| The Eurasier - a pure-bred dog - a family dog |
Origins and History of Eurasiers
Alfred Müller, in October 2003
(Any copies, or excerpts, only with permission from the author)
Translated by Ellen Conzelmann, unless otherwise stated
Foreword
| There cannot be a history of Eurasiers without writing about the people involved. After all,
only a
few enthusiasts shared this dream, and - despite all the difficulties -
they made this dream
come true, as an independent breed of its own.
Alfred Müller wrote this history of Eurasiers. He was and is part of the Eurasier idea and its development. He has been a member of the Zuchtgemeinschaft für Eurasier e.V. since 1979, when Anuschka vom Auerbach "brought pep into our family life". Already under the guidance of Charlotte Baldamus, Alfred Müller acquired the knowledge of a Breed Inspector, lateron he became Körmeister, and he was Head of the ZG Breeding Board for many years. His view on Eurasiers has also been strongly influenced by Dr. Schmidt, Dr. Jander, Hans Rossow and many other Eurasier breeders with whom he discussed this new breed. Though, in his reserved way, he calls himself "a Eurasier friend who is growing old" and "who still does not know much", neither the Zuchtgemeinschaft für Eurasier nor the Eurasiers of today can be imagined without Alfred Müller. His thesis that breeding Eurasiers only makes sense as long as the initial idea - and the ideals of Lorenz - are adhered to, and as long as dedicated people willing "to serve on behalf of the Eurasier breed" can be found, is valid far beyond the Zuchtgemeinschaft für Eurasier e.V. |
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| The following lecture was held
during the annual meeting of the ZG on October 4th, 2003, the celebration
of "30 years Zuchtgemeinschaft" . The lecture is based on original documents, in
written form, as photos or audio documents, originating from a time in
which Eurasiers were not more than an idea; an idea that had to
materialise throughout the following decades. Smaller parts of the lecture had to be adapted for use in the internet, but we aimed to maintain the original form of the lecture as a speech, the personal address to an audience of Eurasier friends. In addition to providing you with the information in this speech, we would be very interested in your feedback, and we are looking forward to your questions or contributions: |
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| Your spontaneous comment: |  |
You prefer to send us an email: |  |
A word to the quick surfers: "Qui refuse, muse! - Take time to enjoy!" Please give your computer the necessary time to load this fascinating history of Eurasiers and then fully enjoy reading it.
Peter Conzelmann, February 4th, 2004
Zuchtgemeinschaft für Eurasier e.V.
Contents:
Man Meets Dog (Eurasier) - How? - The Influence of Konrad Lorenz
Differences of Opinion - The Split of the "Eurasier Community"
The Zuchtgemeinschaft fuer Eurasier - Aims and Motives in Eurasier Breeding
Man Meets Dog (Eurasier) - How? - The Influence of Konrad Lorenz
Okay: Where do we begin? Looking at the history of the Eurasier breed, our attention is caught by a few rather prominent personalities and circumstances that contributed to the development of this - still new and for a long time still not finished - breed "Eurasier". I would like to introduce these personalities to you. At the same time, I would like to familiarize you with the original motives, ideas and goals of Eurasier breeding, in hopes that we all remain conscious of these ideals and that these ideals will always serve as our guidelines.
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In the year 1949, Konrad Lorenz wrote a popular book
titled "King Solomon's Ring".
This is his first publication in book form, one year after his
return from being prisoner of war in Russia. Who was Prof. Dr. med. and Dr. phil. Konrad Lorenz? Born 1903 in Vienna, Austria, into a scientifically fruitful period, he became one of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century. He is widely known as the Father of Behavioural Science and was the founder of a new philosophic discipline, "Ethology". He was one of the most popular scientists of his time and, as we can read in a biography written 1983, on his 80th birthday Lorenz was: |
nine times honorary Doctor, five times honorary Professor,
Member of nine scientific Academies and 26 scientific Societies. Ordinarius for Psychology and Director of the Max-Planck-Institute for Behavioural Physiology. For his achievements he was honoured with many medals and awards, among them the Pour le Mérite, the Kalinga-Award of the UNESCO, and many others.
On December 10th, 1973, together with Carl von Frisch and Nikolaas Tinbergen, he was awarded with the Nobel-Prize for Physiology and Medicine (for their efforts in Ethology, for developing a unified, evolutionary theory of animal and human behaviour).
And we can be especially proud that Konrad Lorenz was an
enthusiastic honorary member of our Zuchtgemeinschaft für Eurasier e.V.
In his book "King Solomon's Ring" (see Literature), which - by the way - is still published on a regular basis, Lorenz describes his main findings and thoughts up to that point concerning life and scientific studies, vividly and easy to understand. He tells us about wolves, fish, greylag geese, ducks and about animal personalities that became famous, such as e.g. the jackdaw "Tschock", or duckling "Martina". Behavioural patterns such as "Imprinting", "Spontaneity of instinctive behaviour", "Babyface" (= a trigger for parental care) and many more - all well known today - were discovered by Konrad Lorenz. With his vivid descriptions, he could fascinate many people for his science - and especially we dog friends will find it interesting to learn that many experts and scientists in the canine world actually found their way to biology via Konrad Lorenz, some of them even became his pupils or followed his footsteps.
