Oxana was a rather small white female with brindle spots and mask, heavy bones and head, a rather working-dog type.
In 1931 the Winters purchased the bitch Oxana BUSSIUS (DWZB No. 5849), born on 30 April 1931, for their kennel. She was a white bitch with brindle spots, bred by Mr. E. Bussius (from Alfeld/Leine, Germany) who did not have a special kennel label under which he was breeding, so “(Bussius)” was just affixed to the names of all borzoi he bred – only this single litter by the way with Kosak, Schaitan, Hapka, Kumar, Oxana & Saiga (Bussius) DWZB No. 5845 – 5850 he simply added his name as the BREEDER (in brackets).
To add the name of the BREEDER (in brackets) had been a common practice in the West by then after all; whereas in Russia mostly the name of the OWNER of the dog was suffixed – and that is how it came that the same dog could be registered under two different names – in the East and West. And to cap it all off: sometimes both the name of the breeder AND owner had been added to the name of the dog in Russia, like for example the great-grandmother of famous Asmodey PERCHINO which was “Vyuga (Waltzoff from Sokoloff)” with WALTZOFF being the name of the owner (but he was also a breeder himself! – though not of THIS dog) and SOKOLOFF the name of the breeder). In the UK something similar is practiced even to the present-day for example when borzoi are sold from breeder to breeder. E.g. in the dog’s name “Rothesby Serin of Sholwood“ we learn that “Rothesby” is the affix of the kennel from which the dog originated and “of Sholwood” (“of” or “at”) however indicates that the dog now stays in this appended kennel.
Her father – see picture below – was RADOM’S Kronos 4559 [Troll COTILLION 1330 (Ch.Almadin NIKOLSKOI 829 x Kara FRISIA 763) x Arabella VON HARTENFELS 1422 (Ch.Dolomit VOM SACHSENWALD 953 x Cora VOM BAYERISCHEN WALD 1100)] and her mother Milka (PETROVA) 5844, a bitch imported from Russian. Now there is quite some disagreement in the available historic sources according to the pedigree of Milka, especially maternal, but further discussions and hypotheses on her true origin would stretching it too far at this point.
Generally agreed is that Oxana’s mother Milka – sadly no picture available – was a self golden coloured bitch (just as her daughter Hapka (BUSSIUS) also pictured below), born on 13th of November 1926 in Russia and bred by Mrs. L.M. Petrova (with “Puschkino a. d. Nordbahn Parchino” or also “Puschkin-Nordbahn-Parchino” as listed address in the German Studbook Vol. VI).
Hapka (Bussius)
All in all it is fair to say that Oxana originated directly from Russian bloodlines – as regards her mother’s pedigree – which were a bit out of line to the type of borzoi common and preferred in Germany at that time, namely compared to the descendants of the PERCHINO kennel from the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaievich Romanoff that had been imported by the Wegeners (speaking for example about Asmodey and Ptitschka PERCHINO). Thus not everybody in Germany shared this undivided preference with the Winters towards Oxana, as the following excerpt of an old German stud books shows.
But not everybody in Germany shared this undivided preference with the Winters towards their bitch Oxana, as the following excerpt of a German stud books shows.
The article is called “A chat about eighty years of borzoi breeding in Germany” by Mrs. Bettina Flindt that among others refers to Oxana:
“[…] Bussius imported two borzoi with acquainted lineage after his last journey to Russia. It was about Milka (Petrova)* 5844 (a self gold bitch born on 13.11.1926, bred by Mrs. L.M. Petrova, Russia)* and her son Slorad (Petrova)* 5568 (self red, born on 17 March 1929; as owner the German studbook registered “W. Kleist”)* …. . We are talking (in relation to Slorad) about a tall male with strong bones, well angulated and an apparently proper back … Bussius had a litter out of Milka sired by Radoms Cronos, who was owned by Emil Balke. Both these dogs imported by Bussius did not find favour among German judges. After this one breeding attempt Bussius did not have another litter and pulled back. He was primarily seeking proper hunting borzoi. They might not have the aristocratic bearing of other dogs from leading German kennels in those days (she probably meant e.g. RASSWET’S, VOM SILBERHOF, URAL & BIELAJA). Still they were able to support the German breeding. … In contrast to the common breeding emphasis on Asmodey PERCHINO, not to mention Chack BIELAJA at that time, breeders were very cautious concerning these imports of Bussius. There was no intentional inbreeding. On that point, these imports were judged too harshly.
