Quibbletown French Doll was born June 7, 1964. Her Sire is Champion Quibbletown Impresario. Her Dam is Quibbletown Samantha. I have included a three generation pedigree below:
Champion Lorvaso de la Colina
Champion Quibbletown Impresario
Quibbletown April Sunshine
Champion Quibbletown Henri of Navarre, C.D.
Quibbletown Samantha
Quibbletown Serena
French Doll comes down from the best of Quibbletown through Champion Quibbletown Impresario and Quibbletown Samantha. The major gene contributors to Quibbletown French Doll are Champion Lorvaso de la Colina-37.5%, Quibbletown Bouncing Bett-25.00%, Champion Lawrence of Combermere-21.9%, Champion Ibos du Val d'Aure-18.5%, and Champion Basquaerie Houx de Noel-13.3%. Lets back up and spotlight some of these top ancestors.
Quibbletown French Doll
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Ch. Quibbletown Impresario Quibbletown Samantha
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Ch. Lorvaso de la Colina
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Ch. Lawrence of Combermere
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Ch. Basquaerie Houx de Noel
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Ch. Ibos du Val d'Aure
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Ch. Estat d'Argeles
No coincidence that they focus back on Champion Estat d'Argeles. Lets recall again 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."(1).
Edith and Seaver Smith keep their focus in developing their linebreeding program. A program that went for more than 40 years. Actually the seed was planted when Edith Kistler, then a 13 year old girl, saw a picture of Mary Crane disembarking the Queen Mary with one of her Great Pyrenees. Seaver says she cut the picture out and kept it until it disintegrated, many years after they were married and deep into their breeding program.
Lets look at some descendants of Quibbletown French Doll.
American & Canadian Champion Pyr-Lane's Joyeuse de Chesky
Champion Quibbletown Wishful Thought
Quibbletown Ariadne
Champion Quibbletown Sock It To Em
Champion Barqueill Status Quo
Champion Renefield Jon's Son Tom
Champion Barqueill Peer of the Realm
Eng. Champion Barqueill Gainesborough of Carabrae
Champion Karolaska Friendly Kasper
Karolaska Gran Elan
Champion Karolaska Kaskabar Euzkotar
Champion Karolaska Joli Bon Copain
Champion Karolaska Klondike Kid, C.D.
Karolaska's Kuskokwim Kid
American & Canadian Champion Quibbletown Val's Heritage
Champion Kobil's Louis Pastoure
Champion Quibbletown Step Aside
Sesom Gray Shades of Seader
Champion Karolaska Bolshoi Baranov
Karolaska Moonshiner
Champion Karolaska Katchemak
Champion Karolaska Kaballero Kid
Champion Karolaska Klumbo
Karolaska Pepper
Champion Karolaska's Captivator
American & Canadian Champion Le Dauphine of Limberlost
American & Canadian Champion Larwrence of Limberlost
Champion Starlaxy Benjamin Indus
Champion Karolaska Prudhoe Kid
Champion Karolaska's Misty Lady
American & Canadian Champion Karolaska Angel of Pyr Haven
Champion Karolaska Bristol Bay
American & Canadian Champion Euzkari's Kaskadian Everstar
American & Canadian Champion Euzkotar Natani
American & Canadian Champion Sherando's Sundancer
Champion Trottenfox Gabriel
Champion Sunshine of Karolaska
Champion Schnee Bar Monarch Lieb Teddy
Champion Jenstin Noah's Inspiration
Champion Quibbletown Justin Time II
Champion Almac Mountain Mist, C.D.
Champion Trotenfox Sheza Tuf Tip'N Chip
Champion Kaskadian Shaniko, C.D.
Champion Maranatha Space Commander
Champion VilleVieux Yankee Sunshine
American & Canadian Champion Windsong's Wildwood
Champion Karolaska Colorado Kid
Champion VilleVieux Madame Bovary
Champion Rivergrove's Designer Genes
Champion Rivergrove's Run For The Roses
American & Canadian Kaskadian's Skookumchuk Kid
Champion Euzkotar Ibn Ibn Koshare
Canadian Champion Ventisquero's Fleetwood Mac
Champion Euzkotar Dire Straits
The point being that Quibbletown French Doll represents a gene pool that contributes to most present lines in the country as does her other relatives at Quibbletown. She was bred at least three times. One time to Champion Quibbletown Jim Dandy and twice to Champion Quibbletown Merry Maker.
