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Evgenia Fominichna Zharova 1921-1996

E. F. ZHAROVA The Creator of the Long-Haired Russkiy Toy Bre

E. F. ZHAROVA The Creator of the Long-Haired Russkiy Toy Breed

E. F. ZHAROVA
The Creator of the Long-Haired Russkiy Toy Breed
*We commemorate her with respect ...
*Thanks a lot Irina Samsonova and Marina Izhitsa
*About Evgenia Fominichna Zharova 1921-1996
How does acquaintance with the breed begin? Probably from the question, but how did she come about? So, where did the Russian toy terriers come from? Let's go back to the late 19th, and early 20th centuries. Presumably, toy terriers came to Russia from Germany and England and were a prestigious salon breed. At the exhibition in St. Petersburg in 1874, 8 toy terriers were shown. In the book of A.P. Grigoriev 'E.K. Mravin. Materials for biography 'is a photograph of 1903-1905, in which you can see A. Kolontay with his son and E. Mravina with a small dog, very reminiscent of a long-haired toy terrier. We can conclude that already at the beginning of the 20th century in Russia, there were dogs similar to modern smooth-haired and long-haired toy terriers.

The revolution made adjustments not only to the lives of people but also to the lives of their pets. The little dogs were usually kept by the intelligentsia, who after the revolution either emigrated or were simply destroyed. Miraculously, the surviving dogs, who fell on the street or in the wrong hands, could no longer claim the status of thoroughbred. Much later, dog breeding in Russia began to be actively restored, however, the breeding of decorative dogs was completely spontaneous

After World War II, some dogs of the breed were brought back by soldiers returning to their homeland. Naturally, there was no question of any documents for the captured dogs, because often the dogs were simply picked up on the ruins of cities. At a later time, when small dogs were brought from foreign business trips, they could only find out about their origin and that the dog was brought from some country. However, already in the 50s, sections of decorative dogs began to be created at clubs for service and hunting dog breeding. The scenery was cultivated by competent dog handlers who, under the conditions of the Iron Curtain and the inability to import producers from abroad, nevertheless carried out breeding work with various breeds, including toy terriers. However, some toy terriers only phenotypically corresponded to the breed,

In the historical reference of the breed standard, the Russian Toy Terrier named Zharova Evgenia Fominichna as the author of the long-haired variation. We were somewhat surprised that besides a mean phrase about authorship, we could not find anything from the biography of this woman in any sources. This is all the more strange, because Zharova was our contemporary and there are people who knew Yevgeny Fominichna well, worked with her to create the breed and still have dogs of her breeding or their direct descendants. In the articles of the 60-70s, Zharova was mentioned as the creator of the Moscow Toy Terrier breed, in the 90s Zharova was mentioned only in the group of dog handlers working on the breed, in the 2002 book about toy terriers there is not even a mention of Zharova: Therefore we decided to fill the gap and, as far as possible, restore the human biography,

