1954 to 2007

Kalina Minstral Majic                                  Kalina Minstral Major

Congratulations to our NEW Champion and her Handlers

CHAMPION KALINA MINSTRAL MICHELLE

Also announcing Michelle's new litter of
2 males and 6 females
by (Import in Dam) Sire

KALINA NORDIC TOR from Sweden

Enquiries most welcome

Kalina is proud to announce a further import addition to our team.
Welcome to
Elliance Spice Girl (Imp Sweden)
and her six beautiful puppies whelped in quarantine.
Enquiries most welcome

Pedigree Kalina Story Write  
Email (Samoyed specific inquiries only please)

SLABODAS SOUTHERN ADVENTUR

(IMP. SWEDEN)

Australia's first Scandinavian Bred Samoyed

PEDIGREE DETAILS

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For Stud or puppy inquiries:

Yvonne Sydenham-Clarke

Kalina Park, Warrandyte Road, North Ringwood Victoria 3134

Phone: 03 9876 1136 Mobile: 018 332 416 Fax: 03 9876 2445

Email TO CONTACT KALINA CLICK ON THE LOGO (Samoyed inquiries only please)

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THE KALINA STORY

Yvonne

More than forty years and 250 litters. The oldest active Samoyed kennel in the world, Kalina has dominated the breed in Australasia with exports to Scandinavia, Holland, Canada, USA, Asia and New Zealand. An international judge since 1965 and the only Australasian breed specialist to judge Samoyeds at Crufts, Yvonne Sydenham-Clarke comments on the dog which has dominated her life .....

It was in 1953 that the Samoyed first became established in our family. We had been in Australia for almost two years having arrived here from England with our young children and set up home in Croydon, Victoria .

We had first seen the breed on the top of a mountain in Switzerland where they were being used as a tourist attraction in a sled team. I was fascinated with the lovely white dogs and although the team master cautioned me not to pat them I did so and soon made friends. Between giving sled rides to the eager tourists the master of the team carved animals and birds from balsa wood. I asked him to carve me a Samoyed which he did and I have this small souvenir today.

However we were soon to leave for our new country and so thoughts of dogs were set aside for the time being. After we had settled in Australia and the children had gone off to school and so forth, I realised I missed my dogs terribly. We had rehomed my husband’s Shepherds and my Boxers before leaving the United Kingdom. After some discussion the interest in the Samoyed breed came up and we decided to investigate the possibility of acquiring some in Australia. There were very few. Eventually we bought a three year old female and a baby male from local kennels. We bred a litter from the bitch but the choice of sire for her was very limited and we finally used her half brother. The young male became a Champion with very little opposition.

To further my knowledge in the breed I wrote to England for books and after some further investigations in 1954 we imported from England what was to become our foundation bitch, Icemist Beauty of Kobe (later Australian Champion) from the famous Kobe Kennels. She was soon followed by the great Starya of Kobe (later Australian Champion),whose picture hangs in the hall of honour in the Sydney Showgrounds. He qualified for this by winning Best Exhibit in the Sydney Royal Show 1960.

After these two some 17 other imports have followed, all with the same solid Kobe bloodlines. International Champion Darryl of Tamitsa became one of the top sires in the breed.

In 1965 I was honoured by being asked to judge the Championship Show of the Samoyed Association in Great Britain and it was at this show in London that I judged the beautiful Champion Imperial Rebel of Kobe and was thrilled to be able to have him join our kennel in Australia where he gained his Australian Championship. He gave us our second Royal Show Best Exhibit at the Adelaide Royal Show. Then later on our third Best Exhibit at a Royal was achieved by our home bred Australian and New Zealand Champion Kalina Major Module - this time at the Perth Royal in 1977. Melbourne Royal is evasive for wins in our breed. It is held in spring time and coats seem to go off at that time of the year, especially for the imports. However, Rebel did make group at one Melbourne Royal.

Another of our English Imports was:

English Champion Imperial Rebel of Kobe

He was credited as being one of England's Top winning Samoyeds. He came to Australia and joined Kalina Kennels and is the fore bear of many of our stock.

The imports take a terribly long time to acclimatise to the turn about calendar and grow their coats around Christmas for the northern winter.

We at Kalina have bred about 250 litters to date. This sounds a lot until you realise our involvement in the breed now spans 4() years. From these litters Champions have been made up in many countries throughout the world, Canada, USA, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Holland and all over Australia, also one or two in Asia but I do not advise our puppies going to the latter and only allowed these to go because I personally knew the new owners and they could provide air-conditioning in the hot weather. We were particularly pleased with our Kalina's which went to Scandinavia. After judging there some years ago I was somewhat disappointed with those exhibited. Again last year I judged Samoyeds in the northern countries and was very pleased with the improvement in type. The breeders are to be congratulated for the way they have put true type back in around eight years.

