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Click here for a printer-friendly version Significant Breeders of Our Day
Editor's note: This article originally appeared in the October 1983 Review; reprint permission granted January 2009.
Introduction Hopefully, this article about Langenau Kennels, Dave and Martha Rinke, will be the first of a series about prominent kennels of our time, the seventies and the eighties. To my knowledge, no in-depth descriptions exist of the influential kennels and breeders of the past. We know what Marie Leary’s ideas on puppy raising are because of her booklet, “The Care of the Shepherd.” But what is there available to us about her concept of sound breeding practices, conditioning, training, temperament? By reading old Reviews, through the ads, shows wins, etc., we can gather facts regarding her successes, names of champions, ROM titles, etc. I know that she was an early advocate of x-raying all breeding stock, using only animals with normal hips, but that is all I know.
We know about Lloyd Brackett’s ideas on breeding practices because of the reprint of his Dog World articles, but he aimed his articles at all dog breeding; they were superb articles, but if only we could have an expanded version, with much more detail about German Shepherds specifically.
If only we could have a book with a chapter by or about – John Gans, Marie Leary, Lloyd Brackett, Grant Mann, Margaret Polley, Lois Brundred, Eleanor Cole – with each of them telling their views on breeding, evaluating puppies and young stock, nutrition, training, housing, health problems.
For two or three years, the Futurity Tabulation books gave us brief articles on several breeders; those articles were very interesting; but some of the experienced breeders had very short articles that left the reader longing for more details; what did Lorraine Clifford think about this and this and this? Some of the newer breeders who appeared seemed to recognize that they were new and had gotten of to a marvelous start with a very good first litter. Others seemed to believe because of their initial success that they had it made and were already experts (and maybe they will indeed be the Marie Leary and Lloyd Brackett of the future); time will tell.
What I plan to do in this series is expand on the concept of those Red Book articles. I plan to choose breeders whom I think have already given strong indication that the results of their breeding will have an influence on the breed in the future. Some of the breeders that I may choose will perhaps produce dogs that will be significant now and for a few years and then perhaps time will show us that those lines have a detrimental influence, and they will be weeded out. Other lines will live on indefinitely.
For example, Lance now seems to be as prominent in the pedigrees of our dogs today as Pfeffer was to the dogs of the forties and fifties. Will Lance still be the line-breeding of note behind dogs of the nineties as Pfeffer still was in the early sixties? I happen to believe that he will (of course Lance himself has one line to Pfeffer, although distantly).
Should as many as two dozen of these articles appear, if my judgment proves to be of any merit, I would predict that four or five of those breeders will be the Marie Leary, Grant Mann, Lloyd Brackett, etc. of the future. Then, perhaps, these articles could be cumulated and future breeders will be able to learn more about our thoughtful breeders of today. My hope is that the situation we are now in, of not having access to the views of yesterday’s breeders, will not continue.
Langenau Kennels – Dave & Martha Rinke Time is a very important “thing,” if one can look at time as an object. Only the passage of time can show what qualities, what concepts, which dogs, which people who breed dogs, will endure.
And time, or the passage of it, is one of the greatest aids to those few people who are to earn a place in the annals of German Shepherd breed history by breeding dogs whose genes will continue on through succeeding generations. Those individuals are the ones who make the fullest use of passing years to see and to study and to benefit from the results of their breedings, and those of their contemporaries in order to improve future breedings.
Sixteen years have gone by since Dave and Martha Rinke bred their first litter of German Shepherd puppies, and those years show us today that they have indeed utilized the passage of those years to the fullest.
Langenau Dogs Today In describing the achievements of Langenau and how Dave and Martha went about getting these results, let’s start with now, instead of starting with the beginning. Let’s look at the results of two shows in the fall of 1982, the GSDC of Wisconsin and the 1982 National Specialty of the German Shepherd Dog Club of America.
At the Wisconsin specialty, 21 of the award-winners (from a cursory inspection of the catalog) were of Langenau breeding or descended from Langenau dogs. This includes Winners Bitch and Best of Winners, Brasban’s Promise of Langenau, from a Watson son bred to Langenau’s Nassau, who is linebred on Quessa 3-3. Promise goes back to Christi 4 times. Best Opposite Sex was a Watson grandson. Best of Breed was Ch. Jeanden’s L’Erin of Langenau, whose dam is Langenau’s Minx Renaissance, a Tango daughter. Even the Veteran dog and bitch, both champions, were bred by Langenau.
At the National Specialty, Langenau was represented by L’Erin once more, as #3 Select Bitch. L’Erin was also Best in Maturity and Maturity Victrix. Ch. Langenau's Ida of Jahn-D, a Watson granddaughter, was #7 Select Bitch. Also, a Watson daughter, Langenau’s Saucy Rose of Ro-Tan, was second Bred-by-Exhibitor Bitch.
