Phaedra-Borzoi.com

Latvian Borzoi Interview Phaedra

Phaedra Borzoi is a small, unique kennel in Central, New Jersey, USA.

The dogs live in the garden attached to the house not in isolated kennels. It is a professional partnership between Carol Kubiak-Zamora and Dr Kevin T Shimel. www.phaedra-borzoi.com 

1. Why has the borzoi become your family dog?

Carol: Both my father, Charles Joseph Kubiak, and eldest sister, Frances Kubiak, had Borzoi as early as the 1960's. My father, Charles, along with my mother, Vivian Kubiak, did breed one litter of 6 Field Champions in the early 1970's. My father was dedicated to Lure Coursing, and he was an all breed licensed coursing judge. It is on the coursing field that Kevin and I met. My family owned dogs from the Kostroma, Gwejon, and Baronoff bloodlines, these were old American Kennels. I grew up with Borzoi and the love for them and this old style of Borzoi is embedded in my life. I have never been without my BORZOI.

Kevin: My interest started when I was about 14 years old. I met Linda Cole Switt of Pickfair Borzoi, and showed, coursed, trained and cared for her dogs over a twenty year period. I fell in love with the Borzoi, and now that I am an AKC Borzoi Judge, I can say, I am surrounded by the breed and will continue to be!

Carol: We are Phaedra, along with my husband George and daughter Natalie. I am glad to report that even my 90 year old Mother has kept her interest. We are intent on bringing our years of experience and veterinary expertise in breeding, training, grooming, conditioning and showing success, as well as our multicultural outlook on life, to maintain Phaedra Borzoi as a source for sound all around hounds with genetic variation AND consistency in temperament and movement for our enjoyment.

Carol: The foundation bitch for Phaedra was from the Rancho Gabriel Kennel…a kennel that figures very prominently into many of the lines of Borzoi in the USA today. I bought Rancho Gabriel Chattanooga, Fld Ch. (Chatty). She was heavily line bred on Int Ch Troyka Von Borjoschka, who was, and still is, one of our favorite dogs. This was unusual at the time to see such heavy breeding on an import to the USA. She was also linebred on the Rancho Gabriel White Center Line. The American side of her pedigree is so old she has American Foundation Kennel Stock right in her fourth generation. You can see Chatty and her impact in the fall 2005 Issue of the EB Magazine where she was the Featured Borzoi of The Past. She only had 2 litters, and lived to be 15 years old.

Kevin: Chatty was bred each time to a Pickfair male, and nearly all of our dogs go back to these 2 crosses. The lines were German/von Borjoschka (also via Nederlands' Perchotin) x Rancho Gabriel (Rancho Gabriel Center Line is also old American Romanoff/Alpine) behind Chatty and then the USA Sunbarr Line, German/Von der Solitude, and American Romanoff behind the Pickfair. The pedigree has a lot of dogs that go way back to early 190o Russian Imports to the USA.

What is unacceptable for you in a borzoi?

Carol: The ideal Borzoi is one who has an excellent temperament who shows well and wins easily, courses and races, and produces well in the litter box! I look for a Borzoi that is first of all good tempered, healthy and then strong and well muscled with deep chest and well sprung ribs. A long well arched strong neck and thin small ears, a good hare like foot with a low broad hock. I like to see a well coated dog with a dark eye, short back and long slightly arched loin. Of course, I would like to see a scissors bite with full dentition and a lovely fine yet powerful head.What I find unacceptable is an aggressive or shy temperament!

Kevin: Yes, and an almond shape dark eye, with a strong intelligent expression set onto a long powerful arched neck, along with clean down and back movement and a strong wide loin…for me this is Phaedra. Another important factor is that the dogs you are working with should be healthy and hardy. Our dogs are easy keepers that maintain the rugged vigor of the old days. They tend to be very long lived with the average between twelve and fifteen years old! They are fertile, easy breeders and are virile! Besides being the type we like, the line has been inbred, linebred and outcrossed and consistently produces the traits we are looking for in movement, type and soundness of mind and body.  Dracul is close to our ideal! We want a strong dog with an exciting temperament, not a Golden Retriever but not a Pit Bull! It has been said, Phaedra dogs are like potato chips...you can't have only one! They are fun up beat dogs! A dog should possess a strong virulent type, whatever that type may be, and outstanding movement, true down and back and have a powerful ground covering sidegait. A long well set neck, proper back to loin proportion, a slightly shorter back and longer loin will allow him to move with his neck and topline in play, not just his legs! It is my pet peeve…a dog should move with all the epaxial muscles in motion not stiff backed! This allows strong reach and drive and a double suspension sighthound gallop and trot! Neck set, where the neck goes into the withers, is so important to the breed! We also like a nice deep chest and good spring of rib with nice width to the loin. ALWAYS a tremendous coat of proper texture…not wooly! Overall we are looking for a good sound healthy dog, happy and fun to show with excellent libido and/or mothering abilities.

