Cedar Hill Story
This Article was featured in the July, 2001 edition of The Orient Express
I feel very honored that I was chosen by the
editor and associates of Orient Express to share with other breeders,
show people, and lovers of the breed, my life with the Pekingese.
This also gives me an opportunity to acknowledge my profound love of the
Pekingese, who somewhere in that small lion-like body of each one lurks
the soul of a child, manifesting itself with every stubborn demand that
it makes and with the same devotion as the love of a child to a parent.
Be it known that I was not raised with purebred dogs nor in a dog show world. Far from it and totally unknown to me. I was born on my grandfather's old farm, lived there my whole life and still reside there, as my father before me until his death. My 89-year-old mother still lives in the original house on the farm, as does my older brother who has his own house on the property. The only signs remaining of farming are a few cattle, a garden, and lots of Pekingese. When I was a child we had dogs and we loved them. I cannot tell you what kind because they were sort of a mixture, if you get my meaning. They ran the land by day but were brought into the house nights and winters.
I guess compared to some of the breeders of 20, 30, or 40 years of breeding and showing Pekingese one might call me a novice of 12 years. But if you measure one by the hands-on work and learning that I have put into it I might qualify as a veteran. I am sure it was likewise for many of you. I was not one who was able to just go and buy an excellent bitch and breed her to an outstanding stud when I began. To this day, I only have or have had three bitches, which came from sources outside my kennel. I now have 24 dogs and bitches and six puppies, all of excellent quality used either for showing or breeding. I would like to say thank you to the judges who recognize this when they're in the ring.
I will never forget the first Peke I ever saw. I was a new
bride of 14 years of age, and, filled with the love and wonderment of
very young newlyweds, my husband Jimmie, yes, I still have the same one,
and I went off the farm to downtown Louisville for the day, and there,
on that day, I was introduced to something I never forgot. A lady
was walking a beautiful red dog down the sidewalk. Even though I
could see it was a small dog, that is where my knowledge stopped.
So I picked up my courage and said to the lady, "What kind of dog is
that?". She cordially informed me that it was a Pekingese.
That little bit of information never left my mind and I could not think of anything but that Peke, who was in my conversation often. Enough so that I guess my new husband got tired of hearing it. We did not know of any Peke breeders. But! Back then there was an Alden's Catalog Warehouse and we had a catalog and in the catalog was a Pekingese, So, right around Christmas Jimmie ordered me a little girl Peke right out of the catalog. What a wonderful Christmas gift! She was a tiny, beautiful red, eight week old baby with a beautiful flat face and I named here Candy. Unfortunately, she only lived about four years.
I then went into the decade of having children every two years until I accumulated five. We were without a dog until we purchased a Peke-a-Poo from a neighbor for $50.00. It was a lovely little dog and we had her for several years before she was hit by a car and killed.
Then there was the period of time of education for several years because I realized it was ok to be married and have babies but one also has to be smart to live in this world and actually get by. But once again the love and longing for a Peke haunted me. The I saw an ad in the newspaper that Sears and Roebuck was selling out their Pekingese. Imagine that! Another mail order corporation. But these were being sold from the home of a Sears employee out of her backyard in Indiana.
So I took my youngest son, Kenneth and we went to chose a little black and white male and was informed that he had been a stud dog for Sears and Roebuck. He came with records, registration papers and all but he was never used for stud.
I only wanted him for love. His registered name was Roebuck's Pistol
Pete. We called him Petey. When he was old he went blind and
would get stuck in corners, etc., and try to bite because he could not
see who was before him. So we put him to sleep. That was a
sad day. But still I did not know that there were show dogs and
dog shows. Again, we were without a Peke for several years.
Fifteen years ago our middle daughter, Donna happened to acquire three
Pekingese. Because she had always seen the love that Jimmie and I
had for the breed she gave us two. They were not like the Pekes we
have in our kennel today. They were definitely pet quality!
But that did not sway our love for them We had the female spayed
and still have her at the age of fifteen. She is still in good
health. She was always Jimmie's dog.
In 1990 I found out there were dog shows and show dogs. My niece Julie is a beautician and worked as a hair dresser for a lady whose sister raised Pekingese. They were nice Pekingese but she did not raise them to show because she did not care for showing. My niece did not know a good Pekingese from a bad one, so one day she mentioned to the sister I had a couple of Pekes. A few days later the "Peke lady" knocked on my door and ask if she could see my Pekes. I laughed because the Pekes I had were the ones our daughter gave us and looked like they were from the turn of the century era but I let her in anyway. We had some coffee and talked some and she asked me to go home with her, about 10 miles away to look at her Pekes. She said she had a new litter. When I saw her Pekes they did not look a lot like mine. They had gorgeous long hair and nice flat black faces. Then she showed me her litter, which was eight weeks old. She said "I want $200.00 for these except for this one. I want $300.00 for it.". In our current period of time we could not buy the trimmed off hair from a Peke for $300.00. I knew nothing at all about Pekes at that moment but I did know that little girl was different.
