Page 168 - ShowSight - December 2019

Breeder Interview
BY ALLAN REZNIK
ROBERT URBAN, FOXFIRE BLACK AND TAN COONHOUNDS
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Geauga County, Ohio, roughly 40 minutes east of Cleveland. It was pretty rural when I was a kid but has since become partially suburbanized, particularly the western end of the county.
Do you come from a doggy fam- ily? If not, how did the interest in breeding and showing purebred dogs begin?
We always had mixed-breed dogs in my house. My first dog was a sort of Collie/Golden Retriever mix. I got him when I was about six-years-old and had him through
most of my college years. My mom’s family all came from Appalachian southeast Ohio and a number of my uncles had Beagles and Foxhounds. These were all hunting hounds, not show dogs. The Foxhounds were all run at night, in the American Foxhound tradition, and followed or “hilltopped” on foot. Around 1974 my Collie mix Curly had taken off into the woods and I was out searching for him. An old road ran up through the woods across from my house and I was walking up that road, calling for him. I soon saw this dark grey Chrysler Imperial driving toward me slowly. The car pulled up next to me, the back window rolled down and there was a small, elderly woman in the back seat. She said she was looking for her dog—a tricolor Smooth Collie—and asked if I had seen it? I said that I hadn’t but that I was looking for my dog, too! She invited me to get in the car and see if we couldn’t locate one or both of the dogs. I did (the innocence of years past!) and before long we found them—both running together! So began a lifelong friendship with Margaret Haserot, whose Pebble Ledge Smooth Collie ken- nel was instrumental in getting the variety established in this country in the years following World War I. She was a great dog woman and offered me work in the kennel and on her farm after school and all day during the summer months. I was in heaven! One of my most memorable summers was when we had a litter that I was charged with looking after, feeding, cleaning up after and exercising. I attended my very first dog show with her, the Cleve- land Collie Club in 1975. In those days, there was a club for the Smooths, the ASCA, and their annual “convention” was held in August at her farm and
coincided with the old Chagrin Valley KC show. Smooth Fanciers came in from all over the country and stayed at her huge estate, which included not just her large farm- house but two additional guest houses on the property. My first all-breed show was Chagrin Valley. It is safe to sayIwasbittenbythedogshowbugatthattime.The people were so very nice and the dogs were so beautiful. I was hooked!
Who were your mentors in the sport? Please elaborate on their influence.
I have been extremely lucky to have had and still have great mentors in this sport, starting with the afore- mentioned Margaret Haserot. When I bought my first AKC Black and Tan Coonhound from Neal and Ruth Emmons of Twinlakes kennels, they treated me like family, and Neal and I enjoyed many a night in the woods hunting the B&Ts. Through them I met [pro- fessional handlers] Jerry and Elaine Rigden, who at the time were showing the great Am./Can. Ch. Codach’s Lyrical Melody for them. Jerry was 100% dog man and Elaine had a photographic memory for dogs and people. They also took me under their wing as a rank novice and I benefited greatly by their knowledge. They were direct and to the point, and neither one minced words. I respected that and truly enjoyed our dialogue; they never once sugarcoated the message. My first B&T was my best friend. She went to college with me, eventually turned into a pretty decent “coondog” and I finished her myself. Having said that, she was an okay but far–from–great breed representative. I bred her once and kept a dog but in all truth, it was an unexceptional litter. I spayed her soon after and began looking for a proper brood bitch. Jerry offered to look at a litter with me with that goal in mind. We looked at three bitches and on his advice, selected the largest, typiest one. Ruby was not the flashi- est but I can still hear his words today: “If all you want to do is ‘hawk’ puppies, quality doesn’t matter. If you are serious about this, only pick and keep the best. You can’t afford to do anything less. You don’t have room for merely ‘finishable’ dogs....” >
Tory–Ch Rockin B The Joker Of Foxfire, CGC
164 • ShowSight Magazine, DeceMber 2019