Mentoring by Mary Howell and Fran Crigger
Download this page in PDF formatWhen I first started in the Dachshund Breed, I was, as usual, out in the Midwest where I lived all through my career in the Show Ring, but I soon acquired the right set of well-bred, should-be Top Producing bitches that I needed to raise the look I was wanting to show as my new Boondox line of Dachshunds. In my mind, these Dachshunds all had many things I liked and many more places that needed a little help and, again, in my mind, I wanted to add the new things, but not lose what I already had in my kennel. Around here, in Michigan, I had Russ and Thelma Moffett, who I considered great Smooth breeders with dogs I liked. Also, in Chicago, Hannelore Heller was close and, at that point, was a successful Handler and Longhair Breeder. Hannelore knew, at that time, the outline she bred for and how a great Dachshund was made to get it to move like she wanted. Hannelore, who was a huge handler in the Chicago area, was a great friend to have and knew that a great Dachshund was beautifully set under himself with a long body, well placed shoulders and legs where they should be to cover ground like her Specials did. She knew what was correct then and how they should be built in the future. Overall, these were my mentors, along with Dee Hutchinson, who always gave me what I needed to produce these well-made Dachshunds who looked and moved like I wanted them to. These Breeders were who I talked to whenever I wanted to learn what was correct and what I was looking to add in the future to produce the Top Winning Standard Smooth and Longhairs.
CH Bayard le Tartare ROM who my PJ carried 34 times in his pedigree
One person missing was the owner of the great Longhair Kennel, Bayard, from the Met Washington breeder, Mary Howell. She was the first to really make the Longhair Variety popular and, at this point (late 70s and early 80s), the Top Winning Dachshunds were the Standard Longhairs and what a line up she had been producing. You could certainly see the difference each litter made ever since she started crossing those longhairs coming down from the Bayard bred Smooths. In the Bayard line, I was most interested in fronts and the great CH Bayard le Tartare ROMO and his sons, CH Souvenir de Bayard ROM, CH Robert de Bayard ROMO (Souvenir and Robert were also past DCA Longhair BV Winners) are all over the great Han-Jo dogs’ pedigrees. Recently, I was quite taken by the beauty (and I still consider him to be the most beautiful I have seen) of two-time DCA BB winner, CH Delldachs Rolls Royce L ROM. He and his sister CH Delldachs Mercedes Benz L, were puppies that Mary Howell’s handler Bobby Fowler got as Stud puppies and Mary got Rolls Royce. When Mercedes Benz was finished, bred and Dee Hutchinson soon got her best puppy and from that puppy, Delldachs Blackberry Girl L, came all of the longhair greats from Rose Farm and from here.
CH Han-Jo’s Ulyssis L ROMO
Mrs. Howell was an older lady originally from England and she had several people around her who helped her and her dogs at home and in the Show Ring and, first (and foremost), was Fran Crigger (later Colonna). Fran lived at Bayard with her two kids after her divorce and she was a long time Breeder of both Standards and Miniatures who always did well in the Show Ring herself. Mary Howell’s handlers, at the time I got to know her, were the great Bobby Fowler and his wife, Jane, who showed so many for her as Specials and Class animals. Tom Quimby was also one who showed and trained for her along with his own Bayard bred dogs. Since all of my Longhairs came down from the Bayard Kennel, Mary’s opinion was one I wanted and that included all her helpers as well. All of them wished for the same outlook and all were ready to steer the body where it needed to go. I guess there were others who wanted different things, but the people I picked out were the ones who shared the outline and movement that I liked and then produced it. As for Mary Howell, her helpers were, for me, all contributors and they all liked what I liked and carried on with Mrs. Howell’s wishes.
CH Bayard le Souvenir L ROM
When I went after mentors to learn about Dachshunds, I was always helpful and asked many (probably far too many!!) questions from these long-time Breeders. As a beginner, I wanted to know what I needed to add to my book of Dachshund Knowledge. In meeting them, I did not get into arguments about who knew more about the Breed as I always knew my place in talking with them was to learn what they knew and to apply that information to my own dogs. Remember, if you are arguing with your mentor, you are going in exactly the opposite direction from where you should be headed. Your job is to get info from the mentor, not give them any data that you have found in your recent breedings. You are here to be educated, not teach these old-time breeders anything. Being mentored means that you accept these breeders as knowing more about the Dachshund Breed than you do yourself and that you are there to get this information from them and also to see how their info was arrived at. Learning this data and how it was discovered is sort of the point of this relationship and, in point of fact, the basis of the mentor/student relationship.
