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 Debonaire's
Story
By:
Bengt Pettersson
Back
in the late sixties Bernice had the most strong desire to own a
sports car
of a certain kind. It should be white and with red leather seats.
At one time in
Gothenburg, walking down the street, she spotted such a car
parked, crossed to
see if it had leather seats. It had, but there were also
something else.
On the backseat was something looking like a furry toy. Suddenly it moved!!
"What is this?
Well, it seems like a dog to me but I don't know."
It was a dog, more precise, a Yorkshire Terrier. So, of course, Bernice
wanted one a long
with the car. As you understand she got the car and in
1969 her first Yorkie.
"Love at first sight" applies. At the very first time
Bernice saw a Yorkie
she fell in love with the breed. It is now 32 years ago
and the house is full
of Yorkies and as for the future it will probably be
so.
The
first Yorkie, a bitch
called Molly,, was bought from an add in
a
newspaper which of
course is no way to buy a dog. It still happened that way
and Molly was
supposed to be a pet dog. When Molly was about 2 years old
(1971) Bernice one
day on her way into the post office, Molly on her arm, met
a lady. "What a
beautiful Yorkshire Terrier. Have you shown her? "What did
she mean, have I
shown her?" "Well there are things such as show dogs." So
Bernice started to
visit dog shows to find out how it worked. Eventually
Molly was shown and
managed to become a Swedish and Norwegian Champion. She
later had two litters
and in the second one Bernice got her first homebred
Champion, INT CH
Debonaire's Brilliant, and she quickly learned about the
breed and also found
out that the material in Sweden didn't keep up the
standard required.
She
went to England. A newcomer as she was it was not easy but she managed
to make contact with
several leading breeders like the Listers and Osman
Sameja. She had very
good help from Hilda and Les Griffiths, kennel
Beechrise, being
introduced to people in England.
From Joan Parkin she got Carmardy Benjamin. He became INT NORDIC CH and one
of the greatest
winners of the breed of all times in Sweden, Norway and
Finland.
He was also Top Yorkie in 1977. His daughter INT NORDIC CH Marlene
av Sano, owned by
Bernice was Top Yorkie in 1978. She was as Benjamin a Toy
 group
winner and Best In Show winner at the Kennel Club Shows.
1979 another daughter
of Benjamin, INT NORDIC CH
Debonaire's Think Twice,
owned by Anita
Skoglund at Footprints kennels, took the title of Top Yorkie.
By this time Bernice
had founded a stock of dogs that she was pleased with.
On
her first visit to England she met a
famous dog. GB CH Ozmilion
Jubilation. Two of
his sons came to Bernice in Sweden, NORDIC CH Ozmilion
Fortune Hunter and
INT NORDIC CH Ozmilion Image Maker. Fortune Hunter is the
father of 19
champions in Sweden and Image Maker sired 7
champions.
A third dog from the Ozmilion kennels, CH Ozmilion Midnight Promise, became
a Toy Group winner
for Bernice and sired 9 champions. One of them, INT NORDIC
CH Footprints Twice
As Rare was Top Yorkie1982, owner and breeder is Anita
Skoglund.
One
very, very important Yorkie for Bernice was the bitch INT NORDIC CH
Ozmilion Justaromance,
mother of 5 champions and a Toy Group winner, grand
dam of GB CH Ozmilion
Dedication. Her daughter INT NORD CH Debonaire's Born
To Be Alive also bred
five champions for Bernice. A great addition to the
breeding was INT NORD
CH Parcvern Smuggler, arriving in Sweden 1980. He had
a short but brilliant
career, shown only 16 times giving him the title Top
Dog all breeds in
Sweden 1981. He produced 8 champions. I consider INT NORD
CH Debonaire's Blue
Carisma to be his most important
offspring. She was
mated twice to INT CH
Henrikville The Boss, Top  Yorkie in Sweden 1988. The
first litter gave INT
CH Debonaire's Believe In Music
"Strauss" Top Yorkie
1990, and the second
litter gave INT CH Debonaire's This Is my Music
"Poppe",
Top Yorkie 1991. The Boss is son of INT CH Deebees Dynamic, Top
Yorkie 1985 and owned
by Henrik Johansson. The pedigree of Boss goes back to
GB CH Ozmilion
Jubilation and the Blairsville line. "Poppe" also won many
Toy groups.
"Strauss" is so far the top winning homebred Yorkie of all time in
Sweden.
He was Top Yorkie in
1990, Top Toy and third on the Top Dog list, all
breeds. In 1991 he
ended his show career by winning the glamorous title
Champion of Champions
as the first Yorkie ever in Sweden. He is the sire of
38 champions. One of
them is INT FIN DK EST CH Debonaire's Mini Snob,
owned by Markku Kipină,
Finland. Mini Snob has, thanks to Markku, had a
great show career
including Top Yorkie in Finland three times. Mini Snob has
a full brother in
Denmark DK S CH Debonaire's Up To Music, owned by Anne
Lise and Ib Sřrensen
of the Bi'enna kennels. The mother of these two
brothers is a lovely
bitch from kennel Minikin, bred by Ingrid Lindgren, her
name is INT and
Nordic Ch Minikin's Up To Date, line bred to Jubilation
trough Fortune Hunter
and Carmardy Benjamin. Bernice bought her as a puppy
and campaigned her to
the Top Yorkie in Sweden 1986. She is also the proud
mother of a Toy Group
winner for Bernice, INT CH Debonaire's Up To
Tricks. Another
Famous "Strauss" offspring is the bitch INT CH Debonaire's
Wild N'Wise, nicely
presented by her owner Ann-Katrin Ahlstedt, to TOP
YORKIE 1995 and BEST
IN SHOW at SYTS the same year. Her mother CH
Debonaire's Favourite
Waste Of Time was also a SYTS BIS winner in 1989.
