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"However, what we do know is that great sires tend to be from great sire lines. In assessing these sires, appropriate consideration should be given to those whose sires were also great sires. Furthermore, it will not be surprising if their grandsire or both grandsires were also great sires. When you are dealing with such a sire line, it is known as the direct tail male line."
-Patricia Craige Trotter, "Born To Win"
The Bydand Boys
In the world of canines any intact male over maybe six months of age is generally capable of performing the duties of a stud dog. And most of them are more than willing.
But there is a big difference between a stud dog and a great sire. Great sires in any breed are exemplary animals themselves who are capable, through either sheer luck or design, of passing on their virtues when bred to a variety of bitches.
Being a great sire is more than a matter of producing good-looking offspring, although that is certainly important. We believe the ability to pass on robust health and a sound temperament to be absolutely critical as well, as these qualities are every bit as heritable as soundness and breed type.
Here at Bydand we have four generations of sires in residence, an uncommon circumstance to be sure. Few dog owners in this world, when picking up their new pup, have had the experience of actually meeting their puppy's great-great- grandsire, much less having him sit on their lap! We do not use outside sires in our breeding program, but have chosen to linebreed exclusively from our own sires, creating what is referred to in animal husbandry terms as a "closed stud." This sort of breeding program requires an unerring eye, a deep knowledge of what is in one's pedigrees, and a willingness to perform extensive health-screening. It is not a program well-suited to the novice breeder nor the faint of heart.
The beauty, overall robust health, and great temperament that our line is known for are due in no small measure to these four wonderful dogs, presented below in chronological order:
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HSDAA/AKC CH Salemi Charly
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Height: 10 1/2" Weight: 11 lbs
Charly's OFA page: http://www.offa.org/display.html?appnum=737839#animal
Whelped in April of 1997, Charly is, very simply, the cornerstone of the Bydand line.
From his Russian-bred champion dam, Charly inherited the sound running gear, overall elegance, silky coat, and crozier tail of the true Havana Silk Dog, and he routinely passes these qualities to his offspring.
Charly has sired well over 50 AKC champions, including many top-winning dogs in several different countries, and he has over 100 health-screened offspring listed in the OFA database.
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Charly's achievements as a sire are the stuff of legends in any breed, and include:
- HCA Register of Merit Excellent (ROMX) awarded 2003
- Winner of the Stud Dog Class, HCA National Specialty, 2003 and 2005
- HCA Top-Producing Stud Dog of the Year, 2000 and 2002
- Sire of HCA National Specialty Sweepstakes Winners, 2001 and 2002
- Grandsire of 2003 Westminster Best of Breed Winner
- Sire of 2004 Westminster Best of Breed winner
- Sire of 2004 HCA National Specialty Best of Breed Winner
- Sire of #1 All-Breed Havanese and HCA Showdog of the Year 2003 and 2004
Having completed his AKC championship back in the spring of 1999, Charly retired from the ring except for two appearances at the Havanese National Specialty in 2003 and 2005 (where he won the Stud Dog class both times).
However, in October 2007, at over ten years of age, Charly trotted cheerfully back into the ring in full coat at the first HSDAA Specialty as an Havana Silk in the Veteran Class, and came home with 8 of the 15 points needed to become an HSDAA champion!
Above and beyond all else, Charly is without a doubt the sweetest, most loving animal we have ever had the pleasure of knowing, patient with puppies and kind to all he meets. To share our lives with him is both a privelege and an honor.
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AKC BISS CH Bydand Elfin Magic CGC By HSDAA/AKC CH Salemi Charly X AKC CH Elfin Elite Poppy Seed CGC "Keebler"
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Height: 101/2 " Weight: 12 1/2 lbs
Keebler's OFA page:www.offa.org/
Whelped in December of 1999, Keebler is, without question, one of our all-time favorite dogs.
Since he was a very little puppy we have called him our Alfred E. Neuman Dog (“What? Me worry?”) His temperament gives new meaning to the term “bulletproof".
Supremely sound in both mind and body, Keebler simply sails through life.
Whatever has been asked of him, he has always given 110%, setting records along the way... And all without any apparent effort.
Keebler is a once-in-a-lifetime dog.
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As a show dog and a sire, Keebler has enjoyed uncommon success, including:
· Best of Breed, 2003 HCA National Specialty
· HCA Show Dog of the Year (All-Breed) 2003 and 2004
· Best of Breed, Westminster 2004
· Winner, Stud Dog Class and Award of Merit, 2004 HCA National Specialty
· Register of Merit sire, awarded 2005
· Award of Merit, 2005 HCA National Specialty
· Winner of 92 Toy Group Placements
· AKC Canine Good Citizen
Handled by Barb Beissel, Keebler started his illustrious career with a 5 point major out of the Puppy 6-9 class under Frank Sabella, going on to win Best of Breed over several top-winning specials, including the #1 dog in the country.
He finished, to everyone’s relief, out of the Puppy 6-9 class over the next few weekends with several Best of Breed wins, and came home to grow up.
