Memories about Syriel De Meulenaer written by Anne Wallin,"Fixus",Sweden My friend Cyriel De Meulenaer One of our most successful breeders of Schnauzer has peaceful left us and I miss him a lot. I loved this persistent old gentleman more than I really knew. Today I think of him even more often. Before, I usually picked up the phone and called him. Now when he no longer is among us I have to remember all the things he taught me to be careful about. Especially the type! I met Cyriel too late in life. I can just imagine how it would have been if I had known him when I was younger…. He shared all he knew if you only had the interest to learn. Here in Sweden except for the later years, we have had quarantine for the import of animals. Therefore most of us in Scandinavia during the 70th and 80th, haven’t had the best opportunity to follow the breed in other parts of Europe as close as you should to keep you fully informed. But now with open borders and the help also of internet, it is much easier. In Valencia 1994 at the WW show I saw Cyriel show both Opium and Ocus-Pocus v d Havenstad to their winner titles. Wonderful dogs who I was deeply impressed of. Especially the allover type! That was his mark I believe. Breeding for the type and not dealing too much with small details. He had this “fingertip” feeling for bringing the right dogs together. A few years later we had our first Havenstad male from Cyriel. Multichampion Multiwinner Ulf van de Havenstad. A once in a lifetime dog! He made himself famous all over the schnauzer world by becoming WW-98 and Dog Of The Year all breeds 1998 in Sweden. He was # 1 Schnauzer Pinscher for over 6 years and placed in the top of the Swedish kennel Club’s winner list for over 4 years. He is until now, the only dog winning group 2 at the biggest show in Scandinavia, five years in a row and a multi BEST IN SHOW winner at international shows. All the time supported by Cyriel. I had the most expensive telephone bills at that time J. Ulf have also been a superb stud dog. Our second dog from Cyriel is Diva, FinCh SweCh Swe Winner -00, -03 Fin Winner-00 Yankeegirl van de Havenstad. Also very successful, both in the show ring ( SSPK Dog Of The Year 2001) and as a broad bitch. When we went for Diva I said to Cyriel that if he once in the future would consider letting Diva’s mother, Ch Ultimo van de Havenstad, go to another family, I should be happy to buy her. After one more litter at the kennel he said he decided to give her to me. I was thrilled for that offer. This gorgeous female called Mini, took her Swedish title soon after coming home. After her short show career, Mini had one litter sired by Ch Fixus Double Connection. She was the full sister to Ulf, a true schnauzer! SweCh FinCh Zorro van de Havenstad was our next male. A one year younger brother to the famous X-mas & Xenofile van de Havenstad. He is really a god schnauzer and that was what Cyriel wanted for us. Zorro is the Sire (among others) to Dog Of The Year 2006 of the Swedish Schnauzer Pinscher Club Multichampion Multi Winner Fixus Toyboy (BIS winner at the Swedish Kennel Club) and #1 Dog of the year 2005 Multichampion Multiwinner Fixus Higher N’ Higher. Zorro himself was Dog Of The Year 2002. He was not showed much as always being # 2 behind Ulf. These four dogs were showed the same year together in a breeding group at our breed specialty with over 110 Miniature schnauzers and took the breath out of all colleagues and the judge Mr Patrik Ragnarsson. Of course they won best breeder, the Van De Havenstad kennel! I think Cyriel was amused that day when I later in the evening called him to tell the good news. He was as much as me a big friend of competition. He had a strong winner instinct! The fifth dog we had from Cyriel is Zoraya van de Havenstad. 50% Skansens blood, trying with her lines to get back a little bit to our own, old ones. There are several wonderful memories connected to De Meulenaer family. They always had such an open warm home full of hospitality. You really felt comfortable and welcome while visiting and of course our warmest thoughts are today with his lovely wife Denise and daughter Karen with husband Luc. For me myself I have lost a big “mentor” in Cyriel. I miss our talks over the phone very much. Cyriel was always attentive to our welfare here in Sweden and asked every time how we got along. As for the rest of the Schnauzer people/breeder, they also lost one of the most competent breeders, who during decennium bred top miniature schnauzers with an excellent temperament. Pleasant we will for a long time still find dogs with the prefix Van De Havenstad in our show rings and whelping boxes. And there will also be several Van De Havenstad in every pedigree behind the winning dogs for decades to come. /Anne Wallin Fixus kennels in Sweden |