Theresa Mullen
Terrylane Dobermans, USA

BEFORE WE START…

Some guidelines for “talking” pedigrees and reading pedigrees—-a SIRE’S position on a pedigree is always at the top over the dams side. A dog is “SIRED BY” a particular male, “NEVER OUT OF” when talking males and sires.

A dog is “OUT OF” a particular bitch, “NEVER BY” a bitch. So, it’s — BY a certain sire and OUT OF a certain dam. The sire is listed first, then the dam. So, the proper terminology in the proper sequence would be — Ch. My Pretty Boy — BY Ch. Mr. Wonderful, OUT OF Ch. Miss America.

Bitches are relegated to recognition by their number as they appear in the pedigree — the “FIRST DAM” or simply “THE DAM” is the mother — “SECOND DAM” is the grandmother — “THIRD DAM” is the great grandmother — and on and on.

“TAIL MALE” line, is the continuous, unbroken chain of males and their progression through the generations tracking on the sire side only. The “TAIL MALE” begins with the “SIRE”, then goes to his sire, or the dogs “GRANDSIRE”, then goes to the grandsire’s sire, or the dogs “GREAT
GRANDSIRE”, and on and on.

“TAIL MALE” tracking has for hundreds of years been done with all forms of livestock and animals, as the male has always held importance above the females influence with “stockmen”, in general. This is primarily because the “herd” of females is sought to be improved upon by bringing in a superior male to breed with the “herd”.

Also, the genetic importance of the pair of “sex chromosomes” — which is that pair that establishes the gender of the offspring — is passed on and determined by the male. The male carries the ” XY ” in his genotype that make him a male — or the ” Y ” is what determines if the offspring will be male. All females carry ” XX “, and can only contribute an ” X ” to her offspring.

So, we know one thing for sure about the male line — that is that the ” Y ” is definitely coming from the male and is continuously passed from generation to generation by only the male/sire/father –NEVER the female/dam/mother. This is why the “TAIL MALE” tracking is so important. We know FOR SURE and ABSOLUTELY that each male gets his male sex chromosome from his father. The rest of the genetic package is purely random and cannot be established who is the contributor specifically.

The charts I’ve included track the “TAIL MALE” progression through the generations. I’ve started them with CH. GRA-LEMOR DEMETRIUS VD VICTOR and charted down through to the present. Only MALES are on the chart. Sires that have prominent daughters are not in the same category as “Tail Male”, so I will cover those sires under the “Maternal Families” at a later time.

When starting at the top of the chart—the dogs underneath each dog are his sons. Many will only have one or two sons. This is not unusual, even for sires that have had many, many Champion offspring. If there is one extremely interesting fact that comes out of this project, it is that “huge numbers” of offspring do NOT insure a sire of being an IMPORTANT sire. Some of these sires have produced 1 or 2 males that have gone on to have just as much influence as a sire producing 40+ Champions. That is why breeders should NOT DISCOUNT the quality sire that is not the top producer of the time, but has quality offspring consistently. You will be able to follow the progression of the generations traveling down through the chart. The oldest dogs are at the top, and the modern dogs are at the bottom.

Also, interesting to note, that the overwhelming dominance of CHAMPION males almost exclusively dominate. Only one or two modern sires are NOT CHAMPIONS.

The figures for Champions produced, whelping dates and other specifics are the ones that I had available at the time I was doing my work on this project. So, if errors are found, they are not intentional and I apologize.

This project is a huge undertaking, as there are no modern texts, manuals or books that one can go to obtain this information in one easy step. Most of the modern books contain a few pedigrees and condensed comments about dogs, so my project has taken many directions.

One area that I am very dismayed about is the difficulty one has with gathering information that should be readily shared with fellow breeders. I come from a racehorse background in early life and with Standardbreds (racing harness horses) we are able to get facts and figures from the registry and the “SIRES AND DAMS” yearbooks. One is printed every year — which contains the sires and dams, both alive and deceased and their production records going back several decades. NOTHING is hidden and is there for all to see.

It is most disheartening to me that there is no way the AKC will allow this type of publication, as they consider this information “PRIVATE” and not for public viewing unless the owner volunteers it. These “horse” SIRES AND DAMS books are a thousand pages of bloodlines, and production records. I can go to a sire and it will tell me how many offspring were born that year, how many two year olds, three years olds and on up, and which mares were bred to him, and on and on. I can go to a dam listed alphabetically and each foal (offspring) will be listed by year — by sex, color, sire and any race record he/she has and at what age it was obtained.

