Cesky History

This article was originally published in Showsight Magazine, March 2020 issue.

Cesky History

In 1932, Mr. Horak obtained his first Scottish Terrier and began studying this breed’s behavior and ability to hunt. He found the Scottish Terrier excellent as a go-to-ground terrier and decided to breed the Scottie. He considered the breed to be quite aggressive, especially towards people, but it showed great prey drive. At this time, Frantisek Horak lived and worked in the town of Plzen in the Czech Republic, where he hunted with the Scottie in the woods near his village.

While in Plzen, he befriended another Scottish Terrier breeder who also owned Sealyham Terriers. This friendship inspired Horak to experiment with crossing the Scottish Terrier and the Sealyham, believing the mix could create a more cooperative and successful working dog. He established his kennel, naming it Lovu Zdar, which translates to “hunting success.”

In 1940, Mr. Horak moved to Klanovice. It was there that he began implementing his breeding ideas. In 1949, he mated his Scottish Terrier bitch, Donka Lovu Zdar, to his friend’s Sealyham Terrier, Buganier Urquelle. This first breeding resulted in three puppies, but only one survived—a brindle male named Adam Lovu Zdar. Due to Adam’s half-hanging ears, Horak decided to have them surgically altered to hang completely. Tragically, Adam was shot and killed during a hunt in 1951. Around this time, Horak petitioned the Czech Terrier Club to name his new breed the Cesky Terrier.

In 1950, Horak repeated the Scottie-Sealy cross, this time using the Scottish Terrier bitch Scotch Rose and the same Sealyham Terrier, Buganier Urquelle. This breeding produced six puppies, but only one had the natural drop ears Horak desired. He named this dog Balda Lovu Zdar. Balda became the foundation sire of the Cesky Terrier breed.

Horak bred Balda to his litter sister, Baba Lovu Zdar, but none of the resulting puppies were suitable for future breeding. He then bred Balda back to his dam, Scotch Rose. This breeding produced two puppies with proper drop ears: Dareba Lovu Zdar, a brindle male, and Diana Lovu Zdar, a female who later became the foundation dam of the Cesky Terrier. Dareba was given to a friend but died before he could be bred. Diana, born black, turned grey as she aged and exhibited the desired ear type. It was then that Horak decided the new breed should be clippered rather than hand-stripped, unlike the Scottie and Sealyham, making grooming easier for hunters.

Horak’s next breeding paired Diana Lovu Zdar with the Sealyham Jasan Amorous Artilleryman, a son of Buganier Urquelle. This litter produced three puppies: Fantom, Furiant, and Fenka. Fantom and Fenka were brindle, while Furiant was black with yellow markings and had white chest and leg markings. Due to Furiant’s size and markings, he was excluded from the breeding program. Horak instead bred Fantom to Fenka, resulting in a single female puppy named Halali Lovu Zdar. Halali, black and tan with white markings, became a cornerstone of the Cesky Terrier lineage.

Halali was later bred to her sire, Fantom Lovu Zdar, producing one brown puppy who was sterile. Horak then crossed Fantom with his dam, Diana, resulting in a brown bitch named Chrtry Lovu Zdar. This brown coloration was traced back to the Sealyham Terrier and persisted through Fantom, Diana, and Halali.

By 1959, after additional breedings, Horak began entering dog shows and registering his new breed in the Czechoslovakian Register under the official name Cesky Terrier. In 1963, the Cesky Terrier gained recognition by the FCI.