The Afghan Hound: Conversations with the Breed's Pioneers

By Revodana Publishing

In-depth interviews with international Afghan Hound fanciers who were active during the founding of the modern breed. Kay Finch (Crown Crest), Jay Ammon (Ammon Hall), Lois Boardman (Akaba), Frank Sabella, Sunny Shay (Grandeur), Ned and Sue Kauffman (Holly Hill), Ellsworth Gamble, Virginia Burch (El Kevir),&nbsp

• Language: English
• Publisher: Revodana Publishing
• Release date: Sep 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781943824236

Book preview

1

KAY FINCH

CROWN CREST

Kay Finch and Ophaal on the beach at Corona Del Mar, 1954.

Kay Finch obtained her first Afghan Hound in the early 1940s. Soon after, her husband Braden bought her a 14-month-old puppy who turned out to be her first Best in Show dog, Ch. Felt’s Thief of Baghdad. With her Crown Crest Afghan Hounds, Kay soon became the Queen of Afghans in California.

The Finches lived in the small, exclusive town of Corona del Mar, where Kay had her pottery studio. She became well known as a potter, and her dog pieces as well as her other designs quickly became popular. Her work is well known throughout the world, and many collectors still vie for these beautiful pieces.

Kay was best known for her black-masked gold dogs, but she also had a great fondness for blue Afghans. Thief was blue, and at the time this was not a popular color. Through him and the strain she bred, it became popular in the West.

Kay had a dramatic way of showing her dogs. Even in her 70s, she would fly into the ring with her vibrantly colored, full skirts and her turquoise-and-silver jewelry. It was like watching a professional dancer. When judging, she would talk to the dogs, calming them with her presence. Exhibitors would enter not just to win, but to watch the show.

If you were lucky enough to visit Kay’s home, you were plied with drinks, usually a Manhattan for East Coasters, then given beautiful photo albums to page through. She would take you to see the bronze statues of seals she had done and donated to her town in memory of her beloved Braden. The seals still sit atop a beautiful rock formation in the Pacific Ocean.

In addition to Afghans, Kay also bred Yorkshire Terriers, Whippets and Salukis. She loved them all, but Afghans were her greatest love.

We might as well start this off with the beginning. How did you get started in Afghans?

Well, I started out very seriously with Yorkshire Terriers before I had ever even seen an Afghan. This was about 1939. I was then elected to president of the Yorkshire Terrier Club of America for four years. We did very well with the Yorkies. We had one little bitch that I showed quite a lot that won some groups. Her name was Pretty Please and was out of the PP litter, and they really did!

When were you first attracted to Afghans?

I saw my first Afghan wandering around the gardens of this beautiful big old hotel down in Del Mar that is called the Coronado. I was sitting in the car waiting for my husband to come out, and here came this cream dog, and it was bouncing along, and I thought it was a long-haired goat or something. It was so odd, prancing about, and it looked just like a million dollars. I said, If that’s a dog, I’m sure going to get one of those! I remember once I wanted a Chinese Crested, so you know how far out I was in those days. This Afghan really appealed to me, and it took me two years to locate a breeder in Southern California. I found one by reading an ad in the local paper, which said, A litter of Afghan Hound puppies will be on display at the Laguna Beach pet shop on Sunday. Well, I went down there, and there were nine beautiful Afghan puppies, eight black and one cream. And, of course, I had to have the cream dog because that’s what had sold me on the breed, that cream dog I had seen.

The man had just retired from the Air Corps and had brought the mother back and had had this litter. His wife definitely didn’t want to sell that cream. I said I loved them all, but I just had to have that cream and that I really didn’t want a black one. He was so upset, he said he couldn’t go back to his wife because she’d kill him. Well, finally he did let me have it, and I named him Omar.

How did he turn out?