Carol: A dog should push off with the rear and this should propel the front forward. As the dog pushes off, the rear leg reaches the mid center of gravity in the middle of the dog and on the midline, and pushes it forward and at the same time the front leg is hitting ground and pulling the dog forward…it is a push pull movement not a float…it should be a strong ground covering stride, appearing effortless but has power evident! This is why single tracking is important and it allows the front and the rear push/pull leg to be pivots under the center of gravity of the dog producing an energy efficient motion. The neck and topline muscles work in unison during the stride to allow the body to freely move within the sling of the shoulder.  And of course, health issues are important to us! We test hearts and thyroids and eyes! We are very committed to breeding healthy Borzoi and feel honesty is very important between breeders!

Kevin: We would like Phaedra to continue to be a line that consistently produces dogs that can be group contenders not just Champions. It is one of the things that keep Carol and I so close, we have the same ideals in our head of the perfect specimen. So, even though we have incorporated other dogs and lines into the pedigree, they are always of the same ilk and have the same qualities, and if you go far enough back, the same general pedigrees as well! It seems this makes our dogs genotypically and phenotypically identical, thus the strong influence we see when they are bred. I do believe that to solidify a line that produces consistency it is not about inbreeding, but about a match of phenotype and genotype in any particular dog. It allows you to rely on your eye to see the genes. As for the other dogs we have used outside of Phaedra…well just look at the kennel now. We have imported dogs from Finland, Sweden, The Czech Republic, Russia and Hungary and in many ways they look like we bred them here! Strength with a prominent yet elegant presence…that is a Borzoi!

Kevin: Parasite control and free access to exercise is the cornerstone of a good program. We do a general worming of all the adult dogs with Panacur (Fenbendazole) at least once per year. The dogs are always off to shows so they are exposed ongoing to gastrointestinal parasites. Puppies are wormed with Pyrantel every 2 weeks starting at 2 weeks of age. We also give monthly Ivermectin for Heartworm prevention year round in NJ.The dogs are vaccinated with combo DHLPP vaccines starting as puppies and then the first year. After this every other year seems sufficient. Rabies vaccines are always kept up to date.We do thyroid checks on all the dogs when they turn 2 years of age as well as an echocardiogram/sonogram and eye check. Twice yearly we spot check for tick-borne diseases like Borrelia and Erlichia. All breeding animals are Brucellosis tested before being bred. I palpate bitches for pregnancy at 21 - 28 days for pregnancy check.

Carol: We cannot emphasize enough that free access to exercise is important. A dog will never develop properly without this. They need that hard muscled body to metabolize their food properly and eat the normal amount and this affects every aspect of their lives! It sounds contrary, but more exercise puts weight on them not more food! Exercise is even important socially as a tension release to keep stable low stress bonds between the dogs. Many people have breeding trouble and temperament problems with their dogs and we believe it is social stress and pressures within the kennel that manifest, as they do always, in decreased reproductive ability and aberrant behaviors. So much goes into a good dog!

Carol and Kevin: YOUR READERS MUST UNDERSTAND THAT THE FATE OF THE BREED LIES IN THE HANDS OF THE BREEDERS, AND IT IS A BIG RESPONSIBILITY NOT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY! ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST TO MAKE A GOOD SOUND DOG IN MIND AND BODY! IT IS NOT A CHORE BUT A LABOR OF LOVE!

Thank you very much for this honor and the opportunity to express our goals, ideas and love for the Borzoi in this interview. We would be delighted to hear from any of your readers, and we are always happy to answer other questions or expand on the information above.

BEST TO YOU ALL!