Rae (a Registered Nurse) grew up in metropolitan Auckland (NZ’s largest city) the family dog was a pedigree German Shepherd called Alsa (Alsa of Starkenwolf) who sadly at 7 years old was put to sleep secondary to HD.
Rae’s first dog was a Siberian Husky (she first saw one at a shopping mall in Manukau and loved the look of the breed) When she bought her first house she also bought her first sibe – “Meshik” MBiSS Ch Sharivar Meshik SDCh.
When he was 1 year old she bought her second sibe “Shampas” Alyeshka Shampanskiy who unfortunately had luxating patella so was spayed and placed in a great pet home.
In 1995 Elke Evans from Austria immigrated to NZ along with her husky Czarina Llenja. “Husky” was mated to “Meshik” and Rae’s new bitch was born. Ch Osterrichi Alyeska Envy SDCh – “Envy” was the only bitch in the litter but what a doll she turned out to be.
Rae enjoyed showing “Meshik” and “Envy” and they were both raced in various sized sled dog teams and both are show and sled dog champions. In 1998 Rae met and fell in love with a friends German Wirehaired Pointers eventually handling 2 of them to their show titles. In 2000 Rae decided it was time to bring some new GWP lines into NZ and imported “Harriet” NZCh Kimmax Kontessa SDCh from the UK. In 2002 she imported “Russell” NZCh Korskote Xpress Klass SDCh and 2 years later the 1st Hotwyr litter was born. The rest, as they say, is history……
Over the years of her involvement in the dog world, Rae has also been on numerous committee’s, President of the New Zealand Federation of Sled Dog Sports, Continental Director Oceania for the International Federation of Sled Dog Sports and is a qualified race marshall. She is currently also an aspiring judge with the New Zealand Kennel Club and secretary of the South Canterbury Kennel Club.
Mark (a Fireman and qualified fitter/turner) grew up in rural Auckland in Beachlands and never owned a dog until he met Rae. Luckily for Rae it so happened that he loved the sibes and wires as much as she did and it was Mark that did all the race/sled training with the GWP’s and all the building/manufacturing for their company – Hotwyr Canine Concepts.
Although new to dogs in 2000 he took to racing with a passion, being a top 2 and 3 dog musher and in 2006 winning the 3 dog class at the Wanaka Sled Dog festival and placing 5th overall.
Mark is no longer involved with the kennels and his last wire “Alex” left us in 2020
Riaan is Rae’s son who, is also in Christchurch
2007 saw the Hotwyr team successfully move from a 10 acre lifestyle block in rural Auckland ( Pop: 1.5 million) to Timaru (pop: 35,000) in the South Island.
2008 has seen the Hotwyr race/show teams back doing well with some exciting new members. In 2009 another import arrived and we spent a bit of time training and racing.
2010 saw us take a step back from racing and decide it was time to retire the dogs from sledding and for Mark to get involved in the hunting side of the breed.
2011 saw the birth of our 2nd litter out of our UK import Bolt and the maturing of the 1st litter. These two litters are doing us proud in hunting homes around New Zealand. We also imported and titled a Czech bitch for our partners in Australia.
2012 will see the importing of new lines into our kennels and a stronger presence in the hunting world.
2013 – the team moves to Aussie
2014 – new lines are introduced to the kennels with some lovely pups
2015 – a stellar year in the ring – no litters
2016 – our first Black/White litter in 5 years is nearly here!!
2017 – return to NZ
2018 – 1st NZ litter since return
2019 – imported new lines from UK
2020 – COVID (litter from Vani)
2021 – COVID (litter from Vani)
2022 – Litter from our UK import Jemima