He was a very beautiful dog. Dr. Frank Porter Miller [a judge and Airedale breeder, he was the first president of the Kennel Club of Pasadena – Ed.] saw him and said he was a blue-ribbon dog. But in those days we didn’t have a lot of protection around here, and a lot of dogs ran free. One day a Dalmatian was running along outside the fence and Omar jumped the fence and chased the Dalmatian down to the highway, where he was killed.

When had you bought Omar?

It was about 1942 or so. One reason I had this Afghan was to inspire me to make a model. At that time our pottery factory was already in business, and I was designing all the models myself. We never hired anyone to do this. Anyway, after a long time I finally got another cream dog who was very well bred but full of holes. I remember Joe Felt, who bred Ch. Felt’s Thief of Baghdad, came up to me at a show and said, Kay, what are you doing with that Afghan? Why, you shouldn’t even show that at a match! I told him I just wanted to handle one to learn the traits of the breed. He said, Well, don’t do it with a dog as full of holes as that. He encouraged me to get a good one. I had been watching him for a while with his good dogs, and he had a strain that was imported directly from Afghanistan to this country, the first direct imports from there to here. These were Thief’s ancestors and were of the Peters strain. When Thief was a puppy, Joe used to carry him around in his arms right in front of me, but he wouldn’t sell him. One reason I wanted him was because of his rare color – we didn’t see many blues at that time.

Ch. Crown Crest Zardonx and Ch. Crest Crest Dhi-Mond.

How did you finally get him?

On my 25th wedding anniversary, my husband surprised me with this blue puppy, who was 14 months old by then. So this third Afghan was my first Best in Show dog.

Did you handle these dogs yourself?

When I had those other two, I asked Athos Nilsen (Thenderin Irish Setters) to handle them, and he said, Are you kidding? I wouldn’t take that dog in the ring! We were up at our ranch in Julian when I called him long distance to ask him if he would handle this new blue dog, and he said, of course. In those days I never handled my Afghans, but I did show all of my Yorkies myself. But Afghans are really different, with those long legs and all. I can see why these beginners don’t know what to do with them. But I could have shown them because I was always athletically inclined. I rode horseback – Texan, you know – and my husband and I played championship tennis when we were first married. But everyone else had a handler and the dogs looked good, so I decided to hire Athos. He did very well with the dog.

How many Bests in Show did Thief win?

He won two all-breed and one specialty Best.

How popular were Afghans then?

Not very. Mrs. Jack Oakie had been breeding quite a bit at her Oakvardon Kennels in Hollywood. She did an awful lot for the breed before she was killed in an airplane accident.

So do all of your Crown Crest dogs trace back to Thief?

Well, not all of them now. Like a lot of kennels, I kept certain strains isolated. What I wanted to do, being an artist, I thought, Wouldn’t it be gorgeous to have a black-masked silver-blue? So I said, Why not? I’ll just breed one. So somebody sent me a snapshot of a litter of five black-masked silvers that were in Decatur, Illinois. I put an X under the one I liked and I told them not to sell that one because I’m coming back to get it. I figured I’d get something like that and breed it to a daughter of Thief and maybe I’ll get my black-masked blue. But, you know, it just can’t be done. I wrote an article recently stating that. You never see a real black face on a solid blue – maybe a brindle, but not on a true, solid blue.

The first Crown Crest litter, born October 23, 1950. Sired by Am. Can. Ch. Felt’s Thief of Bagdad out of Ch. Five Miles Banu of Rebel Hill.

What became of that puppy?

He turned out to be Taejon. He was named after the Battle of Taejon in the Korean War.

Was Taejon related to Thief?

No, he came down from the Rudiki strain – Prides Hill line. Thief was so strongly bred on that import line that it was really about time for an outcross. But through these two dogs was the way I got started.

Tell me a little bit about Taejon.

