Small, Slim and Elegant”

— Mr. Frantisek Horak

The Dream Begins

In 1932, Mr. Horak obtained his first Scottish Terrier and began studying this breeds behavior and ability to hunt. He found the Scottish Terrier excellent as a go to ground terrier and decided to breed the Scottie. He considered the breed to be quite aggressive, especially towards people, but the breed showed great prey drive. Frantisek Horak worked and lived in the town of Plzen in the Czech Republic at this time and hunted with the Scottie around the woods of his village.

At this time in Plzen, he made friends with another Scottish Terrier breeder whom also owned Sealyham terriers as well. It was during this friendship that Frantisek began to have thoughts and ideas about breeding the Scottish Terrier crossing it with the Sealyham, feeling the cross could lead to a more cooperative and successful working dog. He owned and named his kennel LOVU ZDAR, which literally means HUNTING SUCCESS.

Mr. Horak moved to Klanovice in 1940. It was there and then at Klanovice that he decide to put his breeding ide into fruition. It was not until 1949 the he finally mated his then Scottish Terrier birch, DONKA LOVU ZDAR to his friend's Sealyham Terrier with the name of BUGANIER URQUELLE. The result was the birth of three puppies from this first breeding, but only one survived. He gave this puppy the name of ADAM LOVU ZDAR. This puppy was was a brindle male, with only half hanging, large ears. Because of this, Mr. Horak decide to have them surgically changed to hang completely. Unfortunately in 1951, this dog was shot dead during a hunt in the woods of Klanovice. During this time, Mr. Horak, requested from the Czech Terrier Club for his new breed to be named CESKY Terrier.

In 1950, Frantisek Horak, repeated a crossing of the Scottie to a Sealy, but this time using the Scottish Terrier bitch SCOTCH ROSE to the same Sealyham Terrier, BUGANIER URQUELLE. This breeding produced a litter of six puppies, but only one puppy had the natural drop ears that he wanted from hios new breed. He named this dog BALDA LOVU ZDAR. Balda was a brindle dog , but did becomethe foundation sire of the new breed, the Cesky Terrier. Mr.Horak mated BALDA to his litter sister BABA LOVU ZDAR , but unfortunately none of these puppies from this breeding  coule be used for future breeding. So, Frantisek Horak then bred BALDA LOVU ZDAR to his mother, the Scottish Terrier, SCOTCH ROSE. This breeding , he felt, was successful having two puppies from this litter with the proper dropped ears he was seeking in his new breed. The male was named DAREBA LOVU ZDAR, who was brindle and the female was named DIANA LOVU ZDAR.  Diana later became the foundation dam of the Cesky Terrier. Dareba was given to one of his friends, but died before he could be bred. DIANA was born black, but eventually became grey as she aged and had the desired ears that Mr. Horak desired. It was at this point he decided that his new breed should be clippered rather than hand stripped like the other two terriers, the Scottie and the Sealyham. He felt that clipping was a much easier way for hunters to deal with grooming a true hunting terrier.

Frantisek's next breeding was the bitch DIANA LOVU ZDAR to the Sealyham JASAN AMOROUS ARTILLERYMAN who was the son of the Sealyham Buganier Urquelle. This litter produced two males and one female. The names of FANTOM, FURIANT and FENKA were given to these puppies. FANTOM and FENKA were both brindle in color, but the dog FURIANT LOVU ZDAR was born black with yellow markings, and they all had some white markings on the chest and legs. Mr. Horak chose not to use FURIANT in his breeding program because he was quite large and had large markings on his neck. He then chose to breed FANTOM with his sister FENKA. From this litter, only one female was born and he named her HALALI  LOVU ZDAR. She was black and tan with white markings and eventually became the pillar of the Cesky Terrier.

HALALI LOVU ZDAR was bred to the male FANTOM LOVU ZDAR and from this breeding one brown puppy was born and had a true brown nose. He was sterile, however, and was unable to be bred. He decide top cross FANTOM instead to his mother DIANA and they produced a brown bitch which he anmed CHRTRY LOVU ZDAR. He was brown with yellow markings. It was at this point he realized that the brown was being inherited from the Sealyham Terrier, and the brown is an inherited colored from FANTOM, DIANA, and HALALI.

It was in 1959, after more breedings that Frantisek Horak entered several dog shows and started the process of registering his new breed in the Czechoslovakian Register with the official name the Cesky Terrier. It was in 1963 that the Cesky Terrier was officially recognized by the FCI.

Written By Julie Gritten

 

A special thank you to Michael Pospich, Mr. Horak's assistant, in providing the wonderful historical photos.