| ...A bit about me |
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| Hi! My name is Sanjaya Saran and I thank you for your visit. I live in Mumbai/Bombay, India. I registered the name “Westfeldon” in the year 1992. Although I have had Boxers since 1970, I never really got into the "serious" breeding aspect of it till as late as 1990. Westfeldon, is just a “made-up” name from the name of the area where I live in Mumbai. I was born in Mumbai, or Bombay as it was known then, on the 6th of February, 1951. My parents were not particularly fond of dogs, but they were cajoled in to letting me keep my first dog, a “dakkie” mix when I was 6 years old. I was given my first “purebred” Golden Retriever in 1960 and the first dog show that I went to was in 1961. I have been showing sporadically as you will read later. I “rescued” my first Boxer in 1970, and have had them ever since. |
| My early years were spent in Mumbai. I left home in 1969 for college in the USA and only returned in 1975. This interrupted my ability to show dogs in India! At the time of writing, besides the 7 Boxers, I have a very tolerant wife and 2 beautiful daughters who share my love for Boxers. Besides Boxers, I spend my working time as the Managing Director of an automobile component manufacturing company, here in Mumbai. The Boxer is quite a popular breed in India right now. When I got my first Boxer, they were not considered good pets as a result of the mistaken idea that they were dangerous dogs because of the way they looked! I have seen my two children grow up with Boxers and am the first to disabuse anyone of this notion. In fact, I have been known to go out of my way to extoll the Boxer as an ideal family pet, especially when young children are members of the household. |
| I am not very fond of breeding as I find it very difficult during the whelping time. It has been my good fortune that I have a family who takes command of the situation and relegates me to the study! To give you an idea, I have had about 6 litters in the past 10 years. However, I enjoy participating in dog shows and showing. At the present time, I only attend shows which are in the vicinity of Mumbai, as family and work committments do not permit me to take time off for an extensive campaign. In the past few years, I have averaged about 6 to 8 shows a year. To give you an idea of the distance of the venues, the Nationals at Bangalore held in 2002, took 18 hours to drive each way as it was difficult to transport dogs by air, and the train journey is longer! To make up a champion, you require 3 CCs. All the judges have to be different. Since the 2003 show season, a Champion class has been introduced and you do not have to compete against champions as in the past to obtain your CCs or Reserve CCs. The system has become a hybrid of the KC (UK) system of CCs and the AKC sytem . The show season in India stretches from October to the beginning of March. Most shows are held at outside venues, so the climate has a great bearing on the showing timetable. For the past few years, International judges from overseas have been invited to judge, and the dog show scene in India is becoming very competitive, with a lot of stock being brought in. I am fortunate that in that I hope to able to participate in this new scenario of internationalisation, as I hope to learn more about the breed that I love - THE BOXER! |
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| Sanjaya Saran |