By Sylvia Evans

Breed Notes Correspondent for OUR DOGS

 This Mitzou article has been reproduced with the kind permission of the Southern Afghan Club, where it first was produced and the author Sylvia Evans (Amshura Afghans)

This article is copyrighted and must not to be reproduced in any way without prior permission From the SAC and Sylvia. All the photo's accompanying this article have kindly been provided by Mrs Elwyn Pitcher

CH MITZOU OF ACKLAM - BEST IN SHOW AT THE VERY FIRST SOUTHERN AFGHAN CLUB SHOW 1947 - A RATHER SPECIAL AFGHAN HOUND

The SAC held its FIRST show, June 4th,1947 at the Trinity Hall, Great Portland Street, London. The entry fee was 1 guinea!

Molly Sharpe (Chaman) judged. From an entry made up of 63 dogs from 44 exhibitors, she awarded BEST IN SHOW to Mrs Howard-Gibson's home bred MITZOU OF ACKLAM who was then 8 years old, she went on to gain her title in April the following year at almost 9 years of age.

With this being the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Channel Islands, this bitch had lived through very difficult times during those war years and was just one of three surviving Afghans, all 3 litter sisters, to survive the Nazi occupation of Jersey, it seems appropriate to relate the story of MITZOU and her family.

The Acklam prefix was registered in the 1920s, soon after Betty Howard Gibson and her husband married, making their home at Acklam, a village near Marton-in -Cleveland, Yorkshire. Mrs Gibson began with breeding and showing English Springer Spaniels, some of which were trained on as gun dogs, she also participated successfully in field trials. Aklam Rex was to give Mrs Gibson her first Crufts prize winner and it was around this time that she acquired her first Afghan hound, HASSAN OF ACKLAM, described as chinchilla in colouring, (he possibly carried the blue genes) and was bred from original imports (Mustapha of Ghazni ex Tarza, a Bell-Murray bitch said by Miss Jean Manson,…quote… from Miss Niblock’s book, to be the best bitch ever bred at Cove). Hassan was the first Afghan to carry the Acklam prefix and he too attained success in the show ring, winning a RCC at Crufts and BIS at a pre-war Jersey Dog Club Show. (1933)

Mrs Gibson was born in County Durham, a farmer’s daughter so she had been brought up with animals, she learned to ride, drive a pony and trap and owned her first dogs, English and Gordon Setters. Later, training as a nurse at Leeds Infirmary she went on to become a district nurse in rural Yorkshire where her horse riding and driving skills with the pony and trap served her well in negotiating rough tracks to visit some of her patients in the isolated farms of the dales and  moors.

Mitzou Of Aklam summer show Jersey 1946

Mrs Howard Gibson with Hassan Of Aklam, a chinchilla coloured Afghan Hound, at Crufts 1938

1937/38 Photograph at Olympia. Mrs Howard Gibson with CH Wanwalleri Of Guefron. Dam of CH Mitzou Of Aklam

Following a holiday to the Channel Islands in the early 1930s the family took up residence in Jersey. Bringing up her two young daughters and running a farm, temporarily curtailed the keen interest in the breeding and showing of her dogs, but later, she purchased a 7 month old Afghan puppy from Mrs Drinkwater, who was to become CH WANAWALLERI OF GEUFRON (Omar of Geufron ex Sheba of Wyke), an early blend of Ghazni and Bell-Murray breeding lines. She is described as a cream with the long well chiselled Bell-Murray head.

All Mrs Gibson’s dogs were kept as family pets, in fact she bred only 2 litters and sold on just one dog from Mitzou’s litter, this was the black and silver Amanullah Khan who was to become an international Ch in mainland Europe but more of him later.

In these early days, the temperaments were not always reliable, certainly by today’s acceptable standards, much of that basic wildness has now been bred out, but in the 1930s many remained very primitive and tribal in their natural instincts.

Mrs Gibson wanted to breed a more reliable temperament, especially with having two young daughters, and a great deal of thought and studying of pedigrees was undertaken before she finally selected the black and tan CH WESTMILL BEN HAVID (Ch Asri Havid of Ghazni ex Elsa of Ghazni) The litter was born May 21st 1939....note the date!

From a litter of 9 puppies, 6 golds with black masks and ear fringing and 3 brindles, the gold dog, ABU HAVID, was her pick of litter to be shown, closely followed by MITZOU.

At the Jersey Kennel Club's Spring Show of 1940, these two young Afghans "swept the board" with ABU being BEST DOG and MITZOU BEST BITCH in show.

