Zoox & Zateizzi Siberian Huskies--a little ABOUT us.

I bought my first dog when I was sixteen, a G.S.D. called Prince. He was named after a part bred Rhodesian Ridgeback we had when I was a child living in East Africa. When Prince was 6 months old we went to training classes with the Leeds Accident Prevention Group. Since I had already done some training with him at home, Prince sailed through the stages and I was asked to stay on as a trainer. I also made friends with a local trainer who competed at a higher standard and we spent many weekends training with him. I competed up to Test A in Obedience and CD at Working Trials. Although Prince was trained up to Test C level with his send away, distance control, stays and scent discrimination all being very good, his heelwork was not to the standard required, it was very good in that he would never leave my left leg, but he wasn't stuck to it like glue! We decided to have a go at working trials, so out came the hurdles, long jump and scale. We competed at CD level but soon afterwards Prince landed badly over the scale in training and cracked a bone in his shoulder, so I never let him scale again although he still loved to jump over hurdles etc, including me!

Prince

However all other training continued and we thoroughly enjoyed it, along with training him to track (above left). When it was suggested I started man work I was a little worried, but I needn't have been. Much to my surprise Prince really took to it and under total control he was soon very good at catching the "criminal". He would always leave on command and leave mid chase if directed to. He would also speak on command, and this combined with his manwork abilities came in handy years later when someone tried to take my van one night. We sent Prince out, who "persuaded " the man to get out of the van, Prince then kept him up against a wall while we waited for the police. He was also a great tracker, and when I lost my door key, he tracked for one and a half miles and found it in very long grass, I was so proud of him. He was joined by Trixie, an unruly Shepherd, in need of rehoming, who settled in very quickly and soon became as well behaved as Prince. Both mastered a great number of party tricks, and I just know that I will never have another dog like Prince. When they both passed away I couldn't bring myself to getting another shepherd for almost 10 years, although we did have a Shepherd X Timber Wolf during those years, she came from a zoo in the Midlands, but that's another story!

When I met Ian, he wanted a Siberian Husky, but there were only a handful in the country, so we ended up with his next choice, a Samoyed. We only got her as a pet, but before we knew it, we had been persuaded by her breeder to enter the show scene, and after winning 2 Best puppy in Show and a Best in Show at our first 2 Open Shows, we were hooked. We soon ended up with another, who later became a Champion. We went on to breed a few litters, from which we kept three more, all 3 gained their Junior Warrants, one at the tender age of 6 months and 12 days. These three all became Champions, and one of them went on to win the large Working group at East of England (which included all the Pastoral breeds) when he was 7 months old, he won his third CC at Richmond when I was almost nine months pregnant, which didn't stop me doing a round trip of 400 miles in a day, it was worth it as we came home with a new Champion. We started to work the Sams in harness, and when we eventually got our first Siberian Husky, we soon realised that this was the breed for us. For a few years we showed and worked both breeds, but as the years went by, and the Sams retired, we found ourselves with an ever growing pack of Siberian Huskies.

I have devoted a great deal of my life to this fantastic breed, the Siberian Husky – some 30 plus years. In that time we have been lucky to have known some great Sibes. We have bred/owned 22 Champions, 18 Siberian Huskies and 4 Samoyeds, 20 of these were home bred. Dogs bred or owned by us have won a combined total of 231 CC’s + RCC’s. We have also bred 16 Junior Warrant Winners, 13 Siberians and 3 Sammies. I have won Best of Breed, BOS and Best Puppy at Crufts. I awarded my first set of CC's in 1987, the year after Siberian Huskies were given CC status, I also award CC's in Samoyeds. I have judged at Crufts and judged overseas. Despite the fact that we were out of the show ring (read on to find out why) for eight years, we are the second most successful Kennel in the history of the breed in GB. But we are not a "show kennel" we firmly believe that Siberians are first and foremost a "working" breed. With that in mind we have always tried to breed dogs with the right mental attitude and confirmation to be able to perform well in harness. We are proud that the teams we raced in the first 15 years of the sport in this country were rarely placed lower than 3rd in almost 100 races and many of those we won. We no longer race, but from the 2005/06 working season up to the 09/10 season, teams led by or made up fully of our breeding have won 38 races and been placed in the top three at 101 races, we are very proud of them.