Well, Jonnie was a fabulous show dog and had a fantastic record. But in that book put out by the parent club they have many errors. Ed Gilbert claims that Jonnie had only 17 Bests in Show instead of 19. I wrote in with the correction, but I doubt that they’ll ever fix it. It really burns me up. He has always been known for 19 because everybody said, Kay, why don’t you get one more to make it 20 BISs and 50 Group Firsts and even it out? But I didn’t because after three years of campaigning, Alva Rosenberg, who I thought was the dean of judges, was judging the Afghan Hound Club of California, which Jonnie had won three times, at that time I wasn’t very popular in the ring, and he said, Kay, Jonnie is looking tired. I think you ought to rest him. So that was his last show. Most others would have gotten that last BIS, but coming from Alva, I decided to rest him. Many people came up to me in the following months and asked where Jonnie was, because he surely would have won many more.

You know, wins aren’t the real thing. It’s getting to be a business now. But when you have something that nobody can beat, you’re bound to get a lot of wins. When Jonnie came along, there wasn’t an awful lot, and he made a huge impression. He was such a showman, very forceful and of a beautiful type. We were just lucky he came along when he did.

How many Afghans were in competition in those days?

Maybe 15 or so. When we had a specialty of 49, it was really a big deal. This was in Thief’s time. When Jonnie came along, things were better.

Did you travel much then?

Yes, very much. One year we were going to the Garden and the Afghan Hound Club of America, but had to land in Detroit because of a storm in New York. When we finally got to New York, Jonnie was lost. After three days he finally arrived. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt at all, but he was filthy. He got back to us at noon on the day of the AHCA, so I pulled him because I didn’t have time to clean him up. Everyone said I pulled him because I was afraid of losing. The next day he went Group 1 at the Garden. He won three Bests in Show, two Group Firsts and at the Garden he won a Group 2.

One year in a Best in Show line-up there was a Yorkie in front of me named Ch. Star Twilight owned by Joan Gordon. Taejon had a tremendous gait, and he really had to go. I wondered how I was going to move him without scaring the Yorkie or holding Jonnie back. I invented this style where I would leave plenty of room between me and the Yorkie and then move my dog in a huge circle. It really made a beautiful sight. It was the only way I could show my dog well without disturbing the Toy.

Taejon winning a Group 1 under Fred Meeker in 1953.

How did you continue your breeding program from Jonnie?

I bred him to Thief’s daughter, Egypts Echo, who was gray, but I didn’t get any black-masked blues. Out of this breeding came my first black-masked silver, Tae-Joan. She was the foundation of my greatest ones. Tae-Joan was named after [famous West Coast photographer] Joan Ludwig, who was here the day the puppies were whelped. She was the dam of the Gem litter by my import Ophaal, which I then repeated.

How did you come to get Ophaal?

My son Cabel saw him in Germany when he was in the Air Corps. He decided to go to a dog show and there he met Eta Pauptit, who had the vdOM Kennels in Holland.

What does vdOM stand for?

It stands for van de Oranje Ménage, which means House of Orange. It was taken from the royalty’s stables where her father worked. When Cabel saw this dog, he wrote me and said, Mother, if you think Taejon is great, you ought to see this dog. You ought to own him. So I got in contact with her and she said she would be delighted to sell him, but she couldn’t let him go for two years because they wanted to use him to stud over there. So I couldn’t get him until he was four years old. When I got pictures I thought we were the luckiest people to receive him in this country. People must appreciate him now, but at the time he came over he was so great people couldn’t understand him. There was so much of him, and he was different. He had a wonderful temperament, a perfect gentleman. He didn’t have an outgoing temperament; he was very aloof, proud and elegant. He felt he was above the other dogs.

When was Ophaal first shown over here?

It was about three weeks after he arrived. Alva Rosenberg judged him at the first show, and he went Best of Breed from the Open class. Alva said he was the best thing he had seen in 20 years. I don’t know who he had seen 20 years before that was better. The judging even stopped in the other rings because all the handlers wanted to see this new import. It was a very popular win. Sunny Shay even came all the way out. Nobody had seen him, so this was really a debut. He had arrived in New York, but I hadn’t let anyone see him until that show.

What was his show record?

