We are in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, which is situated in the valley formed by the confluence of two rivers, the North Thompson and the South Thompson. British Columbia is mountainous and the Kamloops area is no exception. We live on the southern slopes of the hills overlooking the South Thompson River. The terrain is rugged and forested and the climate is semi-arid.
The Hounds of Hollyrood came in to being in 1976 when I purchased my foundation bitch Ch. Crannoch’s Ailsa from Gerri Akman in Manitoba, Canada. I had recently emigrated from Scotland to Canada. As a youth I had had many fine coursing dogs including an exceptional deerhound lurcher and a well-bred 6th generation bulldog-bred lurcher, which I brought with me to Canada. A group of fanatical coursing people including Gerri Akman, Dutch Salmon and I would drive for hours on weekends to the wheat fields of North Dakota and hunt for foxes and jackrabbits.
My initial attraction to sighthounds, and deerhounds in particular, was their hunting ability - above all, they were incredibly beautiful to be around. As a logical progression, I became interested in their conformation, never forgetting that their true purpose in life was the hunt. It is with this background that I have bred Scottish Deerhounds for eight generations and almost thirty years.
My valuable mentor in this endeavor has been M. Eileen Kingery (Rusty) of Benachie Scottish Deerhounds. I have always believed that form follows function and I would prefer to let ability in the field speak the loudest. Rusty, who is truly dedicated to the breed, has always kept me on the straight and narrow with respect to the standard and I am sincerely grateful to her for that – because a deerhound is not always hunting in Scotland and the quarry is not always the Red Deer. Another person I owe a debt of gratitude to is Helen Lee of Savladai Borzoi. We started out breeding hounds about the same time and we worked through many agonies and ecstasies together.
My foundation bitch, Ailsa’s dam was of old Shanid bloodlines and her sire was Lyonhill Claymore of Evermore. I bred her to a purely Highstone bred male (Ch. Glennrinnes Thane) to produce Ch. Hollyrood Ciara the Raven, who then became the foundation bitch of Dorothy Carpenter’s lovely Dianras deerhounds. This began a twenty-five-plus year relationship with Dorothy and her breeding program
Ciara was bred to US National Specialty winner Am, Can Ch. Benachie’s Bobcat (Bobby) to produce a litter of thirteen pups. Six of them were shown and all six obtained Championships (one US); three were group placers.
Ailsa was bred again, this time to Thane’s sire Am Can Ch. Sandpiper’s Lad of Highstone (bred by Maurie Lewis) to produce the multiple all-breed best in show-winning Ch. Hollyrood the Schiehallion (Shea). Lad was a brother to Am Ch. Sandpiper’s Roy of Highstone (owned by Maurie Lewis and the sire of many lovely hounds) and Am Ch. Sandpiper’s Kim of Highstone (owned by Janis Hills, who was influential in her “O’ the Greenwood” line). Shea was then bred to one of Ciara and Bobby’s sons, Ch. Hollyrood the Gladiator, to produce thirteen pups. Out of this breeding came Ch. Hollyrood the Fantastic Fallon FCh. (Fallon), BIF Ch.Hollyrood the Lady in Grey FCh. (Grey), Ch. Hollyrood the Elizabethan, Ch. Hollyrood the Crusader FCh. and Ch. Hollyrood the Bodhran. These five hounds were accomplished both in the show ring and in the field. Both Fallon and Grey were bred to the multiple best in show and US National Specialty Winning Ch. (Am & Can) Jaraluv The Future Factor (Fleers). I have always admired the beautiful hounds produced by Ray and Jana Brinlee of Jaraluv Scottish Deerhounds and their lovely sire, Am Can Ch. Jaraluv the Future Factor has been influential in my current hounds. Ray and Jana are consummate professionals and are entirely dedicated to the benefit of the breed. They have been most gracious and generous with me of their time and expertise.
From Fallon and Fleers came many American and Canadian champions, including: Am Ch. Jaraluv Craigallion Serena (Serena), Am Can Ch. Hollyrood the Archangel (Gabriel), Ch. Hollyrood the Herald Angel FCh. (Sonny), Ch. Hollyrood Angel at Dianras (Caroline).
From Grey and Fleers came the singelton, specialty and multiple group winning, Ch. Hollyrood the Designer Gene (DNA), probably the nicest hound I have ever bred.
Serena went on to produce many champions for Ray and Jana Brinlee under the Jaraluv prefix. Sonny was bred to a Ciara and Bobby son, Ch. Hollyrood Caligula via Dianras to produce Am Ch. Hollyrood Alydar, Caroline was bred to Am Ch.Sindar’s Cirdan of Windshift CD (Kensie) to produce Ch. Dianras Solid as a Rock (Quarrie). DNA was then taken to Quarrie to produce a litter of ten including: Specialty winning Ch Hollyrood Rimouski Soldier Boy (Trooper), Ch. Hollyrood Dianras the Valiant (Cutter), Hollyrood the Unknown Soldier (Connor), Ch Hollyrood the Black Maria FCh. (Beauty), Ch. Hollyrood Mata Hari (Poppy), Ch. Hollyrood the Divine Wind (Kamikaze) and Hollyrood Tyree Valor (Tyree).
At this time, Drs. Malcolm and Elizabeth Goff had purchased a deerhound bitch, Ch. Nelungaloo Jamboree (Jambie), from the famous Nelungaloo kennel of Kevin and Virginia Hawke in Australia. This kennel is renowned for producing hounds of superlative hunting ability and Jambie was no exception to this. I admired her athletic prowess, her intelligence and her just plain hardiness! The Goffs allowed me to lease her and I bred her to Trooper to produce the Best in Show Ch. Hollyrood Barra of Amonvhar (Bear), Ch. Hollyrood Jordan of Zappa (Jordan) and Ch. Hollyrood the Sea Kelpie FCh. (Kelpie). Bear was bred to Fairyfort’s Valor to produce Amonvhar Enoch of Hollyrood (Enoch). Enoch was then bred to Kelpie to produce: Hollyrood Gandalf the Grey (Gandalf), Hollyrood Lady Goldberry FCh. (Ceilidh), Hollyrood Mithril at Benachie (Tippy), and Hollyrood Merry Dancer (Dancer). Many of these hounds have not yet began their show or running careers but Dancer was bred to the group winning Am Ch. Jaraluv Kobe (Kobe) to produce the most recent litter of pups at Hollyrood.
This summary does not include all the litters produced at Hollyrood, nor does it include the names of all the hounds but it accounts for the breedings that produced the hounds that have had impact on the breed and identifies the eight generations of Hollyrood-bred Scottish Deerhounds.