A chapter in "King Solomon's Ring", titled "The Covenant" and dedicated to dogs, is of even greater importance to us. Konrad Lorenz, who was always surrounded by animals - his home was similar to an "ark" - could not imagine leading a life without having a dog. Usually, he had several dogs at the same time. He also observed them carefully, and could see a lot; others could probably see the same things, but with the decisive difference: Lorenz watched carefully with the eyes of an attentive scientist and he thought about what he had observed. In the entire chapter "The Covenant", Lorenz speculates how the wild animal - wolf or jackal - might have encountered mankind, and how domestication - the development of the domestic animal "Dog" - might have developed in thousands of years.
In this chapter, Lorenz separates dogs into two main categories: The group of northern dogs - which he called "Canis Lupus", because they show more wolflike behaviour than the other group - and, on the other hand, a group of highly domesticated breeds such as Middle European Companion and Utility dogs. In this latter group, he suspected a larger proportion of golden jackal blood (Canis Aureus). Lorenz assumed that our dogs have Lupus and Aureus blood, but in different proportions. This assumption proved to be wrong later on. Erik Zimen, Eberhardt Trumler, and other well-known canine scientists found at a later point that dogs evolved with a high likelihood from the wolf. In principle, this does not not really matter in this case, because it deals purely with the evolution of canides, but not with the actual substance of his described observations and statements. Here, in this specific case, the terms lupus and aureus only serve to distinguish between two different canine characters. Let's leave it that way, so that we can follow the citations of Lorenz much better. Among Lupus dogs he considered breeds such as Lapland dogs, Russian Lajkas, Samoyeds and Chow-Chows, and he presumed that North American Malamutes had the highest proportion of Lupus blood. For him, Aureus dogs were breeds such as German Alsatians, Great Danes, Poodles, Hunting- and Utility Dogs, etc.
Lorenz was especially impressed by the "sealing of the bond" of a dog to its human, the final attachment of a dog to one master, an occurance taking place within a few days in a "susceptible period" - and which can be seen much earlier in Lupus dogs, round about the sixth month, than in Aureus dogs. Lorenz decribes the character of Lupus dogs as following: "The reticent exclusiveness and the mutual defence at any price are properties of the wolf which influence favourably the character of all strongly wolf-blooded dog breeds and distinguish them to their advantage from Aureus dogs..." (p. 119). And he continues:"A Lupus dog, on the contrary, who has once sworn allegiance to a certain man, is forever a one-man dog and no stranger can win from him so much as a single wag of his bushy tail. Nobody who has once possessed the one-man love of a Lupus dog will ever be content with one of pure Aureus blood" (p.119f). And further:"Besides this, a predominantly Lupus-blooded dog is, in spite of his boundless loyalty and affection, never quite sufficiently submissive. He is ready to die for you, but not to obey you ... " ... "If you walk with a Lupus dog in the woods, you can never make him stay near you. All he will do is to keep in very loose contact with you and honour you with his companionship only now and again" (p.120).
Lorenz describes the Aureus dog as a dog in which, as a result of his age-old domestication, the infantile affection has persisted, making him a manageable and tractable companion. He comes when called, answers your slightest wish and is naturally obedient: "A dog of this kind, which is everybody's dog, is easily led astray since he trusts every stranger who speaks kindly to him. But a dog that you can get so easily, well, so far as I am concerned, you can keep him!" (p. 122) Despite the highly esteemed Lupus dog, Lorenz also valued the incomparable obedience of an Alsatian: "Admittedly, the noble qualities of the beast of prey possessed by the Lupus dog, his proud aloofness towards strangers, his boundless love for his master, and, at the same time, the reticence with which he demonstrates his really deep affection, are all character traits for which the Aureus dog has no counterpart. But both sets of qualities can be combined" (p.124).
Now he tells us the story about his Alsatian male Booby and the Chow female Pygi, their unplanned marriage, and the beginning of the Chow-Alsatian breeding in the Lorenz household. From this unplanned litter, Lorenz kept a female named "Stasi". She was different than expected, as she combined all the good qualities of both parents. Lorenz writes: "These succeeded beyond all anticipation. Whereas, generally, crossbreeds inherit the bad properties of both parent breeds, in this case the contrary proved true in a very definite measure ... " (p.126).
(all citations taken from: Konrad Lorenz, King Solomon's Ring, reprinted 1953, London, Fletcher and Son Ltd.,
in their original translation by Marjorie Kerr Wilson)
1950 the book "Man Meets Dog" was published. A masterpiece, it is THE dog book of which Horst Stern said in the 70ies:"You could just as well throw away almost all other dog books, without losing any essential elementary knowledge about dogs".
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In this book Lorenz deals in depth with the special character traits of the Chow-Alsatian-cross "Stasi". What he describes there, are exactly the desired character traits of our Eurasiers. By the way, "Stasi" lived long before Lorenz became Ordinarius for Psychology at the University of Königsberg, and that was in September 1940.
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Was Konrad Lorenz the Father of the idea to create Eurasiers? |
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Here I would like to show you a photo of a Chow-Chow of which we have a reliable date to go with it. The picture was taken in 1940 in Erfurt, Germany. The photo shows you what type of Chow-Chow we are actually talking about. The Chow-Chow today has clearly developed away from this phenotype.