Well, he was only shown seven times over here and retired with Best in Show at Santa Barbara. His main purpose here was as a stud. Many times I was asked to bring him to the shows just so people could see the dog. But sometimes I heard such cruel remarks about the dog like, No wonder they call him Ophaal, he’s so awful. Awful Ophaal. These comments really hurt me. I guess I was kind of crazy to expect people to appreciate anything as different as him. So I told [my husband] Braden that this dog would never be used outside at stud. Many people who had bought my bitches wanted to use him, but I said if I let them, I’d have to let everybody.

A clipped-down Ophaal at nine years old.

How much was he used within your own kennel?

Ophaal sired only five litters, and one of those was only one puppy. He sired 28 champions who won 48 Bests in Show. Two of these litters were out of Tae-Joan.

How did you continue on from there?

Zardonx came next. Many people considered him my greatest dog. Then I bred Ophaal to a Taejon daughter, Ch. Hope, who was owned by Charlie Constabile and handled by Porter Washington. Hope was really gorgeous. Charlie came up to me once at the AHCA and asked to breed to Ophaal, but I said I had turned everybody else down and I just couldn’t do it. He was a big-shot gambler type of guy with a lot of dough, so he said, Well, if you won’t breed her then I’m giving her to you. Now you’ve got to breed her to Ophaal! Since I wouldn’t take her for nothing, we made a deal that we would co-breed the litter and after that she was mine for good. We then decided to co-own and campaign the pick of litter. She had nine puppies, eight bitches and one male.

How did that litter turn out?

Well, the male turned out to be Mr. Universe. He was born the night the Miss Universe pageant was on TV. Braden was watching it and called me to come see Miss Universe. And I said, You come here because we’ve got eight Miss Universes and one Mr. Universe. Whenever you see a Mr. or Miss, it’s a Mr. Universe pup. That’s how I name my litters. I don’t like this ABC bit, probably because I don’t know the alphabet.

You probably don’t want to, but would you say which of your dogs you considered the best in conformation?

I knew you were going to ask that. Well, you can’t compare great things. Each had something to offer, something great. Zar was very impressive and had gorgeous type. In some ways he could beat Mr. U. On the other side with Mr. U. was that he was not only built to perfection but that he had this very exotic beauty to him. And a lovely, outgoing, inviting way about him. But I think the proof of a great dog is what he sires. Both were excellent sires, but I give all good credit to Ophaal.

Was Shirkhan used in your breeding program?

I used his son, Ch. Sahadi Shikari, who was out of Crown Crest Khalifa, who was from the repeat of the Gem litter. Shikari was bred to a Mr. Universe daughter and we got Ch. Crown Crest Camelot. So I’ve got a little shot of Shirkhan, which I think is very important. Sunny respects me and I respect her, and we get along just fine.

Did you practice inbreeding, linebreeding and outcrossing, all three, in your breeding program?

I approve of linebreeding, but only to the strong dogs, the dogs I want to see reproduced. In that same line there would be specimens that I wouldn’t care for. But you have to keep in mind all the aspects of the dog. Temperament as well as conformation. With temperament you don’t see much of that I’m it kind of stuff you get a real thrill from the minute he takes off. I like to see a dog move like a well-oiled machine with a lot of precision and suspension. The dogs that move that way are the ones that hit you in the eye. But you don’t see as much bad temperament as in the old days.

Best of Breed from the Open class at Ophaal’s debut under legendary judge Alva Rosenberg.

What was it like before?

We used to see both aggressive and spooky dogs. The Afghan is an aloof dog, and I don’t mind seeing a dog with a mind of his own, but we certainly don’t want distrustful dogs. But I have never, not ever, had an Afghan growl at me. But I always smell doggy. I think they like me; they think I’m their sister.

Any other comments on breeding?