The litter with Jim Dandy produced Quibbletown Bright Star, American & Canadian Champion Pyr- Lane's Joyeuse de Chesky, Quibbletown Capucine, Champion Quibbletown Jon Tom, and Champion Quibbletown Wishful Thought born April 16, 1967. My data base shows Quibbletown Ariadne whelped May 30, 1966 and Champion Quibbletown Estralita whelped January 24, 1970 sired by Champion Quibbletown Merry Maker.
Seaver told me early on that Zayda was the foundation bitch at Cote de Neige. It appears that two other bitches shared this designation as well, Champion Maya de Landladure and Champion Basquaerie Fleurette. Zayda Van Euskara of Basquaerie was born March 5, 1935. She was bred by Mevr. Ulfers of Holland. Lets look at the pedigree of Zayda.
Sultan de Soum
Patou de Betpouey
Pastoure(of Betpouey)
Roland de Betpouey
Unknown Sire
Pastoure(of Betpouey)
Unknown Dam
Dutch Champion Yel de Langladure
Barbat de Soum
Jer de Soum
Alliane de Soum
French Champion Ariel de Soum
Sultan de Soum
Peguere de Soum
Pastoure de Lannedare
Nethou du Pic de Jer
Dutch Champion Thora
Conra
I have included more generations on Yel's paternal side in order to demonstrate his predominance of de Soum breeding. Since the de Soum lines originated from "Dogs of the Mountains" and de Betpouey lines, Yel de Langladure is essentially de Soum.
In 1938 Zayda was the first Great Pyrenees to gain a Canadian Championship.(2) Zayda was obtained by Mary Crane from Mevr. Ulfers proprietor of Elevage Van Euskara in Holland. It was very fortunate for the breed here in North America that Mrs. Crane visited Mevr. Ulfers in Brummen, Holland, near the German frontier, in the spring of 1936. She found the kennel being broken up due to "'domestic troubles and separation"(3). At this time she procured Zayda Van Euskara and a young dog, who had just arrived at Van Euskara from France, Ibos du Val d'Aure. Zayda was subsequently acquired by Marjorie Butcher of Cote de Neige. Marjorie Butcher describes her foundation bitches as follows, "We had as foundation stock, Ch. Basquaerie Fleurette, purchased in whelp, Ch. Maya de Langladure of Basquaerie, and Am & Can. Ch. Zayda Van Euskara of Basquaerie, all of which acquired their championships in this kennel, Zayda has the distinction of becoming the first Canadian champion."(4)
That fateful visit to Holland is as important to the history of the breed here in the North America as any other single event I could recount. Had Mary Crane not made this trip and visited at Van Euskara when she did we would not have either Zayda Van Euskara of Basquaerie or Ibos du Val d'Aure. Reach over and pat your Patou on the head now, as he/she would most likely not be here had this not occurred. This is even more plausible when you read how, in 1955 F.A. Dekkers of Best, Holland writes in his International Journal of Pyrenean Dogs, Volume 3, Number 1, March, 1987, that he could find only one dog in the Country, a then 9 year old dog, Basquaerie Nicki. Basquaerie Nicki had been imported, along with Basquaerie Sonja, into the country in 1946. They were imported to reestablish the breed in the country by Marquise de Villers de Grignoncourt. One litter resulted, but the endeavor was abandoned and the two dogs dispersed to separate locations. From this litter in 1947 until 1955, when Basquaerie Nicki was located, there had been no breeding get or dogs registered in the country. So nine year old Basquaerie Nicki came to his new home. Basquaerie Nicki proceeded to sire two large litters of pups. Basquaerie Nicki died at his new home at the age of 12.(5) Incidentally, there is a nice picture of an 11 year old "Ch. Basquaerie Nicki" on page 21 of the publication referenced in (5). He had gotten his Championship in 1947.(8) Other than being a really lovely story in the history of the breed, this seems to indicate that without the importation's made by Mary Crane during this trip the breed would be quite different here in North America. Certainly, Quibbletown would not have had two of its very most important ancestors i.e. Champion Ibos de Val d'Aure and Canadian & American Champion Zayda Van Euskara of Basquaerie. I suppose it would be possible that they could have gone to another country, possibly France or England, and made some future contribution to the breed. I see no evidence of the other offspring from Dutch Ch. Yel de Langladure or Dutch Ch. Thora anywhere else, so I have to assume their fate would have been the same. There were at least three other litter siblings to Zayda and at least four other full siblings. There were at least two full siblings with Ibos as well. We may never know, especially with the " à titre initial" designation in the French registration system, which effectively breaks the ancestral chain documentation in many pedigrees. I have included pictures of Yel du Langladure and Thora for your inspection. You can see that Thora is not much on type but probably a very substantial bitch. Yel on the other hand is the classic de Soum/de Langladure breed type and appears to be a good size dog as well.