How did Langenau Kennels get to this position of prominence both in their own region and on a national level? Now to go back to the beginning!
Back to 1966 Dave and Martha Rinke are the perfect but somewhat unusual example of breeders who started out the right way, by beginning their process of education before they bred their first litter. But apparently everyone does not start with a pet. In their case, they7 took their pet to training class conducted by the GSDC of Minneapolis & St. Paul, where they met Paul Johnson, a relative newcomer to the breed himself, but who owned two of the famous Ricella “F” litter, Fantasy and Fancy Quinlan. They were advised by Paul to go to as many shows as possible, see as many dogs as possible, read the German Shepherd Dog Review and all available books.
Topline was the first large specialty show attended, and then the 1966 National Specialty in Kansas City. Lance, Mike, and Ulk were the dogs that impressed them most. Mike was Grand Victor, Lance was Maturity Victor and Select #6, and Ulk was presented at the very first Parade of Great Dogs. The following spring, Paul & Joan Johnson’s Ch. Ricella’s Fantasy became available on lease for the first Langenau litter. Dave and Martha showed their dedication to the breed right from the very beginning, as their honeymoon was the trip to Ohio to breed Fantasy to Lance! (Fantasy was a Field Marshall daughter; Lance, a Fortune son.) They were destined for success: this first litter, whelped May 25, 1967, produced two champions, and the Rinkes were off and running.
They kept two bitches from this litter, Christa and Carin. Dave and Martha moved to the Milwaukee area, after both graduated from college, when the puppies were 8 weeks old. About this same time they purchased an additional bitch, Nora of Arbywood, a Fels daughter; and later, Very Special of Frohlich, inbred Elsa to her son, Uhlor. While one could say they needn’t have bothered with any of these bitches except Christa, since all of their bloodlines today go back to Christa alone (with the exception of one champion going back to Very Special), that’s hindsight, which is always accurate! Also, every breeding they made with all four bitches contributed to their own learning experiences. Reading about and looking at other people’s results is important, but in the end, the breeder who will ultimately be successful must learn by doing.
From that first litter in 1967, the Rinkes showed both Christa and Carin, and also bred both of them whey were old enough. Christa was bred first to the Bernd son, Ch. Rex-Edlu-Mibach, which produced Ch. Langenau’s Etude CDX. Etude was bred to GV Ch. Langenau’s Tango. Tango was bred to her house-mate and relative, GV Ch. Langenau's Watson ROM, also a Christa grandson, and produced Ch. Langenau’s Java Renaissance, who was bred to Langenau’s Dylan (a Christa great-grandson) and produced Langeau’s Nassau. Bred to a Watson son, Nassau produced Promise, mentioned earlier as Winners Bitch at the 1982 Wisconsin specialty. And now (summer of 1983) Promise has been bred to Watson. To bring us to another 1982 winner mentioned earlier, Tango was also bred to Ch. Cobert’s Reno of Lakeside, producing Langenau’s Minx Renaissance, who was bred to Ch. Doppelt-Tay’s Hammer to produce Ch. Jeanden’s L’Erin of Langenau. So a line goes on . . . and on . . . if it is a good one and the breeding partners are wisely chosen.
Shortly after her first litter, Christa’s show career began in earnest and she won her first major in August, plus became Canadian Grand Victrix in September 1969. The following year, shortly after her third birthday, Christa finished her American championship, handled by Dave all the way. Her next breeding was to Ch. Santana’s Man O’ War, but none of those puppies have carried on for their parents. Then Christa was bred to GV Ch. Hollamor’s Judd, who had been awarded Canadian Grand Victor at the same time Christa was Canadian Grand Victrix. This mating produced Langenau's Quessa ROM. Quessa was truly a producer – her litter from the GV Ch. Mannix son, GV Ch. Scorpio of Shiloh Gardens, resulted in the three champion “W” litter, Windsor, Winchester, and the famous 1977 GV CH Langenau's Watson ROM. Watson himself is the sire of 17 champions and is the top ranked ROM sire of those still actively at stud.
Christa’s breeding to Circle High’s Fast Eddy combined their famous Grand Victor sires, Judd and Lance, together with their dams, the litter sisters, Fantasy and Fancy Quinlan, but no champions were to result. Christa was also bred to Valtara’s Uri of Vanderworth, which produced Ch. Arabella of Langenau. Ironically, th8is great foundation bitch, Christa, who has left such a rich heritage, never attained her own Register of Merit title. Officially, she is the mother of two champions and one ROM daughter.
The breedings discussed thus far resulted in most of the Langenau champions and/or producers of champions, but Dave and Martha are quick to point out that it takes a lot of breedings that don’t give the hoped-for results in order to get the occasional litter that is successful. But the “failures” of a thoughtful breeder always have a valid basis, and also increase one’s knowledge of the bloodlines one is working with. So even the failures do make their contribution to the eventual successes.
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