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Julius Wipfel - The Father of the Idea?
Change of place: After the war, the young Wipfel family settled in a town in Germany called Weinheim, in a street named Bergstraße. The family father, Julius, was a great dog enthusiast, who also always had a dog. Already as a youngster, he was fascinated by the reports and descriptions of the Northern sled dogs. By chance, Julius Wipfel found such a dog in an animal rescue shelter. The dog had been taken there most likely because Canadian Troops stationed in Mannheim had left him behind (and that is why he was called the Canadian).
The Canadian was, according to Wipfel's characterization later, a perfect sled dog type, who immediately integrated into family life astonishingly well. From the third day onwards, he would not let any stranger enter the home and he guarded their son. The Canadian astonished the family with his very own charming personality and by giving daily proof of his unique intelligence. But he also had character traits that did not always fit into family life that easily. Julius Wipfel reports an increasingly independent and "unrestrained and dangerous" behaviour towards strangers: "His intelligence and unrestrained behaviour was different in comparison to our dogs". And yet, this "beloved black devil" was in his own way a fascinating dog personality.
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It was Elfriede Wipfel, wasn't it? She had the idea! Or was it Julius Wipfel in the end? |
In the mid 50ies, the Wipfel family looked for a worthy successor - which they could of course not find - and they finally decided on the Wolfspitz female "Bella von der Waldmühle". No matter how pleasant and beautiful Bella was, she could not be compared to "The Canadian". So, one day, Elfriede Wipfel made a suggestion (quotation Julius Wipfel): "You know how women are. During one of our many conversations my wife simply said: 'Why don't we just go ahead and create our own breed, similar to the Canadian and our Bella?' ". |
Wipfel, who had become a very engaged and active member of the Spitz Club in the mean time, read all the canine literature he could get hold of. With great interest, he studied the scientific canine literature: "It was not only by chance that I found the books written by Lorenz. The unplanned mating Chow-Alsatian caught my attention and the description of the wonderful character of the Chow-puppies immediately fascinated me".
Now Wipfel wanted to learn more about the Chow-Chow breed; not only did he learn more about them, he even acquired the qualification as a show judge for this breed. "Lucky chances cannot be repeated that easily", Dr. Werner Schmidt once said, admittedly in connection with Eurasier breeding. But does this not also apply for people and how and when they ever meet?
In March 1959 - Bella von der Waldmühle was just expecting her first litter - Elfriede Wipfel wrote a letter to family Baldamus, which begins with:
"Dear Family Baldamus! Our friend Schneider in Rastatt recently informed us that you are interested in a Wolfspitz, but that you do not know the breed yet. Therefore I would like to give you the following information".
Then she describes the breed in depth, including the advantages and special features. She also writes about her expectations of somebody who would get one of her puppies. Mr Baldamus had once heard something about a „Polar Dog" and was probably thinking in that direction, but Elfriede Wipfel clarified the misunderstanding and told him that if he was interested in a Samoyed, he would hardly be able to find one in Germany, more likely in Austria or Switzerland. But if he meant the "brown Chow-Chow", she would advise him not to get one of these, as (quotation) "the dogs imported from Asia have a lot of wolf blood and therefore almost all of them run off to poach".
And so "Asta von der Bergstraße", a daughter of Bella von der Waldmühle, became the Baldamus family dog on the Jägerhof, Mittelberg. Later, Asta von der Bergstraße became THE very first mother of the "vom Jägerhof" kennel, the most important Eurasier kennel, from which so many Eurasiers descended.
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The cooperation in breeding began between Julius Wipfel and Charlotte Baldamus. Julius Wipfel had studied for and prepared the start of the Wolf-Chow well: It was to be an experiment following the example of Lorenz, to breed a dog with the best qualities - and, to say it with the words of Konrad Lorenz - that combines both sets of qualities of the Aureus dog and the Lupus Dog. Consequently, Wipfel chose Chow-Chows - as they have the all important and very special character traits of "Northern Dogs". The mating partners were to be Wolfspitz, an ancient breed, whose prehistorical roots reach way back to Canis familiaris palustris (a spitz-like turf- or peat-dog). A wise decision, although Wipfel, as sometimes mentioned, would have liked to experiment with a line containing Samoyed, if he could only find some ... On the other hand, his decision was easy to put into practice; after all, his own Wolfspitz female and her offspring were in easy reach for him. |
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And so these two ancient spitz type breeds - the Chow-Chow originating from Asia and the European Wolfspitz - were crossed, or better combined, because these are animals of the same kind - with the aim to achieve a breed with the best qualities of both breeds.
The Breeding Plan for Wolf-Chows
Well, now, just how do you start, when you want to start a new breed? First, you define an aim in breeding and then you decide on a method with which you want to reach that aim.
Julius Wipfel defined his aim in breeding as following:
It should be a dog of polar type, with beautiful, attractive colours and a charming character that adapts well to our conditions. It should also be a breed type of its own, different from the Wolfspitz and the Chow-Chow.
