Claybrook Farm
Galgo Español
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Our Quest for the Galgo Español
Our involvement with the world of sighthounds began when we acquired our first Scottish Deerhound in 1981, and started to show and breed these wonderful dogs. We have owned, bred, showed and occasionally coursed Deerhounds for fourteen years, producing numerous AKC champions, Group placers, a Top 10 Deerhound, a Top Producing Deerhound, Regional Specialty winners and the Winner’s Dog at the 1995 National Specialty.
Even though our dogs did very well in the show ring, by the end of the 1980's, we realized that many Deerhounds are fairly short-lived. Furthermore, they have a very small gene pool, which means they are all related to each other, making it literally impossible to find unrelated dogs for a sustained breeding program. This is an especially crucial element for a breeding program that is concerned with health and longevity issues. Since there were no solutions to either the health or the gene pool problems, we began to look for another sighthound breed, preferably one with hair, but not too much hair. And one that was long-lived and perhaps smaller than the Deerhound.
One day in the late 1980's, while looking through some dog books at a book store, I chanced upon a picture of a wirehaired Galgo Español. It was love at first sight. Unfortunately, I did not purchase the book nor write down the title! As the days and weeks passed, I could not get the idea of the Galgo Español out of my mind. Finally I decided to try to locate some of these dogs that seemed to resemble the Scottish Deerhound.
But where to find one? Since I did not know the publisher of the book I had seen, contacting them was not a possibility. I eagerly searched all the dog encyclopedias and magazines I could get my hands on, but only smooth Galgos were ever shown. Finally, in 1990, I mailed in a request to Sighthound Review, asking if they knew of any breeders of wirehaired Galgo Español. They kindly published my request in the November/December 1990 issue, on the next to the last page.
In January and February of 1991, I received responses from around the world. Since our first child was just over a year old at that time, I did not get my replies out as fast as I would have liked. By the time I did respond, some said they did not know any wirehaired Galgo breeders and some never wrote back. So, back to square one, it seemed. The project was put on hold.
In the interim we decided to stop raising and showing Scottish Deerhounds, because of the previously mentioned problems. Since we had been in Scottish Deerhounds for a decade at that point, it was a rather major decision to get out of the breed, especially since we loved the Deerhound personality and the Deerhound look. Eventually we put our last one down from bone cancer in 1995. Just prior to that, in 1993, we acquired Longhaired Whippets and continue with this lovely breed today. But the dream of having wirehaired Galgos did not go away.
Then in 1995 during a casual phone conversation with the owner of the founding kennel of the modern Longhaired Whippet, I mentioned my quest for the Galgo Español. Amazingly, he knew about the wirehaired Galgo. Even better, he knew someone in France who knew a breeder of the wirehaired Galgo!
I made initial contact with the "someone", who turned out to be a very nice, helpful French woman who loves dogs and shows and courses Whippets, and has imported a rare breed from the USA herself. We began corresponding about Galgos in 1995. Eventually, planning was under way to try to actually bring Galgos Españoles to this country.
The Quest Continues
The impetus to get the Galgo Español Club of America (GECA) started was that I had finally established contacts with French and Spanish breeders who had wirehaired dogs/puppies available for sale. With the help of many people, both here and in Europe, things were shaping up. Airline tickets had been purchased for early November 1998, and the dream was finally going to become a reality!
Our French friend put in an incredible amount of time and effort to get everything set up for us in France. She did much leg-work, making many contacts and investigating every lead, for Galgos are rare outside of Spain. We stayed at her house in France, and she later accompanied us into Spain. Without her, the trip would never have occurred.
The trip in November was an exciting one. We rented a car in France and drove over the Pyrenees mountains. Now that was an adventure. Further details of the actual trip are in the second GECA newsletter.
We saw about 30 Galgos in Spain, and selected 4, a dog and three bitches, plus a dog from France. We had been in contact with the French breeder, through our French friend, ever since 1995. We brought these five dogs back with us and they now reside in Pennsylvania. My dream of importing Galgos Españoles was accomplished.
But, being the dreamer that I am, I started talking about going back and bringing more dogs in, even while we were still in Spain. Of course, having some venture capital would be a big help! For me, the really exciting part of all this was the actual trip itself, and selecting the dogs. What an adventure!
We have now had, on May 3, 1999, the first Galgo Español litter, that we know of, born in this country. Perhaps there have been others to bring in Galgos Españoles, but if so they have not sought to establish the breed in the USA. Our desire is to help educate the American dog community about this lovely and endearing sighthound.
For
more information contact:
Claybrook Farm -- Michelle Henninger -- 5730 Olde Scotland Road, Shippensburg, PA 17257
717-263-0932
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