I can only hope that there could be more disclosure about statistics that would allow the true evaluation of Doberman (as well as all breeds) breeding stock. For people like me, who studies every detail of the breed and especially pedigrees and bloodlines, it is not so important. I can for the most part “figure out” what I need to know. But for the new fanciers and exhibitors and future breeders that desperately NEED to have this information it is frustrating. There is so much more to study and know now than there was 20 or 30 years ago — so many more dogs — literally hundreds and hundreds that will be bred and contribute to the future of the Doberman.

I hope you will all enjoy reading this project and examining the charts. We have many more to examine, as the other sire lines are just as fascinating. And the maternal families are very helpful in trying to understand their most important contribution—-just as important as the sires.

Part 1: Domossi, Emperor, & Dictator

In 1951, when breeder extraordinaire and icon of the Doberman breed Peggy Adamson wrote her article “ILLENA AND THE SEVEN SIRES“, there were ONLY SEVEN MALES AND ONE BITCH that had produced more than TEN Champions. This information is necessary to put into perspective where we’ve come with our breed in the last 50+ years.

In the early formational years of any breed, you find a limited number of breeders considered the “core foundation” that take the available population and develop the breed. These breeders are very, very small in comparison to the numbers of people in this 21st century who are breeding Dobermans in particular, and all breeds in general. As the popularity of a breed grows, the numbers of people who desire to own them and go on to breed them also grows exponentionally. The numbers of Champions in these early days shows that the total Doberman population was small compared to today’s numbers.

Today’s breeders have a much different task when selecting sires and dams. Not to diminish the influence of the early breeders, but their choices of stock was limited, so therefore the chance of going too far astray was not that great. Today’s breeders need to be far more knowledgeable about all areas of the breeders realm—-the STANDARD, anatomy and physiology, health issues, working aptitude, proper temperament and definitely a good handle on the pedigrees of the dogs available. There are literally hundreds of choices that a breeder can pursue, as there are many sires and dams out of all the foundation lines that exist today. The breeder must become a breed “scholar” to
have continued, generation after generation, success—-a monumental task.
In 1951, the top sires were:
Ch. Westphalia’s Rameses–11 Ch.
Ch. Favoriet Von Franzhof–13 Ch.
Ch. Westphalia’s Uranus–14 Ch.
Ch. Emperor of Marienland–18 Ch.
Ch. Domossi of Marienland–20 Ch.
Ch. Alcor V. Millsdod–26 Ch.
Ch. Dictator Von Glenhugel–37 Ch.

This noteworthy group established the famous “SEVEN SIRES” that laid the foundation of the Doberman in this country.
Of interest also is that of the foundation “Seven Sires”—three died as a result of heart attacks:
Domossi at the age of 7
Emperor at the age of 8
Alcor just before his 10th birthday.
Emperor is the son of Domossi.
The other four lived beyond 10 years
Dictator, Domossi and Favoriet were reds; Alcor and Rameses were dominant black; and Emperor and Uranus were #3’s — black and carrying red. None carried dilution.

The American Doberman was at its zenith in the decade from the 40’s to the 50’s. Rameses was the oldest whelped in 1938 — and Domossi and Uranus whelped in 1939. Emperor and Favoriet were whelped in the spring of 1941 and Alcor and Dictator in the fall of 1941.

Domossi and Dictator were full brothers — two years apart — Domossi the older. These two full brothers were line-bred on Ch. Seiger Muck V. Brunia — the grandsire tail male and the great-grandsire on the maternal sire. Emperor was sired by Domossi. So these three sires were closely
related.

The other four sires are all related — sharing the common ancestor Ch. Kurt vd Rheinperle-Rhinegold. This is most significant as this dog alone represents a huge contribution to the establishment of the Doberman breed in the USA. Uranus is the grandson of KURT; Rameses is a son of KURT; Alcor and Favoriet are sons of Uranus, making them great-grandsons of KURT.

Another interesting note about these sires — both prominent lines trace tail male ELEVEN GENERATIONS back to a dog named HELLEGRAF. So, the lines are joined together by this dog of old and through the “SEVEN SIRES” we have come another TWELVE GENERATIONS to the modern times where we continue to improve on what these sires have given us.

These “Seven Sires” and their first and second generation progeny were manipulated by the “core” breeders of the 1940’s and forward. They were crossed intensely with each other … and were divided into two “sire lines” as Dictator, Domossi and Emperor were tightly grouped — two brothers and a son. And the other line … Uranus, Rameses, Alcor and Favoriet, all sons or grandsons of CH. KURT VD RHEINPERLE-RHINEGOLD. As you can see … these 7 males and the inclusion of “Illena and Jessy”, two bitches that were greatly influential in this foundation breeding era, represent the Dobermans that all American Dobermans trace.

Remember always, that we are confined to what these ancestral dogs have passed on. We work with the health issues and the conformation, temperament and working abilities that we’ve inherited. The first fifty years from Hellegraf through his tail male lines were dogs that were all foreign bred — Germany, Holland and others. The dogs that were brought here in the late 30’s to early 40’s were to establish the breed in this country. They were reportedly the best available at the time, as many were bred in their homelands and left offspring to carry on their lines there.