Zayda produced some very important offspring that was the foundation of much of the breed here in North America. I do not think that Seaver would quibble, no pun intended, one bit with the notion that Cote de Neige, with Zayda Van Euskara as a primary part of its foundation, is the primary source where Edith and he derived their tremendous program. Thus Cote de Neige is one very important part of the Quibbletown story. We should all be so lucky to have such a precursor. The show and breeding record established by Marjorie Butcher in just about one decade in time is astounding. This deserves it own separate spotlight, so I will not go any further with this theme. The offspring from Zayda Van Euskara are as follows:
Champion Cote de Neige Zerda and Cote de Neige Winkle have no offspring that has come forward that are ancestors of our contemporary dogs. As a disclaimer, if dogs went to Canada and its offspring did not come back into the states it is possible that there could be descendants of these dogs that my records do not contain. I think most of you would agree, that good dogs on either side of the border seem to make their way through their get to both sides of the border, so I suspect there are none of these dogs anywhere.
There was a very important breeding to Zayda with Champion Orage of Cote de Neige. This litter included Balteaux of Cote de Neige, Cote de Neige Everest, Cote de Neige Mona, and Cote de Neige Zizanie. Champion Orage of Cote de Neige, the Sire of the four, was probably one of the get from the first litter at Cote de Neige. Champion Orage de Cote de Neige's Dam is Champion Basquaerie Fleurette, who we have already reported was obtained "in whelp" from Basquaerie. His Sire is Basquaerie Arlos. Arlos and Fleurette were litter mates by Champion Urdos de Soum and out of Champion Aspe du Pic de Jer. So it is only a little surprising to see that the first seeds of Cote de Neige was inbred de Soum and Pic de Jer. The de Soum side was emphasized almost exclusively going forward.
Balteaux of Cote de Neige appears to have gone to the western United States as we see descendants such as Champion Princess Carla de Mont and Champion Euskaldum Ramuntcho . Contemporary descendants are dogs such as Canadian & American Champion Ventisquero Friend of the Devil, Champion Euzkotar Natani, Champion Caspyr's Victoria Secret Echo, and Champion Rivergroves JA Wonder Woman, but most of the descendants are clearly from the west.
Cote de Neige Zizanie also appears to have gone west as we see offspring at the old kennels of Val-Ken-Be and Be-La-Mar. This line appears to have played out after about 7 generations, unless there are Canadian descendants.
Cote de Neige Mona went to New York where she became one of the two foundation brood bitches in Dr. and Mary Seward's La Colina Kennels. Incidentally she is the Dam of La Colina Cricket who was the foundation bitch at La Shan in Pennsylvania. The importance of Cote de Neige Mona is insured by her being a foundation bitch at La Colina and one of her daughters being the foundation bitch at La Shan. The important association here, it seems, is that both La Colina and La Shan owe their foundation bloodlines in a major way to Cote de Neige and Canadian & American Champion Zayda Van Euskara of Basquaerie.