While he was growing up, we decided to try cording him. Why? Well, we already knew that a correct Havanese coat would cord, but what about an ideal one- the super-silky, wash and wear ones that hardly mat? Months went by, and absolutely nothing happened, leading us to suspect that this type of coat simply would not cord.
Then one day- cords! In fact, once it started to cord, Keebler’s coat corded effortlessly- the cords just seemed to form by themselves, with little or no separating required.
Once he was copmpletely corded, Keebler began his Specials career with Linda Pitts, one of the sport's great professional handlers, in late fall of 2002, under the ownership of Jackie Beaudoin, his "other mom", and one of his (and our!) all-time favorite people.
In typical Keebler style, he rose to the occasion effortlessly. His first weekend as a Special resulted in back-to-back Group 2s. His second weekend garnered him a Group1 (along with a trip to the Best-in-Show ring) and a Group 4 . Shown only two weekends in 2002, he finished out the year in the Top Twenty-Five... pure Keebler!
The next two years were amazing, as this little corded black dog simply “took off”, making history along the way.
Ranked as the #1 Havanese All-Breed for two years running, Keebler managed to become the first corded Havanese to win the HCA National Specialty, in 2003 under June Penta, and the first corded Havanese to win Best of Breed at Westminster, under Ken Falconi. With a total of 178 Best of Breed wins and 92 Group Placements, Keebler maintained a placement record in the Toy Group of over 50%, and was the first Havanese to break into the ranks of Top Twenty Toy Dog.
As an HCA Register of Merit sire, Keebler, with very limited breeding, has managed to produce a fair number of champions first in the AKC and more recently in the HSDAA, including HSDAA/AKC/NAKC BIS CH ERAs Do You Believe in Magic, the first Havana Silk Dog to win an all-breed NAKC Best in Show.Of greater importance perhaps, Keebler's puppies all seem to inherit his extraordinary bulletproof temperament.
Keebler is currently working on earning his HSDAA championship out of the Veterans class and is standing at stud to approved HSDAA-certified bitches.
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HSDAA/AKC CH Bydand Start Me Up By CH Bydand Elfin Magic X CH Tina of the Dahl's House "Sonic Hedgehog"
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Height: 10.5" Weight: 12 lbs
Sonic's OFA page: www.offa.org/
Whelped in August of 2003, Sonic works hard at being the World's Cutest Dog.
Charming, funny, and totally immature, he really enjoys being a puppy, and apparently intends to stay one forever.
He has little or no interest in personal advancement in pack status, and will willingly babysit puppies for hours on end, rolling around on the floor with them in cheerful abandon.
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Sonic’s show career was both brief and brilliant. Like his sire Keebler, and his grandsire Charly before him, off he went with his Auntie Barb (Barbara Beissel, AKC Registered Handler and longtime family friend) for a couple of weeks at 6 months of age on his First Big Adventure- in Barb’s words, “to learn to be a showdog”.
And much like his sire, he’s a fast learner….They walked into the puppy 6-9 class for the first time at the Blue and Gray Cluster in April and walked out with a 5 point major, which is exactly what Barb and Keebler had done two years before in Florida!
The following weekend Sonic came home a champion at 7 months of age, undefeated in the classes under judges Denny Mounce, Bill Bergum, Bev Lehnig, Roy Holloway, Anne Rogers Clark, and Jean Lade - a stellar lineup in any company….
As a sire, Sonic has been pretty impressive as well. By the time he'd reached the age of five, Sonic had over twenty AKC champion offspring on the ground, several of whom have multiple Group placements to their credit.
His career as a sire in the HSDAA as both a show dog and a sire have followed a similar path- he achieved his HSDAA championship in two weekends, cheerfully winning Best of Breed along the way, and has sired numerous HSDAA champions and Best of Breed winners, including the winner of the 2008 National Specialty.
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AKC CH Bydand Academy Award By CH Bydand Start Me Up X Bydand Ms Panda By Lejerdell "Oscar"
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Height: 10.5" Weight: 12 lbs
Oscar's OFA page: www.offa.org/
Oscar, our youngest boy, is a compact little dog with his grandfather's temperament.
He is easy-going and unflappable, with a lot of personal confidence. Remarkably, Oscar is also a good eater, which is a rare but desirable trait in a breed as finicky as this one! We are watching his first offspring here carefully to see if he passes it on....
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Oscar finished his AKC championship easily in three weekends, with 4- and 5- point majors.
He is a nicely balanced dog of moderate size, and extremely sound.
Although most of his offspring are fairly young at this point, he appears to pass on both his compactness of form and his clean rear movement uniformly. (As these are qualities shared by both Sonic and Panda, it's probably not surprising.) Oscar's other major claim to fame is that he can produce red puppies, as well as the usual partis, black and tans, and the ubiquitous "black- with- white- trim". So far, he is the only one of our sires to do so.
Oscar's puppies are starting to be shown in HSDAA shows and are doing well. We will be watching these first litters closely, as we have high hopes for them. Oscar himself will be shown to his HSDAA championship as soon as his grandfather Keebler finishes.
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