When you are a breeder, you are a creator. You have to know what to put together and how it’s going to work. There is something psychic about a good breeder. They can sometimes just look and say, this dog needs that and this dog offers that. You must also keep in mind the purpose of the breed. I think if you have the eye of an artist you have a vision for symmetry and balance and all those weird things that some people don’t see. Certain people are connoisseurs of high quality in not just dogs, but anything, and you are looking for the very best, something that would be hard to find again. I really get excited when I talk Afghans because I have this vision in front of me that I’m thinking of but I can’t explain it. I’m not looking for good, I’m looking for great.

How do you feel the Afghan breeders are doing today?

I think that they have had the advantage of having a well-studied foundation to build upon. There are the separate, distinct lines – Grandeur, Longlesson, Crown Crest, Majara, Holly Hill and Mary Matchett in Canada – that the present breeders can go to. It’s a smart person who sees the advantages of another man’s line, and if they will allow you to have it, just grab it, because, you see, even the best isn’t good enough. That’s my motto.

How do you feel Afghans compare with the other Hound breeds?

Well, I think there are several standouts in Afghans coming up all over the country. Maturity means a lot to me. I enjoy seeing a dog that’s three or four years old. It’s fine to put a puppy up if it’s the best one in there that day. On a mature dog I can see the finish, the development, the training and the experience. I love old dogs, the same as I like old people. I would like to see the veteran go Best of Breed more often, but a lot of people are afraid to show veterans because they will get beat by the younger dogs in the specials class.

Intl. Ch. Nereus van de Oranje Manege, sire of Ophaal.

So, would you say that Afghans are in pretty safe hands?

Well, yes. But, I think some people are going against the standard a little bit the way I look at the breed. The standard says level topline, for example, so why are we seeing Setter toplines? When you consider the purpose of the breed, I hate to see people showing me a Setter. When a dog is stretched out like a Setter or Cocker, it can’t take off in a powerful leap like an Afghan should.

Mr. Universe at eight weeks old.

So to you, handling is fairly important?

Yes. Another thing I see is all this movement that is too fast. When you say, Can he go like a proud king, easy suspension, head and tail up? you don’t want to see a racehorse. They look so pretty at a smooth, easy gait. If an Afghan was going to go fast, he would gallop if he was on his own. I’m very critical and I’m always thinking of that dog. Did I ever tell you the story about when Ezra (Ch. Coastwind Gazebo) was first brought to me?

No, what happened?

Well, Ezra was brought to me in the Novice class, and I had never even heard of the dog, but he appealed to me, I knew he was a great one. This fellow that was handling him was too green to burn. I told the guy that this dog is too good to be in Novice. So I told him to set the dog up. I could then see why he was in Novice. He set him up all wrong, so I said, I’ll set him up for you properly and you do exactly as I do. After I set him up, I went to the other side of the ring, and when I turned around he had him all messed up again. Like I said, this guy was too green to burn. I felt so sorry for the dog; anybody else would have dumped him. Anyway, I gave him Winners for a major and this dumb-bunny handler kept coming over to me and saying, I just won, I just got a major! and bragging around to all these people. Finally I said, Listen, buddy, you got the win, now just shut up.

Do you feel there are any one or two outstanding faults that breeders should get on the road to correct?

I think some of the dogs lack balance. Good shoulders and rears, and then they’ll have a little short tail. Or no neck. You have to have balance and type first, everything has to fit. Coat I don’t care too much about. I’m getting fed up with too much coat. Coat is covering up too much of the beautiful anatomy of the dog that we don’t see enough of. The proper coat should be silky and cover, not conceal, the framework. We also are losing the croup. Some dogs have no drop at all. You see some dogs that are really gorgeous standing still, but they have no force or energy, and I can’t see them doing what they were bred for. I also find a lot of shallow and slab-sided dogs when judging. And I don’t like a knifey type of head, I think it’s going too far. I don’t feel there is enough power in the jaws of that kind of head. There needs to be a warning on some of these things before it goes too far. But I don’t want to get into any of these arguments because I don’t need to.

Kay in the early ’50s with (left to right) Ch. Zanya of Elcoza, Ch. Felt’s Thief of Bagdad and Ch. Five Mile Banu of Rebel Hill.