After some years at Croydon and Lilydale we moved to our present address in North Ringwood in 1963 and built kennels to suit our breeding program. These have stood me in good stead for the last 33 years, having accommodation for some 10 to 12 adults, along with areas for whelping, rearing and running on puppies. So many of our dogs have been born here and have lived their whole lives with our family. My children have grown up and have children of their own and the Samoyeds just keep going on. My youngest daughter Jane, is my greatest help with my dogs. Her knowledge of all that goes on at Kalina is possibly more than my own as she manages it all when I go off on my overseas judging trips.

I have seen our breed all over the world frequently and know that the wonderful solid bloodlines I acquired from Kobe must be protected and never diluted if we are to maintain true type from the small gene pool that has produced our Samoyeds in the western world. Sadly Mrs D. L. Perry died some years ago after having guided and protected our breed for over 40 years in her Kobe Kennels in the UK. The kennel was sold off and it is now almost impossible to acquire that blood anywhere in the world.

Some thoughtful Samoyed breeders in other parts of the world are very keen to get stock from our undiluted blood lines. Kobe was able to package the right genes into their stock to reproduce true type and that is what it is all about.

Overseas judges have been very impressed with our Samoyeds in Australia and as long as we do not dilute our genes or breed inferior animals together we should be able to continue that correct type. I have selected every import to provide strength in particular areas in which I have felt it was needed and have found it is possible to correct weakened departments, whether it be pigmentation, bone, eye shape etc etc, no one stud dog can do it all. It is important to recognize a need and be able to use a prepotent animal who w ill correct a fault.

I have always found that the best Samoyeds are in the UK. They do have type faults as well naturally. In a normal show entry of about 130, it is possible to have several dogs and bitches to choose from for top honours and it makes a judge’s task difficult to separate these exhibits.

In 1995 I was greatly honoured by judging our breed at the largest dog show in the world ... England’s Crufts. This was a very special assignment, certainly for one from Australia. I had some 240 of our breed and it took me about seven hours to sort them out. A great experience. My Best of Breed was a bitch. Best Dog was a beautiful English Champion but the bitch outshone him in the end and took ‘Best’. She was truly lovely and completed her title a few weeks later and has since produced a litter.

It is of great value to me as a breed specialist to be able to know what is going on with our breed around the world. One knows where our breed value is to be found and who has the future of our breed safely in their kennels.

It becomes more difficult to buy through the post these days - there are so many small breeders and so few large established kennels. Costs and kennel staff are prohibitive now in most places in the world. It is a matter of difficulty searching to find that special Samoyed with pedigree and appearance to match and then be allowed to buy. Then comes the transporting and in the case of Australia, quarantine. Apart from the dollars what could have happened to the temperament by now? The last one cost me almost $8,000 and I lost him with a snake bite after only a few months ... heartbreaking. It has not all been easy but as a life’s interest I would not alter my choice. I have been asked many times which of my dogs, imports etc were the best and produced the best. To this I try to explain that it is never one animal that does it all. They must complement one another and the breeder must be able to recognise and correct faults as they occur.

We in Australia are so fortunate in having many sires and dams introduced into this country from that solid blood line in the UK where the breed was so carefully developed from the very small numbers originally bought from Siberia. We must hold type and not dilute that blood.

In Victoria (Australia) we have a very active breed Club and have produced the Pedigree Book which tells the history of Samoyeds in this part of the world and charts the pedigrees of many Champions and all imports back to the pedigree books of the Samoyed Association in the UK, which in turn goes back to the first imports. We also have a National Samoyed Breed Association in Australia which gives us an official opportunity to be heard in any world conference where our breed is to be discussed. l am proud to say I bred Best Exhibit at our first Australian National Show.

Highs and lows are many in any breeder’s life. My dogs have been an enormous interest in my life and it is impossible to imagine living without them. They are my friends and I respect them enormously. Whelping a beautiful litter, even if it is in the middle of the night is a great joy and watching those whelps develop never loses its magic. Everyone has a personality of its own. Keeping in touch with its future whether here or across the world keeps that interest alive for years. Every facet of my involvement with this breed has enriched my life and I hope my input has benefited the breed in this and other parts of the world, and with even a few dedicated people the breed cannot fail to progress.

Revised: January 17, 2007.