The Wycliffe Central Lines

Continued from page 1

Kenneth and Ian

Both Ian and Kenneth played important roles in the continuation of the Wycliffe lines. Though Ian sired only a single "Wycliffe" litter, from his aunt Theresa, this litter of seven (the M2 litter of 1964) included five champions (Martin, Minerva, Murdoch, etc.). Though she doesn't mention Ian by name in the PV interview, I am reasonably certain that she is decribing him when she says:

"There was one dog I bred that was a nice dog, but I sold him to an obedience home because his temperament really called for training. Physically, he was a dog with a very over angulated rear and he didn't have shoulder angulation to match. He did have a gorgeous head. His head was probably one of the very best I ever bred, but I didn't feel that he was worth using simply for his head. Well, several people in the Northwest latched onto this dog and just thought he was super!"

[Ian was owned by June Hobbs and was used by Kathleen Baker (Chantilly) in 1965 and Arlene Brown (Haus Brau) in 1966.]

Jean Lyle kept Kenneth, and he sired 15 Wycliffe litters over a five-year period. His first litter was from his half-sister Calypso, giving us the second "S" litter (1965), which included Sybil. Sybil, and their daughter Genevieve (1968), continue the female line that started with Mitzi.

"I think Kenneth was probably the better looking dog but people were so enamored by the reputation of Thomas that they didn't use Kenneth perhaps as much as they should have. I used him extensively myself and was pleased with the results. They were about the same height, the same general type of dog and they both had the same great temperament. Kenneth had a little more sweep to his rear, but he used it beautifully and didn't shuffle at all."

The second female line, that started with Little Lulu, was continued by Rowena and Zandra (1966), the latter a daughter of Rowena and Ian's son, Martin.

John Campbell has described Rowena as "our very worst counter-sweep. (We) always had to keep the counters clear of goodies or she would up and on and have them before one knew it. Martin was a lazy 'bring it to me' couch potato."

The Campbells bred Rowena again in 1967 (to Wycliffe Xavier) and '68 (to Martin) producing five Blacknight champions - Jason, Jeremiah, Jennifer, Sabrina and Samantha, and Ch. Teller's Bethany. (Xavier, a son of Timothy and Jacqueline, was owned by Frank Dale.)

For Jean Lyle, mating Zandra with her cousin Kenneth was almost an outcross, but she obviously liked what she got as she repeated the combination 3 times - in July '69, March '70 and Oct. 70 (producing 7 champions). From the perspective of continuing the lines, the last (which also appears to be Kenneth's last) was the most significant, for it produced Thomas Too, to continue the male line, and Titania, to continue the second female line. (The March '70 litter produced Nicolette.)

At the end of 1972, Nicolette was mated to her younger (by 7 months) brother, Thomas Too, to produce Alexandra-Agatha. This was unusual, as it was one of the few times Jean resorted to a brother-sister cross, though the genetic consequences are the same as from a mother-son or father-daughter.

Kenneth to Fitzherbert

The second Tommy started a brief carrier as a stud when he was only 10 months old and by the end of 1972 had been bred to four different bitches. Then he "disappeared" for 9 years, before being used, apparently one last time, in 1981. In the interview with Poodle Variety, Jean relates why she did not keep any of the males between Kenneth and Fitzherbert, born in 1974.

"There was a time after Kenneth died that I was not quite as pleased with the dogs being produced as I had been with the previous ones. For instance, there's Thomas Too, who is still alive although he doesn't live with me. He is a very virile, masculine, stallion type of dog, but he lacks some of the refinement of my other dogs. I think that it's vital that a male be masculine and strong, but we can carry this a little too far for great success in the breed ring. It may be wonderful for a breeding program, but when using a dog like this, you have to be very careful that the bitches be ultra-feminine."

The very first of these litters was from Genevieve, and produced Xcellente...

"A very in-bred dog that is lovely and a great producer. He is also a tremendous gentleman. He is in Wisconsin at Ascot."

There, he had a career that produced 28 champions between 1973 and 1980. Xcellente was "borrowed" by Jean in 1974 to sire the litter, from his mother, Genevieve, that produced Fitzherbert. Fitzherbert became her new favorite.

"Fitzherbert looks so much like Kenneth that it's uncanny. In fact, I won't have Fitzherbert's portrait taken because, why bother? I have Kenneth's and they look exactly alike."

Fitzherbert enjoyed a steady stream of Wycliffe and other bitches in a career that lasted from 1975 to 1983. Of course Jean couldn't resist, and bred him to his mother/grandmother (yes, Genevieve) in 1976 - to give us the incomparable Lord Lysander. However, she sold Lysander, apparently without using him, and continued to use Fitzherbert.

