Morningstar Pekingese

08/26/2026

A few more pictures of “Rennie,” BISS Champion Morningstar Renaissance who appeared in pedigrees around the world.✨🌏

Rennie had an auspicious start in the show ring, making his ring debut at the Pekingese National in Dallas at 11 months of age, winning Best in Sweepstakes, then on to Reserve Winners Dog under Luc Boileau.

Luc later awarded Rennie a Specialty Best in Show from the classes, and sometime after that a Toy Group II. Luc’s partner, Ed Jenner, also put Rennie up at another show.

Luc was widely admired and is remembered for his distinguished history in dogs as a top handler of many breeds, especially Pekingese, as well as his popularity as a judge at the highest level.

He’s surely also remembered for his sense of humor and storytelling. He was long associated with Knolland Farm horses and dogs, and handled the Peke “Crown Prince” to Top Toy in America and BIS at Westminster in 1990.

I was pleased Ed and Luc both liked Rennie. Those two men were a great inspiration to me when I got started in the breed in the Midwest. I saw so many of their beautiful Pekes in the ring all the time.

Besides my great favorite of theirs who I linebred to intensely, the All-Time Top Sire Laparata Dragon (owned by Ed and handled by Luc), one of my other top faves was Dragon’s son, Ch. St. Aubrey Bees Wing of Elsdon, who was Top Toy Dog in the US, also owned by Jenner. A perfectly made typey little dog who could smooth sail around the ring effortlessly with Luc following behind.

About these photos: The majority were sent to me from friends in the UK and Ireland. Many are screenshots from the longtime American Pekingese magazine The Orient Express (which I used to write for, for many years, as well as its affiliated all-breed magazine Showsight before moving on to write for Dog News). The Peke magazine ended publication about 9 years ago.

For me, Rennie was a beautiful gift. A glamorous, dreamy little dog with a big heart that came along at a transitional point in my breeding program and had a wonderful effect.

He was so easy to show, always calm, loved everything, never met a stranger he didn’t like. Beautifully made, with a big, wide expressive face, and glamorous.

He notably passed on his glamour factor, breed type, and cheerful, carefree personality to his progeny. Have a look at photos of a few of them here, and check out his pedigree with this collection, see what you think.

Before I got Rennie, I had reached a point of 7 consecutive VERY intensely linebred generations of Morningstar dogs on both sides of the pedigree that produced a lot of important winners for me and others.

That set the type for my Morningstar family. It was technically a purebred line.

That’s when I decided it was the right time to try to carefully pinpoint just the right outcrosses and bring them in. Not so easy. But I researched it with laser focus for years and I was ready!

I had a lot of intel on what was what, and where to find it.🔍🎧

As it turned out, Rennie’s mother was the first bitch I selected from England — a clear red with a captivating face and expression named Brentoy Satin’s Aura at Rarta.

“Satin,” as I called her, was a daughter of UK Champion Nowai Harvey Moon (26 CC’s), who had a lot of Laparata and Singlewell breeding, both of which directly relate to the breeding that established Morningstar.

Harvey Moon was a dog that took the Peke world by storm in England. An exciting part of that story is that his breeder-owner-handlers were novices (Alan and Brenda Shepherd in Colchester, Essex).

Satin’s mother is UK Ch. Brentoy Country Satin, who Terry Nethercott said (and I saw her myself in her kennel garden at Brentoy) was one of the best bi***es in England.

That was THE perfect set up for me because I was always all about building on the bitch line.

Just as importantly, I was also a fan of Renaissance’s father, American Champion Briarcourt’s Damien Gable, so I had three litters by him. That was a big bonus right there.

Rennie’s father was Top Toy in the US for two years, a 3-time National Specialty BIS winner, and 2-time Toy Group winner at Westminster.

Another extremely important key factor that’s probably always overlooked is, Rennie’s father Damien was closely related to Morningstar through his grandsire (Ch. Briarcourt’s Rule Britannia), who was a half-brother to Morningstar Sun King, the patriarch of the Morningstar line and my first all-important prepotent stud dog.

