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Mikudi

Tibetan Terriers

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About us

Tel: +44 (0)2891815108

Email: tibetanterriers@mikudi.org.uk

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INTRODUCTION

 

Mikudi is the kennel name of Mike and Judi Tempest in Northern Ireland. It is a combination of two top kennels from their pasts - Mike was formerly joint owner of the Alilah kennel in England, and Judi Andrew as she then was, owned the Snoroma kennel in Northern Ireland. The main interest of both Mike and Judi has been Tibetan Terriers in which they each have experience amounting to nearly 40 years.

However they both have and experience of owning, breeding and judging several other breeds.

Mike's first show dog in the Alilah partnership was an Afghan Hound purchased in 1969 and first shown in 1970. One of the Afghans won up to reserve CC level. An Irish Water Spaniel was added, and a dog was bred that won 3 CCs but could not be awarded the champion title as two of the CCs were from the same judge. Unfortunately the dog was involved in a road accident and could not finish his title. Mike has also owned Tibetan Spaniels at Alilah. Judi started in Pyrenean Mountain Dogs in 1973 and made up an Irish Champion dog and a bitch that won 2 GB CCs. She has also owned German Shepherd Dogs and Lhasa Apsos.

While at Alilah, Mike was the joint owner and/or breeder of 36 champions - 29 UK TT champions and 7 overseas TT champions. As Snoroma, Judi made up 7 TT champions - 6 Irish and one GB, which was Best of Breed at Crufts in 1996. In their Mikudi partnership Mike and Judi have owned and/or bred 37 TT Champions in Ireland, Britain and overseas. They have been consistently making up champions since the late 1970s. Between them 80 national/international champion titles in Tibetan Terriers is indeed a very remarkable achievement. A full list is given in the Roll of Honour.

Both Mike and Judi are TT championship show judges - Mike is approved by the UK Kennel Club to award CCs in TTs, and by Irish Kennel Club to award GS/CACs to all breeds in FCI Groups 5 and 9, and Judi is approved by the Irish Kennel Club for all breeds in FCI Group 9. They are also approved by the IKC to judge those groups. Mike has also judged at Championship level in Holland, Finland, Sweden, Germany and Australia. Mike was also the author of the original TTA Illustrated Breed Standard.

BREEDING

 

Mike's interest in TTs started when he saw GB Ch Dokham Cavarodossi of Tintavon at Leeds Championship Show in the early 1970s. A daughter of Cavarodossi, Hardacre Dilys, was acquired from Anne Matthews in 1973. Dilys became a GB Champion in 1978, and by  careful line breeding of her to Luneville lines through GB Ch Willowbrae Willow and his son GB Ch Dokham Fasolt of Jemecs, a long line of 30 GB champions was developed. There were some outcross additions en-route - a Ch Cho Cho daughter was brought in and produced a couple of champions, but byfar the most successful introduction of new blood was from Tuula Plathan of Finland with Karamain Brahmin at Alilah. Brahmin was the first of the "modern" (1990s) introductions into the UK to have an impact, he became the 20th Alilah champion and left a legacy of many champion children and grand-children, and has probably been the most important influence on breed development in the UK by opening up new horizons and encouraging others to look further afield. Another import was from Gunilla Martinsson of Sweden in the form of S & N Ch Thu-Sangs Prince Fabolus Firefox at Alilah, who produced champion offspring. Judi Andrew had acquired for her Snoroma kennel a grand-daughter of Brahmin, GB & Ir Ch Alilah Hjosie from Snoroma, who was BOB at Crufts in 1996, and also BOB and Group Winner at the 1996 St Patrick's Day Show (the Irish equivalent of Crufts) all in the space of a week! A daughter of Firefox, Ir Ch Alilah Nadia at Snoroma became a Group and RBIS winner in Ireland and also won 2 GB CCs; and Ir Ch Alilah Tallulah at Snoroma was a grand-daughter of Firefox. These became the foundation bitches for Mike and Judi's combined Mikudi kennel.

They then acquired more new breeding by way of the American import Am Ch Atisha Heights Impresario, owned in partnership with others in England and campaigned to his Irish titles by Mikudi and his British titles by the partners. Breeding Impresario to Hjosie produced the Top Irish Showdog All Breeds 1999 and multi-BIS winner Ir Int Ch Mikudi Metal Mickey (owned by Des and Joyce Manton). In 1998 Am Ch Atisha Kimik's Magic Trinity was imported in whelp. She had been Best Bitch at the TTCA Championship Show in 1997, and after completing six months in quarantine quickly gained her Irish title in successive shows, was Best in Show at the TT Club of Ireland's first independent championship show in 2000, and then completed her GB title at the TTBOC club show in England in 2003 after having won the Bitch CC at Crufts a month earlier. In her quarantine litter she produced Mikudi Texas Cowboy and Mikudi Texas Ranger. Cowboy was later to be BOB at Crufts in 2003 (completing a double with his mum), and he completed his Irish, GB and International titles and was then campaigned in the Netherlands to his Dutch champion title in 2005 – the first UK resident dog to win a title in Europe. Ranger won a CC in GB at 10 months of age, and sired the BIS at the TTA championship show 2001. Trinity's next litter was to GB Ch Gemgenes Hansel, a Brahmin son, and this produced GB & Ir Ch Mikudi Gemima, the youngest double-national champion ever, a group winner in Ireland, third top TT in GB and top TT in Ireland in 2001.