Zharova Evgenia Fominichna was born in Irkutsk on February 25, 1921. After the war, she left for Leningrad and entered the Institute of Cold and Food Technology, but did not finish it. Zharova had a wonderful hearing, she loved and knew how to sing, she loved poetry. Obviously, therefore, having left the refrigeration institute, Evgenia Fominichna entered the Institute of Performing Arts (now the Institute of Music, Theater and Cinema). After studying there for some time, Zharova transferred to Moscow in GITIS, which she graduated as a theater expert. However, the main vocation of her life was not theater, but journalism, to which Zharova devoted her whole life. Even in St. Petersburg, Zharova began working as a correspondent for the newspaper Smena, and after arriving in Moscow she began to write for the magazines Circus and Ogonyok. Her articles were mainly about the life of the circus.
In the 1950s, little dogs were used in circus training, called 'manponi'. It was a cross between little curs, pinschers and chihuahua. In 1956, Evgenia Fominichna acquired two such 'manponi'. These dogs did not make a big contribution to the breeding and lived their lives as simple pets. One of them, Happy, looked like a modern smooth-haired black and tan toy terrier, although Zharova always called her a chihuahua. Happy often appears in photographs with Chicky.
Only one puppy was received from Happy and Chicky, who, unfortunately, did not live long.
The puppy born of two smooth-haired toy terriers with pedigrees Johnny and Daisy (owners Mokhryakova) became the ancestor of the Moscow Toy Terrier breed. This happened on October 12, 1958. The puppy was born with long hair, he was recorded in a breeding marriage and initially refused to give out a pedigree. That was Chicky. So the male would have lived a culling unknown to anyone, like many puppies like him, but then His Majesty Intervened - the puppy got to Zharova. The pedigree for the dog was nevertheless obtained, but not in the Moscow City Society of Decorative Dog Breeding (later MGOLS), as they say in almost all sources, but in the section of lovers of indoor and decorative dog breeding at the Sverdlovsk inter-district society of hunters and fishermen in Moscow, in which mating was recorded. Obviously, the confusion in the place of registration of the puppies occurred due to the fact that Zharova, who became the owner of Chikka, in the 60s led a subsection of Moscow toy terriers in MGODS. With the advent of Chicky, official work began on the breeding of the Moscow long-haired toy terrier.

Why is Zharova called the creator of the breed, because puppies with long or half-length hair were born from smooth-haired parents before? Probably because when breeding a smooth-haired toy terrier, such puppies were simply discarded in the clubs, and it was Zharova who was the first dog handler who not only noticed, but began serious work and achieved recognition of the long-haired variation as having a right to be. Zharova was one of the developers of the first breed standard, the first expert to judge the rings of Moscow toy terriers for many years. Some current experts studied with Zharova, working as trainees at exhibitions. It was Zharova in 1966 who achieved the adoption of the first standard of the Moscow Toy Terrier in the Cynological Council under the Ministry of Agriculture. Until 1966, long-haired toy terriers existed only as an experimental breed group. By the way, smooth-haired toy terriers, who 'gave life' to charming Moscow dogs, received approval of their standard for as much as 20 years later than their long-haired 'baby'!
At the dawn of the formation of the breed there were not a few skeptical remarks in its direction. For example, Mazover believed that the appearance and abundant fringe on the ears of the Moscow toy terrier is very similar to the papillon, and that in the Soviet Union they are simply trying to create a papillon of non-standard color. Nevertheless, the dogs were beautiful, miniature, with a rather distinctive appearance, and quickly gained popularity. Already in the period 1968-69, about 300 dogs with a pedigree were registered. Given the infertility of the breed, the figure is impressive.

Of course, the new variation was not immediately noticed and accepted by dog handlers, because in the 60s dogs that were most valuable for the national economy were valued: black terriers, Caucasian shepherd dogs, husky dogs, Oriental dogs, so the Soviet cynological world did not meet the long-haired toy terrier welcome. For a long time, these dogs were generally called 'Zharovsky curs' and such puppies were sold 2-3 times cheaper than decorative dogs of other breeds. However, this is precisely what happened that allows us to call Zharov the author of the breed today. It was Evgenia Fominichna who rallied around herself people who liked long-haired toy terriers who were willing to take part in the systematic work to consolidate the desired qualities. Originally, they wanted to call the long-haired toy terrier the 'heat terrier',

The 60s were very intense in working with the breed. One of Zharova’s active assistants during this period was Sofya Lvovna Lyubchenko, in whom Chikki’s children lived: Boopie and Charik. Chikki was quite actively used in obtaining long-haired puppies and fixing this trait in posterity. The very first female Chicki was tied to was a smooth-haired black and tan female Irma (owner Kuznetsov), who had a slightly elongated coat. Three long-haired puppies were obtained from this mating.

