Showsight Interviews: Richard Eichhorn...
BY ALLAN REZNIK continued
She went on to raise her own family and I continued with developing a signature line of dogs. 4. Your TibetanMastiffs are inter- nationally known, highly successful and well respected. What breeding philosophies do you adhere to? I rely on instinct, most of the time. I just get a gut feeling about certain pair- ings, with physical compensation fore- most in my mind. Generations of line- breeding have given me my best and most consistent results and I have used inbreeding and outcrossing selectively. Like a chef with a pantry full of ingre- dients, I create my own recipes for pro- ducing that perfect puppy. That being said, I have done much genetic research and have a library full of breeding and animal husbandry books by the greats. About every five years, I reread Onstott’s The New Art of Breeding Better Dogs and my cherished copy of Brackett’s Planned Breeding . Both Old Testament worthy and inspirational. Also impor- tant is playing well with others. It can take a village to keep the breed on track when it comes to health, temperament, type and structure. You never know when a puppy trade or an outside stud service is going to be exactly what the veterinarian ordered. Drakyi Tibetan Mastiffs would not have continued to be what we are today without the support and inspiration of my partner Efrain Valle (since 1998) and our co-owners, PHA handlers Michael and Linda Brant- ley. Blessings all around. 5. How many TMs do you typically house? Tell us about your current facilities and how the dogs are maintained. Since moving to a five-acre spread in the high desert mountain community of Acton, California in 2004, the numbers vary between 30 and 40 dogs. These consist of retired show and breeding dogs, active Specials and prized produc- ers, occasional rescues for rehoming, up-and-coming juniors and small-breed house pets. As preservation breeders, a healthy pack of generations of diversely- pedigreed dogs is a necessity. The dogs are kept in Grade A facilities, in natural settings of spacious yards and runs, usu- ally in family groups. Daily chores and interaction keep the two of us working full-time with the dogs. Tibetan Mastiffs are very loyal and particular about who cares for them. A 2017 YouTube breed documentary on the Dogumentary channel was filmed here and shows our setup. With all the care and commit- ment it takes to maintain and develop
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a breeding program, we often find our- selves “trapped in paradise,” a phrase I coined that describes decades of hands- on living full-time with our dogs. A holi- day is a working judging trip abroad. 6. Who were/are some of your most significant dogs, both in the whelping box and in the show ring? I had to really think on this answer for a week. Too many dogs came to mind in the complex mosaic of 40 years of breeding and showing. I would be remiss not to mention my start... the first... the dog that inspired my jour- ney. That was Ch. Langtang Kalu Kutra of Dokyi, a black female from Ann Rohrer’s 1979 breeding of Kalu x Lola. A refined dog by today’s standards, she is some 20 generations behind almost every Drakyi dog. As producers who were also accomplished in the show ring, Multi Ch. Formosa-Drakyi Simba, and his grandson Ch. Timberline Barni Drakyi, “Barnes” were unsurpassed.
Accomplished in the ring and out, they were both bred to a variety of bitches and produced the type of consistent quality that founds breeding programs. In the whelping box, Denali’s Tsunami, Ch. Bernagchen Sundari, “Chen Chen,” Drakyi Ebony Noire, Drakyi Leona and Drakyi Red Sonja are some of our best bitches, their quality seen and coming down through generations. As for the show boats, MBIS Ch. Formosa Dreamer was that “stallion of a dog,” according to judge Bill Shelton. Dreamer demanded his wins and set type for many genera- tions of Western lines, both in the US and throughout Europe. BIS/SBIS Multi Ch. Edgi Ganden Monge, “Senge,” was the dog that got me back in the ring, stride for stride joyfully beside me. The show dog of a lifetime who is always missed. Saving one of the best for last, MBIS Ch. Drakyi Gold Standard, “Midas,” was the right dog at the right time, blazing the AKC show circuit when the breed gained full status with
108 • S how S ight M agazine , S eptember 2018
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