Showsight - April 2022

RICHARD YENCHESKY DEL REY XOLOITZCUINTLI BREEDER INTERVIEW BY ALLAN REZNIK

Where did you grow up? I grew up in Wisconsin and I attended my first dog show when I was 15. I can still remember walking into the frenetic energy and the hustle and bustle of the Brown County Expo Center. Do you come from a doggy family? And if not, how did the interest in breeding and showing purebred dogs begin? My first show dog was an Airedale Terrier that joined our family a few months after my first dog show visit, and I wish that I had gotten more involved at that time, but life had other plans. I started exhibiting and breeding dogs after I finished graduate school in Miami when I met Marsha Banks. My first Chinese Cresteds came home with me in 2000. I was involved with Chinese Cresteds and had several litters that produced a dozen champions under the POP prefix. In 2009, I got my first Xolo, and that would change my path in dogs to date. Once I had a Xolo, there was no turning back. I knew that this was the breed for me, so I put my time, energy, passion, and finances into them. Who were your mentors in the sport? Please elaborate on their influence. I was fortunate to meet some great people in dogs over the past twenty-some years and they all contributed something to the success of my breeding program in one way or another. This list of mentors/contributors includes Gretchen Hofheins, Lou Ann King, Patty Hoover, Barbara Griffin, Susan Cassem, Frank Baylis, Florence Brown, Michael Sauve, Deb Schindle, Marco Hernandez, Diane Baker, Connie Dubois, Cindi Bossart, Lisbeth and Malin Kallunki, and Joe Joly. I am thrilled to currently have people in my life who are a huge part of the Del Rey Xolos’ success in the show ring and whelping box, including my dog partner, Erika Lanasa, and Robyn Lauck, Sue and Tony DiGior- no, Kris Horton, Katie McKewan, and Teresa Vila. I am looking forward to working in collaboration with Miguel Alonso and Silvia Tojo from Mexico in the coming years to secure healthy and sound dogs, temperamentally and physically.

42 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, APRIL 2022

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