Mitzou and her family. The front cover of a booklet written by Mrs Gibson, THE STORY OF MITZOU, published and circulated privately.

This Photograph was taken in 1939 when the puppies were five months old. The three dogs that survived the occupation are, 4th from the left Sheba Of Aklam, 5th Mitzou Of Aklam, 8th Maimouna Of Aklam

Gebel Of Aklam a cream son of CH Mitzou with Mary, elder daughter of Mrs Gibson, and Elwyn's Great Dane, Lady

At the commencement of hostilities between Germany and Britain, Mr Howard Gibson, a civil engineer by profession, had returned to mainland England to take up specific war work with the government. With the war closing in around the islands, following the show, Mrs Gibson, with her daughters had travelled to England to seek out suitable accommodation for her family and animals with a view to returning to the mainland for the duration of the war, unfortunately, the rapid advance of the war, through France, moved far too quickly. Before she could return to Jersey, fate took a hand with the decreed voluntary mass evacuation of the civilian population from the islands, with the threat of an imminent invasion. Just as well Mrs Gibson was not able to return, the fate for the islands was sealed and even had she remained in Jersey, the future for her dogs could have been the same and she would have been deported along with all other non- Channel Islanders by birth residents.

Her vet and her friends staying at Acklam in her absence, had received from her instructions during this evacuation period that if no suitable homes could be found for the family dogs they were to be humanely put to sleep.

Mrs Peggy Clothier of the Breganze Kennels took over the house managing to rally other friends in providing homes for the dogs before she was forced to vacate the house when the German occupying forces commandeered the property, which later became the HQ of the German Tank Corp. Mrs Gibson's daughter tells me that evidence of their occupation still exists in many of the paddocks where her horses now graze!

The array of silver trophies shown in the photograph won by ABU HAVID in 1940 were hidden away and if it was not for the foresight of Mrs Clothier many of these valuable trophies would not still be available to be awarded to current day winners at the Jersey Club Shows.

CH Tanza Of Aklam daughter of Mitzou taken when she was 11 years old

CH Mohammed Ali, a Mitzou son

Taken in 1940 Mrs Gibson with Mitzou and Abu Havid, aged 11 months. Only recently published in the Jersey Evening Post

For the first 18 months of the occupation, they learned nothing of the fate of their dogs, but then occasional Red Cross messages from the islands began to filter through.

Returning home, 5 years later, following the liberation, they found their home in a deplorable state and learned that, with restrictions imposed in keeping animals and extreme difficulties in feeding, the human population let alone their animals, potatoes and limpets scraped from the rocks plus that which they might catch for themselves, had been the staple diet for most dogs and food in general was the greatest concern for every one. By the winter of 1944 both the civilian population and their captors were on the verge of starvation. Although many of the dogs were saved and cared for sadly only 3 of the Aklam hounds were still alive, SHEBA; MAMOUNA and MITZOU. The beautiful dog ABU did not survive.

(Photographs of this dog displaying the desired natural arrogance at such an early age, personally gives me the proverbial “Goosebumps”!)

Mitzou had been cared for very well by Mr & Mrs Tubb, Mamouna had survived but she had been left much to her own resources and had become very “Street Wise”, frequently "sleeping in the streets", unfortunately this took its toll and she was not long lived.

Sheba was the other surviving pup who was daughter Elwyn’s special dog, she lived until around 12 yrs.

Abu Havid Of Aklam aged 11 months, with the array of trophies won by himself and Mitzou at the 1940 Jersey show. All these trophies, many solid silver were buried and hidden during the occupation years and are still presented to the winners at the Jersys's Dog Clubs annual shows

3 Generations At Aklam

Photograph of Mrs Gibson with Mitzou Of Aklam and Abu Havid Of Aklam Aged 11 months. BOS and BIS Jersey Dog Club Show. the last show before the German Invasion May 1940

Despite the hardships of these difficult years, Mitzou, now turned 6 years, was fit and in good condition and after much deliberation it was decided to mate her to Miss Mathew’s famous black/tan TURKUMANN DAMMAR PINE TREE.

On the 19th May, almost 7 years to the day that Mitzou had been born, she produced her litter of 6 puppies,2 black & tans,3 golds and 1 cream, destined to play a significant part in our breed history.

Three became Champions, 2 dogs and a bitch; and of the other 3, all became multiple CC and BIS winners.

On being exhibited at the first post war Jersey Dog Club’s show on 5th September 1946 she went BIS all breeds and earned an outstanding critique from the judge, the famous all rounder, Leo Wilson, who commented on her amazing physical bloom and condition. In those days he frequently did his running commentary into a microphone relayed to the ringside audience and commented that this was an Afghan Hound good enough to be a champion on the mainland.

