The Catalyst
The following is taken from an article written by the breed's founder, Francie Stull...
" For years, we had been searching for the perfect second
breed for our Kristull Borzoi kennel. We had developed a unique
and successful line of hounds that we are very proud of.
But like so many dog people know, breeding and showing dogs is
a process that can become blind and stagnant if complacency is
allowed to set in. So, in 1975, we sat down to choose a second
breed. We were going to be wise this time and try to apply all
of the lessons that we had learned the hard way with our first
breed to prove that we could short-circuit the trials and tribulations
every novice must survive to stay "in dogs."
So, with great sincerity, we wrote down our requirements. The
breed had to be smaller. Borzoi are magnificent in their size
and presence, but the feed bill was outrageous and neither my
sister Jackie nor I owned a big enough house to hold more than
one large breed. Small, therefore, and easy to care for. No Lhasa
Apsos with their floor-mop coats to drag through the cactus and
rocks. Living in the heat of Texas, it should not be short snouted.
Pugs and Boston Terriers do routinely suffer in the stifling summer
heat.
Temperament? Well, we were spoiled. Sighthounds are unique: independent,
yet fawning; aloof, yet tender; exuberant, yet sensitive to both
the objects and people around them. Terriers, with their feisty
dispositions were out of the question-- our dogs lived and ran
as a group, and arguing was never allowed.
A short coated breed? Well, somehow I just didn't like them. We
had owned a darling Greyhound, and I swear that his skin was made
of tissue paper. Admittedly, he healed as easily as he tore, but
hunting scars do eventually become unsightly. We don't live an
easy life. We often travel with our dogs on horseback, expecting
them to keep up and enjoy the outings. They are fenced on five
acres of natural cliffs, gullies, trees and creekfront water.
The coursing records prove that those that grow up in this environment
are tough and stable, but on the whole, life is not easy.
And last, but surely not least, had to be aesthetics. Webster
defines it as: "pertaining to the beautiful and artistic".
I find it no surprise at all that there is more artwork available
depicting Sighthounds than all other breeds combined. They are
both beautiful and artistic, just as our new breed had to be.
So where were we? Small, gentle, beautiful, silky coated, but
not dragging on the ground . . . what we wanted was our beloved
Borzoi, only smaller!
That sounds easy, but when you think about it, the Afghan Hound
is the smallest long-haired Sighthound. Sure there are Ibizans,
Pharaohs, Whippets and IG's. But none of them carries a long coat.
It would be nearly a decade before we finally embarked upon the
journey to create a small to medium sized longhaired sighthound.
