by
written in 1995
Fifty years ago this year a young Lady, Edith K. Smith, took her Great Pyrenees with her to Radcliff College. Edith Smith's first Great Pyrenees. Thus began a series of events that has resulted in the greatest influence on the Great Pyrenees breed in North America to date. No one can minimize the extraordinary contribution of Mary Crane, but no one has to date bred the dogs of consistent quality, genetic stability, and strength of breeding lines, that resulted in the profound effect on the breed as has Quibbletown. I suspect it is now impossible, due to the large numbers of dogs and people involved in the breed, for anyone to ever again even approach the influence on the breed we all now enjoy from Quibbletown.
We generally wait until it is too late to properly recognize and honor great people and great dogs. The people and dogs who make fundamental contributions to the breed. The intent of this article and the series that follows is to offer for your review the tremendous contribution made by Edith and Seaver Smith and the many dogs of Quibbletown. I offer to you my conclusion that their contribution is unmatched by no other in the breed to date.
This series is dedicated to Edith Smith. I hope that we will recognize Seaver for what he has brought to the breed and what he continues to offer us all. All we have to do is ask. Believe me, Seaver will tell us what he thinks, teaching all the time. Fascinating lessons intertwined with history and antidotes of past dogs, people, and events. Many of which are long gone and most never known to most of us. A treasure to the breed who continues to weld tremendous influence on us all. Even his detractors would have to acknowledge that their present success could not be possible without Quibbletown. They simply would not have the dogs they now enjoy. Great work on their own. Impossible without Edith and Seaver Smith of Quibbletown.
The initial intent of this series is to review some of the great bitches from Quibbletown that have influenced the breed. Along the way and afterward we will review some other dogs. Before we get into the details of each bitch, I want to outline how it appears to me from computer pedigree analysis, the dogs and lines (genes) that make Quibbletown. The observations, opinions and associations are solely mine. Let me begin by giving you some background on how I arrived at some this information and subsequent opinions.
Sometime back I decided to trace our dogs back to the original dogs imported by primarily Mary Crane. I wanted to see if Tri-International Champion Estat d'Argeles and Champion Estagel d'Argeles were in the backgrounds of our dogs. One thing I found is that, CLEARLY, the most important ancestor for all dogs in North America is an inbred grandson of American and Tri- International Champion Estat d'Argeles, Champion Ibos du Val d'Aure. This is as true for what became Quibbletown as it is for all the rest of the dogs in the breed today here in North America. Ibos, as was Val d'Aure, was a result of the de Soum lines. Please understand that statements such as the preceding one can be attacked with much validity on many counts. I feel they are representative of the associations I am making and are intended by, its simplistic nature, to prevent this from becoming tedious and boring. Champion Basquaerie Gui de Noel was used extensively here in the United States. His litter brother, Champion Basquaerie Houx de Noel went to Canada where his offspring came to greatly influence Cote de Neige and de la Colina. One of the dogs we will study later will be one of Seaver's favorites, Champion Lawrence of Combermere. I will let Seaver tell you what he thought of the dog when he saw him as an old boy.
Destiny was evident right from the start as the first litter at Quibbletown, the Easter litter, went right to the top. Born 3/25/51, Champion Quibbletown Easter Token won the Great Pyrenees Club of America National Specialty in 1954, 1955, and 1956. He was out of Cote de Neige Ariette II who generally goes back to Ibos and his Grandfather, Estat d'Argeles. He is by Cote de Neige Guerrier, who goes back on Ibos and some other French stock, dominated by de Soum lines.
Briefly the lines go this way:
Champion Ibos du Val d'Aure
/ \
Ch. Basquaerie Gui de Noel & Ch. Basquaerie Houx de Noel
| \ / |
North American Dogs \ / Lawrence of Combermere
\ / |
Cote de Neige Lorvaso de la Colina
\ /
Quibbletown
Since this initial litter, 14 different dogs with Quibbletown have gone Best of Breed or Best of Opposite Sex at the National Specialty of the Great Pyrenees Club of America (GPCA). Many of these dogs won multiple times i.e. Champion Quibbletown Bon Chance from 1959-1962. There are others who won two or three times. Twenty-three dogs who have one or the other of their parents with Quibbletown in their name have won either Best of Breed (BOB) or Best of Opposite Sex (BOS) at Great Pyrenees Club of America National Specialties. Keep in mind these are individual dogs. Many of these dogs won multiple times. From 1954 through 1973 Quibbletown dogs won either Best of Breed or Best of the Opposite Sex at Great Pyrenees Club of America National Specialties 25 times. Since there were only 40 such possible awards during this 20 year period, Quibbletown won 63% of the time. Most of us are still trying to win once. One hundred fourteen (114) dogs, through 1993, with Quibbletown in their name have achieved an AKC Championship. Many others are AKC Champions where both or one or the other parents have Quibbletown in their name. Fourteen dogs (14) with Quibbletown in their name are included in the "top producer" list as compiled by the Great Pyrenees Club of America.