1963, Khrushchev was presented with a gift by Khrushchev of two charming, with an excellent pedigree, long-haired creatures: a bitch and a chihuahua male - Spanky Bambi (home nickname Mishter) and Don Tessa (home nickname Mushinka). Evgenia Fominichna was friends with Khrushchev’s daughter and thanks to this friendship in 1964 these two chihuahua moved to Zharova, whom the Khrushchev family gave Evgenia Fominichna. Mishter had a happy tribal fate, he was knitted with a chihuahua hua imported female bitch, and it was from this pair that one of the first chihuahua with a pedigree appeared in Russia. Zharova did not dare to knit Mushinka, since the dog was small and she was six years old, she lived her life just like a pet, no puppies were received from her. Evgenia Fominichna according to the memoirs of her contemporaries, was an unselfish enthusiast, and risking the life of a dog for the sake of one or two puppies, considered impossible. For this, Mushinka can be seen in the hands of Buba Kastorsky in the famous film 'The Elusive Avengers'. Initially, Chicky was supposed to take part in the filming, but the director considered that Chicky was less effective than a black and white chihuashka, and Mushinka was taken for filming. Zharova also starred in this film, but in extras, so you are unlikely to be able to view it on the screen.

The gift of the Khrushchevs turned out to be fatal for Zharova. Already in the early 70s, she was removed from the leadership of the toy terrier section, and then completely forced to leave MGOLS. The blame for Eugenia Fominichna was a gross violation of breeding work and the intensive use of chihuahua when mating with toy terriers. Were these accusations the machinations of envious people who wanted to be at the helm of an increasingly popular breed? It is difficult to answer unambiguously. According to associates, Zharova usually practiced clean knitting; for working with long-haired toy terriers, she secretly bought culling - smooth-haired toy terriers with a transitional type of coat. But really, mating with a chihuahua took place. However, they were single and had a very specific goal - to obtain red toy terriers, because black and tan dogs predominated in the palette of colors of toyas of those years.

Unfortunately, the departure of Zharova from MGOLS and almost 10 years from cynology in general had serious consequences for the young breed. Each breed is held by an enthusiast, so after Zharova left and the leadership changed hands, the livestock began to be actively pulled around the clubs. Such crushing led to a sharp decrease in the total number of recorded toy. In addition, toy terriers in the 60s were a fairly affordable breed, so the owners of the dogs were often elderly people who were not interested in breeding at all. And only such an extraordinary person as Evgenia Fominichna could convince people to engage in tribal work. Obviously, after Zharova’s departure from cynology, work with such breeders practically ceased, and given the low fertility of the breed, the results were deplorable. Not the best time for the breed was the years of restructuring. The 'Iron Curtain' collapsed and foreign breeds poured from abroad, including decorative ones, which quickly replaced and made little prestigious baby crumbs. This led to the fact that by the end of the 80s, toy terrier rings were almost empty. The breed had to be restored literally bit by bit, for now a whole galaxy of serious breeders is breeding both smooth-haired and long-haired toy terriers, and the breed is no longer threatened with extinction.

The return of Zharova to cynology cannot be called simple. The stock with which she worked before was practically lost for her, the dogs either grew old or were members of other clubs. Ten years is a very long time! But Evgenia Fominichna still was able to organize a section of toy terriers at the Kinologiya club, where she worked until the last days. She had several personal dogs, however, in recent years Zharova was not mentioned anywhere as the owner of any of those terriers. Why? Just those few dogs that lived with her were recorded with other owners. Causes? Perhaps due to the fact that Zharova was an expert, she often judged toy terrier rings and did not want to violate the ethics of examination, because the expert does not have the right to judge her personal dogs. Perhaps there were some personal reasons. We reliably failed to find out. Yes, Of course, the surname Zharova almost does not appear in the pedigrees of toy terriers, but is this really the reason that would cast doubt on the role of Evgenia Fominichna in the creation and development of the breed? Those involved in breeding know how difficult and important it is to choose the right pairs to get puppies of the right quality. It is necessary to take into account the many exterior features of the parents, to know their pedigrees thoroughly. This is a huge work, and a person who is engaged in this work has the right to consider himself a breeder, even without a large number of personal dogs. Indeed, today's large kennels work exactly the same way, with the only difference being that now, in addition to the kennel’s name, the pedigree of the puppies from the “rented” animal does not contain the name of the real owner of the dog, but the owner of the kennel.