Do you recognize a difference in a mountain type and a desert type?

Well, we’ve always had that because there is the Bell-Murray type, which is the racier desert dog, and the Ghazni type, which was the mountain type. But the two types have been blended, and we have gotten away from that desert type. Today there are dogs of all sizes being shown, so I can see why the novice would be confused as to which is right. With size, if everything else is equal, you just take the one you like best. There can be good little ones and good big ones.

Are the dogs now sounder than 20 years ago?

Well, they certainly have had much better conditioning, care and development than they did before. But we are getting some very bad, short-gaited, pitty-patter movement that doesn’t go anywhere, which is due to incorrect angulation.

How do you feel about details, like hipbones?

I like all the interesting points that an Afghan has, and I think they are very important. It isn’t an Afghan if it doesn’t have hipbones. Same with a springy gait. I’ll probably get blackmailed for saying all this.

So in the group, Afghans are in pretty good shape?

I think so. But there are so many good Hounds. There are some terrific Foxhounds that don’t get placed, but what do you do when you only have four ribbons? There are so many good dogs, like Deerhounds, that don’t seem to make the records that Afghans do.

Why is this?

In the group, teamwork is very important. Some breeds, like the Deerhound, are very aloof, and when you want to get teamwork from them, they don’t want to be related to you. But Afghans are always put down so well, and usually really put on a show.

Crown Crest logo, which Kay had made into a tie pin for her husband Braden. Can you spot the fault that no one notices?

Where did the name Crown Crest come from?

Well, this city is Corona Del Mar, and Corona means crown. We’re right on the crest of the canyon, so that made Crown Crest. At the time a lot of people thought, Kay’s copying Canyon Crest Kennels of Mrs. Bagshaw, but I really wasn’t copying, because everything around here is crown something, even the restaurants. The one across the street is called Five Crowns, and I know they stole the crowns they use from me because they look just like the ones I used to make. I had Crown Crest registered in 1945. When I got into Afghans I wanted to have a bloodline of my own and my own trademark so I drew that little Afghan picture that I use as a sort of logo for Crown Crest. By the way, that Afghan has a fault that nobody ever notices. Whenever I want to catch somebody, I ask them what the fault is, and nobody ever guesses it.

Kay Finch and one of her Crown Crest Salukis.

How do you plan on continuing in dogs?

I can’t show my own dogs if I’m going to judge because people criticize. But I think it’s good for a novice bunch of people to see a breeder go in with what they’ve been breeding for years to get and show it. They can learn more that way. If it came right down to it, I would rather breed and show my own dogs than judge.

Are you going to continue to breed the Salukis and Whippets?

I have a problem I’m working out through my Salukis. I’ve done everything I can for Afghans and I can’t go on forever taking care of Afghan coats, so I think I’m just going to relax on the Afghan. I think I’ve done my part and the proof is in the pudding. There were 142 champions with a Crown Crest sire and dam, so that makes a pretty nice record. I’ve bred a lot of dogs, and I love to do it, and it’s a challenge. I think it’s a challenge to you because this creation that you are doing along with God is to be left as a pattern. And if you’re really dedicated, it’s got to be good.

2

JAY AMMON

AMMON HALL

Ammon Hall Fakir of Ter-Caj, Ch. Ammon Hall Lush of Ahabi and Ch. Ammon Hall Hundred Proof.

In a breed filled with colorful, iron-willed personalities, Jay Ammon stood out as outspoken and strong. She had her opinions, didn’t hesitate to share them, and didn’t care what others thought of it.

Jay started with a puppy out of Ch. Samaris of Moornistan, a top-producing bitch and top winner owned by Sue and Ned Kauffman. This Samaris daughter, Ch. Holly Hill Lorna Doone, was the beginning of Ammon Hall Afghan Hounds. Jay believed in inbreeding and, ignoring those who told her this was not done in Afghans, went ahead to produce 18 champions, four Best in Show winners and two Afghan Hound Club of America national-specialty winners. All this at a time when it was not unusual to have more than 100 Afghan entries at an all-breed show that in turn might have total entries of 3,000 dogs or more.