Most likely the son of Mr. and Mrs. Winter – here dressed in Hitler Youth uniform in the year 1934 which can be seen in the album – reminding us of a very dark and sad historical German chapter. The borzoi bitches are Ch. Marza BIELAJA (left) and the small bitch is Oxana BUSSIUS, mother of the third ISMAILOFF (1. C-) litter and of several following litters as well.
Those pure working-dog types were just not considered noble enough, neither by judges nor breeders. Still they contributed to improvements in the front and rear angulation of our borzoi as well as their substance. […]”
Evidently the Winters did not have these apprehensions and therefore no reluctance to believe in their bitch, for Oxana became not only mother of 5 ISMAILOFF litters in the years 1935 – 1937 (the first C-, J-, L-, M- & second F-litter of ISMAILOFF) but also in the following years until 1947 grandmother of the first N-, R-, S- & V-litter of ISMAILOFF, since her sons and daughters had been further used for breeding in the home kennel.
Then for the 3rd generation after Oxana (W- & X-litter both born in 1946) some of her ISMAILOFF grand-children were used as well as a grand-daughter of Oxana from another kennel, Daisy VON SAMARKAND 7883, Cherry VON DER WILDBAHN 7004 x Leda ISMAILOFF 7241) was the dam of the ISMAILOFF T-litter in 1943.
In the 4th generation – between 1949 and 1957 – the second A-, B-, C-, D-, E-, G-, H-, I/J-, K- & third F-litter of ISMAILOFF go back to her. Here the Winters used either direct ISMAILOFF-offspring of Oxana or bitches/stud dogs from other kennels that carried ISMAILOFF lines with Oxana in the pedigree. Sometimes both dam and sire of the same litter traced back to her!
After the breeding pause (between 1958 and January of 1970 – unfortunately I do not know the reason for the pause) even all the new ISMAILOFF litters find Oxana way back in the pedigrees of the appointed dogs: e.g. the second L-litter (1970) with sire Dojongai VON KARAGANDA DWZB No. 11965 who is the 7th generation from Oxana via Alloschka VOM GLÜCKSHOF’s offspring (DWZB No. 8856), then the second M-litter with sire Zarewitsch SPRINGINSFELD DWZB No. 12245 who is the 7th generation from Oxana via Mimose VOM SILBERHOF’s offspring (DWZB No. 8565), also the second N-litter out of Linda ISMAILOFF who is the 8th generation from Oxana and last but not least in the second O-litter – which was at the same time the last ISMAILOFF-litter ever – both sire (7th gen.) and dam (8th gen.) go back to Oxana.
And personally I think if Oxana hadn’t died in 1937 at the age of six she herself might have been used even more often!
So actually it is much easier to say which ISMAILOFF-litter did NOT go back to Oxana (BUSSIUS): these were the first A-, B-, D-, E-, F-, G-, H, the first & second K-, O-, P- and U-ISMAILOFF-litters.
Therefore we can chronicle that from 1944 onwards, starting with the V-litter, ALL other following ISMAILOFF-litters were based on Oxana (BUSSIUS) (single exception of the rule: the third A-litter in 1958 after Temoedzjin (BEUSINK) DWZB No. 11245 (Winter’s Dutch import with no connection to Oxana whatsoever) out of Assi VOM GERHOF DWZB No. 11165, a bitch going back to WERGEI lines which carried ISMAILOFF bloodlines – but not those of Oxana – and also “RASSWET’S Lasso who appears quite often in the pedigree!).
That means only in 13 out of 40 ISMAILOFF litters altogether the Winters had NOT used Oxana herself or her offspring. In other words: around 70% of all ISMAILOFF litters carried on Oxana (BUSSIUS)’ bloodlines and by this means many (famous) borzoi that had been used in other kennels did so. But I will return to this point in detail later on in one of the following parts when I will discuss the influence of ISMAILOFF borzoi on other kennels.
