"Tony in Indonesia"

By Reporter Wei Shang < Chutian Metroplis Daily >

Wisdom, honesty, rigidity and open mind were my first impression of Tony in the interview. Tony has had powerful impact in the world of Pomeranian . 

I knew Tony through a special edition on the magazine “Pomeranians” published in Taiwan.  Inside the edition, the author displayed over 10-page pictures of Pomeranians in "Gloria" Kennel with the introduction to how the owner Tony visited several Pomeranian kennels all over Taiwan in order to find ideal breeding dogs and also purchased famous breeding males and females at high price.  Tony was then entitled “the Terminator of competitors’ kennels.”  He is currently one of the leading Pomeranian breeders in Southeast Asia, Japan and Taiwan.

"Gloria" Kennel has been established for six years since 1999. Humble Tony gradually formed his unique idea of breeding Pomeranians through the combination of breeding discovery and his actions. “Unlike general dogs, the profound knowledge about the breeds of Pomeranians is very important. There are varieties of Pomeranian blood-lines. If you want to be a dog breeder, you should have the best bloodline. Otherwise, forget about it.  The best Pomeranian blood-lines is "Hadleigh".

In October 2003, I met with Tony in "Cheng Du", China. Tony immediately talked about his “top breed theory” as soon as we met.  It made me realize the reason why "Gloria" Kennel could stand out in modern Pomeranian world within a short period of time.

Back to 1978, Tony was an international student studying at "National Cheng Kung University".  Through the conversation with his schoolmates about the elegance of Pomeranians and its popularity in Taiwan, Tony was initiated to desire for a Pomeranian.  When he walked into a pet shop with his friend and saw Pomeranians, he fell in love with them at the first sight.  Their petite compact, soft shining hair, vivacious appearance and free vigorous gait were compellingly attractive to Tony.  However, the price of Pomeranians was incredibly high that he couldn’t afford it.  Spending hundreds thousand NT dollars to buy a Pomeranian was impossible for a student whose allowance was only USD$1 a week.  To pursue his dream of owning a Pomeranian, he saved his money by eating instant noodle every day. 

After one semester past, he finally could afford a puppy Pomeranian which he regarded as his favorite lover, even though it did not have pure breed.  As a result, Tony named the puppy, “Daiyu,” and cherished her with all his love. Nevertheless, "Daiyu" died from illness a month later. Tony sobbed and had been suffering from the loss for 7 days and nights.  

Tony then became obsessed with Pomeranians.  He went window-shopping for Pomeranians whenever he could. He finally discovered that the heredity of Pomeranians is as profound as a mystery: Some puppy Pomeranians are perfectly beautiful, but they turn out of shape when they grow up. The others look plain, but they grow surprisingly beautiful. Some breeding dogs and breeding bitches look excellent and seem to be an absolutely golden match. However, their young generation doesn’t really follow the formula 1+1=2. On the contrary, the other plain breeding couples produce surprising excellent puppies. 

What in the world should be the perfect match for breeding excellent Pomeranians? The question was pondering in Tony's head so that he studied and asked Taiwanese Pomeranian professionals. He then learned the breed standard for Pomeranians and “the theory of top breed” which emphasizes the quality of breeding females and the avoidance of genetic defects in body structure. Those defects, if not carefully taken care of, will have overwhelmingly negative influence on the quality of their next generations. The golden rule for breeding quality Pomeranians is to have outstanding breeding females matching with genetic stable males. 

In 1985, Tony graduated and went back to Indonesia. Even though he was too busy to raise Pomeranians, he never forgot his favorite love. In 1996, American Pomeranians became very popular in Indonesia, which intrigued Tony to import excellent Pomeranians from the U.S. to Indonesia.  One of the famous breeding females, 10-month-old, had earned the championship among the U.S. Pomeranians. During the process of breeding Pomeranians in the first two years, these quality American Pomeranians did not bring obvious achievement to Tony.  He found the characteristics of the American breeds could not reach the level of Japanese "Hadleigh" Pomeranians which he saw in Taiwan. After serious consideration, Tony decided to abandon American Pomeranians and develop "Hadeligh" Pomeranian in Indonesia. 

     Instead of purchasing Pomeranians in Japan, Tony went to Taiwan.  He knew that a group of Taiwanese Pomeranian breeders had already imported famous breeds from Japan and England to Taiwan in order to promote the breed locally between 1975 to 1995.  The majority of "Hadleigh" breeds have flowed into Taiwan.  With the idea of “raising the top "Hadeligh" Pomeranians.”