Around the time this interview took place, Jay was successfully breeding and showing Shih Tzu under the kennel name Jaisu; in her later years, she was a pioneer and promoter of the then-fledgling Yorkshire Terrier breed, where she was equally as controversial.

As a breeder-judge, she took the responsibility of bestowing ribbons very seriously.

Showy dogs with great masses of coat are all too easily shaped, barbered, trimmed, teased, backcombed, powdered and sprayed by expert hands, she wrote in a 1973 article for the first Shih Tzu breed symposium, though it applies to Afghan Hounds as well. It is the responsibility of a breeder-judge to know the ‘tricks of the trade’ so to speak and to judge the quality of the dog – not the quality or excellence of the owner or handler. ‘It takes one to know one’ goes the old saying – and there is a lot of truth to it.

Why don’t you start with when you first got into Afghans.

I went to many dog shows when I was a little girl. My parents didn’t really approve of dogs. My father and I had field-trial Beagles – outside dogs.

Did you have any dogs that were just pets?

Oh, you’re kidding! My mother thought that anybody who had a dog in the house was filthy, and still does! She has a hard time having a cup of coffee in my house. I saw an Afghan, I believe it was one of Reigh Abram’s [Dureigh] breeding. I watched Collies and there was a black doctor in Pittsburgh named Dr. McCain who was a judge and owned Cainbrooke Collie kennels. His wife had an Afghan that she had gotten from Reigh, and he hated that dog. So that was the first Afghan that I ever really looked at. Dr. McCain was a great person – I learned a lot about dogs from him.

Was that when you decided to get an Afghan?

No, I was really looking for a Doberman. I went to a kennel in Kent, Ohio, and I told them I wanted something that I could finish myself, something really good. Well, they didn’t have anything, and I kept going to shows and I saw Shirkhan. I fell in love with him.

Was he already a big winner then?

This was in March, and he had won the Garden in February. Then I saw Samaris, and I loved her. I thought she was just gorgeous. Later I went over to Sue’s [Kauffman] to see Samaris’ first litter, and the only one available was a little bitch with a too-tight tail. I kept saying, no thank you, no thank you, and I left.

So up until then you didn’t have any dogs?

Only field-trial Beagles. I was still looking for my first show dog. About six weeks later, Sue called and invited us over. The bitch’s tail had straightened out. I paid $100 extra for the tail.

How did she turn out?

By the time she was 11 months old, I had put 10 points and both majors on her. At that time the Doberman kennel in Kent called me up and said they had just the dog for me. As it turns out, every other dog in that one’s line was killed or went sterile, and the people finished the dog themselves and made a fortune off of him while I practically went bankrupt! That’s how I got into Afghans … by mistake.

What was your bitch’s name?

This was Ch. Holly Hill Lorna Doone. She was sired by Ch. Dureigh’s Golden Harvest and was from the top-winning litter of 1960. Her brother King Lear was Best of Winners at the AHCA from the puppy class while her sister, Vanity Fair, was Winners Bitch from the American Bred class. Lorna Doone won her puppy class there. She then finished with four majors, including a specialty major under Dr. Waskow. She went on to produce well for me.

How did you go about breeding her?

I started an inbreeding program with her based on Samaris. I believe that no Afghan has had such an influence on the breed as Samaris. Shirkhan had a great deal of influence and so did a lot of Kay’s dogs. But for the percentage of puppies they had as to the dogs that have been top winners in your last issue, I would say that eight or 10 of the dogs some way go back to Samaris or one of her littermates. She was really something else. Dam of 19 champions, including the top winner ever in the breed, and some of her best puppies were not known at all.

The start: Ch. Holly Hill Lorna Doone.

What was Samaris herself like?

She was the plainest bitch in