Showsight June 2021

ALESSANDRA FOLZ RISSANA WEIMARANERS BREEDER INTERVIEW BY ALLAN REZNIK

Where did you grow up? This question always makes me mildly uncomfortable because I don’t have an easy answer for it! My father was a colonel in the US Air Force, and by the time I came along he was a squadron commander and a “red-phone-can’t-tell-you-I’d-have- to-kill-you” kind of military person. I always believed he was something between Batman (he would disappear for long periods of time, and was working below ground for a while) and Snoopy fighting the Red Baron. Long story short, I was born in Landstuhl, Germany. We lived in several different small towns in Germany, and then, in Mons, Belgium, Belleville, Illinois, and Woodstock, Connecticut. Do you come from a doggy family? If not, how did the interest in breeding and show- ing purebred dogs begin? My mother (Patricia Folz) started breeding Vizslas in 1970. We had two old Vizslas from her first breedings when we lived in Europe, but she didn’t get more dogs while we lived overseas. The European style of Vizslas, at that time, was incred- ibly different from the style in the United States, and she wanted dogs that would be competitive in the AKC show ring. So, when we returned to the US, my mom set about finding a new Vizsla. Now, I don’t know how many of you have ever lived in Belleville, Illinois—and not to throw any shade—but at the time, it wasn’t exactly the height of cultural interest and activity for a family that had just come from Europe. And it was truly in that artistic vacuum that my love for this sport was born. Necessity really is the mother of invention. Who were your mentors in the sport? Please elaborate on their influence. I have been so lucky to have had amazing mentors in this sport. I know that I was partly helped by being a truly interested kid, so adults were willing to share

52 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, JUNE 2021

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