Knorr Bolognese

1. Auflage 2012
ISBN: 978-1-62187-063-0
Verlag: CompanionHouse Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 155 Seiten

Reihe: Comprehensive Owner's Guide

The only book available on this rare and wonderful breed, this Comprehensive Owner's Guide to the Bolognese serves as a complete introduction for new and potential owner. This enchanting Italian 'powderpuff' of a companion dog has been transfixing dog lovers around the globe by is affectionate character, beautiful coat, and distinctive charms. Written by Wolfgang Knorr, a bichon specialist who lives in Europe, this volume offers a fascinating account of the breed's history on the Continent as well as a special section on the breed's history in the United States written by breeder and author Amy Fernandez. The book continues with chapters on characteristics and the breed standard encapsulating all of the virtues of the Bolognese, offering sound advice about which owners are best suited to the breed. New owners will welcome the well-prepared chapter on finding a breeder and selecting a healthy, sound puppy. Chapters on puppy-proofing the home and yard, purchasing the right supplies for the puppy as well as house-training, feeding, and grooming are brimming with detail and illustrated with handsome adults and puppies. In all, there are over 135 photographs in this compact, useful, and reliable volume. The author's advice on obedience training this lovely little dog will help readers better mold and train their dogs into the most socialized, well-mannered canine citizens. The extensive chapter on healthcare written by Dr. Lowell Ackerman provides accurate information on selecting a qualified veterinarian, vaccinations, parasites, infectious diseases, and more. The final chapter on showing the Bolognese offers insight and advice for owners interested in exhibiting their dogs in various kinds of dog shows. Sidebars throughout the text offer helpful hints, covering topics as diverse as vaccines, toxic plants, first aid, crate training, carsickness, fussy eaters, and more. Fully indexed.

Wolfgang Knorr is a bichon specialist who lives in Europe.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Knorr, Wolfgang

Leseproben

The Bolognese is a rare breed, but those lucky enough to know these dogs love them! Looking at this happy face, it is easy to see the breed’s appeal.

Although an ancient pure-bred of noble origins, the Bolognese today is regarded as a rare breed in most countries of the world. Much speculation exists about the possible origin of this bichon breed, though ultimately its true origins remain obscure and are likely never to be revealed fully. With an irresistible face characterized by “three black buttons,” the Bolognese represents the Italian version of the popular bichon-type dogs, although it most certainly did not originate there. The Bolognese belongs to the ancient aristocracy of dog breeds, but where did the history of the Bolognese actually begin?

Small white dogs were already known of when the Phoenicians and ancient Egyptians were traveling around the Mediterranean. Along the trade routes of the seafarers, the “small whites” traveled from coast to coast as precious cargo of the peripatetic Phoenicians. From some point in time during the 13th century, these seafarers also brought white dogs to Italy, where their small size enchanted the region’s royalty and aristocracy. Select breeding of these dogs began soon thereafter, with the name Bolognese being derived from the ancient Italian city of Bologna, where these small white canines appealed to many dog lovers.

A GENUINE ITALIAN TREASURE

Throughout the centuries of its history, the Bolognese has always been a very special breed. It was the declared favorite of royalty and aristocracy. Its fascinating and affectionate character leaves no doubt among fanciers and breeders that this small dog with its white curly coat represents a genuine treasure.

Traders were fully aware of the little white dogs’ value, and specimens were sometimes even paid for with their weight in gold. It was considered a particular symbol of wealth to be seen with such a little snow-white beauty. The dogs were the declared favorites of well-born Italian women and became mandatory “fashion accessories” for the ladies of the aristocracy. The absolute favorites in drawing rooms, the Bolognese were spoiled, powdered and perfumed, and their coats, often adorned in cords, were trimmed according to the latest fashion. In general, the dogs were given so much attention that the French verb bichonner, which means to “to pamper,” gave rise to the breed’s initial name, Bichon Bolognais. The breed became known as the Bolognese some time later.

The Gonzagas, a noble family that ruled parts of Italy between 1328 and 1708, were known to have bred Bolognese in their palatial estates. Even the Medicis valued these little dogs, and Cosimo dé Medici (1389–1464), the affluent, influential Florentine citizen who became the city’s most important patron of the Italian Renaissance, has been recorded to have at one time sent no less than eight Bolognese pups to Belgium, where his emissary Nuntius gifted the dogs to a select few rich and mighty nobles. You might say that the tiny but mighty Bolognese thus started to conquer the whole of Europe from Italy.

Many historical personalities ensured that they were seen with this little dog that embodied luxury, examples being the Madame la Marquise de Pompadour (1721–1764), Catharine the Great of Russia (1729–1796) and Maria Therese, Empress of Austria (1717–1780), who were all proud owners of these little beauties. The dogs’ popularity continued during the times of Kings Louis XIV and XV of France and endured well into the 19th century, and old masters, such as Gozzoli and Dürer, immortalized them in many paintings. Commoners had no chance whatsoever to own one of these small dogs.

