Four Clover Kennel

06/23/2025

Shedding season is upon us ☀️

06/20/2025

From The June Issue of : The White Furred Lord

By Lee Connor

From the earliest days of mankind’s partnership with the domestic dog, the duty of acting as a guardian has been of the utmost importance. One of the earliest canine tasks was to protect the tribal settlements from intruders. However, when farming began, an additional role was created–that of defending precious livestock from thieves and predators.

This was the genesis of many of our most popular breeds. Some types remained in those early settlements, acting exclusively as guardians of property. Others had more of a dual role, watching over livestock during the day and, at night, reverting back to their original role as property guards.

With the growing importance and reliance on livestock rearing, others became exclusive livestock protectors, both day and night. These powerful dogs had no time for any other duties, ever on the lookout for trouble and, when that trouble was detected, they were brave enough to attack any (human or animal) predators threatening their flocks or herds.

Read the entire article here: http://caninechronicle.com/?p=329214

06/05/2025

06/05/2025

Born to protect 🐏🐑🐾🐺🐻

05/08/2025

Art by Nancy Wood Taber Wood Taber - Artist

"Adoration"
Limited Edition Giclee & Open Edition miniprint

05/06/2025

Estagel 🐾

EDITED TO ADD: Here is the link to the slideshow from our May issue of photos from Mary Crane's scrapbook: https://youtu.be/8mE3bGdl8Sc?si=IE0YuuYLAV7owQrD

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From the Crane Scrapbooks: Classic Win Shot Not Seen in 77 years!

Photo: Great Pyrenees Club of America (at Interstate KC, 1948): Owner-handler Mary Crane with Best of Breed Ch. Basquaerie Beau Estagel. The judge is a fellow show-ring legend, Hayes Blake Hoyt. (Evelyn Shafer photo)

Mary Crane and her husband, Francis (heir to the Crane & Co. paper fortune), first imported Great Pyrenees from Europe in 1931 as the foundation of their Basquerie Kennels in Massachusetts. A few years later, with World War II looming, Mr. and Mrs. Crane used their considerable resources to import many of the finest European Pyrs before war ravaged the continent, thus helping to save the breed from extinction.

The Cranes were pivotal in founding the Great Pyrenees Club of America and gaining AKC recognition for the breed. Today, Pyr fanciers acknowledge Mrs. Crane as the “Mother of the Great Pyrenees in America.”
Among the treasures of AKC Archives are Mrs. Crane’s personal scrapbooks. They contained dozens of exquisite photos of the Basquerie Pyrs, forming a visual history of one of the largest and most successful show-breeding operations of America’s “big kennel” era.

To best maintain these irreplaceable photos, AKC Archives staff disassembled the books. Each 8-by-10 photo was numbered to preserve the original order of how they appeared, and digital files were made. The scrapbooks will remain disassembled—over the long haul, a scrapbook’s acidic paper accelerates a photo’s tendency to yellow, fade, and become brittle. Mrs. Crane’s treasures will be stored in acid-free sleeves and archival boxes to ensure that they will delight and edify dog lovers long into the future.

We’ll have lots more from the Crane scrapbooks in our May YouTube slideshow.

Check out our latest issue!
The 176-page April AKC Gazette contains “The Sprung Years,” a salute to the former AKC president; the Secretary’s Page report from the March Delegates Meeting; Sporting and Working Group Breed Columns; Purina Pro Plan’s 2024 Top 100 All-Breed Champions; and lots more.https://images.akc.org/pdf/gazette/april-2025.pdf

YouTube Gazette Gallery: “Evelyn Shafer: Dogdom’s Do-It-All photographer” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iN_dBzq3LY

AKC podcast: “Morris & Essex: The Quintessential Dog Show” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DpEnw3sFLY&list=PLPfEv_pKgm7eKlYtGTtMNag4L1QAYaogi&index=18

AKC Gazette back issues https://www.akc.org/products-services/magazines/akc-gazette/

Free Gazette subscription https://www.akc.org/subscribe/

Happy weekend! We’ll see you around the rings.From

02/27/2025

Art by Nancy Wood Taber

I donated this piece to the Great Pyrenees Club of America Health Committee for auction to raise money for their cause. It is titled "Reflection of the Heart". Notecards were made of the image and may still be available on the GPCA website Health Committee online store. www.gpcaonline.org

02/14/2025

Happy Valentine's Day 💌🌹

11/29/2024

YouTube video:

Vlog to the AKC dog show 🍁🐾🍂 Richmond Dog Fanciers Woodland, CA November 24rd 2024... ...

11/28/2024

Richmond Dog Fanciers Show 2024 🐾🤍🍁
November 24th 2024
Woodland, Ca Judge Mr. Duff M. Harris

11/26/2024

Richmond Dog Fanciers Show 2024 🐾🤍🍁
November 23rd 2024
Woodland, Ca Judge Mrs. Marissa L. Clark