This is not to say that there were not Dobermans imported into this country in earlier times. However the popularity of the Doberman began its upward spiral with the emergence of this era and particular decade. This time has forever stamped it’s influence on the modern Doberman in all areas of interest. This was truly the “infancy” of the breed in this country and was marked by dramatic line-breeding and inbreeding between the various offspring of these prominent sires. This is not unusual whenever a core breeding population is used to establish a breed. Superior animals are used as the initial grouping of breeding animals and the inter-breeding ensues. Because of the nature of this necessary beginning with any breed, the traits that will forever be “locked in” will continue to be seen throughout the generations. So, it is no wonder that sires that displayed both positive and negative traits in this influential time, continue to influence the breed in our modern times. It seems that the health parameters that existed with the early dogs were very evident, leading one to deduct that the Doberman as a breed had limitations when its lifespan was scrutinized by the early breeders. Like many other breeds that have very short life-spans, like Danes, Wolfhounds and other large breeds, there is the acceptance that these breeds are not going to survive to 13+ years for the great majority of the population.

The sire line that we’ll examine first is the “TAIL MALE SIRE LINE” line established by the two brothers Dictator and Domossi. Since they are full brothers, they trace to LUX VD BLANKENBURG tail male. They trace to this dog SIX TIMES in six generations — making LUX the dominant figure in their pedigrees.

CH. DOMOSSI OF MARIENLAND
Domossi sired only one male that has had any great influence on our present Dobermans. That male was CH. EMPEROR OF MARIENLAND. Domossi was a shade under 27 inches and was considered the most compact and short bodied of the seven. He had a good tail-set and always carried his tail up and alertly. He had good, strong pasterns but was the straightest in angulation of the seven.

Domossi was the only one of the seven that had a missing tooth — a premolar, but had proper occlusion. Domossi’s major contribution besides the tail male sire line through Ch. Emperor of Marienland was through his daughters. They were crossed with the other seven and of significance is that 10 of Dictators Champions were out of Domossi daughters.

DOMOSSI is the sire of CH. DOW’S DODIE V. KIENLESBURG — who in turn is the dam of two extremely important dams. CH. DOW’S DAME V. KIENLESBURG is the dam of 9 Ch. and the foundation of the Brown’s breeding program. From this bitch came CH. BROWN’S ERIC (27 CH) who sired CH. BROWN’S DION (35 CH), who is the maternal grandsire of the great sire CH. BROWN’S B-BRIAN (27 CH). DION was instrumental in the breeding program of TOLEDOBE Dobermans of Judy and Pat Doniere. DAME is also the prominent maternal influence in the pedigree of CH. JO’S BRANDY ALEXANDER ( 9 CH) as she appears 8 times in 5 generations.
This male is the grandsire of the great producer CH. MARIENBURG’S SUN HAWK (86 CH).

Dodie is also the dam of DOW’S DITTY V. KIENLESBURG — who in turn is the dam of one of the most prolific foundation bitches of the breed and the foundation dam of the AHRTAL Dobermans of TESS HENSSLER. She produced 16 Champions including CH. HAGEN VOM AHRTAL, who produced XANDU VOM AHRTAL, who in turn is the sire of the great CH. CASSIO VOM AHRTAL (42 CH).

Domossi daughters were a vital influence at this time and were extensively crossed with the other six sires and their sons, producing many important Dobermans that extend to today’s pedigrees.

CH. EMPEROR OF MARIENLAND
This sire was considered the most elegant of the seven. He sired CH. ROXANNA’S EMPEROR OF REEMON (8 CH) who in turn sired the male CH. RANCHO DOBE’S RIFF, who sired CH. RANCHO DOBE’S BACH, who sired CH. RANCHO DOBE’S CELLO the sire of the great producer CH. RU MAR’S MORGANSONNE, C.D. (27 CH). This sire line is alive today primarily with the DOB MANN Dobermans of Edd and Irene Bivin through the sire CH. GERENT’S ELDO RADLEY DOB MANN (49 CH) and with the FOXFIRE Dobermans of Michelle Santana and Clarice Tom with Eldo’s grandson CH. FOXFIRE’S DEVILS N’ DEMONS (27 CH).