CH Delldachs Rolls Royce L ROM
My first meeting with Mary Howell’s crew, which included Fran Crigger and Bobby Fowler, was at the 1978 Kansas City DCA where I got to ask a few questions and held dogs for them a little and soon knew that they shared the same things I wanted in my dogs. It was a great way to meet people and look at what they were producing. Mary, with LOTS of help from the hands of Bobby Fowler, also had more or less bred the last three DCA Best of Breed winners-CH Delldachs Rolls Royce L ROM (’75 and ’76) and CH Delldachs Bently L (’78). Both of these looked just like I wanted them too with Rolls Royce being the most gorgeous longhair that I had ever seen.
CH B’s Javelin de Bayard L ROMO
My next run in was at the 1980 Denver DCA where my first longhair litter was shown and I won WD and BW the first day with Beggar’s Banquet and Dee then won WB and BW with our pretty nice CH Rose Farms Zesabel v Boondox ROMO. That was a great weekend for us with our Longhairs who basically were all 100% Bayard breeding. Besides Fran Crigger and Bobby Fowler being there for Mary, my doppelganger, Tom Quimby, who had a few Bayard bred longhairs, also had a dog I sold, Boondox Chuckie Bunyan, and I showed him for them and won a Reserve at that Denver DCA and so we had a great few days of getting to know each other and learning what each of us liked in the Ring. I soon found out that they, too, shared the instincts for what I thought was important and always tried to get those things in the dogs they all (Crigger, Fowler and Quimby) showed in the next generation of Bayard dogs.
Then I went on the Cherry Blossom Circuit with them in 1981. These times were interesting and the knowledge I wanted was there for the asking with Mary, Fran, Janie and Bobby getting a whole string of dogs ready to show on that big Circuit. Seeing all Mrs. Howell’s dogs in the Classes and seeing where the changes were falling in her line, I knew that she was another that saw where she wanted to change the Breed and would always be looking in the same direction that I was. Knowing what they liked and how they got it made me realize that was indeed the way to go with the Breed that we all loved.
Fran, myself and CH Rose Farms Dolly v Boondox L
My next encounter was driving over to Pennsylvania in March of 1981 with my friend Carol Spritzer and showing to Fran Crigger in their Sweepstakes which I won with one of my best, CH Rose Farms Dolly v Boondox L. Fran loved her and, IMO, I caught her eye by showing her the type and structure that she and her Bayard group liked and Fran soon saw that I was going after that as well. ( There are so many funny stories about this trip that I am going to have to share, but it will have to be later….MUCH later. Fran was Sweeps Judge but the Specialty Judge was the inimitable Barbara Lovering who needs a whole column herself!!).
CH Gerolf das Zwerglein L ROMO
Next, I offered to drive Hannelore and Joe Heller down to the October 81 DCA to be held in Houston, Texas. That was quite a great week for me as I was there to hear all the ways people asked questions from Hannelore and how she answered them. While I was there just to help Hannelore, it was a great way to pick up even more information. Mrs. Howell was down along with Fran Crigger and her handlers Bobby and Jane Fowler and the Fowlers, at that point, treated Mrs. Howell as almost another Mother. At one point, Mary Howell, Maria Hayes and Hannelore decided to do a breeding and, with all of them in the camper (which I was driving, looking for a parking place), it was amazing how many years of experience were being used to get this breeding. I knew then that my small amount of wisdom was not sufficient for all the info that those other breeders had, but it just made me realize that I wanted to be one of the people that would indeed have that knowledge and that I would always share that with any other people that were in need of it. That set my goal as to what I wanted and how I would share it with others.
CH Bayard le Saphir
After that came another favorite DCA when it was put on by the 1982 Met Washington DC and I had a LOT of dogs to show. It was a fun weekend and two of my dogs won BW at each of the DCA weekend Shows and this also brought attention to me and my dogs and so Mary Howell and her helpers saw that we were going down the same path. Mary Howell did win RWD and RWB at DCA with full brothers and sisters who did indeed have the look and style I liked. After the show, Fran Crigger talked Mary into giving me the RWD who soon made a nice mark in my show string. That was CH Bayard le Saphir who won a lot for me and kept me visible in the Longhair Dachshund Show Ring for a couple of years. After the DCA National ended, I was asked to come to a party after DCA and brought my friends, Susan Jones, John Brading and Bob Bray, and we all had quite a time looking at all the dogs and that was where Susan Jones saw Bayard’s Great Scott, a red Miniature Longhair who was running loose in Mary Howell’s kitchen and she decided right there that she was going to breed to that little dog and , luckily, she got her bitch, CH Flachshund’s Exquisite ML ROMO, that finally showed her how she would change MLs into the future.