Cote de Neige Everest bred to Champion Cote de Neige Zephire gave us Cote de Neige le Cygne, who is the Sire of Champion Cote de Neige Paon. Champion Cote de Neige Paon was Best of Breed at the 1952 National Speciality of the Great Pyrenees Club of America. This makes Zayda a double paternal great grandmother and a maternal great great grandmother of Champion Cote de Neige Paon. Champion Cote de Neige Paon is the Sire of English Champion Basquaerie Louis O'Montlouis and thus in many of the top dogs in Great Britain. Cote de Neige le Cygne's daughter, Cote de Neige Pastourale, was an important dog at Esterhazy.
Champion Cote de Neige Zephire is the get of the first breeding of Zayda here in North America. Zayda was bred to her former Dutch kennel mate, Ibos du Val d'Aure. We need to spend some time with Zephire as he is a very important early dog in the breed, bred here in the United States. Champion Cote de Neige Zephire is the only get I have a record and the only get I can find that was registered with the American Kennel Club from this litter whelped October 25, 1936. This also appears to have been Ibos du Val d'Aure's first litter in North America. Ibos next get, which, only included Champion Basquaerie Houx de Noel and Champion Basquaerie Gui de Noel, wasn't whelped until December 27, 1936. Champion Cote de Neige Zephire is described in Mary Crane's 1941 book as being representative of the French lines of Du Val d'Aure and Dutch lines of Van Euskara. Closer inspection shows that this Val d'Aure breeding is almost pure de Soum as the Grandparents of this litter mate inbreeding that produced Ibos du Val d'Aure are as follows:
Karo
Rip de la Noe
Lolette
Jer de Soum
Estaube de Soum
Lisey de Soum
Toy de Soum
French Champion Ariel de Soum
We can see that this is de Soum breeding that was inbred with only the outcross dog, Rip de la Noe, who is generally described as a "true dog of the mountains", not being de Soum. Unquestionably, de Soum is the bloodline of influence for Cote de Neige Zephire, one of the great stud dogs at Cote de Neige. This makes him a very important ancestor of Quibbletown and subsequently the rest of us. De Soum's seeds are from the mountains and the old de Betpouey breeding lines. Additionally de Soum was advised regularly by Monsieur Senac- Lagrange the top breed authority and advisor in the history of the breed. This linebreeding has French Champion Ariel de Soum as a primary gene contributor. The pedigree of Champion Cote de Neige Zephire is as follows:
French Champion Hermes du Val d'Aure
Champion Ibos du Val d'Aure
Halia du Val d'Aure
Dutch Champion Yel du Langladure
Canadian & American Champion Zayda Van Euskara of Basquaerie
Dutch Champion Thora
French Champion Ariel de Soum is the Dam of both Yel du Langladure and Monne de Langladure. Ariel de Soum has a 25% genetic influence on Cote de Neige Zephire, with Sultan de Soum being the other primary gene contributor, at 21.9%. A word of note, I do not count the influence of parents or grand parents unless they also occur further back than the second generation. We can all see this parent/grand parent influence. It takes the computer to identify most of these others that is often surprising.
Champion Cote de Neige Zephire's get include the famous "Three Musketeers" litter of Add-En-On Kennels, out of Basquaerie Hunnette. This litter included six champions and was whelped September 14, 1938. The famous champions from this litter are:
Seventy of Champion Cote de Neige Zephire's descendants have
been either Best of Breed or Best of the Opposite sex at Great
Pyrenees Club of America's National Specialties. This is out of a
total possible of only ninety-eight. Other get of Champion Cote
de Neige Zephire are:
7. Cote de Neige Chanteur is out of Cote de Neige Bazette. Cote
de Neige Chanteur is the Sire of Champion Cote de Neige Roncevaux
(Ronnie) who is the Sire of Edith's first Great Pyrenees and
former roommate at Radcliff College, Champion Cote de Neige
Guerrier. There are pictures of a Edith Kistler showing her puppy
and a Seaver Smith showing Champion Cote de Neige Roncevaux on
page 461 of Mary Crane's 1949 Book(9). Cote de Neige Chanteur is
an important ancestor to Champion Dji Dji of Bator de Esterhazy
that Bruce and Carolyn Hardy of Balibasque Kennels incorporated
into their outstanding breeding program. Cote de Neige Chanteur
is also only three generations removed from Champion Quibbletown
Lee of Ralfrans who went to California and was very instrumental
in the development of the breed in the far west. Cote de Neige
Chanteur through Champion Cote de Neige Roncevaux and then
Champion Cote de Neige Estaubee is an important ancestor of
Champion Cote de Neige Berceuse I covered in depth in Part V with
Beau-Kay Heidi and Beau-Kay Chloe.