Empress Elizabeth of Manchukuo, wife of the former “Boy Emperor” of China, strolling in her garden with her Italian toy dog. Photo circa 1930s.

A lovely pair of modern-day Bolognese. As adults, the male (left) is a bit larger than the female (right).

From the early 1930s, this photo of a Bolognese was captioned “An almost perfect specimen.”

As history teaches us, all good things must come to an end (or at least an indefinite hiatus). Quite suddenly, or so it seems, this famed and revered breed of dog fell from favor, along with the downfall of Europe’s aristocracy.

By the end of World War II, the Bolognese had become almost extinct, with only a handful of breeders in the world, including in Italy where the breed had once risen to fame. If the records of the Italian breeding register are to be relied upon, the first modern Bolognese were registered by the kennel of Sna. Maristella Ogno in the late 1950s.

BICHONS IN RUSSIA

During the 18th and 19th centuries, Russia had become an important part of international trade relations under the rule of the czars. In this time period some dogs had also reached that country who would become historically significant, though not to the Bolognese. As a result of the Bolshevik Revolution in October of 1917, which disposed of the czars, many countries discontinued their friendly trade relationships with Russia. Thus isolated, no additional dogs came into the country, forcing breeders in the new Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to develop a separate breed that became known as the Bolonka Franzuska, while the development of the Bolognese was continued in Italy. In other words, the Bolognese was being bred in western Europe and the Bolonka Franzuska in eastern Europe.

The Russian Bolonka Zwetna breed is seen in many colors and shades. It is related to the bichon breeds as well as other popular toy breeds.

Parallel to the western European Bolognese, the Russian Bolonka Franzuska (meaning “lapdog from France”) was bred in the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) without receiving international recognition through the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI), the international kennel club to which most Continental countries belong. These Russian-bred bichons showed only little resemblance to their presumed ancestors from France or Italy, with the only common feature being that both breeds had white coats of curly hair. The Bolonka Franzuska breed had been developed in the USSR and found its way, mainly via diplomatic channels, into the then-aligned East Germany.

THE SOVIET BICHON SPINOFFS

The Bolonka Franzuska was considered a separate dog breed in the USSR. It is still unclear whether it is related more closely to the Bichon Frise of France or to the Bolognese of Italy. The Bolonka Franzuska is responsible for a spinoff known as the Bolonka Zwetna, a new bichon breed not recognized by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale. The Bolonka Zwetna was developed by crossbreeding the Bolonka Franzuska with the Pekingese and Shih Tzu in the early 1950s.

The Russian representatives of the bichon family: on the left is a Bolonka Franzuska, which shares its white coat with the Bolognese. A pair of Bolonka Zwetna are shown at center and right.

The breed had a large number of fans who continued to breed these dogs in Germany for many decades. The last dog show open to entrants and visitors from the West was held in Leipzig in 1964, after which the Iron Curtain to the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) also fell, hindering all dog-sport activities involving the two Germanys. This meant that breeders in East Germany could not access fresh blood from the West to invigorate their bloodlines but were limited to their own and Russian stock. Their breeding potential was therefore severely limited. As a result, the individual bloodlines of the Bolonka Franzuska continually became more closely related, and inbreeding eventually commenced. As emphasis was more on breeding numbers rather than on breeding quality, the Bolonka Franzuska gradually but constantly grew smaller, with more and more faults in comparison to their ancestral lines. In the early 1980s, the committee of the East German dog breeders’ association attempted to have the Bolonka Franzuska registered by the FCI using the standard for the Bolognese. However, the characteristics of the two breeds were too different, and the Bolonka Franzuska was not granted the same level of recognition that the Bolognese breed was already enjoying.

A pair of beautiful Bichons Frise. This breed has a white coat like its Italian cousin, but a major difference is the Bichon Frise’s grooming style, in which the coat is meticulously sculpted into shape.

The fall of the Berlin Wall, which had separated East and West Germany, on November 9, 1989 also meant a drastic turnaround for the Bolonka Franzuska as a breed. Not even a year later, on September 23, 1990, the members of the former East German dog breeders’ association were assimilated into the West German society of small-breed dog breeders, which in turn formed part of the VDH (Verbandes für das Deutsche Hundewesen, [the German Kennel Club]), which became an established member of the FCI. In the process, the pedigree records relative to the Bolonka Franzuska were indiscriminately rewritten to conform to the recognized Bolognese breed.

THE FAMILY OF BICHONS

Besides the Bolognese, the Maltese, Bichon Frise, Coton de Tuléar, Havanese and Löwchen form the family of bichon breeds. The Maltese, which probably represents the oldest breed of bichon, is considered the type representative of all bichons. It is unfortunate, though, that its exact history, like that of the Bolognese, cannot be completely reconstructed today. The oldest record of a Maltese in...