Dexter vom Franckenhorst
Tribute to Dexter7 november 9,1984 - Match 21 1997 by Mary M. Rodgers
During my dog lifetime I have had quite a few good males. In order to determine how good a sire is, he must be used at stud on at least several bitches. Then, an assessment can lie made of his prepotency and just what he contributes. There has to be something special about a dog for him to be bred diversely enough to determine how prepotent he is. I have been lucky because I have had two such males that were special and were bred to enough to determine their pre-potencyi Of course, I am referring to Ch. Marienbufg Sun Hawk as my first male and Dexter vomFranckenhorst as my second. "Sun Hawk" had the advantage of being the number one Doberman and was very visible. Early in his stud life he sired "Lone Eagle" and "Mary Hartman", thus making him sought after as a sire. After his death in 1982, as a result of cancer at just nine years, I was losing interest in both showing and breeding. I had nothing left to look forward to at the shows. Sun Hawk had been my life and my crowning achievement. It was difficult! I was living in Montana at that time and settled into my depression over Sun Hawk. I all but quit going to shows, and did very little breeding, without satisfactory results. I had no frozen semen from Sun Hawk. In the winter of 1985, a friend of mine who had immigrated from Holland, asked me if I would like to go to Europe with him. I remember not being particularly excited about going to Holland but he told me we would also go to Germany, Belgium and the nearby regions. I hadn't been to Europe, or on an airplane for that matter, in 20 years. I was terrified of airplanes. Nothing was going to stop me from this trip, so I went to hypnosis and had a tape made which would put me at ease and got some sort of pills to make me relax. I got on the airplane and told myself I wasn't going to have that feared panic attack and I was fine. I never used the tape or the pills.
Since we were flying into Amsterdam and would be spending time in Holland, I decided to contact Sonja and Hugo Franquemont of Franckenhorst Dobermans and arranged to visit them. They had written me previously and wanted to breed to Sun Hawk before he died. This just didn't happen and instead they purchased a red male from the very last Sun Hawk litter. This dog was about three years old now and I wanted to see him. Sonja and Hugo picked us up at the train station nearest where they lived. I couldn't believe what little spaces the European breeders live in; mostly they have row houses with almost no yard. The care and conditioning given to the dogs is even more incredible. The dogs are happy, healthy, and in great condition. They are taken out running with a bike or they go to the dike where they can really run. This is done at least once and usually more times each day. The only place to view the dogs is in the street in front of the house and the cars are racing by and you have to be very careful. At the Franquemont's, they had three Dobermans, the red male sired by Sun Hawk, Rubicon Santiago v. Sfarienburg, called "Son", Dexter's dam, Ch. Vivre Vivien vom Franckenhorst and Dexter who was three and a half months old. Dexter was from "Vivien's" second litter which had been large, although there were but two males, and he was the only one from this litter still at their home. When I first laid eyes on him I wasn't thinking of taking him back to the USA, but as I looked at him all during that day something began to register with me. He was very self-assured and outgoing. He was just crazy about Sonja and always wanted to been lop of her in the chair or sofa. We took him outside in the street and he posed like he had always known how to do that (of course he had been trained with the ball to do just that). As I looked at him 1 realized he had the most perfect cat foot and thick pads that I had ever seen. Even the clay he died his feet were like this, they were perfect. Another tiling unusual about his feet; I didn't cut his toenails for years at a time because they just didn't grow. They always looked like they were just done. He had heavy round bone, but he wasn't coarse at all. He was medium-sized and his skin fit him like a glove. There were no lumps or humps and he was completely smooth all over, and had clearly defined, rich rust markings and dark, dark eyes. His ears, accompanied by a high earset, were already standing and he never put them down; in fact I never saw Dexter with his ears down until he got on in years. His coat was very thick, close lying and smooth. He was lovely to touch and stroke because of this. He never got a gray hair before he died. His head was attractive and masculine and he had a lovely chin which was readily perceptible; something I hadn't seen enough of in my old bloodline. His shape and proportions were different from what I had been accustomed to and of course his tail was cut extremely short. I don't think I looked at him with the idea in mind of making him into a show dog, but rather just having something different and something with qualities I hadn't seen before. It gave me quite a thrill to think of the challenge owning him and breeding him would bring.
That same day, Sonja took us to visit Mrs. Kniff-Dermout of Neerlands Stam Dobermans. I was totally ignorant of the fame and reputation that proceeded these breeders and was amazed that Mrs. Kniff had been in Dobermans almost 80 years. She was also unbelievably outspoken and during a trip a couple of years later, when I visited her home again, she stated in the presence of several breeders and judges, that she didn't like the brown male Sonja had imported from America. He was long and off in croup. Whether she remembered I had sold him to them or not I don't know. She was right though, as Son was long by their standards and rounded in croup. While at Mrs. Kniffs home on the first visit, I met Han von der Zwan. Han would later inherit her kennel name and now breeds under the name Neerlands Stam. He and Mrs. Kniff had just purchased Dexter' s litter sister Dea Dolores vom Franckenborst. He had "Dea" there and I just fell in love with her. Of course, there was no way to buy her. She later became a big winner in Europe and a top producer as well. Arnold Jacobson had given me a couple of names of people to contact in Germany to see their dogs and Sonja gave us some names also. Luckily there |was going to he a good all-breed show in Luxemborg we could go to as well. We visited three breeders in Germany, including the famous von F'urstenfeld kennels and the top German breeder at the time, Nymphenherg. All three places we went, the people were great and showed us their dogs. My Friend spoke fluent German and Dutch so it made it easy fur me. My eye was getting a little accustomed to the dogs by now. Then it was on to the dog show. The dogs aren't stacked except perhaps to be leaned into to shift their weight. No one touches the tails and no one puts (the choke under the chin but rather loosely drapped at the shoulder. At first it threw me off, but after a while you see how much belter these dogs look naturally. Their eyes are dancing and their ears are straight up. They are happy and having a good time and you are able to view them as you would in your backyard, stacking themselves like a million dollars. No choke chains under I he chin, tails being cranked up or holding (lie dog in place. If the temperament is not sound, there is no way a dog could be shown this way, not being stacked and held in place while one or sometimes two or | three judges walk around him making assessments. There is a lot to be said for this manner of exhibiting, as nothing can be covered up.
