English version-

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My dog-1991-


Polish greyhound- success or defeat?

By G. Pindera

In the ‘70s when the whole of the canine world was busy to save the most ancient breeds of greyhounds, Polish Greyhounds weren’t recognized by the Polish Studbook ZKWP. Only few passionate breeders, bred Chart Polski dog, however not under ZKWP rules. Their actions at the end made this breed being recognised in its own country. In 1981 ZKWP issued the first Stud Book for the breed. It was decided that breeding could start only from the poachers’ greyhounds, in the area of Kielce, they were the hypothetical descendants of dogs bred by Count Niemojewski. In May ’91, it was 10 years from the first registration of a Polish Greyhound in the studbook KW.

The success of these keen breeders, among whom the Lawyer Lubomir Smyczynski and DR. Hab Maciej Mroczkowski that with his actions permitted to start the official breeding of the kind, was the recognition of the breed by ZKWP. Another success of the first breeders of Polish Greyhounds Stanislaw Czerniakowski, Halina Jenczyk-Tolloczko, Bogna Wlodawiec and also Malgorzata Szmurlo whom was in charge of documentation and the breeding, was the starting of the recognised KW .

The ZKWP decision was welcomed with enthusiasm and the breeding program started with four litters during only the second half of the same year. In the general wave of optimism nobody noticed that the official recognition of the breed was a defeat. The first Polish Greyhounds , used to recreate the breed , alias “chortaja borzaja” should be hidden and so forgetting about the studs on the Don River.

The state of Poland , after December 1981, didn’t help to create contacts among breeders. Everything happening before ’81 has been cancelled from the history of Polish Greyhound breeding ( to fill the gap is beyond the purpose of this article)

I would like to remember only one thing, a tabu’ that needs to be dealt with sooner or later.: all the modern population of the Polish Greyhounds originates from “chortaja borzaja” dogs. Convincing proofs exist that Polish Greyhounds were called exactly like that in Ucraine. Where a little part of their population still survived until last century. This subject needs to be addressed again at the International FCI Forum, because the decision taken on June 1988, regarding the official registration of the Polish Greyhound breed wasn’t welcomed nicely. An Article on the Swiss bi-monthly magazine “ Der Windhundfreun” mentions that the only information known in the western world is the confirmation from the Polish Canine Society that the Polish greyhound is an extinct breed. The information has been published in 1979 by Ruediger Daub, in his monography about Greyhounds “Windhunde der Welt”, known worldwide. Everybody wondered when 10 years later, when standards of this extinct breed have been re-introduced in the official register of recognised by FCI breeds. Very upset by the article published in Switzerland, I sent some photos of Polish greyhounds to the editor thinking they would have been a good proof of the existence of the breed. A little while later I was pleasantly surprised to see the photo on the cover was the one taken by me of the Polish Greyhound bitch Tradycja Lauda z Wielgowa. Few months later the same bitch represented the breed at the World Expo in Dortmunt. She obtain success in her own contry too, in September ’91, she was chosen as the most beautiful canine at the Sighthound Club Expo -