Siberians love to live as part of a family, and I have always found that they get along well with children. My two daughters grew up surrounded by Sammies and Siberians, and there was never any worry that they wouldn’t get on. Never once did I think, "now the baby was born, the dogs would have to go" – as so often seems to happen these days.

All our dogs are our much loved pets, that love to curl up in front of the fire and jump onto our laps when we are watching the TV. Although our dogs spend most of the day in our large dog run, it has to be said that our dog run is much larger than most gardens. The dogs are free to come into the house from the run, which also has in it many trees, a high climbing frame of kennels where the dogs sit on the top level surveying the countryside around them, and watching who is walking down the lane, and a paddling pool that we always fill on hot sunny days.

Fun time

Like all dogs, ours love to go out with us, no matter whether its just to the local park, up onto the moors or even a walk round the market. Our dogs live in a happy balanced pack where they have friends to play and interact with, but they all look to us for leadership. I spend many hours daily with our dogs, they all do a little basic obedience and I used to walk three or four at a time on short leads, but now I manage five or just two at a time if they are on flexi leads, so a good part of my day it taken up with exercising them. Picturesd below Champion Zoox Prinmore Pride JW(Edi) & Champion Zoox Seven of Nine in the heather, and Champion Zateizzi Chleo Surprise at Zoox JW (Lara).

A happy healthy dog should be exercised physically and mentally. Most of our dogs love to swim, and we are lucky that there is a river at the end of our lane. Pups are usually encouraged into the water by our GSD to have have their first paddle, they soon progress to swimming as far out as their line allows them, as you can see in this picture of two14 week old pups. I know quite a few folk who take their dogs to equine therapy pools for swimming sessions, which is a great way to help keep them fit.

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Each of our dogs is fed a diet which suits their individual needs, we feed a lot of fresh chicken, minced beef, breast of lamb and fish, plus a top quality dried food. We also make sure they get large fresh marrow bones every 2 weeks.

	My two daughters Mandy and Tracey with a litter of puppies in 1987. Both girls had a great relationship with all the dogs, and loved to help with their daily care. They both learnt from a very early age the responsibilities of pet ownership.
2007 - Twenty years later. Mandy & Tracey with some of our present dogs..

Although our dogs are our much loved pets, they are a working breed, and need plenty of exercise.The best way to exercise them is to work them in harness, pulling a scooter/bike if you just have the one, or a wheeled rig or even a quad if you have a few, they love it. Failing that, its lots of long walks.

My eldest daughter Mandy has her own KC registered affix, which is Zateizzi.This is Izzie and Taz spelt backwards, they were her first two huskies. Mandy started to show at the tender age of 7, not in junior handling but in breed classes at open and championship show level, she competed successfully for many years in the show ring. In her first season she showed her own bitch Zoox Izizhumzhat and I showed Zoox Miduchenka, during that year "1989" between us we notched up 34 best puppy awards and 86 first places at the 34 shows we went to. Chenka won her Junior Warrant when she was 8 months old and Izzie won hers at 10 months of age. It is only now that I realise how amazing that was, when I remember that Mandy was only 7 years old. A few years later Mandy and Izzie went on to win BIS at the SHCGB open show, 2 RCC's and a CC& BOB, Izzie was just comming to her best when she died without any warning a few hours after one of the best training runs I ever had, on a freezing cold morning when their whiskers turned white in the frost, a loss we never got over!. Mandy also had a lot of success on the trail in the junior one and two dog classes, including winning the golden bonio at Aviemore. By the time she reached her teens, the ponies took up all her time, and to be honest she never got over the loss of Izzie with who she had the most fantastic relationship, so from then on I was left to show the dogs alone. Tracey was never keen on showing, prefering to compete at the rallies, but for her it was always the ponies and horses that came first. When Mandy left home, I decided to keep her line going, under her affix, so all litters born from Zateizzi Shinka Surprise (Dot) and her daughter Zateizi Easter Surprise (Chleo) were registered under the Zateizzi affix. In 2005 three Zateizzi Siberians became Champions, which was fitting as it was the last year that a Zateizzi litter would be born. That litter produced Best Puppy in breed at Crufts 2006, she is now on 2 tickets and we have our fingers crossed that she will also gain her crown in the not to distant future. Five of the pups went into working homes where they went on to lead their teams to victory in a total of 16 races during the 2006/07 and 07/08 rally seasons. In 2009 Ali gained her title, she is the younger sister of the two litter sisters Lara and Koona, they became Champions in 2005. That now makes 4 Zateizzi Champions we have bred, so a great legacy for the Zateizzi line of the Zoox kennel.

