| Panzerella, known to us as Pansy, was a magnificent shaded red chow chow who was born in a large kennel in the farm country of Maryland. Pansy came from generations of very careful breeding by Dr. Imogene P. Earle, one of the few women of her time to hold a Ph.D. in biology. She very successfully fulfilled her dream in retirement to breed beautiful, healthy dogs with excellent temperaments. It seems that in my life the things that I never wanted turned out to be exactly what I needed. I never wanted Pansy. My husband purchased her through a friend who knew Dr. Earle and went to Maryland to buy the dog without my knowledge. I had never heard of a chow chow- I had just become adjusted to owning a cocker spaniel (my dear Leon, whom I also at first didn’t want). The only reason why Dr. Earle sold Pansy is that she had so many beautiful dogs and with Pansy’s big bone and shortness of body, she didn’t feel that Pansy would produce puppies. I took one look at Panzerella with her full coat and blue tongue, turned the same shade of blue, and demanded that my husband send her back&immediately! We had only been married for two years, but my husband knew me very well. The key word was PATIENCE! He boarded Pansy with the gentleman who purchased her for two weeks, giving me the time to calm down. I finally decided that showing dogs might not be such a bad hobby, and Pansy returned to our home. That was the beginning of my initiation into the world of showing and breeding chow chows. My husband and I took a trip to Maryland with Pansy to get to know her family- her handsome sire, a beautiful black male, Ch Pandee’s Meeko and her mother, a shaded red bitch like Pansy named Ch Pandee’s U Doll. Her grandmother was a beautiful blue bitch named Ch Pandee’s Mischief and there was a black grandfather who had been imported from the Netherlands. Best of all was Dr. Earle who became not only a close friend but a surrogate grandmother to both of us. She taught us how to whelp puppies, how to nourish them and to cuddle them, providing the handling that the chow chow puppies require. We learned to appreciate the beauty and the magnificence of type and structure in Panzerella. We selected a cinnamon sire, Ch Pandee’s Dunbar, for Pansy’s first litter which was whelped by Dr. Earle in Maryland. What a surprise when she conceived and whelped 8 puppies, 7 of whom finished their championships. One of them was my pick of litter, Ch Laral’s Ruffian- I showed her to her championship myself! Pansy’s show career was spectacular. Both of us trained her and my husband Larry finished her championship and went on to have her take the title of top winning chow chow bitch in the United States in 1978. No other bitch beat her in the show ring during that year that she took the title. She really hated to show but she did it all to please Larry whom she loved. That year Pansy also qualified for top winning brood bitch with her puppies from only three litters! In addition, she won the chow chow National Specialty. I will never forget the magnificent, gentle Panzerella. I presently own Tudi, her great great great great granddaughter. She reminds me a great deal of my very first chow chow, the beautiful Pansy whom I thought I didn’t even want!! |
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