CH. ROXANNA’S EMPEROR OF REEMON is also the sire of the prominent dam CH. RANCHO DOBE’S KASHMIR, the dam of CH. RANCHO DOBE’S PRIMO (11 CH), the sire of the influential sire CH. RANCHO DOBE’S STORM (12 CH), who is the grandsire of the two great sires — full brothers CH. FELIX
VOM AHRTAL (30 CH) and CH. FLORIAN VOM AHRTAL (13 CH). Each of these two sires have their own prominent sire lines alive today. FLORIAN is represented by SOQUEL Dobermans of Linda Hoff, CH. SOQUEL’S DISTANT THUNDER(45 CH) and FELIX is represented by the lines from CH. TARRADO’S CORRY to the present, ARRAY Dobermans of Linda Rayman, CH. ARRAY POINT BLANK (39 CH) and his son CH. PLATINUM’S BACK IN BLACK (41 CH), PLATINUM Dobermans, Sue & Art Korp.

So, in examining these two sires — DOMOSSI and his son EMPEROR, we can see clearly that these two sires have contributed much to the modern Doberman. The remaining sire line descending from DICTATOR has emerged as the most prominent and prolific in the history of the Doberman breed.

CH. DICTATOR V. GLENHUGEL
Much has been written about this most influential sire, as he was owned by Peggy Adamson, one of the pillars of the American Doberman, breeder extraordinaire and respected judge. DICTATOR was a red dog of wonderful conformation — bred by John Cholley of Ohio. He was the younger full
brother of Domossi, another of the “Seven Sires” that were the foundation of the Doberman in this country.

Dictator stands alone in this era as the premier sire, having produced 52 Champions in an age when the Doberman population was a fraction of what it is now. One must use their imagination to visualize the awesome position in the breed that this one dog was elevated to by virtue of his producing record — a monumental feat in any era, but especially the early formational period of our breed.

Dictator and Domossi were a product of the best of the German imports. They were line-bred to CH. SIEGER MUCK V. BRUNIA through his two imported sons CH. BLANK V.D. DOMSTADT, their sire — and CH. SIEGER TROLL VD ENGELSBURG, their maternal sire.

Dictator sired 77 litters in his public stud career — a most popular sire. His very successful progeny were the product of combinations of the Seven Sires daughters and granddaughters. His influence is still alive and represents the sire line descending from his son CH. DAMASYN THE SOLITAIRE (12 CH) through his son DUKE OF LOMBARDI (2 CH), to his son CH. DAMASYN DERRINGER (13 CH) to his son CH. GRA-LEMOR DEMETRIUS V.D.VICTOR (51 CH). Another DERRINGER son, CH. DAMASYN CARLY OF JERSEYSTONE (14 CH), was influential through his daughters — many offspring were the product of DICTATOR lines combined with CARLY lines. CARLY was prominent in many of the TOLEDOBE Dobermans of Judy and Pat Doniere.

CH. GRA-LEMOR DEMETRIUS VD VICTOR (51 CH) was the driving force as a stud dog in the late 60’s to early 70’s. He was an impressive, powerful black dog that has stamped his style and prolific male influence forever on the modern Doberman. His two most recognized sons were CH. KAI ESA’S PASSING PARADE, CD — who was a red dog, whelped in 1974.

The other male, also a red dog, was MARIENBURG’S RED CLOUD (1 CH). RED CLOUD produced CH. MARIENBURG’S GREAT SPIRIT (3 CH), and through his son CH. BALI-MOR’S WAR NO MORE, CD, ROM (2 CH) became the grand sire of the prominent sire CH. LEMIL’S FIRECRACKER (27 CH). This red male, whelped in 1987 established a sire line that is represented today by the LEMIL Dobermans of L. Michelle Lewis and the MI-TI Dobermans of Carol Silverman, Jackie Lavadiere and Shirley Baker.

CH. KAI ESA’S PASSING PARADE produced 5 Champions, among them CH. BEAULANE WINDFALL (7 CH), who is the sire of the great CH. ELECTRA’S THE WIND WALKER (98 CH) — an icon among sires. He is responsible for establishing lines from not one but three prominent sons that have many Champion offspring and descendents among them. They are CH. BEAULANE THE NITE RYDER (18 CH), CH. AKELA THE VINDICATOR (37 CH), and CH. ELECTRA’S CHUBASCO (6 CH). Plus, he has many other Champion producing sons that have contributed through their sons and daughters to the quality of the present Doberman.

WIND WALKER’S most prominent son is CH. BEAULANE THE NITE RYDER (18 CH) and on to his son CH. BRUNSWIG’S CRYPTONITE (107 CH). This branch of the tail male line represents a most powerful influence today. CRYPTONITE has established the top producing sire in CH. CAMBRIA’S CACTUS CASH (155 CH) through his sire CH. RAHDY’S SAIL THE SEVEN SEAS (27 CH). SAIL THE SEVEN SEAS is a line-bred sire, the product of WIND WALKER in the second and third generation.

