Page 55 - Chow Life - Summer 2016 Issue

The challenge is for people to know, research, about the dog As with anyone owning more than one dog
because they don’t see it or its children in the show rings any along comes that one special dog that will
longer. Example (for us) Ch.Redclouds Big Picture, Kenny forever live in our heart. For me that is
was himself an excellent specimen of skeletal structure. Ch.My-Sam’s Knight Ruffles whose mom &
From prior breedings you could predict which traits & 2 litter sisters were smooth.
features he would throw. We were & still are line breeding Ruffles came along at a very low time for
believers. me. My first bitch had just died & I felt
truly lost SO I took Ruffles from a co-own
Q. Are there any people currently involved in breeding & wrapped my arms around her
the breed who purchased their foundation stock until the day I had to let her go. She has
from you? been gone many years now but she remains
my soul mate & I grieve for her as though
Yes, two still, (1) Fernanda Morais in Brazil. We it were yesterday. She was that one person
can still see our boys in her breedings all these years dog, if Frank wanted her to something she
later. would look to me as though to
say”should I”. She was outgoing & pleasant
(2) and most importantly is Jen Stroop. Jen got in the show ring but when in my car, at the
her first bitch from us & after finishing her, Ch. My- front door she was my protector (gotta love
Sam’s Jenuine Brave Girl, OFA/ROM, Jen bred her to those chow girls). This was Westminster
a male of our pedigree and got 3 boys in the first litter Kennel Club 1995, Ruffles went BOP while
& two more boys in the second litter. Jen finished her half brother, Ch.My-Sam’s Knight in
all 5 quickly and has kept on going. For me seeing New York, Trump went BOB. Oh, what a
My-Sam’s in her dogs today shows how important show life we have had !! Ruffles also made
linebreeding is & how to add an outcross who is me proud in the whelping box.
linebred. She calls me “dog-mother” and Frank
“Senior” and we are so lucky to have her caring on for 53
us but with her own special touch in breeding. Jen
has the last male puppy we had after moving to NC.
My-Sam’s Jenuine Knight, “Frankie” is almost 10yrs.
old & still making us both proud in the whelping box.

Q. In your opinion, what is the greatest thing a breeder
can do to give back to the breed?

Share,Share,Share your knowledge. Mentor new people
to the breed. We must continue progress for temperament,
health & structure. While we have come a long way since
we started 30+ years ago we cannot let our guard down on
this breed we all love so much. Building our kennel was our
greatest passion & joy.

Q. How does the breed today compare to the Chows
back when you first started out?

First & foremost health & temperament has been greatly
improved. Entropian especially has had tremendous
improvement. In the Northeast, when we started, many
dogs of substance were long & low. Many that were better
balanced tended to be snipey in head. Great progress in
reducing those extremes have been made.

There are dogs as good today as 30 years ago but not
as many. The loss of larger kennels has resulted in a loss
of linebreeding so there is less consistency within litters.
Likewise there are not as many sires producing a high
volume of champions.