Excursion Breeding Plan:
When planning to combine different mating partners who bring along as many desired traits as possible, the following basic methods can be applied:
Method A
Systematically mating the partners with each other, in rotation, meaning A x B, C x D, E x F, then A x D, C x F, E x B etc. - in such or similar order - and continuation of breeding with the best F1 - results.
This method cannot be applied in its pure form in small dog populations, as too many, different animals would be born - who all need a good and caring home. This method is more suitable for breeding chicken, rabbits, etc. where practical solutions can easily be found for the surplus. This is not a method for dog breeding.
Method B
Inbreeding with suitable F1-offspring within the own group, strict selection for breeding, then mating the best dogs of this line with the best dogs of another line, and so on.
This method is a more adequate and effective start for small populations, but its success is reserved only for the "lucky and knowledgeable experts". This method leads to quick results, but can only be maintained for a few generations. After that, because homozygotity then rises dramatically, the gene pool must be expanded with other dogs, ideally with dogs bred in parallel lines, which bring along the desired traits - but not of the same hereditary origin -, in other words, these dogs should not be related with each other.
Wipfel described the three Chow-Chow males chosen for the breeding plan, two of them red, one black, as a kind of mastiff type with heavy bone, whereas the four Wolfspitz females (his own female and three of her daughters from her A-litter) were all spitzlike, of light bone and grey (see Wipfel, "20 Jahre Eurasierzucht", 1980). Two of the four Wolfspitz females were bred twice with different males from this same male group.
The first litter was born June 22, 1960
kennel name/date of birth first original matings F1 - generation B von der Bergstraße
22.06.1960
Julius Wipfel
Aroko vom Felsensteig (M), Chow-Chow (red) M: Buc
F: Bärle, Bessy
Bella von der Waldmühle (F), Wolfsspitz A vom Hexenturm
06.04.1961
Ulrike Rosenkranz
Pollo-Pong Ko-San-Lo (M), Chow-Chow (red) M: Arko, Amor
F: Anuschka, Anja
Annet von der Bergstraße (F), Wolfsspitz B vom Jägerhof
17.12.1961
Charlotte Baldamus
Pollo-Pong Ko-San-Lo (M), Chow-Chow (red) M: Björn, Billi, Brumbo, Bari
F: Berit
Asta von der Bergstraße (F), Wolfsspitz C von der Bergstraße
20.09.1962
Julius Wipfel
Igor Kwy-Chu-Florian (M), Chow-Chow (black) M: Casan, Charly, Cuki
F: Chiky, Caris
Bella von der Waldmühle (F), Wolfsspitz B vom Hexenturm
28.11.1962
Ulrike Rosenkranz
Igor Kwy-Chu-Florian (M), Chow-Chow (black) M: Berno, Bongo Annet von der Bergstraße (F), Wolfsspitz B vom Weinheimer Schloss
29.08.1964
Martha Schell
Igor Kwy-Chu-Florian (M), Chow-Chow (black) M: Blaky, Berno
F: Blanka, Britta
Anka von der Bergstraße (F), Wolfsspitz
Notes:
(1) Names in accordance with the data base of the Zuchtgemeinschaft für Eurasier e.V.
(2) M = male
(3) F = female
(4) green: Breeding the F2-generation with Wolf-Chows of the F1-generation
(5) The A-litter "vom Jägerhof" (Pollo-Pong Ko-San-Lo x Asta von der Bergstraße, 11.05.1961) had no meaning for the breed, as all the puppies unfortunately died at the age of four weeks, due to an infection.
Among the first matings, the B-litter "vom Jägerhof" deserves to be highlighted, because - seen from today - it turned out to be the most important litter in the history of Eurasiers. The litter mates Brumbo and Berit vom Jägerhof were the foundation parents of the Jägerhof line, many Eurasier kennels were founded with their offspring. Yes, today one can rightfully state: You can hardly find a genuine Eurasier that would not have Jägerhof blood.
In total, in those early years, there were six suitable F1-litters and the "Wolf-Chow-Breed" was started with them.