CRYPTONITE’S other top sons that established lines of importance are the two sires that are emerging as renowned brood bitch sires—-CH. PRIMARY CAUGHT REDHANDED (20 CH) and CH. RAVENSWOOD CAIRO V. AQUARIUS (33 CH). CH. TELSTAR’S ICON (8 CH) has produced a noteworthy sire, CH. AEOLUS THE MASTERPIECE (3 CH). CRYPTONITE has also produced five other Champion producing males, that are listed on the Tail Male Chart.

NITE RYDER is also the sire of the important brood bitch sire CH. KALEPH’S RUNNING WITH THE NITE (17 CH), and CH. BRIARWOOD NITE SHIFT (10 CH), and CH. BEAULANE TOP GUN (8 CH).

Of particular interest with this tail male line is that WIND WALKER, NITE RYDER and CRYPTONITE have powerful influences through the male line, but also exert a prominent role in producing sires that produce the top brood bitches. Most sires produce better sons or better daughters. This line is especially worthy to notice that great brood bitches are also produced from
this sire line.

The influence of the sires that are active today will not be fully felt by the Doberman breed for many years to come. As you can see with the brief analysis of these first three sires of the famous “SEVEN SIRES”, that often the true worth or harm that a sire is capable of contributing can change the entire course of the direction that a breed will take. The manipulation of the bloodlines by the current breeders is of the utmost importance to the continued positive path that our breed needs to take. This is why knowledge of the past dogs and analysis of how and why breeders did what they did, is paramount to be successful and continue to improve and preserve the Doberman.

PART 2: Rameses, Favoriet, Uranus, & Alcor

In the last instalment, we covered the three sires Ch. Domossi of Marienland, Ch. Emperor of Marienland and Ch. Dictator V. Glenhugel. As you’ll remember, these three sires are closely related. Domossi and Dictator were full brothers, although from different litters — Dictator being the younger. Emperor was the son of Domossi. And, so the three were a very close grouping of sires.

You’ll remember that Domossi daughters were far more influential in their contribution to the Doberman breed than any of his sons, with the exception of Emperor. Emperor founded the sire line of Ch. Ru Mar’s Morgansonne, CD, whose son Ch. Azteca’s Beacon is the grandsire of the prominent modern sire Ch. Tolivar’s Boo Radley Dob Mann and his offspring.

Domossi daughters are responsible for 12, or almost a quarter of his brother Dictator’s total tally of Champions.

These three sires figure very prominently in today’s modern bloodlines. Of interest to remember about the seven foundation sires is that, the above three and the other four that we are about to study — all trace “TAIL MALE” back to a dog named **HELEGRAF**. He is found eleven generations back into the past behind all the seven sires.

RAMESES, FAVORIET, URANUS AND ALCOR
These four sires are all related, sharing the common tail male ancestor CH. KURT VD RHEINPERLE-RHINEGOLD. This is most significant, as this dog alone represents a huge contribution to the establishment of the Doberman breed in the US.

Rameses is a SON of KURT.
Uranus is a GRANDSON of KURT.
Alcor and Favoriet are sons of Uranus, making them GREAT-GRANDSONS of KURT.

So, as you can see, like the other three sires who were closely related — we have these four sires who are all closely related — all either a son, grandson or great grandson of KURT.

As individual specimens, Alcor far surpassed the others. He had a spectacular show career and was very successful in the Group ring, also. O
f the other three, Rameses and Uranus had successful show careers. Favoriet was little known as a show dog, his main recognition was that he was a half brother of the famous Alcor.

As far as physical comparisons — Alcor had the most notable gait which was correct, smooth and ground covering and had great strength of quarters. Alcor also had the best “turn of stifle”. Interesting to note is that the family of Domossi, Emperor and Dictator were strong in pasterns, but frequently lacked enough angulation. The family of the other four, closely related, were often weak in pasterns and tended to have too much angulation. In the two sires Alcor and Emperor — the two “families” were combined, for both of them were outcrosses.

As taken from Peggy Adamson’s piece on “ILLENA AND THE SEVEN SIRES” — “If a composite Doberman could be made, using only one of the many qualities which each of the Seven Sires was known to possess and transmit, it might have been:
Dictator’s temperament
Favoriet’s front
Rameses chest
Uranus’ ribspring
Alcor’s rear quarters
Domossi’s tail set
Emperor’s elegance
Peggy Adamson felt that ILLENA had the best head piece of all these foundation Dobermans. We will cover Illena under the Maternal Families that were influential.

Some information on KURT — he was a black dog, whelped December 28, 1931. Although Kurt was a Champion, he was described as “not prepossessing in appearance and indifferently successful in the show ring, but due to his heredity, he was a huge success as a sire.” We all know that it is not necessary for a great sire to be stellar in the show ring, but he must be a good specimen and possess extreme high quality in his ancestors roster. Kurt’s dam was a very beautiful bitch — a Siegerin, and possessed a tremendously quality packed pedigree.