The next time I ran into Mary Howell was at the ’83 DCA held in Nashville, TN where I found out that Mrs. Howell had a recurrence of cancer again and was there without any dogs but with her sister, I believe, as well as her best friend, Fran Colonna who was there basically just to attend to Mrs Howell and make sure she did everything that she felt like doing at the Show. She, like all of us did, just wanted Mary to have the best time she could have and really enjoy what was everyone’s favorite Show. They did not bring dogs to the show and we all had lots of time to get together at the Restaurant and the Show parties to relax and have fun with each other and again we wanted Mary to enjoy anything she felt like doing. We had so much free time that, of course, as we spent the time together, we soon realized that what made us laugh in the Show Ring also made us smile in dealing with all the people around us at the Shows. This was a DCA that made us happy for so many reasons. First, many things happened that I can’t go into to avoid embarrassing the people involved, so I will remain quiet on that aspect, however I will go into this huge gay Rhodesian Ridgeback handler that was at the shows and she, for some reason that none of us ever understood, developed such a crush on Fran that she must have been watching us and she showed up whenever we left Fran in the bar by herself. She would join us and become one of our little group whenever we sat around making us all wonder what the Hell is going on here. We all thought that other people knew her, but she was just after Fran!!! At one point during our relaxation and having fun, this Ridgeback lady (did I add that she was dressed like a horsewoman ??? Jodhpurs, boots and jacket!!) was after Fran so much that Fran wound up sitting between me and Wally who, I might add, couldn’t have saved her anyway. Thank the Lord, there were local dog shows for her to go to on the weekend and so we could relax a little. Other than that, things were relatively calm and so we left after one of our most fun DCAs. Spending time with Mary (and Fran!) gave us a lot to think about.
Sadly, Mary Howell was lost during that winter and it was very sad for most of us since not many got to share her great wealth of Dachshund knowledge. Her home and Kennel had to be sold so Fran Crigger and Bobby and Janie Fowler got busy and placed as many as they could. It must have been hard seeing all her hopefuls go as they cleaned out the buildings around the place and Fran Crigger, as usual, carried out Mary’s families wishes and soon had most of them placed. During all this, Fran Crigger did get married and then became Fran Colonna, She and her husband Gary packed up and moved out to Kansas and stopped at Wally and Mary Jones’ house in Chicago and we finally met her kids and started to become much closer as she headed out to the Midwest. This is when we all really got to know each other and saw each other a lot more especially since she took a few of the Bayard dogs with her, some shown and finished and some relatively untouched.
CH Bayard le Maximillien
This summer also gave us the great show of the 84 DCA in Pennsylvania and Bobby and Janie Fowler were still showing CH Bayard le Maximillien under Mary Howell’s name and the dog won BV under the esteemed Breeder/Judge John Cook and BB under the very pleased Breeder/Judge Sherry Snyder. This win was so deserved and was the first time ever that a Bayard bred dog was Best of Breed at the National Specialty although Souvenir, Robert, Java and Fenelon did win BV before him. The only thing different was that the person we admired most, Mary Howell, was not there to see that great victory by that really outstanding dog. Seeing the results of moving down that line really made me realize that I was indeed following the right road.
My own road to breeding better Dachshunds also changed at this show as, with the great John Cook judging, I won WD, WB, BW and BOSV all with dogs and bitches that I bred and showed myself. They were all sired by Hannelore Heller’s Stud Dogs and I always told everyone to use them as they were the best and very easy to use. However, Hannelore got so mad that she said I could never use her dogs again. This is NOT good for a mentoring relationship. I was pretty upset because I never kept dogs for breeding because I knew that Hannelore, Mary Howell or other breeders would have what I wanted to use and then with Mary’s death and Hannelore’s feud, I was out of options. What was I to do? This was NOT going to be easy for me.
Anyway, I will end my story here with losing Mary Howell with Fran Colonna becoming a closer friend. It was always nice to have a close friend like Fran to hang around with at the Shows.