But, the F1-generation (= the first crossed generation) did not quite fit in with Wipfel's interpretation of the Mendelian laws: He therefore tried another classification of the resulting groups:
Type I: Mixed types
Type II: Wolf-Dingo types
Type III: Polardog types
To continue, type III was found suitable:
| Continuation by using dogs of the F1 generation | ||||
| Kennel | Male | Female | Remarks | |
| A - Wachenburg | Armor vom Hexenturm | x | Bärle von der Bergstraße | |
| E - Pflänzerland | Berno vom Hexenturm | x | Assy von der Wachenburg | |
| B - Wachenburg | Berno vom Weinheimer Schloß | x | Bärle von der Bergstraße | no offspring |
| C - Wachenburg | Droll vom Jägerhof | x | Bärle von der Bergstraße | |
| C - Weinheimer Schloss | Droll vom Jägerhof | x | Britta vom Weinheimer Schloß | |
| D - Weinheimer Schloss | Conny vom Weinheimer Schloß | x | Britta vom Weinheimer Schloß | |
| Continuation by using dogs of the F1 generation in the kennel vom Jägerhof | ||||
| Kennel | Male | Female | Remarks | |
| C - Jägerhof | Brumbo vom Jägerhof | x | Berit vom Jägerhof | F2 |
| D - Jägerhof | Brumbo vom Jägerhof | x | Berit vom Jägerhof | F2 |
| E - Jägerhof | Brumbo vom Jägerhof | x | Cara-Lu vom Jägerhof | Crossing back to the father |
| F - Jägerhof | Brumbo vom Jägerhof | x | Berit vom Jägerhof | F2 |
| G - Jägerhof | Brumbo vom Jägerhof | x | Cara-Lu vom Jägerhof | F2-crossing back to the father |
| H - Jägerhof | Droll vom Jägerhof | x | Berit vom Jägerhof | F2-crossing back to the mother |
| At this stage, it is time to introduce a
personality who played a fundamental role in the history and development of
Eurasiers: Charlotte Baldamus With the B-litter and while rearing those puppies, she realized that these dogs were something very special. |
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Charlotte Baldamus was born in 1910 in Königsberg, East Prussia, with the maiden name Charlotte Willfang and enjoyed a well cared for, middle-class childhood. While her elder brother (Dr. Georg Willfang, later a founding member of the ZG) could study at the university, she had to help support the family relatively early. She combined the necessary with her very own creativity and began to breed a special type of poultry, purebred and registered. This way she gained a lot of practical experience on genetics and breeding already in the 30ies and 40ies. But the war destroyed all this and she had to flee. She found a new home in Baden, where she met Wolfgang Baldamus - also from East Prussia - and they married in May 1950. Shortly after their marriage, they bought the farm Jägerhof in Mittelberg, and worked very hard. Soon Charlotte Baldamus began breeding purebred poultry again and she herself sold the results in the nearby town of Ettlingen. Her husband took up a job in the industry in Gaggenau, and, in addition, the farm was kept up as well.
Charlotte Baldamus and her experience and knowledge in assessing the breeding potential of animals, was not only a great asset in breeding poultry, but a great advantage for Eurasier breeding. With unbelievable reliability, she always picked the best suited animals of a litter and used these for breeding. Due to her early practice in breeding poultry, she had learned to master the instrument of inzest- and inbreeding to perfection. And so, in agreement with Julius Wipfel - who soon recognized her skills - she built up her Jägerhof lines, via inbreeding to the fifth generation, without any detected „faults", and thus laid the foundation stone for the entire following Eurasier breed.
These animals already came very close to the ideal they had set up regarding appearance and character. Charlotte Baldamus, influenced by the hardship and misery during the war and after, was a very strong personality. Such personalities hardly develop nowadays. She was full of will-power, straightforward, honest, open without any mercy, and she was sincere and cordial. Eurasiers and the Eurasier people were her life, and in the course of time the Mittelberg became a forum and center for Eurasier breeding. The Jägerhof was open to Eurasier people from all over. Guests were not only always welcome, no, guests from all over Germany and many other countries were also always present - at least during the weekends ... and accompanied by their dogs, of course. A saying stitched into a towel hanging on the kitchen wall said it all: Five were invited - along came ten - Pour more water into the soup - and welcome all of them.
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Of course, Eurasiers were the most important topic: Breeding, behaviour, special features. But also experiences, observations and opinions were exchanged, and the conversations were accompanied with much good-hearted laughter. Whoever wanted to participate in the discussions of the breed experts or who even dared to disagree with Charlotte Baldamus, was well advised not to "blabber", but to bring forth sound arguments. Yes, these discussions could become rather vehement. In the other corner of the sitting-room, Mr Baldamus gathered all those who were "not quite so Eurasier knowledgeable". In this corner, the "really important" things were discussed, political issues of the world and the country, sports and agriculture. Unqualified statements from the politicians to the experts on breeding were immediately stopped: "Karli, stay out of it, you do not understand what we are talking about!" |
| Coffee, tea, cake? All this was on offer - the guests brought these things with them. Charlotte Baldamus did not indulge in the exaggerated tidiness of a neurotic housewife; she had better things to do. "A cup is missing? You will find the cups up there on the shelf, but you will have to clean it" - or "just blow the dust away". It was cosy in the sitting-room, but the window did not let much light in ... Which was good ... Camping on the Mittelberg over the weekend? No problem:"Where can we set up our tent?" The answer of Charlotte Baldamus: "Right there, where the high grass is: You will find the scythe and mower in the shed. Please bring the cut grass into the barn". | |
Originally, Wipfel's breeding plan was to follow the systematical mating mentioned above - method A - including selection, but consequently this plan could not be adhered to; and so the lines were mixed with each other at a very early stage. Another difficulty for the breeding plan showed up: Many dog owners were simply not interested in breeding, or the dogs were not of the desired type. One must also bear in mind that in those days dogs did not have such a position in their home as they do nowadays. The breeders were happy they could find homes for all these "strange looking crossbreeds". Also, young dogs in those days often died due to "car accidents" or "gun shot", and so the breeders had to breed with those dogs that were available, and make the best of it.
