Thorncroft Saint Bernard Breeder In Gauteng South Africa

Introduction to Thorncroft Saint Bernards:

About Thorncroft Saint Bernards:

My name is Claudia Pretorius and the owner of Thorncroft Saint Bernard kennel, Breeders of Quality Saint Bernards.We are situated in Gauteng, South Africa.

Our Saint Bernard breeding program consists of South African and European bloodlines. We strive to better our breeding program through selective breeding and incorporating international top winning Saint Bernard bloodlines into our breeding program.

We were very involved in the Bullmastiff breed from 1998, and bred some gorgeous Bullmastiffs that we were very proud of. I started looking overseas to import Bullmastiffs, but in my search I came across some extraordinary Saint Bernard exemplars, and reading material on the breed that just intrigued me more. Because I always have loved the breed we decided to do more research, and accomplish my dream of being an owner of this gorgeous and majestic breed named - Saint Bernards.

We retired our Bullmastiffs (meaning we did not get new homes for them; they were our companions first and loved them dearly), we just retired them - meaning they stayed with us and grew old in dignity and still lounged around. As a owner your responsibility is for life with each dog you own. From the first to the last part of their lives. Mine stay, they are neutered or spayed, and just as loved and adored as before - THEY ARE STILL FAMILY!

More about our exciting journey:

As a child my uncle's Saint Bernard, Barry made a hudge impression on me. He was the biggest dog I have ever seen, and to a child of eight years of age, a Saint Bernard male is something to behold. He was such a hudge bear that was the sweetest giant. I remember how I looked at him when he came strolling into the kitchen, putting his head on the kitchen counter, to see what snacks are on the counters. I had a foxterier as a child, so seeing this hudge Saint who's back was just as high as the dinner table, was astonishing and amazing to me. I loved his soft nature and my love for the Saint Bernard breed began here.

My husband also had the "Beethoven movie image of the amount of food they eat in his mind", but the persistent person I am, I won him over. And he agreed that we can get "one" Saint. Well, needless to say, we got more.

I started doing research on the Saint Bernard breed, and visited kennels to meet te breeders and their lovely Saints.

I always had a dream of owning a Saint Bernard, and we decided to get a local bred female named Willema Maggie of Thorncroft her home name was Amy. We also bought local bred males, Vonnicolandria Dupre of Thorncroft and Gwenevre Sambuca of Thorncroft. After a while we decided to get more involved in the breed and quickly came to realize that AT THAT TIME, the genepool was very limited. And if we wanted to go further with the Saint Bernard breed, we will have to start expanding our breeding program through importing of new bloodlines. We embarked on a journey to improve our breeding lines and did research on many different bloodlines and kennels and their achievements. Aswell as consistency in what they produced.

One has to assess your dogs and measure them to the breed standard. It is crucial to be honest with yourself and to ask expert's in the breed their opinion on, and in which area you should be improving on, in each of your dogs.

You often hear the term "the perfect dog has not been bred", (because there will always be an area in which there can be improved on). So we started contacting reputable Saint Bernard breeders in Europe and built a friendship with them. We discussed our goals, dreams and plans with them. And under their guidance and abundance of knowledge we learned about the European bloodlines. This is a long journey of discovery and trust. You have to trust the people you are importing from. And they in return must realize, that their bloodline/s are going to be an advert for everyone to see in another country, what type, and overall quality (the specific kennel consists of).So if you select a dog to export, let it be the best exemplar of your kennel, because your name and that of your kennel is represented by the dog you export. We were lucky and honoured to have made the right decisions in importing our Saints from amazing Show kennels who offered us supremely good representatives of the breed and we are forever thankful, and value their input and frienship.

Our Saint Bernards we imported from Europe:

Quick fact to know: after a imported dog the abbreviation -IMP is written - meaning import and then the other abbreviation for example -NL which is in this case the Netherlands; to state where the said dog is imported from. The kennel from where (overseas) the dog is imported from; then the dog's registered name/s and then the kennel which is the registered importer and owner of the imported dog. Followed by the imported abbreviations.

Our first imported Saint Bernard Female:
1).Van Het Borgerbos Faith of Thorncroft from the Netherlands.
Our second imported Saint was a male, 2).Transylvania Giant Caleb of Thorncroft from Romania.
Our second imported female 3).Transylvania Giant Franchesca Di Amor of Thorncroft and her litter sister;
Our third imported female.
4).Transylvania Giant Forever In Blue Jeans of Thorncroft also from Romania.
Our second imported male we imported, was
5).Wielkopolski Geronimo of Thorncroft from Poland.

We strive to learn as much as we can about genetics and the betterment of each generation .

Breeding involves a lot of time, money, experience, total devotion to the breed, art, science and loving care. There are NO short cuts or luck involved in breeding, it is determination and knowledge, and you learn every day of your life something new.

We do not breed very often, only when we want to add a pup or two to our family. So there is a waiting list we have in place for when we are going to have a litter again.

Saint Bernards are gorgeous dogs that offer devotion to their owners. They have a high level of trainability and intelligence, and love to interact with people, early puppy socialization is very important. We allways recomend puppy socialization classes to be attended. Saints are great kids dogs, but the key word is training. Like wise the program starts when you bring your human baby home from hospital. The same rules apply for a dog. The caring, nurturing, feeding, teaching, loving interaction and time spent to care for your human baby, same rules apply. What you put into your pups development, you get out. You do the best to accuip your kids for a prosperous future, - do the same for your puppy. And you will be very proud and happy.