Mrs. Kilburn Scott's world-Famed Samoyed Kennels at FARNINGHAM, KENT.
MRS. KILBURN-SCOTT'S career is a unique one in the dog fancy. Many fanciers have built up strains, but Mrs. Kilburn-Scott has built up a breed. There were stray Samoyeds in this country before the days of the Farningham stud, but there was no Samoyed fancy. The breed was then an affair of a few occasional and indifferent oddments. By her importations of the best animals that could be secured in the Samoyed country - Mr. Kilburn-Scott himself brought home the founders of the kennel, - and by the acquisition of all the surviving dogs of the various Antarctic expeditions, Mrs. Kilburn-Scott not only founded the Samoyed cult in this country, but in the dogdoms of the world. From originator to pioneer, and then later to chief progress-maker and maintainer, were natural stages in a unique record. Mrs. Kilburn-Scott's career, then, is the career of the Samoyed fancy. Until she recently registered the affix of " Farningham," her exhibits had no distinguishing title, if we except the temporary " Antarctic " and " Siberian." But what, after all, is a prefix or an affix in a case like this? The Samoyed has always been and always will be so intimately associated with her name that nothing will ever make the breed other than her very own.
ANTARCTIC BRU, whose photograph illustrates this review, is by Southern Crosa ex Zembla, and stands 21 1/2in. at shoulder. One of the most beautifully typical Samoyeds alive to-day, his whole appearance is so thoroughly "Arctic" that no one could take him for anything than a dog from the Northland. His head is ideally fashioned, with nothing of the Pomeranian or the fox about it, and every hair stands out from his dense coat, while his carriage is commanding. A well-known winner, he only needs another challenge certificate to become a full champion. In the sledge Bru is one of the best workers, and no dog in the kennel can beat him for speed. Mrs. Kilburn-Scott is a firm believer in the moderately short-backed Samoyed, as she finds that type capable of far greater speed and endurance than the long-backed ones.
Antarctic Bru
SIBERIAN KEENO is another famous winner, his latest victory being the dog championship at the recent Crystal Palace Show. His coat is of exquisite quality and a dazzling white, while his lovely head, his build, and strength of body and limb are very striking. Ch. Fang was always one of my Samoyed admirations, and so I revel in the sight of ANTARCTIC WOLF FANG, his bon from the celebrated Yugorline. A great, big, handsome dog, he is another notability in the showring. Breeders looking for a dog with no Antarctic Buck blood in him will be particularly interested in POLAR SEA, who is a grandson of that grand old dog, Houdin, from the Duke of Abruzzi's Expedition. Because he is so invaluable as an outcross and has not had distemper, Polar Sea has never been exhibited, but he is a truly glorious dog, with excellent coat, carriage, and big bone; a real Samoyed all over.
A "war baby" is NIM OF FARNINGHAM, who, if he has been denied prizes because of his date of birth, never fails to gain unanimous admiration in the " Not for Competition " division. Or, once again, there is MUSTAN OF FARNINGHAM, another ideally typical dog, with a magnificent head and coat, and brimming over with vitality. What a kennel of dogs! All valuable sires and all parents of the most perfect progeny. And think of the bitches in the Farningham stud. Ch. Olga, Vilna, Karen, Ice Flow (a daughter of Ivanoff, of the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition, and at present nursing an amazing litter by Siberian Keeno), Antarctic Zaza, Kara of Farningham, Sula, Kama, and many more, including some fascinating young damsels not yet shown or bred from, but all alike invaluable because of their own intrinsic worth and of the strain they represent.
During this year some very fine Samoyeds have been exported from Farningham to America, including Olaf of Farningham, Nico of Farningham, Viva Karen, Fox Laika, and Trip of Farningham, all of whom became immediate notabilities across the Atlantic. And I must not forget Ch. Olga of Farningham, who has never been beaten in the States. She is a daughter
of Antarctic Bru, and his living image. Writing of the breed in America a few weeks ago, a well-known authority there said to me : " Ch. Olga of Farningham is some Samoyed; easily the best bitch of her breed we have ever seen in the States." Four years ago, Ch. Tobolsk, Ch. Kola, Ch. Draga, and others were shipped to America from the Farningham kennels, and they have been the means of building up and establishing the breed there. Ch. Tobolsk has a great reputation as a sire, and, mated to some of the later exports, he will further raise the already high standard of his race across the Atlantic. But it is the home fires that warm us here, and at Farningham they are burning more brightly than ever.
WILL HALLY,