New Blood - Crossing the Samoyed into the Breed
| Charlotte Baldamus adhered strictly to method B (inbreeding) in the Jägerhof. Due to her experience in her job, she had a well-trained eye for the best suited animals for breeding. In the beginning, Wipfel was rather sceptical and did not want to support her independence. It took a while until he realized what an expert Charlotte Baldamus from the Jägerhof in Mittelberg was. But once he realized that, it did not take long until the dogs from the Jägerhof were used for breeding on a very broad basis - actually too broad: with few exceptions, "Droll vom Jägerhof" was the only stud employed from 1967 until 1971 - to "standardize the type" - as it was called, but this let the inbreeding coefficient of the new breed rise dramatically. |
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In addition, many kennels were founded with Jägerhof-offspring. So Julius Wipfel turned to the Institute for Breeding and Genetics of Domestic Animals at the University of Göttingen, and Professor Dr. Ruth Gruhn advised him "... to breed with far less related animals soon". In principle, her advice referred to the improved "Method A", and was based on the assumption that six different lines still existed - which, in reality, was no longer the case. This new plan could not be adhered to, either. The crossing in of new blood from the outside became a necessity. Julius Wipfel had already proposed to cross in the Samoyed in 1964 (Meeting for Breeding Matters on 19 January, 1964). But until April 1965 a suitable Samoyed male could not be found; they had even considered using a German Shepherd Dog - as a makeshift, so to speak - but this was never done. In 1972 Wipfel could finally put his beloved Samoyed idea into practice - but this was not at all to the liking of Charlotte Baldamus. She continued to adhere strictly to her method, as she thought it was much too early to undertake such far reaching experiments, without knowing enough about the dogs. She would have preferred to get suitable dogs from other inbreeding lines to expand the gene pool. But nothing could be done in that respect. At that point, more than 90% of all available dogs for breeding had Jägerhof blood somewhere in their first generations.
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A new person entered the field of Eurasier breeding: One day, it must have been in January 1970, a young man named Werner Schmidt showed up in Mittelberg. He was interested in a puppy. In 1963, he had read the books "King Solomon's Ring" and "Man Meets Dog" with great enthusiasm and he longed to own a dog like Stasi. Still in 1965, he had seen later generations of Stasi, with Konrad Lorenz at the Max Planck-Institute in Seewiesen, also a year later in Altenberg. But Werner Schmidt, who had a Diploma in Biology, soon realized that the Lorenz family had stopped breeding. For the first time in 1969, Werner Schmidt read something about the Wolf-Chow in the literature written by Eberhardt Trumler. And so Schmidt found his way to Charlotte Baldamus in Mittelberg via the canine expert Trumler (Trumler was a former consultant and honorary member of the ZG) and via Wipfel. When Schmidt saw Cara und her daughter Jerry, he immediately knew that this was the dog he had always longed for. Right away he ordered a puppy from Cara, as she was planned to have the next litter. Baldamus: "I could see he was fascinated by the dogs". |
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Excursion: Konrad Lorenz and Eurasiers
Werner Schmidt's first Eurasier was the female "Lotus vom Jägerhof". When Schmidt was accepted to do research studies for his Doctortitle in 1972 with Konrad Lorenz, Lorenz got to know Lotus and was fascinated, too: "She reminds me of my Stasi, she looks so much like her. I would also love to have such a dog". Lotus refused to be mated the first time, and so Lorenz went to Charlotte Baldamus in 1972 to get a female, black with light markings, "Nanette vom Jägerhof", whom he called "Babett". Later on he said of her: "In reference to her character, she is the best dog I have ever owned". One can only imagine what a surprise and what a feeling it must have been for Charlotte Baldamus: Konrad Lorenz, whose studies, thoughts and experiences had always guided her, wanted to explicitely have a dog from HER kennel and even stated later on that this dog was the best he had ever owned!
A greeting to C. Baldamus from K. Lorenz
Here the circle closes: His very own idea caught up with Konrad Lorenz. Up to then he had known absolutely nothing about this new breed "Eurasier"! Just what connected Konrad Lorenz with this breed? Everything? Or nothing? Just as it should be, Konrad Lorenz went to pick up his female dog from the breeder, Charlotte Baldamus. A friendly and longstanding exchange of thoughts and letters followed. The Professor was only not quite happy with the structure of the body of his "Babett", he wrote:"I would really like to try and add a little Husky blood into the breed. Chow and Wolfspitz give our dogs too curly tails. Babett's bottom is really adorable and funny, but not serious enough for a dog that resembles a wolf seen from the front."
Contrary to Konrad Lorenz, Julius Wipfel was convinced of the "Samoyed-idea". But this discussion took place after the Samoyed had already been crossed in several times. Dr. Werner Schmidt also supported the crossing in of the Samoyed; as a biologist, he viewed this from a different angle than Wipfel and Baldamus.
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The Samoyed male "Cito vom Pol" (also called "Orion von der Bergstraße") was used as a stud from 1972 to 1977 in the following litters:
This was surely the greatest turning point in the early days of Eurasier breeding. |
Continuation of Breeding Efforts
Another original mating of the foundation stock took place in 1972: The Wolfspitz male "Astor v. Teck" was mated with the Chow-female "Aina Piz D´Hiver", this mating was repeated again in 1973 (Wittekindsburg A + B).
A further Chow-male, the comparably elegant "Darius vom Schrattenbach", was added, he was mated with the half-Samoyed "Alraune vom Birkenbruch", (daughter of Cito vom Pol x Lotus vom Jägerhof) in the kennel "vom Blumenhag". Two males resulting from this mating "Boris" and "Bingo" had a great influence on the breed. The third male "Brummi" only had one litter, but these were really beautiful dogs (D vom Weissdornhag), unfortunately the offspring could not be bred (pinto- and white carriers).