8. Champion Cote de Neige Chansonette, also out of Champion Cote de Neige Bazette, is the Dam of Champion Cote de Neige Symphonie, the first American Bred Great Pyrenees to go Best in Show at an all breed show in the United States. Incidentally Champion Cote de Neige Bazette's Sire is Champion Bazen de Soum, one of the two original imports than inspired Mr. and Mrs. Crane to their pursuit in the breed.
9. We reviewed earlier Cote de Neige le Cygne, whose maternal grandmother is also Champion Zayda Van Euskara of Basquaerie, is the sire of Champion Cote de Neige Paon. Paon won Best of Breed in 1952 under Basque Judge Louis Murr, at the Great Pyrenees Club of America's National Speciality.
10. Cote de Neige Ocean is the great grandmother on maternal side of Champion Cote de Neige Pataud who was a foundation dog at Castellan. Additionally since she goes back to Champion Cote de Neige Paon we see much the same connection of Cote de Neige le Cygne above.
11. Cote de Neige Crepscule, whose dam is Champion Cote de Neige Manon, is the dam of Champion Cote de Neige Pataud mentioned above by Champion Cote de Neige Laxarrou. From Champion Cote de Neige Starlight bred to La Shan Marc of Basquaerie we see just a few generations later Champion Quibbletown Impresario and many other very important Quibbletown dogs through the bitch Quibbletown April Sunshine
Canadian & American Champion Zayda of Van Euskara of Basquaerie and her get, especially Champion Cote de Neige Zephire, are very important for Cote de Neige, Quibbletown, and subsequently the rest of us. I do not think there has been a fair appreciation of the major contribution made to the breed by Marjorie Butcher of Cote de Neige. I was impressed that the English seem to have a good appreciation of Cote de Neige's contribution to the breed. There is a splendid section, in their Diamond Jubilee book, on Cote de Neige. I will quote a passage to demonstrate, "During little more than a decade, when Cote de Neige was at its height, no kennel did more to establish correct type and soundness in its bloodlines, and only Basquaerie produced more Champions. Its success is a matter of record particularly as Marjorie Butcher went undefeated with her bitches over a two year period."(7). We will return to the Cote de Neige story at a later time.
To me the story of Canadian & American Champion Zayda Van
Euskara of Basquaerie is one of the best in breed history. It has
all the drama, import, and romance of all great stories.
1. International Great Pyrenees Review, Volume 5, Number 1,
February, 1976, Quibbletown, Edith K. Smith, P. 4.
2. The Great Pyrenees, Mary W. Crane, Reprinted by Hoflin Publishing, 4401 Zephyr Street, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, 80033-3299, 1989.Original copyright 1949, P.89.
3. The Great Pyrenees, Mary W. Crane, 1941, P.245.
4. The Great Pyrenees, Mary W. Crane, 1941, P.149
5. International Journal of Pyrenean Dogs, Volume 3, Number 1, March, 1987, Pyrenean Mountain Dogs in Holland before and after the 1940-45 wars, F.A. Dekkers, PP. 16-24.
6. The Great Pyrenees, Mary W. Crane, 1941, P. 285
7. The Pyrenean Mountain Dog, Diamond Jubilee 1936-1996, Published by The Pyrenean Mountain Dog Club of Great Britain, Printed by Bernard Kaymar Ltd., Kaymar Industrial Estate, Trout Street, Preston PR1 4AL, P. 263
8. The Pyrenean Mountain Dog, Diamond Jubilee 1936-1996, Published by The Pyrenean Mountain Dog Club of Great Britain, Printed by Bernard Kaymar Ltd., Kaymar Industrial Estate, Trout Street, Preston PR1 4AL, P. 227
9. The Great Pyrenees, Mary W. Crane, Reprinted by Hoflin Publishing, 4401 Zephyr Street, Wheat Ridge, Colorado 80033-3299, 1989, Original copyright 1949, P 461.