Kurt benefited by the many years of breeding expertise that his owner, Westphalia Kennels, had gained in the breeding and Conformation arena. But, perhaps the most significant advantage for him was the fact that one of the truly great, great bitch producers of our breed was bred to him. This bitch being Ch. JESSY VD SONNENHOEHE. This genetically powerful bitch had already produced a SIEGER and a SIEGERIN when bred to Ch. Troll vd Englesburg. Jessy was bred to Kurt in 1938 and produced seven Champions in that litter.

Fourteen months later, Jessy was bred to a two year old, unknown, unfinished son of Kurt named PERCILES OF WESTPHALIA, who was out of Princess Latona of Westphalia by Astor of Westphalia. Astor is the sire of KURT– so again we see intricate, intertwining of the sires. From this breeding to Perciles, Jessy produced the great sire Ch. WESTPHALIA’S URANUS. Uranus sired CH. ALCOR, who is responsible for Ch. RANCHO DOBE’S PRIMO, who is the great grandsire of the great producing trio — CH. FLORIAN VOM AHRTAL, CH. FELIX VOM AHRTAL and the powerful brood-bitch producer, CH. KOHLEN.

URANUS also sired CH. FAVORIET V. FRANZHOF who was a most prominent bitch producer crossed with the other “Sires” and Uranus also sired CH. KAMA OF WESTPHALIA, who in turn sired the great CH. DELEGATE V.D. ELBE. DELEGATE sired Ch. Hagen Vom Ahrtal who is the grand sire of the great producer CH. CASSIO VOM AHRTAL.

Delegate also produced the wonderful producer CH. DORTMUND’S DELLY’S COLONEL JET, the sire of the great producer and exceptional brood-bitch producer CH. STEB’S TOP SKIPPER. This line is very prepotent for quality in both sires and dams. Top Skipper daughters figure very prominently in the pedigrees of many great producers since his time. We covered the sires descending from the great producer Ch. Gra-Lemor Demetrius vd Victor. DEMETRIUS was out of JERRY RUN’S BOO SPRITE, bred and owned by Grace Moore, and Boo Sprite was sired by CH. STEB’S TOP SKIPPER. So, again, we have the combination of the two sire groups coming together with DEMETRIUS within his pedigree. We will be examining this line descending from URANUS later, as the volume of sires and dams is a study by itself.

When you examine the **SIRE CHART** for these four sires, you will find that several things happened as these sires produced their sons and daughters and the line continued TAIL MALE. You will see that the full brothers, CH. WESTPHALIA’S RAMESES AND CH. WESTPHALIA’S RAJAH founded no prominent tail male sire line. They are represented by bitches that they sired and combined with the other SEVEN SIRES and their sons contributed to the pedigrees of many great producers.

Ch. KAMA OF WESTPHALIA is out of a daughter of RAJAH — and CH. FAVORIET V FRANZHOF is out of a daughter of RAJAH. We know that daughters of RAJAH combined very well. The ALCOR son CH. JET VD RAVENSBURG was out of a Favoriet daughter. When the JET daughter SINGENWALD’S JESSICA was bred to the DELEGATE son, CH. RAVENSBURG BERT — this breeding produced CH. SINGENWALD’S PRINCE KUHIO — the sire of 37 Champions.

CH. ALCOR V. MILLSDOD got a slow start as a stud dog, siring his first litter when he was three years old. He was nearly 5 when his first two Champions were finished. ALCOR was the first Doberman to twice win Best of Breed at Westminster. He also won permanent possession of the DPCA Trophy.

ALCOR produced CH. RANCHO DOBE’S PRIMO, who was out of CH. RANCHO DOBE’S KASMIR – a daughter of CH. ROXANNA’S EMPEROR OF REEMON. Roxanna’s Emperor was sired by Ch. Emperor of Marienland and out of Ch. Westphalia’s Roxanna — a daughter of KURT and JESSY.

PRIMO sired CH. RANCHO DOBE’S STORM — one of the most famous Doberman’s of the 50’s. He was owned by Len Carey and won Best in Show at Westminster an amazing two times. To quote F. F. H. FLEITMANN, a great authority on the breed, and saying in an article of the time comparing the German dogs with the American dogs — “the Germans have not yet produced a dog to beat Storm. But then there is quite a difference between Storm and the next-best American dog.”

