1937 & 1938
Grand Victor
Ch. Pfeffer v Bern
1937 & 1938 GV Ch. Pfeffer v Bern
Born : June 20th, 1934
Litter brother to the 1937 GVX Ch. Perchta v. Bern
Owned by Hoheluft Kennels
GSDC of America --- 1936 -Reserve Winners Dog
"Pfeffer also sired numerous Canadian
champions but this is only a list of his AKC champions. This list
was verified by the records of the AKC."
~Valerie Wilson
Article by Maureen Yentzen
Maur-Ray Kennels
He was a great dog in himself, possessing type, style, elegance, beauty and class, plus temperament, to a maximum degree. I saw him only in his old age but these qualities were still apparent at 12 years.
His importance to the breed lies not in himself alone, but in his ancestry, naturally. He was, as you note, a son of Dachs v Bern whose producing power was great (as was his brother Dolch's) and who also produced the great West Coast sire Odin v Busecker Schloss. I understand, however, that the dam of Pfeffer, Clara v Bern, was a much superior animal to Odin's dam, Gerda v Busecker Schloss.
Utz was also the grandsire of Clara v Bern, Pfeffer's dam, and it was said that Utz's daughters were always excellent in type and, what is more important, usually had the ability to produce this quality in their own daughters. Utz again comes into Pfeffer's pedigree from Dachs' sire, 6 Alex v Ebersnachen, who was a maternal grandson of Utz through his (Alex's) dam, Frigga v Hils.
So there you have Sieger, Ch & Grand Victor (twice) Pfeffer v Bern with three lines to the great Utz who revolutionized type, through bitches of unquestioned excellence.
In dairy cattle breeding, a bull would not be considered for breeding unless he came from a great cow line. I have always found that correct type and structure in the bitch is the foremost requisite in maintaining type and structure in succeeding generations. Especially in inbreeding.
Pfeffer not only had a superior dam but his sire, Dachs, had a most superlative dam. No wonder Pfeffer had so many beautiful daughters as well as sons. It must be remembered, too, that Pfeffer's finest progeny came through three great bitches:
- Grand Victrix Ch Frigga v Kannenbackerland who produced Grand Victrix Ch Lady of Ruthland who in turn was the dam of Grand Victrix Ch Frigga v Hoheluft, Ch Viking v Hoheluft and Ch Vicki v Hoheluft, all by Lady's half brother, Grand Victor Ch Nox of Ruthland.
- Ch Carol of Ruthland who produced Grand Victor Ch Nox of Ruthland, Grand Victor Ch Noble of Ruthland, Grand Victrix Ch Olga of Ruthland, Ch Nora of Ruthland and Ch Tempest of Ruthland. A good many more from Pfeffer and Carol had points to their championships.
- Arla v Verstamme who was the dam of the "A" litter Hoheluft - Ch Afra, Ch Alaric, Ch Amigo and Ajax v Hoheluft.
Photographed in full colour by Waxman especialy for Esquire, The Magazine for Men. Copyright by Esquire, Chicago, 1942
It is worthy of note here again that Utz was the sire
of Dachs' dam Viki v Bern, the sire of Dachs' granddam Frigga v Hils,
and the grandsire of Pfeffer's dam, Clara v Bern.
I believe one of our strangest customs in the U.S. is to breed a $50.
bitch to a sire whose value runs in the thousands and who commands $150.
per stud fee. It is true that the first generation progeny of these
disparate animals will usually yield a litter of superior quality to the
dam. But this $50. dam will come back to haunt the breeder in succeeding
generations as she inevitably crops up in the form of $50. puppy bitches
in each generation. I'm sure there is no substitute for quality brood
bitches who themselves come from quality bitches and who will produce
quality bitches.
In closing, let me cite two amusing (and misleading) statements I have
read in articles around the country by so-called students of the breed,
both about Pfeffer.
One statement is that "the blood of Pfeffer blended unusually well
with the blood of Utz"!!! Pfeffer was Utz with three lines carried
to him and he blended well with Utz sans Pfeffer because it was line-breeding
on Utz.
I produced my original black foundation bitch, Ch Gerda of M-R, by that
method. I bred her dam, a double Utz great granddaughter (perhaps out
of the last such litter alive then) to a double Pfeffer grandson, which
gave me 8 lines to Utz to start with. (Successive line-breeding and inbreeding
for six generations bring the total to 24 times Pfeffer and therefore
72 times Utz in the bitch line alone. I can't trace back all the males
I have introduced to the 9th and 10th generations but I believe Utz or
his sire Klodo v Boxberg will "stop" practically every
line in all U.S. pedigrees).
The second misleading statement I read was that "Pfeffer has virtually
disappeared from U.S. bloodline"!! Certainly, Pfeffer has visually
disappeared from all four and doubtless almost all 6 generation pedigrees
now, but he is there over and over again in the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th
generations of practically all Eastern U.S. bloodlines. I trust he always
will be, because in more than twenty years of breeding experience I have
found that this great dog remains the one dog who could be in-bred on
the most often and the most closely with good
results if his descendants are selected with normal care and astuteness."
Maureen Yentzen
Maur-ray Kennels, reg.
1970 Review
"Ch Pfeffer von Bern became the key dog. His name
cannot be found in German pedigrees, he was in the States before he would
be able to be used there. When he went back and won the Sieger title in
1937 for some reason he was not used. I can only guess that because of
the impending war they got him back out as fast as they could; but what
about the dogs behind Pfeffer. His father Dachs von Bern was inbred on
Utz 3 – 2, had a line to Erich von Glockenbrink and one to Odin von Stolzenfels.
Dachs was highly regarded in Germany but was in an era when they started
cutting back on Utz. The strongest attraction to Dachs was that he was
a son of the great Utz daughter Vicki von Bern. On the mother side of
Pfeffer there is another line to Erich von Glockenbrink, one to Klodo,
through Alf rather than Utz and a couple of lines to the Stolzenfels brothers
Faust and Odin. Basically the mother was almost an outcross to Dachs.
Pfeffer's pedigree also shows a lining in the fifth to Orpal von Greunen
Eck; Another line back to Luchs von Kalsmunt Wetzlar."
~Gordon Garrett
Author of German Shepherd Dog History
"In 1937, the final Sieger show before the title
was abolished saw Pfeffer v Bern win the title. He had been youth
Sieger in 1936 and came back from USA for the 1937 show. By Dachs
v Bern he as inbred 4:3:3 on Utz and had Viki v Bern as grand dam.
Pfeffer was a medium sized dog (24 in, 75 lbs) with excellent balance,
good shoulder and hind angulation and excellent character. He was
a trifle long in the loin and had long hocks but a fine animal destined
to be the most outstanding sire in American history siring 16 male and
32 female champions. He was Grand Victor in 1937 and 1938 and was
to be inbred to to a much higher degree than any dog before him.
He carried cryptorchid and long coat factors and gave some missing teeth
but in general he produced fine balance, good fronts, high withers and
laid the foundation for good shoulder that American breeders used wisely
in the 1940s and less so thereafter. Some high tail sets, long hocks
and excess length of loin came through in his get but in the main he was
of tremendous value to America and it is to be regretted that none of
his stock came to Britain."
~Author Unknown
Most Important
Progeny:
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