Home shared with 22 spaniels

Press, 26 May 1979, Page 1

Home shared with 22 spaniels

A three-storey Georgian house in the English countryside ruled over by more than 20 Tibetan spaniels is home for Mrs Ann Wynyard, who is in Christchurch to judge the first Canterbury Labrador Retriever Club championship, today. Mrs Wynyard is recognised throughout the world as a breeder and sought-after judge of Labradors. But now her Braeduke kennels are even more famed for the spirited, elegant Tibetan spaniels she has fostered since the early 19605. She never calls her establishment a kennels. The Tibetan spaniel, prized pet of the Tibetan monks, is a very domesticated dog which needs to be one of the family. So Mrs Wynyard breeds and raises hers all over her home.

from the butler’s pantry to the spare bedrooms. “Tibs” even rule the sit-ting-room.

Mrs Wynyard is resolutely — in the words of her long-suffering husband — a non-commercial breeder. Very particular about who takes the few puppies from the Tibetan spaniels’ litters, she retrieves any of her former charges that have fallen on hard times. This accounts for the 22 Tibs.

In Tibet, the spaniels were used as guard dogs in the monastries where they watched for ap-

proaching strangers, or predators among the sheep. The companionable little dogs were also tucked inside the wide sleeves of the monks’ robes as “hot-water bottles” during long hours of meditation. Tibetan spaniels are still unusual to New Zealanders who will be more familiar with their descendents, the Pekinese. In her latest authoritative book on the subject, “The Complete Dog Directory to the Tibetan Spaniel,” Mrs Wynyard describes the history of the Tibetan

spaniel and the origin of the “Peke.” The Peke’s pug nose, bulging eyes, and short, curved legs were apparently induced by the machinations of the eunuchs of the Chinese Dowager Empress at the time of the Boxer Rebellion. Tibetan spaniels had traditionally been presented to Chinese emperors by the monks to help an uneasy peace. Mrs Wynyard is also kept warm by two of her most prized Tibetan spaniels, American Ming — her latest import — and

Ama Kuluh, which was born in the Bahamas. Both sleep on her bed, and she is missing them very much. She is the only person to have imported the breed into Britain since 1946, and her imports have often had a fascinating history of travel, stays in refugee camps, and aristocratic connections. In all, she has bred 42 champions, something of a record in the dog world. Her importing and highly selective breeding efforts have greatly enhanced the good looks of what is now a glamorous, highly individualistic pet. Unlike the Pekinese, the Tibetan spaniel has no eye or respiratory problems, and its legs are somewhat longer and straighter. Mrs Judith Cassells, of Christchurch, who owns the first New Zealand champion in the breed — Leagay Ed Dzong, a gold sable white nicknamed Fudge — says they are very easy dogs to care for. Tibs need little

grooming to remain immaculate, just a lot of love. Mrs Cassells is keeping an eye on her newest arrival, now in quarantine. But, says Mrs Wynyard. they do not suit everyone. The Oriental temperament of the Tibs is not for dogowners who demand immediate, unquestioning obedience. But since Mrs Cassells and Mrs Wynyard have been pen-friends for 16 years — a friendship begun by a love of Labradors — she was quite happy for Mrs Cassells to adopt her “offspring.” Have the Tibetan spanels Mrs Wynyard has cultivated and sent to homes in Europe, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand made her fortune? No, it seems dog breeders who are also passionately devoted to their canine charges Just do not make money. “It’s my hobby," says Ann Wynyard.

—Leone Stewart