And the original mating between the Chow "Darius vom Schrattenbach" and the Wolfspitz female Asta von Solln in the kennel "vom Nixensee" failed in the second generation due to massive HD.
These matings belonged to the first big series of measures to expand the genetic pool. There were great differences in the results, and a longduring phase of selection and testing followed, which lasts up until today and is still going on. The offspring of the Wittekindsburg were only considered with great care, as there seemed to be some uncertainty, and this was examined more closely in the kennel vom Stechersee. Remarkably, the type and wonderful behaviour of the Jägerhof dogs could not be found among the offspring of the incrossing of the Samoyed nor among the offspring of the other matings with foundation stock. In general, it was found that the dogs had become friendlier towards strangers. Solely the Blumenhag line stood out due to their great social behaviour and their reserved and pleasant character. In this case it was HD that needed to be carefully considered.
1984 in the kennel "vom Unland" in the EKW, another original mating took place. The ZG supported this at first, but stopped in 1990, because metabolic problems showed up in the offspring. For breeding you really need good luck as well.
The following photos show the results of the second and third generations after the crossing in of the Samoyed, of the matings of foundation stock in the kennels Wittekindsburg and Nixensee and of a further incrossing of Chow-Chow. The examples show how diverse the results can be in the following generations. And, stud Boris vom Blumenhag was one of the most important inheriters as he produced more than 50 direct offspring ...
... Here are examples of his direct offspring ...
Further examples for the diversity in type in this breeding phase: The beautiful Drusus vom Weissdornhag (son of Brummi vom Blumenhag), the F2-female Donna v.d. Wittekindsburg, the short- or stocky-haired Eurasier Cäsar vom Hermareg, but also Asa vom Blumenhag, the foundation mother of the Stratenhof line, containing 25% each of L-Jägerhof-Eurasier, Samoyed, Wolfspitz and Chow:
Rurik vom Jägerhof, his offspring and comparable Eurasiers to him are shown here, they are mentioned here as an example of the generations that were crossed back to the Jägerhof dogs. This was necessary to limit the differences in appearance and behaviour, and to manifest the Jägerhof qualities and traits. At the same time, HD could be reduced to a tolerable proportion.
The entire period was an intensive and difficult phase in Eurasier breeding, with many relapses. It was the time of the first Samoyed incrossing, the first signs of inbreeding showed up and warned of an imminent inbreeding depression, etc. Most of the defects and faults could be overcome immediately with the Samoyed, but this safety was delusive.
1973 the application to be recognized by the German Kennel Club VDH followed - Dr. Werner Schmidt was the negotiator. The breed name "Wolf-Chow" was refused, the Chow-Chow-Clubs feared it would lead to confusion. And so a new name had to be found. Dr. Jander, who later became Head of the Breeding Board in the EKW, came up with the idea to name the dogs "Lorentiner", in honour of Konrad Lorenz. Konrad Lorenz thanked her, but did not want to go along with this idea. He argued he would need a few more years to think about it, and hoped the dogs would then come closer to a wolfish appearance. They agreed to Wipfel's suggestion: "Eurasier".
Differences of Opinion - The Split of the "Eurasier Community"
Hip dysplasia (HD) was "discovered". The first x-ray examinations were undertaken, partly with some bad results. Of course, these few examinations could not give an overall status of the population. But that is exactly what Julius Wipfel tried to do. Unfortunately, panic caused overreactions and especially Charlotte Baldamus had to suffer under these overreactions. Although the dogs in the Jägerhof kennel were not affected, Charlotte Baldamus was subjected to reproach, her priviledges were withdrawn and she was not permitted to breed. This hit her hard and she decided to give up her breeding. Dr. Schmidt, on the other hand, had seen in 1971 how far the breed had developed in the Jägerhof and he did not want to leave this unfulfilled. Schmidt therefore personally tried to negotiate with Wipfel first, but these negotiations failed. Now there was only one possibility left, and that was to found a new Club with the aim to carry on and further develop the great results of Charlotte Baldamus in her breeding. We are thankful that, due to the initiative and convincing arguments of Dr. Werner Schmidt, 30 years ago, on August 4th, 1973, in house no. 7 in Mittelberg, on the Mittelberg (above Moosbronn near Gaggenau in the northern part of the Black Forest) the Zuchtgemeinschaft fuer Eurasier was founded and registered as a Club in Starnberg.
With that, the continuation of Jägerhof-breeding had become possible. A revival could be seen in Charlotte Baldamus and she jumped right in and indulged in work on the breed - and, actually on the whole Club - with her very own energy and authority.
What can also be mentioned, is, that five years later, Julius Wipfel separated from the Eurasierklub Weinheim (EKW) and founded the "Kynologische Zuchtgemeinschaft" (KZG). The injustice Charlotte Baldamus had experienced, could soon be turned to the good; the EKW moved a bit closer to the ZG again and a fruitful cooperation began. In 1982, Charlotte Baldamus even received the status of an honorary member in the EKW, in full agreement of all the delegates of the Partner Club EKW, and she gratefully accepted. She refused to become an honorary member in her own Club, the ZG, she said she was not old enough for that yet ...
