(Afghan Hound Database and Breed Information Exchange)
(By Steve Tillotson May 2013)
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(Right) Begum, Breeder Mr Abrams, de Flandre USA, 11/2/1932
We mentioned Nullah De Flandre on the previous page but we have reason to discuss this particular hound further. Nullah was originally sold to Mr Abrams early in 1929 and then sometime later was transferred to Lydia M Buhl. It appears that Nullah was transferred again sometime later to Dr Willard G Drown of Warren Ohio. He is recorded as owner/exhibiting Nullah in 1937. Dr Drown has an interesting history of involvement in Afghan Hounds, we first mentioned him in an article on the UK Brantwood Kennelsthat we wrote several years ago. There is a lot of detail to the WG Drown story so we'll have to do a separate article on him and his kennel. But the point I would make at this stage is this - It is generally accepted that the most influential and important US Afghan Hound breeder was Q A Shaw Mckean of Prides Hill Kennel, Mass. There is no doubt that Prides Hill was the kennel that established the breed in the USA during the early 1930's. However, we should not forget about smaller kennels such as de Flandre and Demtcherem (Mr Drown's kennel name) because these kennels were active several years before Prides Hill. Whilst their breeding influence may be considerably less than Prides Hill, Abrams and Drown came before Prides Hill, and shoud be respected and accredited for their being amongst the earliest "pioneers" of the breed in the USA. Mr Drown bred a litter from Nullah de Flandre out of his UK import Ghanistan Basra-Infanta in 1937. We'll leave Mr Drown here for the moment, but will do an article on him in the future.
We'll finish this article for now by looking at another UK Afghan hound imported by Mr Abrams and bred by Mrs M B Cooper 2/23/1927 -
| Parents | Grandparents | Great-Grandparents | Great-Great-Grandparents |
| Mustavfi of Ghazni | Khan of Ghazni | Parent Not Recoerded | Parent Not Recorded |
| Parent Not Recorded | |||
| Parent Not Recorded | |||
| Rani of Ghazni | Afghanistan | Parent Not Recorded | |
| Parent Not Recorded | |||
| Parent Not Recorded | |||
| Tarza | Baluch | Taiza Bm | Parent Not Recorded |
| Parent Not Recorded | |||
| Nurm Bm | Parent Not Recorded | ||
| Parent Not Recorded | |||
| Daghai | Ooty | Zorawar Bm | |
| Dil Bm | |||
| Pushum | Sher Bm | ||
| Ghoree Bm | |||
A few months prior to his export to Mr Abrams, the dog Gunga Din de Flandre had sired a litter ex Mumti Of Geufron (Mumti was out of a Shahzada/Cupra litter which we mentioned previously).
I enjoy a mystery, and mispellings, incorrect registration details, often provide such challenges. In this case, the information I had available was that Gunga Din de Flandre was out of a bitch named 'Tazi" imported from Afghanistan, but no owner, no breeder, no pedigree details were given for Tazi. I suspected that Tazi was most likely a Bell Murray bitch and went in search... In studying the Crufts 1928 entries I find "Ghunga Din de Flandre (note the slight spelling difference, Ghunga vs Gunga) was entered in puppy dog (was unplaced on the day). Breeder shown as Mrs M B Cooper, date of birth 28th Feb 1927, Sire given as Mushfia Of Ghazni (should be Mustavfi), dam given as "Tarza" (not Tazi). Now this all makes sense of course - yet another example of Mrs M B Cooper mating a Ghazni dog to a Bell Murray bitch. Such spelling errors were pretty common in the early days and can give us researchers some challenges...
Noting the heated debate between Mrs Mary Amps and Major Bell Murray in the press over which type was correct (Ghazni or Bell Murray), it's interesting to study a kennel (de Flandre UK) that recognized the qualities of both types and blended them in pursuit of improving the stock. I was curious to see if Mrs A B Cooper was involved in any of the controversies over type, apparently not. Mrs M B Cooper was not on the standards making committee for the AHC or the AHA.
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We'll finish with a photograph (above) . This is of the cover of AKC Gazette in 1929 and shows two Bell Murray type (Cove Afghans, Ms Jean Manson) on the cover. Mr Abrams advertised his de Flandre hounds for sale in this edition of the Gazette using the photo provided for him by Ms Manson. Obviously such "visibility" as being front cover to the AKC Gazette would have helped increase awareness in the new breed in those early days in the USA. We'll do some further research and add to this section on de Flandre at a later date
Mr Abrams also imported the dog Buhra Khan de Flandre (Sirdar Of Ghazni x Roshni Of Ghazni), dob 6/7/28 bred by Mrs Bradshaw (Wahsdarb UK). We'll study this further and update soonest
Steve Tillotson, May 2013
Related content:
The Afghan Levrier 1927 by Mrs M B Cooper (de Flanders Afghan Hounds, UK
Early Afghan Hounds Section
The Origins Section
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