CH. LAKECREST THUNDERSTORM
Ch. Lakecrest Thunderstorm was sired by Ch. Rancho Dobe’s Storm and out of Ch. Apache Lady of Lakecrest. LADY was beautifully bred, and carried two crosses in the third generation (great grandparents) to both Favoriet and Uranus. Both her sire and dam were similarly bred. This combination of STORM and LADY OF LAKECREST gave CH. LAKECREST THUNDERSTORM strong producing power. His most prolific sons that are represented in the modern Doberman are the two litter brothers CH. FELIX VOM AHRTAL and CH. FLORIAN VOM AHRTAL. The other top brood-bitch producer was CH. KOHLEN, who left no tail male line, but his daughter HOTAI SIBYL SELENE represents him well in the modern Doberman. Her descendents are very prominent today, and represented by Ch. Vivian’s Selena and her offspring, Ch. Elexa’s Final Flair of Selena; Ch. Elexa’s Odyssey of Nordlicht; Ch. Elexa’s Odessa; Ch. Elexa’s Odera. Sibyl Selene’s son CH. HOTAI SWEET WILLIAM and another son CH. HOTAI KARNIVAL KING figure in many modern pedigrees. We will cover Ch. Kohlen and his contribution to the modern Doberman later, as his primary influence is through his daughters.

CH. FELIX VOM AHRTAL
We are only going to spend a brief time with FELIX, as his descendents and their influence are another huge list. Our primary focus will be with CH. FLORIAN VOM AHRTAL, the black littermate of Felix.

Felix was a blue dog and one of the powerhouse sires that Tess Henssler had in the 60’s, along with her Cassio and the black littermate of Felix, which was Florian. Felix was a marvellous sire of both dogs and bitches and Tess made many combination breedings using the offspring of these three dogs. It was a credit to his quality and pedigree that so many breeders of the time were willing to use a blue dog on their good bitches, as blue was not a prominent color or one of popular choice. If you examine the chart, you will see that he sired some exceptional males that went on to contribute immensely to furthering the beauty and correctness of the breed. CH. TARRADO’S CORRY; CH. ALNWICK’S BLACK FURY BI
SMARK; CH. HIGHBRIAR BANDANA; CH. BRANDENDORF’S PERIWINKLE all left their mark on the modern Doberman for the better.

FLORIAN VOM AHRTAL
Florian was the black litter brother of Felix. He was a most important sire in his time, especially for producing great bitches. His daughters and granddaughters figure prominently in many pedigrees of top sires and dams, tracing to modern times also. His son CH. RAVENSBURG FALSTA was to carry on his tail male line into the 21st century as CH. SOQUEL’S DISTANT THUNDER who was the top producing living sire in the breed with 50+ Champions.

FALSTA was out of a DELEGATE daughter—-a littermate to CH. RAVENSBURG BERT who sired the great CH. SINGENWALD’S PRINCE KUHIO. DELEGATE and FLORIAN shared the common tail male sire URANUS, who we know was a most powerful sire of extreme quality. Falsta immerged as the grandsire of the fabulous producer CH. HIGHLAND SATAN’S IMAGE. Satan was truly unique in his time, as he sired 50+ Champions in an era where 25 was a true feat. He was a most common sire in many of the top winners and producers. And he sired a handful of prominent sons that made their mark through both sons and daughters.

SATAN was out of a PRINCE KUHIO daughter, and coupled with the influence of his grandsire FALSTA, whose dam was a full sister to the sire of PRINCE KUHIO — we see the strength of this dog coming through to strengthen the impact of Satan’s pedigree. CH. CAESAR MY LOVE tallied a total of seven crosses to URANUS in his pedigree, and this added to SATAN’S prepotency.

SATAN’S top producing son was the great sire CH. MIKADOBE’S CUPID. Cupid carried a great influence from Prince Kuhio from Satan. But, when you look at Cupid’s dam MIKADOBE’S KIBITZER, we see that her sire CH. HOLLYHIGH’S DAMON was a **DOUBLE** PRINCE KUHIO grandson — and Kibitzer’s dam was sired by PRINCE KUHIO. So, in three generations of Satan’s dam, PRINCE shows up **three times in three generations** — a 3 x 3 cross — extremely line-bred on PRINCE, and a beautiful example of powerful line-breeding with strong individuals. It’s not difficult to see, upon analysis, why CUPID was the great producer that he was. From Cupid, we proceed down the Chart and see his four prominent Champion producing sons that are influential today. Of these four, CH. LUJAC’S DANIEL immerged as the sire that was to carry on through CH. TERADEN’S CHOCOLATE SOLDIER and on through CH. ANGEL’S DARK THUNDER, and then to CH. SOQUEL THUNDERSTORM, and to his son CH. SOQUEL DISTANT THUNDER –prominent today.

CUPID’S other sons have lines alive today and are creating their bit of Doberman history in their offspring of the present — both grandsons and granddaughters. You can examine the charts and see many familiar names of sires active today.