The next significant addition was Araki American Addiction at Mikudi (GB Ch Araki Goodtime Redcoat x Dolbrook’s Flash Dancer at Matsang). She was a remarkable showgirl winning in Ireland several groups, an all-breed BIS, a club show BISS, and ending up Top Utility Dog and #4 all breeds in 2006. In GB she won 8 CCs, a club show BISS, a Group 2, two reserve CCs at Crufts and was joint top TT bitch in 2006. In her one litter to Texas Cowboy she produced a Pup of The Year qualifier in GB. In the meantime a litter by the Crufts 2007 BIS winner GB & Am Ch Araki Fabulous Willy to GB & Ir Ch Mikudi Gemima produced Australian Grand Ch Mikudi Over The Moon, and Willy to Magic Trinity produced two American Champions.

There remained one omission in our experience, and that was to learn first-hand about the so-called “Lamleh” breeding. We brought in two dogs from the Schanti’s kennel in Germany – the male Schanti’s Xandur-Lamleh mit Mikudi, and the bitch Schanti’s Zara-Lamleh mit Mikudi. Both became Irish Champions, and Zara also International and GB champion, culminating her show career by winning BOB at Crufts in 2011. Now the challenge is to see what we can breed with their original ancestry. Mated to a Sumanshu bred dog (87.5% Lamleh) Zara has produced an Irish Pup of the Year qualifier in 2012.

All our dogs are health tested under the schemes recognised in the UK. This means clinical examinations for Hip Dysplasia (HD x-ray) and Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA), and DNA tests for Primary Lens Luxation (PLL) and Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (NCL). Our personal philosophy is not to breed from dogs that are carriers of recessive conditions (PRA, PLL, NCL), but to breed only from clears and from dogs with low HD scores.

As can be seen, there is a huge depth of high quality breeding from throughout the world behind Mikudi, and Mike and Judi have an enormous bank of knowledge and experience of the world's TTs.

SHOWING

 

It is often difficult for those not familiar with the circumstances to understand the "political" geography of the British and Irish show scenes, so a short explanation of what can be a confusing situation is appropriate.

Northern Ireland, where the home of Mikudi is, is politically part of the United Kingdom, in just the same way that England, Wales and Scotland are. The Republic of Ireland is a totally different and separate independent state. It used to be the case that all championship shows in the four UK regions came under the jurisdiction of the Kennel Club (KC) London. However what is known as the Northern Ireland, British and Irish “Good Friday” political agreement granted individuals and organisations in Northern Ireland the right to choose British or Irish recognition. Organisations running championship shows in Northern Ireland can therefore choose to come under the jurisdiction of the KC (London) or the Irish Kennel Club (IKC). Each year in Northern Ireland there is one KC all-breed championship show and four IKC all-breed championship shows.

Champions made up under KC jurisdiction are UK Champions (there is no such thing as an English Champion or a Northern Irish Champion). UK Champion is often stated as "British Champion" and abbreviated to GB CH. Dogs become GB champions by winning three Challenge Certificates (CC) under three different judges.

Champions made up under IKC jurisdiction are Irish Champions. Dogs become Irish Champions (IR CH) by winning seven Green Stars (one GS is the equivalent of a CAC) under seven different judges. The IKC is a member of the Fédération Cynologique Internationale – FCI or World Canine Organisation, so there are some shows in Ireland that are International Shows at which FCI International Certificates known as CACIBs are awarded. Four of these make a dog International Champion (INT CH). Although in other parts of the world the four CACIBs have to be won in three different countries under three different judges, the FCI has granted a special dispensation to Ireland that allows all four CACIBs to be won in Ireland.

Geographically, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are attached in one island land area, and free movement of dogs is allowed between these two regions, as it is allowed between Ireland and Britain. Most of the showing for Northern Ireland exhibitors is done in the Republic of Ireland, as this involves only a car journey. However, serious exhibitors from all Ireland also exhibit in Britain, but this involves expensive air travel or ferries across the sea, and therefore it may only be for shows like Crufts or a Breed Club Championship Show.

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