     Tony had visited a number of famous kennels all over Taiwan since 1998, looking for his ideal breeding dogs without worrying about spending money.  His persistence and passion moved Taiwanese Pomeranian breeder so that he could finally bring excellent breeding males and females back to Indonesia. Tony purchased three famous strongest breeding males, “Hadleigh Dream Star,”“Hadleigh Cool Duke,” and “Prince of Hamada House,” with which he established “Gloria Kennel.”  His action shocked both Taiwanese Pomeranian breeders and Japan.  Japanese Master of Pomeranians, "Mr. Igarashi", even contacted Taiwan to verify the news. 

       "Hadleigh Dream Star", the young generation of famous Pomeranians, had defeated over 600 competitors since 1999 in the biggest show and earned the most prestigious winning title: "BIS".  It was the first time Tony felt extremely proud of Japanese "Hadleigh" Pomeranians’ outstanding performance in the shows.

Tony's joy did not stay in his mind too long because his goal was not to win competitions but to breed his ideal high-quality Pomeranians through his knowledge, wisdom and consistent discovery. His Pomeranians will eventually stand out in the shows, win championships and impress his competitors.

     From Tony's observation, he found several Pomeranian breeders produced puppies with inbreeding which caused gene mutation: withering bone quantity, osteoporosis, tight front chest, loose joint, weak coat, insufficient coat and poor back angle as well as many other regrettable flaws. Nevertheless, it is not easy to overcome these flaws which have become the puzzled “bottleneck” for Pom breeding experts.

To avoid the same mistakes and break through the bottleneck, Tony visited all over Taiwan again.  He seriously looked for the top Pomeranians with excellent blood-lines, senior hierarchy, elegant appearance, sound structure, and perfect quality coat in kennels. 

Not only did he identify the dogs’ quality, but he also evaluated the dogs’ ability of producing high-quality puppies. He emphasized Pomeranians’ appearance, reputation and their genetic quality. After being screened, the breeding males “Fixed Star” and “Jupiter of Stone Ferry,” and the breeding females, such as “Linda,” “Sandy,” and “Monica,” became the basic breeds in "Gloria Kennel".

As Europeans say, “three generations train up a noble,” which applies to Tony's breeding idea    in "Gloria Kennel".  Tony usually suffered from insomnia when he tried to find a suitable mate for the female in heat.  He had to read the candidates’ pedigrees and investigate their family history as well as their breed quality.  As long as he found outstanding predecessors in generations, he would seriously take it as an important indication.

     "This is systematic breeding which maintains the basic style of "Gloria" Pomeranians. It is also a kind of light inbreeding. Keep in your mind not to do in breeding on the mother’s side but on the father’s side,” said Tony in his interview with the  reporter about his tip of exclusive breeding.   

Currently, the numbers of Pomeranians in "Gloria Kennel" have reached over 100, categorized into five main breeds:  “Hadleigh Dream Star,” “Hadleigh Cool Duke,” “Prince of Hamada House,” “Fixed Star,” and “Jupiter of Stone Ferry.” The most excellent gene that makes Tony proud among "Hadleigh" breeds is “Hadleigh Pride Star.”  Its young generations are “Hadleigh Super Star” and “Hadleigh Super Man” whose offspring is "Hadleigh Fisherman Dream" who is the father of "Hadleigh Dream Star". "Hadleigh Orange Duke" is the father of "Hadleigh Cool Duke". He has already produced several pretty puppies such as "Gloria Shining Star", "Gloria Little Princess", "Gloria Yellow River", "Gloria Yellow Sea", "Gloria Endless Love", and "Gloria Smiling Star", which are sound, short-backed, elegant, intelligent, hopeful and active. 

The champion Poms, "Gloria Hadleigh Dream Star", "Gloria Leonardo", "Gloria Sandy" and "Gloria Shining Star", have won four "BIS" during the annual "Indonesian Poms Specialty Show".  They broke the historic record with three annual consecutive championships between 2002 and 2004.  Byregulation, the kennel which won "BIS" would be awarded with a temporary cup.  Only if the kennel has won "BIS" in 3 consecutive year should the kennel own the "BIS" cup.  As a result, "Gloria" became the first kennel with permanent "BIS" in Indonesian All Breed  Show history.

It is said that "Gloria Kennel" is undergoing its golden time.  Tony said that he would continue the improvement of Pomeranian breeds with all his efforts and expect better quality of Pomeranian generations.