Despite the profound influence of Genevieve on the male line, she appears not to have produced a significant daughter, which effectively ends that female line. However, in the litter just before Lysander's, she mated Fitzherbert with great aunt Titania (sister of Thomas Too) and finally succeeded in getting another bitch she was satisfied with, Joyous Jacqueline.

"Although she is bigger, a little, tiny bit more extreme and a better color, although not perfect, she is very much like the original Jacqueline. She moves just like they should. She moves naturally and proudly and sets herself up right and you see her striking all of these beautiful poses, because this is the way she is put together - right! She is also very animated and a very devoted dog."

I'm sure by now you all know what to expect next... and you're right, she mated Fitzherbert to his daughter. The surprise was that Jacqueline wasn't used until she was 4, but she was bred to Fitzherbert 3 times. The results, however, were apparently not satisfactory.

Looking for a New Heir

What to do? Fall back to Plan B and call out the reserves - the reserves being the many Wycliffe-bred animals now in the hands of other owners around the world. Fitzherbert was bred to such luminaries as Proud Poll, Red Rose, Polly Perkins, Karla of Seabonay and Anlon Anabel Alexis. These litters were not disasters, and these names turn up in various pedigrees of current champions, but they did not give Jean Lyle quite what she was looking for.

Fortunately, plan B had a complementary plan C - mate Jacqueline to the other males of the central line (the ones she had not kept). Thus, at 10 1/2 years, Thomas Too was brought out of retirement. The second Tommy and Jacqueline produce Fern, who continued the second female line. Then, 6 years after his birth, she made a call to the owner of Lysander. Margaret Tauzin relates:

"Jean Lyle once told me that the reason she drove Jacqueline to be bred to Lord Lysander is that he had never bloated and the owner never took any precautions against bloat, either. She felt him 'safe' to breed to in an attempt to decrease the amount of bloat problems she had been having."

The strategy appears to have succeeded. Son Michael, born Aug. 1982, inherited the throne (or should we say "the royal bedchamber") from grandfather Fitzherbert when about a year old and continued in that role until he was 10. His very first litter was with half-sister Fern to produce Wescott Quintessence, who was later bred back to Michael in 1987, 88 and 89.

The Michael Years

Between 1983 and 1992, Michael sired 27 Wycliffe litters. They may be subdivided into five groups:

The Liza Jane group descends from the 1980 cross to Jaylee Louisiana Gambler, and will be described separately. Gambler was a son of Wycliffe Hadrian. Similarly, the Capal and Minmist lines are only partial outcrosses; both are daughters of Fitzherbert.

At present, the litter I have the most complete information on is the 1988 "H" litter from Quintessence. At least 3 of the 5 are still living, and quite possibly all 5.

  1. Herald finished, and went to Dr. John Slaton (Ele Gal Standards). He is still being used as a stud, appears to be healthy, and has sired at least 9 champions.
  2. Hi Jinks was shown but not finished. He lives in Seattle and, according to his owner, is in good health. He has been bred, but I don't know how often, and I have no record of his progeny.
  3. His Nibs went to a pet home and Jean Lyle lost contact with the owners.
  4. Hey Nonny Nonny reportedly bloated after a show, but survived and wasn't shown again. Her present status is unknown.
  5. Hither and Yon finished and went to Margaret Tauzin (Martaux). She has sired 21 puppies in 4 litters. Ten have finished. Hither is still in good health, and Margaret has had no deaths reported among of Hither's offspring.

The sons and daughters of Michael and Quintessence are very highly inbred. Through trial and error, and good luck, Jean Lyle picked her way through the inbreeding minefield and may have succeeded in producing the closest thing, outside lab-bred mice and rats, to a pure line. The relatively small litters (typically 4-6) might be ascribed to inbreeding depression. However, other parameters frequently correlated with inbreeding depression (high juvenile mortality, reduced lifespan and increased disease susceptibility) are not evident in the H6 litter, or in Hither's litters. Hither is, of course, only one example, and the question of whether small litters reflect inbreeding depression cannot be answered from a single case.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Lynn Brucker for loaning me the Poodle Variety article from which the quotes are taken, and for the use of her database, and to Margaret Tauzin and John Campbell for providing litter information for Hither and Rowena, and for adding some human depth to the story told by the pedigrees.

© John B. Armstrong, 1997

This article was originally published on The Canine Diversity Project website.
Published here by permission.

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