The three Clubs (ZG, EKW and KZG) found together again, and cooperated, there were meetings, symposiums and other events they shared. At times their relationship was closer, other times more distant - but one could always communicate with each other and exchange dogs for breeding. This was good, because all had very similar problems - and the same origin and heredity of our Eurasiers.
Electronic data processing was introduced comparably early in the ZG and was constantly extended and improved. Baldamus kept a handwritten and extensive Eurasier book and archive, dating back to 1959. Thanks to the pioneer work of Helmut Geppert, this data and the written notes of Charlotte Baldamus were brought into a form in which they could be electronically stored and evaluated. A data base, a "super filing box", was developed that not only keeps the data of the kennel books, but all relevant information concerning breeding. This data base makes the work of setting up breeding plans much easier in an ever growing population. Already from 1996 onwards, this data was exchanged with the EKW.
Gisela Aach, who is now Head of the ZG Breeding Board, initiated the foundation of a data community in the International Federation for Eurasier Breeding (IFEZ). Meanwhile, 7 European Eurasier Clubs have joined the IFEZ as members. To date, these members have access to over 10,000 data records of breeding relevant information about the dogs, reaching back to 1959/60.
The Zuchtgemeinschaft fuer Eurasier - Aims and Motives in Eurasier Breeding
1986 Charlotte Baldamus gave up her position as Head of the Breeding Board and passed it on to Dr. Werner Schmidt, with whom she then not always agreed. Maybe she did not share his willingness to experiment and accept a slightly higher risk (which is sometimes - in the right moment - not necessarily wrong). After suffering a long and severe illness, Charlotte Baldamus died on April 24, 1989, at the age of 79 years - two months after Professor Dr. Konrad Lorenz, whom she admired so much. The older Eurasier friends among us learned the ropes in full depth from her. She was most certainly not an easygoing teacher. But, if it is the trademark of a good school to not only transmit necessary and useful knowledge, but also an attitude, a special view of certain things, combined with an ongoing interest, yet cautious approach to new findings, the "Mittelberg school" was certainly not a bad one.
"Breeding means: to think in generations" the geneticist Prof. Dr. Walter Schleger once said. Breeding Eurasiers is not for the impatient. Persistantly, the good must be enhanced and the bad repressed, always trying to exclude the opposite from happening. Sounds easy; but it is rather difficult, because for a mating we can only consider one or two traits at a time. Of course, all the other traits need to be kept in view as well, in order to come as close to our aim in breeding as possible.
But what do we actually know? We cannot look into the animals, we do not know which genetic surprises they may hold. Therefore it is even more important to use the little knowledge and reliably proven facts about our dogs wisely. Breeding always means weighing a risk. As a further task, breeding with related partners must be avoided. While inbreeding is necessary at the beginning of a breed, to detect faults and defects at a very early stage and to manifest desired traits, it must be avoided by all means in later phases, so that the gene pool is not diminished. In the special case of Eurasiers, an effective and reliable gene pool expansion will only be possible if foundation stock can be included on a regular basis. So far, this had not been allowed by the VDH (German Kennel Club). Finally, during the last two years, an application of the EKW, supported by the ZG, was granted. Long negotiations between the EKW and ZG had been necessary to achieve this. Meanwhile, the VDH knows much more about what Eurasiers actually are. After clarifying the state of affairs, we found understanding and support among the VDH and among the experts of the scientific committee.
Every incrossing requires a following phase of selection, because - in addition to the expansion of the gene pool, new "defect genes" are also added, and need to be kept under control - always with the aim to maintain the classic and eurasiertypical traits. This will remain so in future. Let us beware not to take the simple and easy route! It is always tempting to prefer especially those traits that you can see, that you can easily count or measure, or that are easily examined when assessing the dog - to the disadvantage of those defects you cannot "see" and which are more difficult to find out about. Whoever prefers the easy route is deceiving himself, and can be compared to a drunken man who lost his keys and now looks for them beneath the lantern, only because the light is shining there.
Is all this worth it? "Is it justifiable to create still another breed of dog in addition to the many that are already in existence? I think so", Konrad Lorenz wrote in 1949. And he continues: "Therefore, I need a dog that is no phantasy of fashion but a living animal, no product of science or triumph of form-breeding art but a natural being with an undistorted soul. ... my purpose in breeding dogs is to bring about an ideal combination of the psychological qualities of Lupus and of Aureus dogs. I want to breed a dog which is specially capable of supplying that which poor, civilized, citypent man is so badly in need of!" (p. 126f).
(citation taken from: Konrad Lorenz, King Solomon's Ring, reprinted 1953, London, Fletcher and Son Ltd.,
in their original translation by Marjorie Kerr Wilson)
Ladies and Gentlemen, from the very beginning, those were the set goals for our Eurasiers and they still are. If we should neglect or even lose these ideals of Konrad Lorenz in our breeding, then - I am sure - breeding Eurasiers would make no sense any more. Let us hope we can continue to find dedicated people, willing to help with their personal engagement, to carry the Eurasier idea in its original sense into the future.
Alfred Müller, October 2003
The mind is like a parachute - it works best when it is opened
