70 Saber Tails Spring 2017
Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Club of America
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Generations
In Our Fathers’ Footsteps
Written by Nick Frost
A Study of
Eng. Am. CH Dehra Urio
I
n the early eighties, I was lucky to pro-
cure the remarkable stud dog Salto de
Crislaure of Morebess from Per Knudsen
in Denmark. Per was my mentor in PB-
GVs. He had brought Salto from France to
Denmark and bred him to bitches there
with great results and was kind enough to
let him come to me in the UK where we
desperately needed a dog to cement our
breeding program. Salto bred in tandem
with my stud dog Varon Zorro provided
the cornerstone of the Dehra line.
B
ack in Denmark, Per had a Salto daugh-
ter that I loved (so did Kitty Steidel –
see her book!). Her name was Nordic Ch
Morebess Oleine De Biars. I persuaded
Per to breed Oleine to a young dog of
his, Morebess Elegand de la Baules who
was in-bred on valuable Rives de la Ga-
ronne lines, in particular to the remark-
able French dog, Urio des Rives de la Ga-
ronne. (Both Per and I regarded the de
la Garonne kennel as the foremost Petit
kennel in France), and allow her to come
into UK Quarantine and have a litter of
puppies for me. From this litter, I kept a
dog, Ch Morebess Haveloc at Dehra and a
bitch Morebess Helga. Helga’s bite was a
little off so I never showed her but I bred
her back to her grandfather Salto and she
produced for me the wonderful Eng and
Am Ch Dehra Urio, named after his illustrious French ancestor.
F
rom the start, I knew this was a special and exciting dog. He was one of those hard to breed petits – a small dog that
still has correct proportions, good bone and a very good front assembly. He had a lovely head, good under jaw,
Salto de Crislaure of Morebess with a young Nick Frost. Salto was an incredibly influen-
tial stud dog that laid the foundation for many modern breeding programs. Go back far
enough in the pedigree of any of today’s PBGVs and you are likely to find at least one in-
stance of Salto as an ancestor.
Int Ch Eng Ch Dk Ch Salto De Crislaure De
Sire: Noire De L’Egalite
Dam: Musette De Crislaure