MIRJANA KRSTIĆ ARBANAS

I was born in Rijeka, in 1963, I am a family medicine specialist, and I am married and have one child. I have been in love with dogs since I can remember. In 1984 I became actively involved in cynology and I still am, despite my professional and family obligations. My first Australian Silky Terrier came to my family in 1985 and from that time began my infatuation with the breed which I have continued to show and breed.

My kennel Darsa was registered in 1993. I have bred numerous national and international champions, European and World winners, BIS and BISS winners. Dogs from my kennel have strongly influenced this breed, and thanks to them, I have been awarded a prestigious Croatian Kennel Club life achievement award for breeders. I started to judge in 1987 and have judged in most European countries and in Australia. During the time when I judged very intensely, I judged most terrier specialties; the most prominent one was in Australia where I judged a specialty show for Australian Silky Terriers.

I was a president of my home Kennel Club Rijeka for many years, where I also acted as the Club’s breeding supervisor. I was also in charge of the national breeding programme for toy terrier breeds, and was a member of the Croatian Kennel Club Committee for Science. I am an FCI judge for group 3 and 4, for Australian Cattle Dogs, Black Russian Terriers, for Pincher and Schnauzer Group, for Poodles, Boston and Tibetan Terriers. Besides Australian Silky Terriers, two more breeds significantly influenced my cynologycal path: Doberman Pincher and Australian Cattle Dog.

Because I am professionally quite busy, I cannot judge as often as I would like to, so I focused my cynological activities mainly on breeding. The most important issue in my breeding programme is the dogs’ health, together with the focus on their looks, typical for the breed. Quality is more important than quantity, so I breed only when I have a combination of dogs which I do not want to miss, and I am especially proud of the fact that the dogs from my kennel are being showed in the home country of the breed. For the last three years, I have also been involved in felinology: I co-own a cattery of the Neva Masquerade breed, named Snezhniy Bars. This cattery achieved respectable results, both in breeding and at shows.