Astolat Lady Harlequin

This bitch is probably in the pedigree of every American Shetland Sheepdog alive today. She was bred by Betty Whelen, who mated the tricolor Artful Dodger of Anahassitt to Ch Adorable of Anahassitt, also listed as a tricolor. When the pups were whelped, on February 3, 1935, one bitch proved to be a piebald. Connie Hubbard, who had been active in white Collies and hoped to start a line of white Shelties, purchased the puppy as a start toward that goal.

There are photographs of both Artful Dodger and Adorable in Betty Whelen's book, No Greater Love. Artful Dodger of Anahassitt appears to have white stifles, and would probably be considered white factored today. (The white appearance could be due to tan, but films of the day usually photographed tan as much darker than those available today, so this is unlikely.) Ch Adorable of Anahassitt is sitting in her photograph, and her markings are difficult to make out. However, she must have carried a strong spotting gene inherited from one of her parents - two of the most influential imports in Sheltie pedigrees, Ch Wee Laird o'Downfield and Natalie of Clerwood.

This photo shows Astolat Lady Harlequin as a puppy. I have retouched it digitally to remove a crack in the emulsion where the photo was once folded.



Astolat Lady Harlequin carries on most importantly through two matings. The first, to Ch Peabody Pan, produced Pandora of Pocono CD, a sable and white bitch. Pandora produced at least 5 pups that bred on:


The second mating was to a sable dog, Astolat Apollo, and produced Astolat Snow White, a white with black and tan markings. Snow White, in turn, was bred to Altair Snowball, a white and sable dog from colored parents, to produce Astolat Snow Flurry, who was white with black and tan markings. Snow Flurry, bred to Ch Frigate of Faunbrook, produced the Register of Merit sire Ch Frigate's Emblem of Astolat ROM.

The really important grandpup, however, was Ch Timberidge Temptress. This bitch, who looks really lovely in the photograph I have seen, was bred in 1942 to Ch Kalandar Prince o'Page's Hill, thus combining the Pocono and Page's Hill lines. The mating produced Ch Prince George o'Page's Hill ROM, tail male to the majority of today's Champions through his son A/C Ch Nashcrest Golden Note ROM. Note is behind CHE Parts IIc (Bruce), IId (Serenade), IIe (Peter) and IIf (Sportin' Life) of the CHE line. Most of the rest of today's Champions are in Line CHE Part IIb (High Born) and trace tail male to a second male from the same litter - Ch Timberidge Temptation ROM.

Astolat Lady Harlequin's pedigree combines many of the early great progenitors of the breed:

               Eng Ch Uam Var of Houghton Hill t
          Ch Sprig of Houghton Hill t
               Chestnut Garland t
     Artful Dodger of Anahassitt t
               Ch Wee Laird o'Downfield s
          Anahassitt Atalanta ROM s
               Ch Ashbank Fairy s
Astolat Lady Harlequin, wht/blk/tan
               Eng Ch Blaeberry of Clerwood t
          Ch Wee Laird o'Downfield s
               Downfield Ethne s
     Ch Adorable of Anahassitt t
               Eng Ch Blaeberry of Clerwood t
          Natalie of Clerwood t
               No No Nanette t

If you follow up the links to extend this pedigree, you will find that slightly over half comes from the Chestnut Rainbow-Chestnut Sweet Lady mating.

Connie Hubbard was kind enough to lend me the photograph above and the one of Astolat Lady Harlequin as an adult below. She has also emphasized that although Lady Harlequin, Snow White and Snow Flurry were all registered as white and black, all three had the tan markings of tricolors as well.

As a matter of interest, I am including a pedigree of Lady Harlequin's granddaughter, Astolat Snow Flurry. If the white was carried as a recessive, it must have come over with more than one of the widely used early imports.

               Ch Merrymaker of Pocono CD ROM s
          Altair Mischiefmaker s
                    Ch Mowgli ROM s
               Altair of Arken b/w (questionable on color)
                         Ch Mowgli ROM s
                    Dark Hazard o'Page's Hill (registered as w/blk/tn)
                         Ch Miss Blackie t
     Altair Snowball w/s
                    Ch Bodachan of Clerwood s
               Astolat Adonis s
                         Ch Sprig of Houghton Hill t
                    Ch Anahassitt Aphrodite s
                         Anahassitt Atalanta ROM s
          Altair Alpha of Arken s
               Altair of Arken b/w
Astolat Snow Flurry w/blk/tn
               Astolat Adonis s
          Astolat Apollo s
               Astolat Prudence Wilson s
     Astolat Snow White
               Artful Dodger of Anahassitt t
          Astolat Lady Harlequin w/blk/tn
               Ch Adorable of Anahassitt t

While Dark Hazard o'Page's Hill was registered with white as the first color, I have been unable to find any early breeder who actually remembered her color, and their general opinion was that any white pups produced at Page's Hill would have been put down at birth.


sbowling@gi.alaska.edu