I told her I wanted that one but I had no intention of buying a pup when I
left home and therefore had no money with me and could not pay for it
then. She told me to go ahead and take her home with me and she
would keep the papers until I paid her.
My husband has always, until retirement, been an over the road driver so he wasn't home when this took place. Because I had no knowledge then of the price of a good dog from a breeder I would not tell him that I paid $300.00 for a dog. Later on when he over heard me telling one of the children he made the comment that no one but me would pay $300.00 for a dog. That in itself shows what we knew! But you have to remember that was a long time ago and out of the mouths of Babes, so to speak, where dogs are concerned. My reply to him, because I could think of nothing else to say, was, "One has to believe in future gratitude". How true those words came to be! That little $300.00 girl became a beautiful red show quality bitch, even though she did not like to show. Her name was Scarlet Cen Sa Chun of Cedar Hill. She had a lot of Micklee on her mother's side and she was the granddaughter of St. Aubrey's Oliver of Elsdon but there were also dogs in her pedigree that even today I have hot heard of but there had to be some good genes there somewhere.
It was during Scarlet's time that I joined the Derbytown Pekingese Club
of which I am currently President. At that time Mrs. Edna Boyles
was President, as she had been for many years and she had a little male
puppy out of Champion Cambalu Sunstorm and Champion Kolari Bee Dazzled
who she named Cho Sen Houdini Kalari and was called Harry. When
Scarlet and Harry was old enough I asked Mrs. Boyles for a stud service
from Harry, which he graciously granted. This was my first litter
of show quality dogs. There were four females and one male in the
litter. They were all beautiful. Beginners luck, Edna said.
The boy is now Champion LeGem's Darlin Dazzle Boy, better known as Harry
Jr. whom I still own. He has a son in Mew Mexico now owned and
being shown by Mr. Hai Duoug. One of his litter sisters, Le Gem's
Dazzlin In Red, owned by Edna Voyles, produced Champion Cho Sen
Gabriel's Thunder, now owned by Marge Dorsey of Bach Choy Kennels.
His other litter sister, Le Gem's Dazzle Beauty produced Choy's Chosen
Angel of Le Gem's who is major pointed and also owned by Marge Dorsey.
Beauty is also the grandmother of Bach Choy Ming Toi out of Angel and
Sara Searle's Champion Ming Kwai. Owned by Marge Dorsey and Sarah
Searle and is currently being shown. Neither Scarlet nor Edna's
Cho Sen Houdini Kolari (Harry Sr.) were champions but both were good
enough to have been champions. From this I learned a valuable
lesson. That all champions, so to speak, do not have a Ch. in
front of their name. How many excellent dogs do we by-pass that
excels the standard, because we judge the status of the dog instead
of the dog
itself. We all know of dogs that carry the official title of
Champion that would not, and we have all known dogs that do not, but
could have carried the title of Champion. Forgive me, for
sometimes I get carried away with my philosophy. Now back to my
dogs of which I was given the privilege of writing about.
Soon after I bought Scarlet, the "Peke lady" informed me that she was having some bad times in her family and asked if I could keep her dogs for a while. One of the males I kept for her was a son of Champion Knolland Red Reuben, out of Red Rover and Kalari Bee Bopp. There was also a bitch, Lon Du Odalisque of Harcourt, who was bred by the Rover male at the time I took the dogs. The Peke Lady told me I could Have the Pups for keeping her dogs. The first dog I ever showed came from this breeding. His name Is Reuben's Tucker of Cedar Hill. He is getting old now but is still putting out puppies of quality. He has a wonderful pedigree and is pointed but I quit showing him so I could devote my time to Dazzle Boy (Harry) and used Tucker for stud. He is very short backed and compact as you would expect a Rover grandson to be.
Without a doubt, one of the best things that has happened to me in my
Pekingese venture was to be able to acquire from Deborah Norman Voyce
two outstanding adult bitches who have whelped some of the best dogs in
my kennel. They are Champion Orah's Ms. Integrity Ka-Leen
(Gertie), bred by Deborah Norman Voyce and Kathleen Knowles, sired by
Canadian and American Champion Ka-Leen's Invincible Orah, out of BISS
Canadian and American Champion Lorrickbrook Marco Polo and American
Champion Orah's Babbs of Ka-Leen, out of Canadian Champion St. Aubrey
Token Toby of Elsdon and Lo0n Du Sharita at Orah. Some of you who
have been breeders for many years will remember these wonderful
old Pekes, some or the younger breeders will not know them. My
Gertie is older. She is ten years old. I would like to
mention that her last heat season was tested by the Ketone-Glucose
strips mentioned in the Orient Express article, written by Benson Ray
and Sharon Masnick. Consequently, seven months ago she gave birth
to four beautiful puppies sired by Le' Gem's Mufasa of the Jungle, which
along with his litter sister, Sarobi of the Jungle are the only litter
in the United States sired by Champion Tao Regency's Rule the Jungle
(Tarzan), which was owned and championed out by Ky Oulay before he was
sold to a show home to be specialed in Japan. The litter was bred
and is owned by yours truly. Tarzan was sired by Canadian Champion
Pendenrah Cool Luke of St. Aubrey and Champion Tao Regency's St. Claire
from Briarcourt and St Aubrey blood lines. We are currently
showing Sarobi, which won Best of breed her second time in the ring.