It was decided to campaign her, not so easy given the post war travel restrictions. She became a well known passenger on the ferries to Weymouth and frequently slept in comfort in one of the crew’s cabins, the old chef on board also supplied the dogs with extra large doggie food parcels!

She was awarded her first CC in February 1947, the second came in July 1947 and her third in April 1948, from Mrs Rothwell Fielding, just one month short of her ninth birthday. During this period she also won 3 RCCS and the aforementioned BIS at the club show.

She was last exhibited in 1950, at turned 11 yrs of age and won BEST Veteran and best brace ALL breeds with her son CH Mohammed Ali. She died at 14 1/2 years after a very happy retirement with her offspring and her devoted owners

Her 6 progeny from her only litter form an important chapter in our breed history.

CH MOHAMMED ALI won 7 CCs and 2 RCCs, becoming a champion within 10 months in 1949, gaining his 3rd Cc at Chester, he also gained some 15 BIS awards. He was a popular stud, siring a number of CHs and was used twice by Molly Sharp, siring her Ch.Taj Akmed:Taj Aleh and Taj Arab so is behind Chaman, Ajman and Horningsea old English lines.

In her book Margaret Niblock describes both him and his grandam, WANAWALLERI, as being heavily coated but Mrs Gibson’s daughter tells me that in no way can their coats be compared to those she has seen on the modern day hounds. Of course there was not the availability of the grooming preparations that we have today.

All the hounds were brushed using the favoured Mason Pearson brushes and the shampoos were mainly the doggy variety or human preparations but conditioners as such were not used.

Ch TANZA won 3CCs and 1 RCC, gaining her title in 1951 aged about 7 years. She was never bred from, a black & tan she is described as being a classic bitch, acknowledged to be one of the most typical of bitches being shown at that time.

Int CH.AMANULLAH KHAN went off to live in Belgium with Madam Deckers, at her Bagdad Kennels. It took a lot of persuasion for Mrs Gibson to part with him before it was finally agreed. He quickly gained his titles (1949) and later went to live in Sweden with two of his pups and the dam of these puppies, Int CH Suki of Chaman, to Mme Ingrid Trolle, forming the foundation of this kennels breeding programme and is behind many of the Scandinavian lines. I have had a long time interest in this bitch and her family background and I am indebted to Elwyn Pitcher, Mrs Gibson’s younger daughter who has spent hours talking with me on the telephone from her home in Jersey about her mother, the Acklams and Mitzou, also providing many of the photographs included and filled in a number of gaps for the AHA breed archives data-base.

ZANA, a gold bitch, won 2CCs and 1RCC.

ABU ZAID, gold and GEBEL, cream, both dogs, won well at Ch and Open shows, the difficulties of living on the island and restricted travel with dogs on the ferries sailing to the mainland obviously affected the numbers of shows they could attend.

The Pedigree of Mitzou's Litter 1946

Painting of Mitzou and her progeny

CH Mohammed Ali Of Aklam

Mrs Gibson became the first lady president of the Jersey Dog Club. She judged the breed at CC level and died in her 86th year on the 14th August 1975. Although only breeding Afghan Hounds in a small way she was an extremely successful breeder and in no small way played a very significant part in the legacy that we have inherited through the subsequent generations.

Today there is much competitive spirit about and the desire to win but the passion and interest for the history of our breed that many of my own generation had when we acquired our first Afghan Hounds is seemingly lacking. I guess some 30 or 40 years back it was so much easier for us to relate to these early hounds that were not so far back in our generation pedigrees. Too frequently today’s Afghan Hound is seen as just another glamorous show dog.

We are all custodians for this very individual breed of dog. Of course each successive generation will have their own ideas and views, understandable, no breed should stand still but it must be kept on track.

We have witnessed periods of great change both within the breed and the dog showing world as a whole with much current emphasis on the SHOWING dog, however the essential character in both mental and physical conformation which makes the Afghan Hound as a breed so unique and different from other hound breeds MUST always remain in tact and we must continue to safe guard and retain that which we have inherited from our peers of yesteryear to carry forward for successive generations ahead.

SYLVIA EVANS. October 2005

All the photographs accompanying this article have kindly been provided by Mrs Elwyn Pitcher

“THE BREEDER WHO KNOWS MOST ABOUT THE DOGS OF THE PAST IS THE ONE WHO WILL PLAN BEST FOR THE DOGS OF THE FUTURE”

Southern Afghan Club

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Updated 01-01-08