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Sunny: No, they are pretty much intermingled now. There would be no actual pure Shirkhan, nor would there be a pure Turkuman, as such; they would be crossed together because I did that. If you would call that a Grandeur bloodline, then they would be pretty pure for the Grandeur bloodline with that crossing. I was the only one that did that crossing. There were many dogs - we were all experimenting with different bloodlines, trying to find our way. I, of course, had a great many dogs and a great many bloodlines. And, as it was wartime, a lot of people had to get rid of their dogs, so they gave me a lot of their stock.. Mrs. Sissy Frochlich had two imported dogs from England from the Kabul Kennels and Dr. Betsy Porter owned them in England. That was Champion Rani of Istalif and Saga Istalif, her litter brother. I got both of those two dogs and I also got Ch.Zazerac of Elcoza, which is a dog that she bred out of her Ch. Yuseff. So, I had gotten these dogs and I had gotten various other dogs from Dr. Combs in the Midwest, he was raising dogs. And I bought a dog from California, from Frank Porter Miller. I have to get that name right. I also purchased a very interesting dog, out of an imported Indian female called Fatima. And the dog was bred to champion, I’ll have to get that name, and the dog’s name was Fatima Makhmal Khan. I bought him, and he was an exquisite, long legged, beautiful Afghan and he sired some beautiful dogs. Among them was a very famous Champion, Hakim of Grandeur, which was a tremendous dog, and another dog called Khan of Grandeur, which was also an exquisite dog. So, that was a line that I had kept through the years with this imported Indian breed. They were very fascinating and very lanky, tall and leggy and looked like the Afghan should look like in their native country. I had some dogs from the Arken Kennels out of Ch. Garrymhor of Arken, and Ku Mari of Kaf, but I wasn’t too satisfied with them. They were a little bit short legged and a little cloddier and they didn’t have quite the temperament that I required, so I eliminated that from my bloodline. Then I bought another dog from Cy Rickel, who had a kennel in Fort Worth, Texas. It was a dog called Duke of Cy Ann, which was an exquisite dog, also with some of the Turkuman background. Louis Murr also gave me some very, very exquisite looking stock to be used in my breeding program, to tie in with my Turkuman line. But this is before I got the Turkuman. Yes, this was before. That’s what got me interested, I believe, when I read the advertisement of Juliette de Bairacli Levy and I saw that it had Westmill Tamasar as the father; the dog that was sitting on the rock.. That’s why I had to have that Turkumen stock. Because I knew that dog was such an exquisite sire of my dog that I had liked so well.
So, I had great many different dogs that I experimented with to find out where the best specimen of Afghans would come from or the best temperament. If I found that some of the dogs were a little bit high strung or shy, or a little bit vicious or nasty, I would eliminate those completely and not continue with breeding. I believe that there is a cardinal rule, that you should not breed from a mean or vicious sire or a nasty or temperamental, vicious dam, because it’s a very important to do this. Because, if you keep your strain in a good temperament, by using good temperaments, you have only to get good temperaments. But if you start using dogs that are a little bit spooky or tricky, or not as good temperamentally in their head, they’re just going to continue to get worse. Most people who have a kennel line, breed or inbreed within their own kennels. So those things that are there, are going to come out stronger by in-breeding and the good points are also going to come out stronger. So, what we should try to do is to keep as many good points as possible, so we can continue to get them stronger and stronger. And temperament, of course, if one of them. And if you continue to have good temperament, you’re only going to strengthen that and continue to have good temperament.
Roger: No, keep going. Sunny: People used to think that I was walking a monkey at the end of a leash. They would say, "what kind of a monkey is that?" I said, "that’s not a monkey, that’s an Afghan hound, but it’s a monkey-like dog," I would explain to them. A lot of people would be very intrigued with them. I did sell them to various people. It seemed to me that the reason I bought these Afghans is that they became so enamored with them, they always wanted a second Afghan. After a while, I got to tell people, "well, if you buy the first Afghan, six months later you will be back for another one." And in a great many cases, they did just that. But they were very a fascinating breed. I got a great deal of pleasure out of them. I went to many dog shows in other parts of the country. I made a lot of good friends through the years, with these dogs. There was a time that I would be able to tell what dog it was and who owned what Afghan in any part of the country, because they were so rare. But now, they became so popular, I can’t do that anymore. But I do know a great many of the important dogs from the important breeders, that are very serious about the breed. Roger: How many dogs did keep during that period? Sunny: Well, I had about 200 dogs. I used to keep a great many puppies because the sales of puppies wasn’t so great in those years and they would grow up with me. So that is why I got a great knowledge, through experience of seeing these puppies growing up and having them. It was almost like being a great experimental station, where I would see how they would grow up and how they would finish up. Most times people just sold puppies and never would see them again. But I had a great many of my litters grow up with me, so I had a good idea of how the certain family traits would end up and what particular bloodlines would look like. |
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