The only other time I bred Gertie was four years ago. I bred her
to Champion Mr. Chips of Karmalot, bred and owned by Lois Wagensomer of
Karmalot Pekingese. That breeding produced UKC Champion Le' Gem's Cashin
in Chips that Jimmie and I are currently showing to finish under AKC.
He only lacks a three point major. Cash won Best of Opposite Sex
to Sarobi in his last
show. I also have his litter sister which has proven to be an
outstanding brood bitch.
The other outstanding bitch purchased from Deborah Norman Voyce was Duff-Orah's Rovin' Gal (Gallie), sired by BIS Canadian and American Champion Duff-Orah's Damien Girl, out of Champion Briarcourt's Damien Gable. She is beautiful in all respects and excellent in standard but does not like to show. But this act is forgiven for she has given to me breedings, which are far more valuable to me than a championship title on her. Bred to Betty Tilley's Champion Kushan Gold Ransom of Pekehuis, she produced a red jewel by the name of Champion Le' Gem's Queen's Ransom, that I hold in such high esteem, and is praised by all who see her. If I breed a thousand dogs and live to be a hundred years old, I do not believe I will ever have another bitch as good as Goldie in beauty and structure. Equally well bred is her litter brother, Le' Gem's Gold and Onyx (Jake) which has an outstanding head and wonderful bone. Jake has one major and two points. I am currently still showing him. My thanks to Betty. Gallie is also the dam of Le' Gem's Mufasa of the Jungle and Le' Gem's Sarobi of the Jungle. We are carrying on the Jungle tradition, as we now have five month old Simba, a male and Nila and Sarafini (females) of the Jungle out of Mufasa and Canadian and American Champion Orah's Ms. Integrity Ka Leen, which is the dam of four champions already. We hope to give her seven champions when her three babies go in the ring soon.
All of these furry children reside in a 36' by 12' kennel room built onto the back of our house, complete with their own forced air furnace and air conditioner and washer and dryer. They have congoleum floors that are easy to keep clean. Each one has a 3' by 4' cage of it's own with congoleum flooring in them for easy cleaning, which is covered with white paper purchased from a moving company. The white paper also lets us know when our bitches are in season. Since we live on a hill, their runs go down hill, which is very good for their legs, since they have to run up them. I would like to say thanks to Jimmie, who spent two or three years building the accommodations for the dogs, on weekends only, after driving a semi all week long. Now he is retired and gets to help take care of them. How lucky can one get?
Handlers are a wonderful asset to owners of show dogs. I have used them from time to time. I know lots of times it is from necessity and sometimes from wanting a fast finish. Personally, I do find an extra spark of glory from breeding and finishing my own dogs. My grooming certainly is not on top of the list of ten best groomers. I went through that trying time when no one wanted to show me how to groom or what to do with my dog in any manner when I first began. I have very strong feelings against this, not only because of me but also because of every new person to the dog world. If the old ones don't teach the new ones, what is going to happen to out breed when the old ones are gone? Finally, I met Ky Oulay and he gave me a day out of his life to teach me to groom.
No, not to trim, Also, Deborah Norman Voyce came from Michigan to spend
several days with me and because she was a professional groomer, she
taught me a lot. Grooming is one of the subjects where it is not
who you know but what you know. As Clint Eastwood says, "One
should know their limitations", and when it comes to grooming. I
know mine.
An old and learned breeder and show person told me when I first started showing to watch and pick someone that I admired who was showing in the ring and pretend I was that person. The person that I picked was Luc Boileau. Though I have never got it quite down pat, and may never, I do admire the professional, yet casual way that Luc shows a Peke.
When I go into the ring I make myself believe that my dog is the best dog there. I think this is necessary to a person showing. To me, if he doesn't win, he is a winner anyway. If he was not, I would not have him or her there. I also believe that no matter who you know or what you know, if you have a dog with great bone and a great head, straight back and proper roll and a good presentation, maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow, but one day you will beat the popularity contests that go on so much. If I have such a dog, I fear no man or woman in the ring. In that respect I am a little like Napoleon Bonaparte, I am little (not size, but in the dog world) but I enter the ring with a mighty army, the support of my husband and a great dog.
Last, but certainly not least. I would like to say thanks to Ky Oulay of Tao Regency Kennel and Deborah Normand Voyce, who is not in Pekes anymore, but to whom I will always be indebted for the tremendous help they gave me in the beginning. I also wish to thank Mrs. Edna Voyles for the moral support she has always given to me and to Lee Fairleigh who remains my dear friend. And to Eva Matheny I would like to say that I enjoyed her recent visit very much. Best of luck and God bless each and every one in our Pekingese world. To Joe McGinnis, keep up the excellent work with our breed magazine. It sometimes makes our bad days good.
