Dogshow Times

When and where did you get your first pharaoh hound?

I saw the first Pharaoh at WDS in Helsinki in 1998, it was Antefa’s Kahira who won the group there and I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. My first Pharaoh hound “Pongo” was born in 1999 in Russia. I bought her at the age of 15 month and… well… she didn’t look like Kahira . Still she had he best temperament ever and turned out to be a great brood bitch. Our first EuroWinner is her son.

Pongo passed in 2012. Our webpage www.pongo.ru has her name.

When did you first become interested in showing and breeding dogs?

At the age of 10 I guess. Surprisingly my deep interest in dogs came along with my passion to shows. The funniest thing was that my family didn’t let me have a dog till I was 17. All to the good: my first dog (a Rough Collie bitch) was a result of the careful choice and grew up in a true show dog with lots of winnings.

When I started in the beginning of 90s it went without saying that if you want to succeed you had to breed. We didn’t have many handlers and the main show stars were breeders. So the question whether to breed or not never came up, it was an integral part of being into show dogs. Unlike today there were not many succesful show people who just had a collection of dogs purchased from other breeders.

When did you establish your kennel?

Officially it was registered in FCI in 2004 when I got my first Pharaoh litter. But I bred Collies under my companion’s kennel name. The offsprings of those dogs are still used in breeding. Our first PH litter was born in 2004.

What is the aim of the work with breeding? Are you pleased so far with your work with this?

Doubt you’d find a breeder who says he’s totally pleased with his work . My assistant and kennel partner Olga would prove I’m the worst critic of everything we do – training, handling and above all breeding. We’re exceptionally serious about what we’re doing. The cold facts are that we bred and/or own 4 World Winners, 7xEuroWinners, 6 junior World/Euro Winners in 10 litters. In general I have to say we mainly compete on BIG/BIS level worldwide.

I believe our aim is that same as of any responsible breeder and a dog lover: we breed for quality, health and temperament. And yes, we love puppies . Still we rarely have more than litter per year. The last puppies born at my place are 2,5 years ago. We’ll have a very interesting litter in July.

Are there any particular exterior or mental features that are given priority in your breeding?

First of all, Pharaoh Hounds are probably the only sighthounds which are a “head breed”. Usually the head is not super important in sighthounds, but not in Pharaohs. My Collie background is very useful here, I’m used to pay lots of attention to head shape, expression, eye set ect.

I like well developed chests and truly convinced that good movement are coursed by good fronts, not by the angulations. Straight fronts and poor chests are common faults in PHs, so we pay special attention to these crucial things. Also the toplines are not perfect (and easy to loose), especially that the faults of the toplines become obvious when the puppies are a bit grown up. A cunning fault!

What are your views about linebreeding contra outcross?

I prefer linebreeding and feel more safe using the bloodlines I know and like. It gives good results but also brings up certain problems: our breed is small and the gene pool is very limited, so even if you work successfully on some bloodlines you MUST add new ones. We feel it’s time for us to do so. Recently we bought a puppy bitch Antefa’s Wadjet on Reedly Road from an American male and a half-Maltese bitch (though sired by a male with popular bloodlines), it’s a combination of good old blood and a totally new line (which has already proven to be successful though). Let’s see what we get.

What do you look for when you yourselves choose a puppy?

Chest (depth and length), shoulder, general length of the bones – all bones, not just the rear! – straight front legs, toplines in movement (unleashed). I’m a big fan of good heads and pay special attention to pararllel lines, well set eyes, good “stop”, sweet expression. Looks like a check-list, right? .

Can you name a dog that has appealed to you especially, and why?

If you ask about my breeding there are two that stand out for me, and surprisingly they are littermates. The first one to mention is WorldWinner’2010, Vice World Winner’2009, Nordic Champion, BOW at PH Club of America National, US CH, Multi Group winner REEDLY ROAD DEEP BLUE “Pharuz”. He was sold to the U.S. as a puppy and had some nice winning with his owner Daria Anuka. When Pharuz was 2,5 it was decided he’ll spend summer in Russia as we wanted to campaign him in Europe. Three months turned into 1,5 glorious years, he was a constant winner all over Europe and his European tour was crowned by World Winner title & BOB in Denmark over many wonderful Scandinavian pharaoh hounds. Our last show up together was at Westminster KC show in 2011 where Pharuz went AOM in record entry.

My other very special dog is our own CH REEDLY ROAD DESPERADO “Harry”, he’s our keep puppy and a litter brother of “Pharuz”. In my opinion he has the best head I’ve ever seen in the breed, and I truly appreciate his great silhouette, excellent front angulations (such a rare thing nowadays) and great movement. He turned out to be a great stud male siring Euro or World Winners in EACH litter. But above all that he’s our beloved pet and it’s not often you can meet a dog loved and spoilt as much as Harry. He is the dog of my life.

One might think we like only dogs bred by us but this is far from being true. There are lots of dogs in Europe and America I love a lot, and some I’d like to mention. The handsome CH Farao Anubis Ramses, the world famous stud male and a great show dog, who had set a few records both in Europe and the U.S. We had an honor to keep his for a few months in Russia when he was quite old and his last litter was sired at “Reedly Road”. All our dogs have him in the pedigree and keep on linebreeding on this outstanding dog.

Unforgettable CH Farao Anubis Kahiro, very limitedly used but making a huge impact to the breed. We got two litters from him. He spent a year with us in 2006 and also the last year of his life, and I consider him to be a dog of great influence.

One of the most handsome dogs I ever met is US CH Hallam's Bekenhons Ra Qena, the unbeaten American bred dog, 3xNational Specilty BOB winner, 3x Westminster KC BOB winner. I was at National in Cape Code, MA where he won BOB and I was crying to see this magnifisant though not young dog gaining his last big win.

Everybody’s favorite, MultiBIS winner, Group-1 winner at EDS’2013 and 2xBOB at EDS, the young REEDLY ROAD ILLUMINATED “Bella” has won everything imaginable by the age of 2 and we’re looking forward to start a big campaign in 2014. I truely consider her to be the best bitch in Europe.

How do you feel the breed has changed over the years? The good? The bad?

Everything changes and our breed is not an exception. I think these changes are both good and bad. Remember that we also have a tendency to recall only good things and forget bad ones (lucky us!). I started in 1999, and I think that we’re a kind of loosing good heads (at least I think the number of the breeders paying no attention to heads goes up). The fronts have never been super good in the general population. We have a tendency to loose substance. On the other hand the toplines improved, the movement have become better. Of course at any times there have been great dogs and ugly ones. I have a feeling that the abyss between the top dogs and the average ones become bigger. Same about the breeders: we have really top ones and loosers. Don’t think it was the same 15 years ago.

What advice would you give a novice or a person just starting in the breed?

First of all, welcome . No advice, just try to find your way, your ideal, your path and follow it! Have fun on the way! Take this hobby very seriously, but never make a drama of it.