Small Dog Carriers News-
Brace Youself
CITE
from
We hear so much these days of people
involved with the fancy whose main concern is self-interest
that occasionally stories that have a definite and unusual
“feel good” factor are worth repeating.
One of the joys of being involved with
the world of pedigree dogs is, for me, the opportunity to
meet people who have devoted most of their lifetime to one
breed, developing their own line whilst always having an
eye on what is best for the breed as a whole. Some of these
elder statesmen may not be the most academically gifted
of people, yet their depth of knowledge and passion for
their chosen breed is nothing short of remarkable, and their
enthusiasm truly infectious.
Recently, I had the chance to get to
know someone who had previously been nothing more than a
casual acquaintance when he, like myself, was a houseguest
at our host's, a mutual and long-term friend.
During the evening, a name was mentioned
that made my ears prick up. He spoke with obvious fondness
of a lady who had been one of his mentors when first becoming
involved in the sport, but who was to me simply a name in
the history books, and a highly revered one at that.
There were two stories in particular
that locked in my memory and impressed me greatly, which
made it so clear for me to understand why this woman was
considered so remarkable and was so respected.
The first involved one of his early visits
to the lady's kennel. For the purpose of this article I
shall refer to her simply as “Mrs. B.” At this
point my newfound friend had shown just one dog, a male,
with moderate success and was consumed with curiosity about
the breed. He was young, enthusiastic, and not unintelligent
and had a natural rapport with his own and other dogs. Having
admired the dogs bred and shown by Mrs. B since he was first
introduced to the breed, and being well aware of her standing
within the breed, he dreamt of owning one of her dogs which
he felt would give him a good start as a breeder.
Very properly, he chose to write to the
lady concerned, a very long letter of introduction, which
was written on the assumption that she would not know him
from a bar of soap. He wrote of how he saw the breed, what
kind of dogs he wanted to breed, and asked if he could be
considered for a bitch puppy should one become available.
When the reply came, just days later,
he was amazed to read that Mrs. B was aware of him and quoted
from that letter words which he had obviously memorized
there and then…
“You are the young man with that rather exuberant
black dog I saw in the Junior class at Bath, I believe.
He is a good dog to start with, as his type is excellent,
though I did not like his head and expression particularly.
You will have to careful what kind of bitches come to him
if you ever allow him to be used at stud. Perhaps a little
more road-work will strengthen his hindquarters, as he seems
a little weak at the moment.”
The fact that Mrs. B had noticed him
was something that impressed this young greenhorn immensely.
That she had studied his dog so accurately was nothing short
of miraculous, and rather than taking umbrage at her uninvited
comments, he took them to heart and acted upon them.
In due course, Mrs. B invited him to
her kennel to see the dogs. She was not at this point contemplating
selling him a puppy, but obviously realized that he was
serious about the breed and maybe wanted to ascertain whether
or not he would be a suitable owner for one of her well-bred
hopefuls.
“She brought out dog after dog,
asked me what I thought of them, which was rather daunting,”
recalled my friend, “and then had dozens milling around
in the paddock and asked me which I liked best.”
Presumably satisfied that this young
man had something about him, months on he was invited to
visit Mrs. B again and look at a litter of puppies.
There he saw a litter of eight, four
dogs and four bitches. He was shown the whole litter and
asked to pick the best. His eye was immediately drawn to
one particular male, whereupon Mrs. B quipped, “You
have a good eye; he's not going anywhere! Now let's lose
the dogs and look at the bitches…”
Studying the four puppies intently again
he was asked to select the best. Two appeared to be ahead
of their sisters in my friend's eye and he said so. Mrs.
B then told him that these were the two best bitches.
“One,” she said, “will
be the better bitch to show. She has a prettier head, a
wonderful attitude and is a little shorter-coupled than
her sister. The sister, however, is better ribbed and has
a little more scope. She is rather plain in head, though,
and rather dull in personality compared to the other bitch.”
Mrs. B then proposed what was the most
generous and amazing plan. She told my friend that she was
going to let him have the better show prospect, her reason
being that she already had a large team in the ring and
he would devote all his attention to capitalizing on this
puppy's assets. However, she was convinced that the other
sister would be the better producer. She suggested mating
his bitch eventually, but if the puppies were disappointing,
she would transfer the sister to his ownership and let him
breed a litter from her.
Understandably, my friend was overwhelmed
by this incredible gesture, and of course he accepted with
glee.
In due course, his bitch won extremely
well, she took her title and between them they made a very
formidable duo in the ring. The plainer sister was never
shown by Mrs. B but developed into a handsome workmanlike
bitch.
When my friend's bitch was of a breedable
age he returned to Mrs. B for advice, they agreed on a stud
dog and the litter was duly produced. The puppies were pleasing
to my friend, yet Mrs. B seemed to think they weren't quite
good enough. It was agreed that he should keep the best
bitch so that he had something new to bring out, but true
to her word, Mrs. B bred the sister in his name and in that
litter was a quite spectacular male.
Again, the ever-generous benefactress
said that she was not that keen to keep another male in
her already sizeable kennel, and that my friend's smaller
family of dogs would be a better environment in which he
could blossom. He agreed to keep said male, the dog became
one of the breed's most significant winners and in due course,
when bred to his dam's pretty sister, one of the most influential
litters the breed has known was produced.
This in itself is a story of amazing
selflessness, yet there was more to come.
Years down the road, Mrs. B had a male
who was proving a record-breaking sire with Champions in
virtually every litter. My friend had enjoyed a great run
with a top-winning bitch and suggested that she should be
bred to this influential stud dog. He discussed it with
Mrs. B who asked to see the pedigree. Within minutes she
said, “No, he's not the dog for her.”
She based this surprising rebuttal on
the fact that she considered there would be “too much”
of a particular male in the prospective pedigree, but she
suggested that a virtually unknown young dog—not in
her ownership, I might add—would be a better choice.
My friend was taken aback at this reaction,
but was happy to follow his mentor's suggestion and went
to use the suggested young dog. The result was a superb
litter, and at eight weeks with great pride the breeder
bundled the puppies into the car and took them off to show
Mrs. B.
“I will never forget that day,” he smiled. “I
put the pups in the yard and let them wander around, and
asked Mrs. B what she would keep if they were hers. She
immediately pointed to one bitch, which she promptly picked
up and cuddled. I told her that she was hers… a gift
as a thank you for all the help she had given me. She argued
violently and said she would not take my pick of litter,
but I insisted that I wasn't taking her home.”
At that point Mrs. B seemingly shed a
tear, and subsequently showed the first non-homebred for
years. It turned out to be her last Champion.
It is not very often that you hear stories
like this, and I am so grateful to have made that meeting
and learnt more of this remarkable lady who clearly was
a breeder who did not breed just for herself, but for the
breed. If only we had more of her caliber with us today.
Yet more heartwarming is the fact that my friend never lost
sight of the fact that his mentor had given him so much,
and to her dying day treated her with the reverence and
respect she deserved. Today so many others in a similar
situation would automatically consider themselves an equal,
indulging in convenient amnesia.