Being an enthusiastic and energetic person, Evgenia Fominichna tried not only to raise the prestige of the breed in the 'historical Motherland' i.e. in Moscow, she successfully infected people in various cities of the Soviet Union with her enthusiasm. Many now have dogs with the prefix 'Heat' - Minsk, Krasnoyarsk, etc. Evgenia Fominichna not only helped nonresident to buy puppies, she personally picked up couples who could worthily continue the kind of Moscow toy terriers far from Moscow.

In the 20th century, in cynology, there was no such a variety of titles, as now, and Zharova, to mark dogs that were especially valuable, in her opinion, for the breed, and corresponding to her idea of the Moscow toy terrier, created the title 'Author's Copy'. Not every dog can boast of such a high title - the highest recognition of breed, recognition of the author of the breed. One of such outstanding copies, awarded the high title of 'copyright copy' was the famous May. It was Maya Zharova who drove to a large foreign exhibition to present and advertise a new Russian breed.

In the last years of his life, Zharova was very ill, hardly judged, but tried to attend exhibitions in which toy terriers took part. V.P. Ivanishcheva told how she once judged the exhibition and Zharova asked for her in the ring. Just see who is exposed and how the expert judges. Valentina Pavlovna noted that Zharova was very correct, silently and carefully listened to the description of the dogs and watched the arrangement with interest. After the ring Ivanishcheva went up to Zharova to hear her opinion, nevertheless, the author of the breed was present in the ring. Zharova approved her choice and thanked Ivanishcheva for the worthy expertise of toy terriers
Zharova was an educated, intelligent man, but with a not simple, rather tough character. She was very kind to toy terriers and did not tolerate any neglect in relation to the dog. A man who once came out of her confidence could no longer count on a loyal attitude, he seemed to be deleted from her life. In the 90s, it became difficult to buy a toy terrier puppy, the breed became popular and expensive again, and people signed up for a queue that could only come in 1.5-2 years. If the purchased dog died for some reason, and Zharova suspected the owner was dead (negligence, oversight, untimely veterinary care), it was almost impossible to get a new puppy from her. Zharova was very sensitive to doubts addressed to her as a dog handler or expert, she was very categorical with those who did not take into account her opinion. Perhaps that is why there were not many people in the last years of his life next to Evgenia Fominichna. But until the last days she kept clarity of thoughts and, overcoming the disease, continued to do her favorite thing, “her children,” as Zharov liked to call toy terriers. Evgenia Fominichna Zharova died on September 7, 1996 in a cancer hospital in Moscow. She was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery. In her will, Evgenia Fominichna asked to put her favorite photograph on the monument, where she was taken with Chicky and Mushinka. Evgenia Fominichna Zharova died on September 7, 1996 in a cancer hospital in Moscow. She was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery. In her will, Evgenia Fominichna asked to put her favorite photograph on the monument, where she was taken with Chicky and Mushinka. Evgenia Fominichna Zharova died on September 7, 1996 in a cancer hospital in Moscow. She was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery. In her will, Evgenia Fominichna asked to put her favorite photograph on the monument, where she was taken with Chicky and Mushinka.

Zharova had no children, and all the photographs and documents associated with her could have disappeared without a trace, so I want to express special thanks to very decent people - the Zernov family, who took care of Evgenia Fominichnaya the last years of her life and to whom she left her apartment by will and their animals that survived their mistress for several years due to the care of the Grains. If it weren’t for Tatyana Zernova and her husband, we would not have had these photographs and personal stamps that were kept and devoted to Oksana Anatolyevna Chernykh.

We are especially grateful to Oksana Anatolyevna Chernykh, who provided us with materials for this article from the Zharova’s personal archive and Irina Polovinkin, who helped prepare the materials for the article.

Part of the historical reference is taken from Sotskaya’s book 'Toy Dog Breed'.