Paray/Stirling
Q: Please tell us, how did you get involved in dogs? How did you start with Bichons? What is the story behind your kennel and your kennel name?
A: In 1972 I purchased my first two Bichons when they were still in the miscellaneous class. Shortly thereafter I opened my first grooming salon and decided I wasn’t going to want to groom my own dogs after grooming all day. As a result, I was involved with Salukis as my main breed for the next 25 years. I started grooming and showing Bichons for my salon clients. In 1990, I decided to show dogs full time and started my Bichon breeding program a year later. My original kennel name was Stirling, named after the car brand of the first show room new car I had just purchased. A few years later, I started Paray with Raymond Pittman. Twenty years later we split up and Kim Furlong and I started breeding under the Stirling banner.
Q: Where did your first dogs come from?
A: I was not that impressed with any one kennel of dogs that were available at that time. Too many rejects came through my salon from the big-name breeders of that time, so I was privy to the good, bad, and the ugly they all were producing. I’m sorry if this sounds arrogant but I decided to make my own line of Bichons from this and that dogs that passed through my life at the time.
Q: Which dog do you consider the foundation of your own breeding?
A: My foundation bitch, who really put me on the road to success was a little rescue bitch that a client of mine didn’t want to keep after I finished her and she had her first litter. Her name was Ch. Mon Ami Chloe D, and she was just the product of a backyard breeding, but she had the greatest temperament. I bred her to another client’s dog who was dripping in type and so far ahead of his time but had a screw loose! He could only win one day on a certain weekend! I’m positive he saw ghosts! His name was Ch. Dibett’s Pal Joey, and he was also a total outcross between American lines and British lines. Those two outcross dogs produced Ch. Sterling Rumor Has It ROM. He was the Number One Bichon for three years and one of those years he was the Number One Non-Sporting dog in America. I then purchased another bitch I had finished for a client and she too was the product of backyard breeders and her name was Ch. Prancing Full of Cuddles. I bred her to three different males, and she produced a BIS dog by each male. When I bred her to Rumor Has It, she produced Ch. Paray’s I Told You So ROM who also was the number one Bichon in America and the Number One Non-Sporting dog. Then when I sent him to England to be campaigned, he was the Number One Dog All Breeds that year. These dogs were very dominant in passing on their good qualities to almost any bitch they were bred to. Both dogs produced BIS offspring.
Q: What kind of selection do you prefer in your breeding program line breeding, inbreeding or outcross?
A: In the beginning of my breeding career all my dogs were the result of total outcrosses. Today, now that we have a line, we do mostly line breeding with occasional outcrosses.
Q: What would you say was your greatest achievement as a breeder so far?
A: My greatest achievement as a breeder is knowing my dogs are responsible for some of the major successes of other breeders the world over. They are rewarded for their type, movement, and temperament.
Q: Which attributes are your priorities when breeding the Bichon?
A: My priority in breeding has always been to breed to the standard and not to what I like or what the judges like. The standard is not some vague words that are open to a great deal of interpretation.
Q: What three qualities do you think are the most important when you look at a Bichon?
A: The three most important qualities for a Bichon are balance, proportion, and movement.
Q: Which faults would you not tolerate in your breed?
A: The greatest fault this breed can possess is a bad temperament. Bichons should love everyone and everything!
Q: How has the breed changed over the years? Would you say it has gone to better or worse?
A: This breed has gone through some very major changes in its short time as a recognized breed. Because the standard first stated that a Bichon should be slightly longer than tall, everyone’s interpretation was very different. We had white hairy Dachshunds winning BIS’s. Later the standard was clarified to read the back is short, but from the post sternum to the rear it is 25% longer than tall. And in the Illustrated Standard commissioned by the Bichon Frise Club of America, it shows how that extra 25% is from the withers forward to the post sternum and not in the middle of the back like so many judges and breeders like to think it reads! My dogs were criticized early on as being too short backed! But only two dogs that I have ever campaigned were the proper 25% longer than tall! All the others I presented were too long backed. If mine were too long just how much longer were all the others in the ring at the time! I’m not going to say the breed is any better or any worse now than before. However, the few breeders that are left need to be better students of the standard. Too many breeders let their handlers call the shots instead of honing a critical eye, so they make decisions based on their own ideals.
Q: Can you describe an ideal Bichon?
A: Because this is a coated breed that needs to be sculpted before it enters the ring, a good student of Bichons needs to see beyond a haircut. More and more now I’m seeing photos of Bichons being trimmed so extremely to look like a modified poodle trim. The standard says the trim is just to follow the outline of the dog! As a result, if it is trimmed so short on the belly to look shaved then the groomer is trying to make a short-legged dog look leggier. If the front of the dog is so short you see pink skin and the crest of the neck starts in the middle of the back the dog is undoubtedly long! To me when the ideal Bichon enters the ring, it should appear almost square in its haircut. That is because we leave the hair on the crest of the neck long, the back of the front legs’ hair is longest and the front of the rear legs the hair is longer. This triggers your eye to relay to your brain that the dog is square and not a rectangle. But if this was a drop coated breed or wet you would see how it is now easily 25% longer than tall. But you must train your eye not to be fooled by hair. If a dog enters the ring and looks long it is very long and not what the standard describes. Also, this is not a short-legged breed. The depth of body is equal to the length of leg from the elbow to the ground just like the Boxer and Doberman standard states. So why do so many judges and breeders reward short legged Bichons?
Q: Please name three of your all-time favorite winners bred by you and three not owner nor bred by you.
A: My four all-time favorite bichons bred by me are:
1) Ch. Sterling Rumor Has It ROM – number one Bichon, BOB winner of the National Specialty, Number One Non-Sporting dog and possibly still the number one Breeder/Owner Handled dog of all time.
2) His son Ch. Paray’s I Told You So ROM- Number one Bichon, winner of BOB at the National Specialty, Number One Non-Sporting Dog, and Number One All Breeds in England.
3) Ch. Paray’s Propaganda ROM (another Prancing Full of Cuddles son) the sire of more BIS Bichons in the history of the breed, winner of BOB at the National Specialty and another Number One Bichon in the States.
4) GCh. Paray’s Magic Wand – the most perfect Bichon bitch in my opinion.
Favorite Dogs not owned by me:
1) Ch. Chaminade Mr. Beau Monde
2) Ch. Devon’s Puff and Stuff (I finished her)
3) Ch. Paw Marks Fire and Ice
Q: What homebred dog of yours comes closest to your ideal?
A: Ch. Sterling Rumor Has It ROM was very close to the ideal Bichon for me. He couldn’t put a foot down wrong and was a moving machine. He didn’t need a handler, only a groomer. He made me look good! But Ch. Paray’s I Told You So ROM was bigger than life and made the world take notice of him and forget he even had faults.
Q: Which breed would you have if you did not have Bichons?
A: My heart breed will always be Salukis!
Q: What advice would you give to a new person in the breed?
A: As a new person in any breed don’t be afraid to talk to the successful breeders. We can’t help you if you don’t ask! I don’t bite and now more than ever I want as many new people to be involved in this sport and activity. Don’t expect to be an overnight sensation and if you are, be humble and help the next up and comers! Kindness is in short supply these days!
By Paul Flores
Stirling Bichons