That first Shetland pony has a lot to answer for! The girls were soon hooked on riding and we found ourselves with 6 ponies and going off to competitions every weekend.Something had to give, we just couldn't do all the dog shows and rallies and compete with the ponies. So we took the very difficult decision to take a back seat from competing the Sibes, to fully support the girls while they were busy competing the ponies and later horses, little did we know that it would be for 8 years. Through those years we still bred a few litters, which produced CH Zoox Toskazhinzhski Top Bitch in 1996, who went on to produce 2 Champions, and CH Zoox Special Edition for Rajarani Top Dog 2001 and Top Siberian Husky 2002, who also produced a number of Champions.

Mandy and Tracey with their first pony -she has a lot to answer for. Right - Who would have thought it would lead to this! Eventing with one daughter and Dressage with the other, kept us busy.Tracy also competed on the British Team in the Student Rider Nations Cup in Sweden, the team took the Gold medal in the dressage, and were fourth overall.

In 2002 we were down to a pack of oldies with just two younger bitches both sired by Champion Zoox Miztozhat JW. These were Zoox Cillmizhtra (Dax) and Zateizzi Easter Surprise (Chleo), we mated them both and kept three puppies, these were Lara, Koona and Seven who all went on to become Champions. Unfortunately in late 2002 Tracey's horse had an injury, which meant he would be out of action for at least a year, and with her young horse not ready to compete, and Mandy already driving herself to competitions, it left us with some free time. So after a long absence from the show ring, we were back, winning Best Puppy at our first show, W&PB of Wales 2003. Shows are a great place to learn about the breed, and of course meet many other "husky nuts", who often become life long friends.

During 2003 we attended 19 shows and won at least one first at 18 of them. We were thrilled to win Top Puppy and Top Bitch SHC of GB 2003 with Zateizzi Chleo Surprise at Zoox, who also won her Junior Warrant and 2 RCC’s. Her sister, Zateizzi Chleozha by Zoox won Best Puppy and Best Bitch at the SHCGB Southern Open Show.These two bitches and Zoox Seven of Nine won between them 10 Best puppy awards. Zoox and Zateizzi Siberian Huskies continue to run side by side – in fact we are one kennel with 2 affixes. Winning is the icing on the cake, but you don't need icing to enjoy the rest of the cake!!

	Zateizzi Chleozha by Zoox (Koona) Best puppy and Best bitch at the Siberian Husky Club GB Summer Show 2003 She became a Champion in 2005
Koona & her sister Lara are both pictured as juniors, both gained their titles in 2005 Lara - Zateizzi Chleo Suprise at Zoox J.W and 2 RCC's Top Bitch SHCGB 2003 Top Puppy SHCGB and Our Dogs 2003

For more information on the History of The Zoox Kennel – get a copy of the Siberian Husky Club of G.B. 25th Anniversary Year Book 2002/2003. Here are a couple of paragraphs from the book, written by the then Chair Person, now Secretary of the Siberian Husky Club of G.B. Krystyan Greenland of the very well known Rajarani Kennel:

“Zoox Anakma was the dam of the famous Champion Zoox Gadzheek (one of the top studs and most popular dogs the breed has seen in the UK) and Zoox Gamishka (dam of the outstanding Champion Zoox Miduchenka JW). Zoox Aducha was the dam of CH Zoox Dukara. Gadzheek, Gamishka and Aducha are in the pedigrees of many top dogs and champions. It proves Chris McRae’s over whelming talent for producing top quality dogs – not only in the show ring, as many were worked to the highest level”.