It was now getting close to the day we would fly back to America. I called Sonja on the phone and told her I would like to buy Dexter, if he was still for sale. We made a deal right then and there and they rushed to get the necessary papework and met us at the airport in Amsterdam, and we took Dexter with us as excess baggage. The Doberman people in America were amazed I had done something like this. I was excited and thrilled with my new challenge. When I got back to Montana with him, I wanted to keep him in the house of course. I Remember he was a bad boy and proceeded to eat the arms off the chairs and sofa. He did outgrow this later on. Fortunately, most of his children have been better behaved than he was, possibly because their European blood was diluted by half in most cases. Dexter grew up and went through a few growing stages I didn't like, but I wanted to give him a shot at breeding to see what he could do. I remember he wouldn't breed at a very young age as some males do. The first litter he sired was out of Marienburg's Erica Kane (Ch.Pamelof s Garrett Of Tournai x Ch. Marienburg's Mary Hartman) and whelped on March 7, 1986. From this breeding, a male Marienburg's Adel Andante was nearly finished, another bitch was pointed and Ch. Marienburg's Twilight Time not only finished but produced several champions when bred to the Dexter son, Ch. Brudu Teller of Tales. Dexter's second breeding was to a bitch named Benden's Harivy I), a daughter of Ch. Manorie Dohe's Tarquinius. Only one male in this litter made it to (lie show ring and this was Ch. Two Towers Hiline Largo, who had just about the best male head I had ever seen.
Dexter's third breeding to Mardale's Rising Calafia (Ch. Marienburg's Rising Sun x Ch. Mardale's Gentle Spirit) was among his best. We diet this twice even though "Rising Calafia" was not a good mother. The first litter whelped on June 30, 1986 included Ch. Marienburg's Distant Drums, Ch. Marienburg's Niki v. Dombleubt, another red male that was pointed and a bitch I kept and finished from the puppy class, Ch. Marienburg's Foxy v. Calafia, who became Dexter's first champion. The second breeding (entirely hand raised from birth) was whelped on December 10, 1987 and included Ch. Marienhurg's Ike, the Major pointed Marienburg's Sulaco, Ch. Marienburg's Phoenix Rising and Ch. Marienburg's Simplicity who w.i.s only bred once and was the dam of three champions from her only breeding lor Ron and Linda Mattson. I sold another good red bitch from this litter, Marienburg s Copper Calafia, to the Alexander's in Australia and .she became the dam of 7 champions for their Walamara Kennels. On Decemher 29, 1986 1 had a litter out of my last Sun Hawk daughter, Ch. Marienburg's Topaz Flame and Dexter. This was a wonderful litter of ,i males and 7 females. Two of the males went to Canada, Am. Can. Ch. Marienburg Renbow's Rasputin and Can. Ch. Marienburg Cenlaurus. I had kept "Centaurus" until he was an older puppy and wasn't too keen on selling him. After going to Canada he sired a couple of litters and disappeared from his owner's yard while still very young and was never found. It is a pity because he was a very good sire and now figures prominently in the pedigrees at the Royolon Kennels in Edmonton. The third male from this litter was pointed as well. It is a sad story for me when it comes to the 7 bitches, as "Topaz Flame" killed 4 of them when I wasn't present. I kept two of the remaining three bitches. They were Marienburg' s Maggie, who was the dam of 4 champions, including a Group winner from the classes, and my very favorite Doberman whom 1 still own, Marienburg's Chocoletta, who is the dam of two champions. One of them is my very special, Ch. Marienhurg's Love Potion sired by "Teller". Choco is also the dam of Marienburg's Kiss'n Kelt, CDX N.A.,TDI, who at 7+ is working on her Master Flyball Excellent. My next successful Dexter sired litter was whelped January 13, 1987, out of Marienburg's Hollyhau'k. There were only two red females including the pointed Can. Ch. Marienburg's Pleasure Seeker and one black male, Amer. Braz. Gr. Ch. Marienburg's Morocco, multi-Besl-in-Show, National Specialty and Top Twenty winner in Brazil. "Morocco" sired three American champions before going to Brazil when he was two and a half years old. One of the best of Dexters breedings was to the red Ch. Zeitlin's Pandette v. Karri whom I had purchased as an older bitch from Austin and Laura Zeitlin.
See continue in g. Doberman ? 4/98