose members we still are. Although this breed isn't the most appropriate for search and rescue work because of it's weight and size, I was pretty amazed by Nuba's work. We also take part in few real searcing tasks, looking for a missing persons. But because of her size she quickly got injured in the ruins (cuts, falls) and after she cuts her ligaments on the toe, I decided to stop with trainings. In future a smaller and lighter dog will perhaps join us, which will be more suitable for SAR, but in the meanwhile I learned a lot from Nuba. And I am sure all those tiring trainings gave Nuba a lot of experience and also contribute to her amazing character.
In 2007 we started with Rally obedience training and took part in more RO competitions, where we were very successful. Many times we were among the first three competitors, few times we even won. We defeated breeds that are known for their high working abilities and easier training and proved, that with the appropriate motivation swissies can be highly trained.

Search and rescue training and Rally obedience competition

Nuba passed following exams:

In 2006 we decided to take part in few shows (just to try) and she was very successful there too. That was actually the reason I also started to show her more (I didn't have any plans about showing when I buy her-I didn't even know anything about shows at that time). She won many times in Slovenia and abroad and achieved fantastic results. She is junior champion of Slovenia in beauty, international beauty champion, champion of Slovenia, Austria, Croatia and Slovakia in beauty, european vice winner 2008, world vice winner 2009, Tulln bundessieger 2008, Slovenian club winner for the year 2007 (with 19 months) and 2010, Croatian club winner for the year 2009 and more. I think I can say without hesitation she is among the most beautiful bitches in Europe. She was always owner handled (so showed by myself). Although she is very successful we will visit dog shows only occasionally in the future. More pictures of Nuba can be find in her GALLERY.

In April 2007 we past the breed suitability test. It is a preliminary condition for breeding and consists of evaluations of appearance, character and X-ray evaluation of hips. She got the highest grade (1st breeding class). Her X-ray results are HD B, ED 0, OCD 0 (X-rayed on Faculty of Veterinary medicine in Ljubljana, Slovenia with 23 months, pictures were evaluated by prof. dr. Bojan Zorko).
She is also completely free from all eye diseases. That means she doesn't have PRA (progressive retinal atrophy), cataract, distichiasis, entropium, ectropium, etc. This examination was performed by ECVO specialist, dr. Hannes Gressl from Austria (in Slovenia, unfortunatelly we still don't have any ECVO specialist). In 2010 on repeated test we found a small dot in right eye. This is most probably the beginning of cataract, but luckily swissies don't have problems because of this.

Nuba gave us 3 wonderful litters-in total 21 puppies. Her children live all around the Europe and some of them are already successfully following her footsteps-in show rings and breeding. From her second litter I keep a female Diva Karantanska, who was vice european winner with only 22 months of age. She is my hope for the future.

Nuba and Rina	Nuba, Best and Athos

I learned a lot from my Nuba and she was the reason (because of all her qualities) that our kennel Karantanska was established. I wonder every day how I earned this devoted, lovely, smiling dog and I am gratefull for every day she is spending with me. She is-definitively-once in a life time dog!