"I was seeing a great deal of Jean Lyle, because we were always competing with each other and were great friends. She was campaigning a lovely bitch called Nicola, a daughter of Carillon Dilemma and Jacqueline. I fell in love with Nicky and Jean let me take her home."(from a 1981 Poodle Variety interview)
The "owner" could show the dog, do obedience with it or even breed it. However, the arrangement was almost always with the provision that Jean could breed from the dog if she wanted to.
Nicola was bred to her half-brother, Thomas, in early 1960. Out of the litter of seven, five finished! Joy kept a bitch named Acadia Barbara Beloved. Jean Lyle apparently took Victoria of Acadia, and later bred to Acadia Barrymore and Boulette. In 1962, Boulette was bred back to her father, Thomas, while Victoria was bred to uncle Timothy, and Barrymore to aunt Tiara. The Barrymore litter (Wycliffe "A2") included Aristophanes. Aristophanes was then bred to Sophia (from the "S1" litter, discussed previously), to produce Haus Sachse's Rebecca, born in 1964 (and owned by Mr. & Mrs. Edward Saxey).
Joy bred Barbara Beloved to Timothy in 1962 to obtain her "C" litter, which included Acadia Conversation Piece. (Like Jean Lyle, she gave each puppy in a litter a name starting with the same letter of the alphabet.) She continued to breed about 2 litters a year, mostly out of Nicola, Conversation Piece, and - to add a little variety - a Bel Tor bitch she had purchased called Caramel Souffle (a café-au-lait). The males were mostly Wycliffe or Wycliffe derived from Wycliffe (including her own).
Ian was bred only three or four times. Sadly, he died from a Leptospirosis infection a month short of his third birthday. Despite the brief career, he has more descendants than any other Wycliffe male after Thomas. Ian's first litter was from his aunt Theresa, in 1964, to produce the Wycliffe "M2" litter. The second was to Chantilly Caprice (see below) in 1965. The third, by Arlene Brown in 1966, was to Haus Sachse's Rebecca. The litter included Haus Brau Adorable Aegina, Aladin and Angelique.
The next year, Arlene bred Angelique to Wycliffe Murdoch. Murdoch, a son of Ian, was owned by Mitzi Burt (Shady Acre) of Snohomish, Washington. Murdoch was used extensively at stud and sired 9 AKC champions between 1965 and 1975. The litter from Angelique included Haus Brau Clarion, kept by Arlene Brown, and Haus Brau Cheri Beri Ben, who went to Harold Langseth (Winshire).
For the piéce de résistance, she bred Clarion to his aunt Aegina in 1968 to give us Executive, who therefore owes 50% of his genetic heritage to Ian. [See Pedigree #2]. Though Arlene did not produce any later dogs of comparable reputation, neither did she stop breeding as she had intimated to Joy Tongue. She continued to use Clarion, primarily with Rebecca and Angelique, until 1973.
"About this time Arlene wrote to me and said that she was thinking of getting out of dogs and had to get rid of this puppy... whose name was Executive."
Joy was not enthusiastic about adding another dog, but felt it would be rude to say no straight away. So she called Arlene and promised to "look at him" if Arlene brought Executive to an upcoming show in Bremerton (near Seattle). Big mistake! Once she met him, she was hooked.
"I was six feet away at the end of the lead, started taking him up and down and he just flew -- his head was so high and his neck so high that he looked exactly like a saddlebred horse. I was absolutely enchanted."
Executive quickly established a reputation as a desirable male. His record of 51 champions is particularly impressive in that he wasn't at stud for a very long time. Zec suffered his first bloat attack in 1973 and, though he survived, Joy stopped breeding him.
"It's the worst thing that can happen to a dog, and when you have watched it you don't want to propagate it. When I found out that some of his puppies were having it I simply could not go on using him. That's one of the reasons I got out of breeding."
Executive experienced two more bloat attacks, but survived and continued to live with Joy until his death at 14. Despite her warnings, many breeders continued to use Executive's bloat-prone progeny and the problem continues to plague many of his descendants.
The third, in 1972, was out of Haus Brau Intrigue, and produced Langcroft Country Romance. In 1975 she was bred to Dassin Debauchery (Pride). The litter included an outstanding white male, Langcroft Country Pride, sire of 42 champions.
Gentry was apparently not used more extensively because he was discovered to be dysplastic. Harold Langseth later bred Toy Poodles, and was still active as an AKC Judge when this article was written.
As indicated above, Caprice was bred to Wycliffe Ian in 1965, and a white females from that litter, Chantilly Felice, was sold to Lois Kletsch (Ilex) of Redmond, near Seattle.
Around 1970 Lois asked Joy Tongue if she could breed Felice to Executive. [See Pedigree #2] Joy later said "I was not too keen on this color mixture - a white bitch to a black dog... but it wasn't going to be my litter and it was her choice."
Their first litter produced only two puppies, both female, and as Lois wanted a male, both were sold both as pets. Joy told her she could have a return service, and the second litter was more successful, producing eight puppies - four white and four black.
"She brought the two best males down to Portland for me to see and to tell her which one to keep. I had these two 8 weeks old white puppies, Bart (who was to become Acadia Command Performance) and Barry (Ilex Barclay), trotting across my living room, and on the day I said Barry."
Lois Kletsch was not particularly well known as a breeder, and had only sold three when she had to move to California. She called Joy to ask whether she could take the four puppies she had left, including Bart.
"I had 22 puppies of my own but she said she would just have to put them to sleep as there was simply no chance of selling them where she was, so of course I ended up taking them on."
Both were successful. Bart, sold to JoAnna Sering, won 36 Group Firsts (and 19 Bests in Show) in only 40 appearances. Though he died of bloat at only five years of age, he had already sired 34 champions. Barry, still owned by Lois Kletsch but handled by Marie Langseth, went on to win both American and Canadian championships, but is possibly better known as the sire of Lou-Gin's Kiss Me Kate, at one time the top winning dog of all breeds with 140 Bests in Show.
From the V litter, Veronica went to the Kingsleys in New York, and produced 5 champions from Carillon Lousic and Dilemma, including Annveron Bacardi Peach (referred to above), later acquired by Dassin.
Virgil went to Joan Schilke (Koronet) and sired 50 champions, including Bibelot's Tall Dark & Handsome, Dassin's Daktari and Jocelyene Marjorie, in a career that lasted from 1961-70.
[For additional details, see The Dassin Kennel.]
© John Armstrong, 1997, 1998.
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Revised February 25, 1998