CHAMPION ZOOX GADZHEEK Top Dog 1985 86and 87, runner up 88 pictured winning the Veteran Stakes at Working Breeds of Wales. (Later known as Working & Pastoral Breeds of Wales) (Click to view pedigree)

“In 1986 Chris McRae's CH Zoox Dukara won Top bitch. In males no one could touch the black and white CH Zoox Gadzheek, and he won the Top dog award for 3 consecutive years”.

“Zheek has an incredible record as a working dog, a show dog and as a stud. In addition to being Top Dog 85, 86 and 87 he won the very first CC in the breed at Crufts 86, under Sally Leich. He won the complete Siberian Husky Trophy 85/86 season (winning 8 of 9 races) and 87/88 season (this was the equivalent to the Dual purpose Award today), he won 10 RCC and sired 5 champions”.

“1990 was the first of a brace of Top Bitch awards for Chris McRae’s great black/white Champion Zoox Miduchenka JW . Here was a bitch of great sparkle and panache. In my analysis of her in the kennel club gazette (January 97) I wrote that she was destined to be a star as soon as she walked in the ring”.

CH ZOOX MIDUCHENKA JW Winner of 17CC's & 4RCC's Top puppy 1989 - Top Bitch 1990 & 91 (click to view pedigree)

If you are interested in this lovely breed – please don’t rush – take your time, get to know the breed and find out all you can from a reputable breeder – someone who really understands the breed and is a breed club member, make sure that all stock are hip scored and eye tested. Puppies should be KC registered. Please take the time to read all the information on the" puppy page", searching for a quality puppy is not as straight foward as you may think!

Remember a dog is for life - make sure your life style will suite a Siberian Husky

For any help or advice concerning Siberian Huskies, or information on future litters, please call me for a chat or email me--see contact page.

Far left picture-Basking in the sun on a winters day in the pen accross the lawn, where they watch the horses and Tracey riding. Right--On top of the high block of kennels behind the house, looking over the wall to see who is walking down the lane.

Jack our terrier and Jazz our GSD have been great with all our pupppies Jack sadly passed away aged 16, and we miss him very much. Jazz is now an old lady but is still a great roll model for all our puppies, she was about 3years old when the picture on the right was taken at Skipton Horse trials.

April 2010 - me (behind the camera) walking all10 of our Sibes from the house to the pen near the stables. Ali- Chleo-Koona-Twiggy- Edi--Lara-Lily-Jolly-Seven & Dax. Then again me behind the camera, this time walking our five present Champions by the river. Lara, Ali and Koona, Edi and Seven.

April 2010-Fizz our GSD puppy aged 7 months with Jazz who is now an old lady of 12yrs. She is also seen above at 4 months old with 7 week old Storm, one of Seven's pups.

Fizz gained her Kennel Club Good Citizen Bronze and Silver awards when she was 7 months old and went on to get her Gold aged 9 months, she is proudly holding her KCGC rossette above. Being black she suffers badly in the heat and loves nothing more than going for a swim in our local river on a hot summers day.

In July 2010 we decided to take down the 3 tiered kennel block and replace it with a new platform, which ended up looking a bit like a flying saucer, so it was nick named the UFO! Depite there being quite a lot of shade in the UFO dog run the gang never seem to lay in the shade, so on very hot days I put them in the large fully shaded dog run near the stables. The large trees in this pen give almost total shade and keep this run a lot cooler.