”Strauss” has a full sister Debonaire´s Listen To The Music ”Hillevi”, kept for breeding,
never shown. She became a great producer, a proud mother of many champions. Two
of them are terrier group-winners. Hillevi is still strong close to 14 years of
age.
1990
Bernice bought a dog from Maria and Ronny Engelen linebred to World CH
Ever Trouble of
Millmoor with GB CH Ozmilion Jubilation and GB CH
Blairsville Royal
Seal in his pedigree. His name is CH On Trouble of
Millmoor. He came to
Sweden as a puppy and eventually he grew up to be the
most beautiful dog
gaining the title TOP YORKIE 1993. To this day there are
10 champions sired by
him.
TOP YORKIE 1992, INT CH Ozmilion Revelation "Julius", came to Bernice
as a
grownup dog early
spring 1992. He had at the time a res.CC in England, and
thanks to his
noisiness in Osmans house he did let him go to Sweden and we
are grateful about
that. Julius is a son of the famous GB CH Ozmilion
Dedication and in his
pedigree is also the earlier mentioned
female INT CH
Ozmilion Justaromance.
Julius is so far the father of 8 champions.
1994 was a great year for the homebred bitch INT CH Debonaire's P.S. I Love
You. She gained the
title TOP  YORKIE-94
in a most superior way. But her
career could have
ended before it started. As a young bitch she was one
evening sleeping on
top of a armchair, fell to the floor and broke a front
leg. First thought:
Disaster! But the surgeons did a good job with her. In
the house we call her
Chrissie and her mother is a full sister to Strauss.
Her father is CH
Debonaire's Zany And Zestful going back to the Ozmilion
blood. 1st of January
in 1994, Sweden started to show by FCI rules, which
meant that the
Yorkshire Terrier moved from the Toy Group
to the Terrier
Group. Chrissie made
history here by being the first Yorkshire Terrier to
win a terrier group.
The judge was Hans v/d Berg. Another great day for
Chrissie was of
course to win BEST IN SHOW at the Swedish Yorkshire Terrier
Specialty under
breed specialist Brian Lister.
In
August 1994 we all of a sudden had a new dog in the house, FIN S CH
Gueule D'Amour de
Majodian. He came from Finland where breeder Pascale Mark
now lives. His
parents are INT CH Djebel Amour de Majodian and the beautiful
bitch INT CH
Tendresse de Majodian. We all remember her well from her great
win at the World Show
in Dortmund 1991. "Gegel" as we call him, is the most
charming personality
and he is the father of 14 champions in Sweden.
One of them in INT
NORD CH Debonaire's French Connection who at only 18
months of age,
managed to win BOS at SYTS in 1996 under breeder-judge Sonia
Pagani. The year
after she went all the way taking BEST
IN SHOW at SYTS club show. She became
a terrier group-winner at the Swedish Kennel Club same year.
"Gegel" is also the father of INT NORD CH H'Octopussy de
Majodian,
this beautiful bitch
shared the TOP YORKIE title in Finland 1996 with a dog.
Another daughter, INT CH
Debonaire´s Sealed With A Kiss, owner Ann-Katrin Ahlstedt became TOY YORKIE in
1998. I also want to mention our little pretty,
happy male, CH Debonaire´s Love Edition ”Edwin” as he is a son of
Gegel, Edwin is now producing champions for us. His mother is INT CH Debonaire´s
P.S. I Love You, mentioned above.
In
May 1996 the number of dogs in the house was extended by one more, Multi
CH Illusion Master De
Majodian. He came straight from Germany after winning
the title
VDH-Europasieger-96. He has added a few more titles since then,
but more important is
that Bernice is very proud of his studwork in our country. He was just right for
our bitches. TOP STUD 1999 and 2000 and proud father of 11 champions so far.
One of these
champions is INT CH Pearlstring Wild Illusion ”Dolfen”, a fantastic dog bred
by Ann-Katrin Ahlstedt. His mother is earlier mentioned Strauss-daughter INT CH
Debonaire´s Wild N`Wise. Dolfen was promised to us before he was born. He is
now retired from the show ring, except from occasional progeny groups, at the age
of 4 years after being TOP YORKIE in Sweden 1999 and 2000. He has had a great
showcareer and won the champion class and RES.WW in Milano 2000. And BEST IN SHOW
at the big SYTS Club show 2000.
Dofen has also shown
his ability as a stud dog. He has sired some great champions already to this day,
July-01, one of them is a terrier group-winner. Bernice is looking forward to
follow his children in the future.
To
sum up. The Debonaire kennels has made up 93 champions, including 28 INT
CHs, 75 of which are
homebred.
Working with Yorkies is fascinating. It is a breed that needs perhaps more
attention than any
other. But these glamorous dogs gives you so much back to
thank you for all
effort you put in it. The dogs takes all the time and
leaves no room left
for activities apart from them. Bernice is most devoted
to the breed and she
will go on working for it, for as long as possible.
(Reprinted
from the International Yorkshire Terrier 1997, updated 2001)
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