ShowSight Interviews: Karen Staudt Cartabona, Majenkir Borzoi BY ALLAN REZNIK continued
6. Who were/are some of your most significant dogs, in the whelp- ing box and in the show ring? Majenkir is more about a bloodline than individual dogs; it is an amaz- ing gene pool which has had the abil- ity to improve nearly every line it has been crossed with, here in the US and around the world. Today it is unusual to find a top-winning or top coursing Bor- zoi that does not have one of the cor- nerstone dogs up close or generations behind in its pedigree. Every Borzoi in the present Top 10 carries some Majen- kir in its bloodlines. You may have to go back four or five generations to find it; these dogs obviously have their breed- ers’ stamped imprint in type, yet the genes from the old Russian coursing dogs have been passed along to them through their Majenkir ancestors. Also in the Top 10 are two Borzoi bred by Majenkir and another two sired by Majenkir dogs. The influence of Ch. Majenkir Regal By Design ROMX is apparent in more recent dogs. A Majenkir- bred son, “Max,” was exported to Japan where he became a top show dog and produced a legacy of top winners, among them the all-time top-winning Borzoi, GCHG Belisarius JP My Sassy Girl. “Lucy” was
Preservation which will always give us complete privacy. We keep about 25 adults, some youngsters and raise a couple of litters every year. The Grand Duke’s kennels were orig- inally built in a hollow, the belief being this would protect the dogs from the Russian cold. Consequently the dogs suffered from conditions they called “rheumatism.” They advised opening the runs and the kennels “to the wind.” Our dogs are housed in small buildings, two or three dogs to each side opening into long kennel runs built up a slope. All runs open out to a large exercise field. The kennel runs are crushed stone, there is no cement, and the hous- es do not have heat. All dogs are turned out daily for exercise in small groups. They are fed a predominantly raw diet of beef and tripe. I believe in as holis- tic a life as possible. Puppies are born in the house and go out into the puppy house soon after weaning. Borzoi thrive on cold and snow. It is dampness and icy rain, and especially heat, which is unhealthy for the breed. The older dogs become house dogs mainly because we enjoy them. In the 1990s we kept as many as 60 adults, even ran a few milk goats to raise puppies.
may produce in a future litter by being able to check what he has produced in the past, and what has come down from him. In the 1990s I did quite a bit of co-breeding with top Borzoi kennels in the US, usually taking a pick puppy or even leasing the bitch. I also imported and exported dogs to and from Russia quite successfully both ways. One dog I sent to help reestablish the gene pool became a top producer of show and open field coursing dogs right through to the present. While we select for phenotype to produce our show dogs, I have found genotype from dependable genes from those great Russian hunting kennels is indispensable in breeding correct Borzoi. 5. How many Borzoi do you typically house? Tell us about your facilities and how the dogs are maintained. The present kennels are high on the side of a hill in Swartswood, New Jersey, overlooking the lake, ideal for raising Borzoi. We are surrounded by preserved and wooded state park land. Years ago we sold 100 acres sur- rounding our present 30 acres for
130 • S how S ight M agazine , N ovember 2018
Powered by FlippingBook