People who knew Edith and Seaver well over the years said that Edith had a remarkable eye for dogs including pups and that she was a breeders breeder in every sense of the term. One of those rare innate individuals we see occasionally in dogs. Seaver and Edith Smith together are Quibbletown. Since Edith's death the Quibbletown line was continued until recently on a limited basis by another breeder, with advise and consent from Seaver. Few "pure Quibbletown dogs" are left in the country. Quibbletown is the foundation or a prime contributor of many lines. Karolaska, Tip N'Chip, Limberlost, Ville Vieux, Cavalier, and others have been strongly influenced by Quibbletown breeding lines. Others such as Euzkotar, Kaskadian, Caspyr, Rivergroves, Summerhill, and many others have key dogs of Quibbletown breeding in their pedigree. It is startling to run gene searches on dogs and see the influence from Quibbletown after many generations.
Edith and Seaver told us many times that Champion Lorvaso de la Colina really pulled Quibbletown together. We plan on visiting him after the bitches. Many of them, Lorvaso knew quite intimately. I compiled the list by matching up the bitches who were top producers, bitches who are the life spring of more recent lines. We will start with Champion Cote de Neige Ariette II and then go to bitches who carry the name of Quibbletown or are all Quibbletown breeding. Seaver will want us to go back to other Cote de Neige dogs and first bitch at Cote de Neige, imported from Holland, American and Canadian Champion Zayda Van Euskara. All of that later.
Without Quibbletown we would not have Louis Pasteur, Atari, Chuck, Jackson, Timber, Sheza, L'Aire, TG, Eve, Lucky, Sonny Side Up, Image, Reflection, Bristol, Le Roi, Dennis, Red, Nero, Glacier, Bonnie, Clover, Dire, Natani, Macho, Looker, TR, Whitney, Hugo, Eve, Katch, Moonshiner, Sam, and Preacher. Can you imagine!!!!
Ch. Cote de Neige Ariette II was the first bitch at Quibbletown. Her mother, Cote de Neige Actrice soon followed. Ariette II was born February 28, 1945. Her first litter produced Champion Quibbletown Easter Token, referenced above. This breeding was a result of being mated to Champion Cote de Neige Guerrier, the first dog at Quibbletown and apparently a former resident at Radcliff College.(1). Ariette II had a Coefficient of Inbreeding of 13.17. Another result of this same breeding pair is Quibbletown Athene, Dam of Champion Quibbletown Bon Chance, who was Best of Breed at Great Pyrenees Club of America National Specialties four times. Estat & Estagel made up 28% of her gene pool, with 21% from Estat alone. The words of Edith Smith, " Via our Cote de Neige stock we had the type we wanted, since these early dogs were almost all close to the lovely Estat d'Argeles of Basquaerie."(2) Ariette II won Best of Opposite Sex at the 1950 Great Pyrenees Club of America Specialty. With blood still fresh from those original great dogs, Estat, Estagel, Ibos, and one of the most important bitches Mary Crane imported, Champion J'Nive II de Langladure, being out of French Champion Ariel de Soum and by Champion Estagel d'Argeles. All of this just two, three, and four generations behind. I will give you her pedigree for four generations. She influenced many generations still to come. Edith and Seaver always acknowledged her great contribution in what they eventually achieved.
Ch. Estat d'Argeles
Ch. Basquaerie Boris
Ch. Basquaerie Nana
Ch. Cote de Neige Nivereau
Ch. Basquaerie Ibos O'Combermere
Ch. Cote de Neige Ariel
Ch. J'Nive II de Langladure
Ch. Cote de Neige Ariette II
Ch. Basquaerie Houx de Noel
Ch. Lawrence of Combermere
Basquaerie Lohilu
Cote de Neige Actrice
Ch. Basquaerie Bichon, CD
Ch. Cote de Neige Ariette
Ch. Cote de Neige Chansonette
Full siblings are Quibbletown Bouncing Bett (we will visit her record), Ch. Quibbletown Millichop, and Ch. Quibbletown Mistigris. Offspring from two breedings with Ch. Cote de Neige Guerrier are Ch. Quibbletown Easter Token, Ch. Quibbletown Chloe of Beau Kay, Quibbletown Titian Beauty, and Ch. Quibbletown Small Fry and others.
I have not updated my top producer files in a year or so, but of the 120 dogs I presently have identified as being top producers in the breed by Great Pyrenees Club of America standards, 80 are descendants of Ariette II. Of a total of 89 different dogs who have taken either Best of Breed or Best of the Opposite Sex at Great Pyrenees Club of America National Specialties, 57 different dogs have been descendants of Ariette II. More impressive is that since a reasonable breeding age and allowing a few years for prodigy to mature, i.e. 01/01/50, Ch. Cote de Neige Ariette II is an ancestor of 57 out of a total possible 68 dogs (84%) who have won Best of Breed or Best of the Opposite Sex at Great Pyrenees Club of America National Specialties.
Remember this was the beginning. An indicator of much more to come.
Jeani Smith formerly of Colorado, now in Texas must be acknowledged for the unmatched contribution she has made to the breed through breed research and her work on the Title Holders series. Without information from Jeani I could not do the research I am doing. Thank you Jeani!
Bibliography:
1. The Great Pyrenees Annual, 1984, Volume 4, Great Pyrenees People[ Edith and C. Seaver Smith, Jr.], pp 42-60.
2. International Great Pyrenees Review, Volume 5, Number 1, February, 1976, Quibbletown, Edith K. Smith, Page 4.