The Valburg kennel was founded in 2000; that is when my first litter was born. I was living my childhood dream and had German Shepherd Dogs; I had learnt the basics of breeding and dog training with them, I had been working with the breed for 15 years. During this era, I had gained a massive experience, and had learnt a lot from the successful breeders and trainers of the time, for which I am beyond grateful even today. With the help of trainers, I had done the work tests of my dogs myself, and we had participated in countless exhibitions both in Hungary and in Germany, the country of origin of the breed.
Starting in 2008, we were breeding jointly with my husband under his kennel name (The Braveheart Land). Then our children were born, and our focus shifted to them, which meant we did not have enough time for the breed, and our dogs started to get old. Thus, we decided to suspend breeding for a while. This decision did not last for a long time, since my husband fell in love with the breed of Tibetan Mastiff; therefore, we imported an exquisite male from Estonia next to our Hungarian female. The needs of the breed were completely different from the German Shepherds, so we could take care of them and do quality breeding while raising our children. Valburg Tibetan Mastiffs have lived in numerous countries of the world, such as the USA, Mexico, Canada, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Spain, etc., and we are really proud that they have stood their own all around the world.
As our children were growing, we felt more and more that we needed to return to a breed that could be worked with. The Tibetan is a gorgeous ancient breed, a real territory protector, but they know their job without explicit teaching; they are not known for being servile. The final push was given by our daughter, who came up with the full seriousness of 6-year-olds, explaining that she would like a dog that brings the ball back, lives in the house, and follows us everywhere. We had only one condition: it must not shed. That is how we started to explore the breeds, and it did not take a long time to find water dogs. The only remaining question was whether we preferred the Italian or the Spanish. After thorough research on the internet and countless hours spent negotiating with breeders, it quickly became obvious that we would choose the Lagotto Romagnolo.
In December 2019, a Russian female of Italian heritage, Vanilla, burst into our lives. She totally enchanted us from the first moment with her personality. She has become the establishing female of our kennel, who has gifted us many joyful Lagotto moments. The first Lagotto litter arrived in 2021, when it turned out that due to an administrative error, our original kennel name had not been internationally registered by the kennel club, and therefore, we resubmitted the FCI registration of the kennel in 2021. With a little change, but we have been successful in registering the kennel as Valburg Lagotto Heaven (FCI 333/2021). Vanilla’s puppies have become fantastic family, sport, and show dogs. Later on, she was followed by Morgana Dei Gioiosi Rubacuori, who came right from the breed’s country of origin, Italy. She has also become a determining dog of our kennel, and her daughter, Valburg Lagotto Heaven Penelope, took lots of victories in her stride in 2021, becoming Hungary’s TOP Junior Lagotto of the year.
We are committed to quality breeding.
What does it actually mean for us?
The holy trinity of health, character, and appearance. Our main goal is to breed healthy individuals, while preserving the rustic look and unique character of the breed. This can only be achieved by strict selection, and even if it is hard sometimes, quality dog breeding often requires making hard decisions. The breeding pairs are always chosen after in-depth research into the bloodline and the individual dogs, and we always have a breeding concept in mind of what exactly we are expecting from a certain litter. The puppies’ birth is always expected with big hopes, and we always follow their development excitedly. Then, if everything goes as planned, we choose the puppy in which we see the expected positive properties the most. Keeping a puppy is not a guarantee for anything though, a puppy is always just a promise, which might fulfill our expectations or might not. All of our puppies are raised with love; nevertheless, we assess our dogs at the age of 1 year with the needed strictness to see whether they have actually developed outstandingly in all expected areas. If not, they do not get involved in breeding; if yes, they start their show career.
A breed can be got to know best in its country of origin. We have been in contact with Italian breeders from the first moment, who we have learnt a lot from. We have visited them several times; thus, we have had the chance to learn the grooming of the breed from professionals, and we have got introduced to the new and old bloodlines. We have listened to breeders’ experience, and we could gain insight into truffle hunting in the Italian way. Starting from 2020, we have always visited the biggest Italian event of the year, which is organised every year in October in the breed’s homeland, Bagno Di Romagna. The number of entered dogs has been rising in the past years, and in 2024, over 350 Lagottos participated at this prestigious event from every corner of the world. In that year we participated with 4 of our homebred dogs, achieving great success, which we are extremely proud of.
Breeder
Managing the everydays and mental and physical exhaustion of the dogs belong to me. This means very diverse activities, from a simple ball game to obedience basics, and even teaching the basics of truffle hunting could fit in a day of mine. Not to forget about the developmental exercises with current litters. Furthermore, the grooming of our dogs is mainly my area of expertise. Regarding breeding matters, we always decide together.
Co-breeder, handler
I had lived in the charm of German Shepherd Dogs from my childhood; I had bred them for almost 30 years, during which I had also been the Breeding Inspector of the Hungarian German Shepherd Dog Club. My expertise is primarily the training and presenting of our dogs at exhibitions. The breeding and keeping of lagotto is not just a hobby but a lifestyle, which I could not imagine our everydays without anymore.
Co-breeder, handler, webdesigner, photographer
My first connection to dogs is the development of our website, which is run by me up to this day. I have got more and more interested in the breed over the years, and in the meantime I have started photographing; our dogs have quickly become my favourite subjects. Then I suddenly noticed that I was tracing Lagotto bloodlines, reading the standard, and participating at shows. By now, I also train and present our dogs at shows. My goal is to become an FCI international judge as soon as I can.
Early socialization trainer, Agility trainer
I have been in love with dogs since I was born. Shows were never my favourite; therefore, I only attend them every now and then. However, I love taking care of puppies from their birth, going to dog school, and taking up new dog sports. I have started agility with Toffee, and we are planning to compete as well.