Establishing The Facts

I was astounded - and, frankly, more than a little hurt - to read in Breed Notes recently that this breed owes its recognition to April Folly At Tordown, because this simply is not so. I then realised that, of all the people currently in the breed, only Julie and I have been involved in the German Spitz campaign since the very beginning and so perhaps it is time, before the truth becomes too distorted, to set the facts in order.

To follow events, one has to realise that there are several strands to the story which run parallel for a time until they are drawn together and I shall endeavour to give credit where it is due. I have no desire to present a sort of 'alone I done it' picture.

My own interest is first documented in 1975 when, after a lot of thought about a second breed, I wrote to the K.C. to ask whether they would recognise German Kleinspitz as such if they were imported. I received no answer and, since I wasn't yet ready to follow it through I didn't push it at that stage. In the early 1970's, Averil Cawthera, well established in Samoyeds and becoming so in Pomeranians, decided to re-establish the white Pom and to that end imported several Poms from Holland including Tum-Tum van het Vlinderhof of Lireva (Tum-Tum) and Venstein's Mauricia of Lireva (Velvet) in 1975 and 1976 respectively. In, I think, 1977, Rosemary Bridgman bought April Folly at Tordown, a very pretty oversized Pom and brought her to the Nordic. Rosemary knew of my interest in German Kleinspitz and suggested we pool our ideas and efforts and direct them towards restoring recognition of the two sizes of Poms under the apt name 'Victorian' Pomeranian. Since the two things were one and the same, I wasn't much bothered what they were called and agreed.

Later in 1977, Rosemary acquired Tum-Tum and, 1978, Velvet, from Averil who had achieved what she had set out to do. I believe there was some misunderstanding as to why Rosemary wanted them but, as I was not directly involved, I can neither be specific nor make judgements on the matter. I was certainly under the impression that both had been registered as Kleine Keeshond in Holland, and Tum-Tum was undoubtedly of Klein size.

About this time, a colleague, Julie Smith, was thinking of having a dog and, having been shown some Victorian Poms, decided they would suit her very well. She, Rosemary and I then imported - in 1979 - Tefanra-Leona's Lady Xabrina (Minty) on the understanding that Julie and I would buy Rosemary out at a later date. This we did. Minty was, however, always registered in the joint ownership of only myself and Julie and this was with the full agreement of all parties. Minty was registered in Holland as Kleine Keeshond.

When we sent Minty's registration to the K.C. we were somewhat astonished to find them come back as 'Keeshond'! I wrote to the K.C., with Julie's and Rosemary's approval, to say that she was not and that I understood previous Kleine Keeshonden had been registered as Pomeranian. The K.C. did not correct this statement (which I later learned was untrue) and re-processed her registration as Pomeranian.

Minty proved very difficult to breed and, when finally mated to Tum-Tum produced three puppies, each of which was undershot - a fault exhibited by neither parent. This was a shock as Minty had been selected primarily for her compatible bloodlines and we had until then assumed that the undershot mouths had come from the small Pom stock in the background of the oversized Poms. It certainly wasn't a mating we wished to repeat (if you look at my Teazle you will appreciate why!) and I then decided to make my own choice. I went to Austria where German Spitz were said to be of good quality and finally, in 1981 in Vienna bought Prinz Schneeflocke von Cottas (Schani), Austrian-bred but of Czech pedigree and registered in Austria as German Kleinspitz. He, too, was put on the Pom register here.

In the meantime, of course, Folly, Tum-Tum and Velvet had been mated to various British Poms and each other and Folly, in particular, played an important part in extending the colour range.

In the course of the campaign to recognise our dogs, it became obvious to most of us that the opposition from 'small' Pom people made it advisable a) to form a Club and b) that we stood a better chance of recognition if we aimed for a separate breed called 'German Spitz'. Rosemary was - understandably from her point of view - not at all happy about this and at one stage stated her intention of refusing to transfer Tum-Tum and Velvet if that was what the breed was to be called. This was when we learned that they had, in fact, despite their size been registered not as Kleine Keeshonden, but as Poms (Dwerg Keeshond) in Holland.

There had never been any doubt that Minty and Schani were, and always had been, registered as Kleinspitz and therefore they and their progeny were in fact the only true - in a purely technical sense - German Spitz in the country. Since it was obvious the campaign wasn't going to go away, the K.C. finally - and we owe a great debt of gratitude to Mike Stockman for his efforts on our behalf - agreed not only to recognise the breed and include Minty, Schani and their progeny but also to include Tum-Tum, Velvet and theirs, if the owners wished it.

Folly therefore came into the breed largely through her progeny by Tum-Tum and undoubtedly contributed to colour but not to the breed's recognition, for which she was never eligible. Minty has had very little genetic influence on the breed but Schani has - despite comments by his detractors, most of whom have never seen him - passed on his own superb coat, head, temperament and soundness and, on the debit side, a tendency to length of loin. However, put quite bluntly, if Julie and I had not been prepared to put our money where our mouths are and import two German Spitz with no guarantee of correct recognition, the campaign would have failed and you would still be trying to gain acceptance for oversized Poms. More probably, most readers of this wouldn't have got involved at all.

All facts in this page are matters of record, either in minute books or in my files and I have endeavoured to present them as factually as possible. I do find it ironic, however, that Breed Notes concerning the recognition of the breed in this country can totally ignore two dogs without whom there would have been no recognition. It would be nice to feel that a little more care and accuracy could be employed in the future and two much-loved dogs be given the credit they rightly deserve.

© Janet Edmonds