About Belatarr.

We are Tim and Adam, regularly augmented by Tim’s teenage son Fred. We live at Wolfvalley in the midst of a woodland in deepest rural North Devon, UK,  along with Phoenix & Mingus the HWV’s and our two cats, Midge and Tulip. Before we were here we (and the cats) lived in Stepney, East London, (for far too long).  Our cats have brought a little of that East London attitude with them to our rural idyll.

Wolfvalley in the snow.

After many years of meeting and greeting different breeds of gundog and hound, we drew up a shortlist of breeds that we liked the most. Both GWP’s and Slovakian RHP’s were strongly considered, but we were ultimately won over by the very affectionate, human-centred nature of the HWV, as well as the passion of the fantastic network of enthusiasts for the breed in the UK.

The Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla (correctly pronounced approx: VEESH-luh rather than VIZZ-la) was, until 2011, classified as a rare breed in the UK.  The breed is a member of the small and select HPR (Hunt, Point, Retrieve) group of versatile gundogs, and was initially developed in Hungary in the 1930s by crossing two solid liver coloured German Wirehaired Pointer sires with two Hungarian Vizsla dams.  Irish Setter, Bloodhound and Pudelpointer bloodlines were all added into the developing breed later in order to enlarge the genetic pool.

Mingus & Tim winning Best Puppy in Show at Cambourne & Redruth Open.

Why the affix Belatarr?  Well, Béla Tarr is one of our favourite film directors, his Werckmeister Harmonies is probably our favourite film, and, most importantly, like the Wirehaired Vizsla, he’s Hungarian. Phoenix came from Jane & David’s Tarndair kennel, and so it felt like we were paying homage to them with the echoed “Tar(r)”…all in all it always felt like the right name, it was our first choice and we were delighted that it was accepted.

Belatarr HWV’s are raw fed from the earliest age, and, having seen the results on our dogs in terms of physical development, digestion and emotional well-being, we are firm advocates of using a natural, wild-based, raw-food diet for dogs.

The adult dogs are fed twice a day. After some experimentation with different options we now have a very easily prepared regular diet that the dogs absolutely love. The post-morning-walk feed consists of a 1lb (435g) pack of various different raw minced meats (beef, lamb, tripe & organ meat) mixed with 6 tablespoons of pulped fruit & veg with added apple cider vinegar & olive oil, full-fat milk (goat or cow) & green powder (kelp, alfalfa, nettle & parsley). Local free-range eggs, yoghurt and cottage cheese are all added as occasional extras. The post-evening-walk feed consists of 2 raw chicken backs/carcases or the equivalent weight of semi-frozen chicken or turkey wings – which are perfect for keeping teeth clean too. Larger rib and other raw bones are also given, primarily for gnawing.

We source our raw foods from Landywoods. There are reams of websites discussing raw feeding, but the Mikicin GWP’s site features this diet in a usefully detailed yet succinct way.