CH. LUJAC’S DANIEL has an interesting pedigree upon examination. His dam, CH. LUJAC’S STINGER is a Satan’s Image daughter and her dam HIGHBRIAR WILLOW’S WAND carries three crosses to CH. FLORIAN VOM AHRTAL in three generations.

CH. TERADEN’S THE CHOCOLATE SOLDIER traces to CH. FELIX VOM AHRTAL through his dam, who was a CH. ALNWICK’S BLACK FURY BISMARK granddaughter — Bismark being sired by Felix.

FLORIAN’S DAM—-CH. WILLA VOM AHRTAL
I think it is noteworthy to take a look at Willa, as the combination of her pedigree with Ch. Lakecrest’s Thunderstorm to produce the two sires Felix and Florian really shows just how intertwined the sire groupings of [Domossi, Emperor & Dictator] and [Ramses, Favoriet, Uranus & Alcor] are and how they cannot be separated or isolated. These sires have forever influenced our Dobermans — and the “shuffling and reshuffling” of the billions and billions of genetic possibilities from their inheritance continue to make themselves present in the modern dogs.

WILLA’S pedigree combines the two sire lines, as well as many crosses to the great bitch producer CH. JESSY VD SONNENHOEHE.

Willa’s sire, CH. DORIAN V. AHRTAL, was by Delegate — who traces tail male as his grandsire to Uranus. Delegate’s dam was by Domossi and out of a Uranus daughter — making him 3 times to Uranus with a cross to Domossi and two crosses to Jessy.

Dorian’s dam — the foundation bitch of Tess Henssler’s — MEADOWMIST ISIS V AHRTAL, was by Emperor — a Domossi son out of a sister to Ramses and Rajah — they being by KURT out of JESSY. Isis’s dam was a daughter of Dictator out of a Domossi daughter — so you have 3 crosses to either Domossi (2x) or Dictator (1x) and you have KURT and JESSY twice.

Willa’s dam CH. ELECKTRA V. AHRTAL was sired by CH. DAGOBERT V. AHRTAL, who was a litter brother of Willa’s sire, Dorian. Elecktra’s dam MEADOWMIST BELLADONNA was by Emperor also, like ISIS who appears twice in this pedigree. You can just follow exactly what Tess did in planning this breeding.

Years ago, in the early 70’s, I was able to meet and talk extensively with Tess in her home. Jim Kibilowski, who owned CH. TEDELL ELEVENTH HOUR showed my CH. THORVALD VOM AHRTAL puppy bitch when we traveled to the east coast. He was very close to Tess, as Eleventh Hour –**SHAD** was by CASSIO. So, I was very fortunate to go with him twice and visit and talk, talk and talk more about breeding and her great dogs and her theories. The dogs were her life and she studied everything about them. She was my role model, as her vision and expertise as a true “dog” person left an indelible mark in my life’s pursuit with Dobermans.

Tess — one of the great foundation breeders — purposely went about planning to combine the prominent sire lines by combining Isis and Delegate — which brought her tremendous success and flexibility with her breeding program. She was able to breed sons and daughters of these crosses amongst each other and not get too close to any one sire or dam. Truly a remarkable study in genetics. We will examine other great foundation breeders and be able to “visualize” their breeding plans in later articles. But, it never ceases to amaze me how these early breeders studied and planned far in advance of just the litter/breeding they were doing at the moment.

I will comment about this one fact, and it is an important aspect to remember when we sit down to study our pedigrees and plan breedings — and that is the early breeders didn’t have the tremendous numbers of sires and dams to take into consideration when they were pondering breedings. They were working, for the most part, with the **SEVEN SIRES** themselves or their immediate offspring — sons/daughters and grandsons/granddaughters. Breeding is NEVER easy — but narrowing the selection process of available breeding stock does lower your chances of big mistakes with breedings.

We always have to give credit to the early breeders. They did a great job with these early Dobermans — and they did something right because the Doberman continues to evolve into a better overall specimen, more closely adhering to the Standard than ever before. We owe it to the Dobermans that we are responsible for to take breeding seriously and realize that what we do as breeders will forever impact the future of the breed.

EVERY breeder should invest in the software program called DOBEBASE if you have a computer. This is a marvellous tool for the serious breeder to study pedigrees and keep current on breeding successes with crosses with our current gene pool.

REMEMBER — OBSERVATION and physically studying Dobermans in the ring — the bigger the shows the better — will improve your skill at recognizing good dogs. The National Specialties should be THE one thing you should save for and plan to attend each year. In one week, you can see and study, because of the huge classes and the time it takes to judge this amount of dogs — hundreds of Dobermans. You are able to become tremendously skilled at recognizing good **Breed Type** and you can also see what is not good Type. PEDIGREES — the genotype, and PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES — the phenotype are your tools to properly study dogs.

Theresa Mullen
Terrylane Dobermans