It was at Morningstar that those two different but similar branches of the breed merged (Briarcourt and Morningstar) while bringing in highly desirable outcrosses and traits. *see clarification below

That happened during a period that was literally a renaissance for Morningstar. That’s why I gave Rennie the name.

At the same time, I swept through all of England and Scotland and began bringing in quite a few other bi***es from all over the country — all at once — for the purpose of collecting, without exception, the most desirable traits and genes in the breed.

And Rennie’s breeding clicked with all of it!

At that point, I had virtually the entire gene pool of the breed in my kennel. And it was like “Oh wow!” (now the work begins!)

More good stories to come with some pretty bi***es and Sun King … ✨




*Clarification
The common parent behind the two half-brothers (Sun King and Rule Britannia) was a double grandson of the all-time Top Sire, Laparata Dragon (handled by Luc Boileau), named Am Can Ch. St. Aubrey Sunburst of Elsdon.

Dragon himself was a product of a half-brother-half-sister breeding, and Sun King was tripled on him in the 4th generation. Rule Britannia was doubled on Dragon in the 4th.

In the mix on the Morningstar side was an outstanding Cambalu male I owned, Cambalu King Bee Morningstar — a grandson of Ch. St Aubrey Sunburst of Elsdon. That multiplied Dragon an unprecedented number of times anywhere -- in just the first 7 Morningstar generations.

08/24/2026

BISS Champion Morningstar Renaissance ✨ also known as “Rennie,” breeder owner handled by me.

He was one of my best sires

I’ll post more pictures of him soon … 🌠

07/28/2026

Here’s a look at American Canadian Champion Morningstar Ulysses, a double grandson of BISA BISS Champion Morningstar Reverie.

Ulysses was around four or five months old when he left Morningstar and was owned by Kit Woodruff of Reflections Pekingese in Texas. He was handled by Jackie Breazeale in the US and Charissa Mcdonnell in Canada.

Mrs. Woodruff acquired a number of Morningstars for her breeding program and also owned Ch. Yakee If Only, who set a new all breed BIS record for Pekingese and won the Toy Group at Westminster twice.

Her first all breed BIS winning Pekingese was Ch. Morningstar Carpe Diem, a half brother to Ulysses from the same dam, American Ch. Morningstar Clair de Lune.

Much like his father, Morningstar Balanchine, Ulysses was a strong, very masculine dog of a rich red color with dense pigment, a big, wide head, heavy bone, a broad chest, flat back, and a thickset, compact body.

Ulysses was so well built, brave-looking, and bold as a puppy that I thought he should be named for a bodybuilder (Mr. Universe) or warrior.

That’s why I named him Ulysses — the Roman version of Odysseus, the hero of The Odyssey, which of course has been all over the news lately, and in magazines and social media with the worldwide release of the new Hollywood film “The Odyssey.”

The movie opened in London and just had its New York premiere on July 17 for an invited audience, with a red carpet event for the press.

I happened to be walking by the theater during the New York event, so I grabbed a few quick videos and photos with some of the film’s stars and director Christopher Nolan. Included here.

The legendary Trojan Horse scene is a key part of the story. In the videos, you’ll see a large replica of the Trojan Horse displayed in front of the theater, reportedly made from movie set pieces.

Photo #1: Ulysses in Canada, handled by Charissa Mcdonnell. Judge, Shirley Limoges.

Photo #3: Ulysses winning at the Allegheny Pekingese Club Specialty in Pennsylvania, handled by Jackie Breazeale under Peke Breeder-Judge Sandy Wheat.

For Kit Woodruff, Ulysses sired American Ch. Reflections Final Love (dam: Yakee Love Potion), who in turn sired Ch. Pleiku Kerimere A Dream is a Wish, Ch. Pleiku Kerimere Best Wishes, and Ch. Pleiku Kerimere Wish Come True.

✨Pedigrees of Ulysses, his sire, and his dam are included for reference.

More good stories to come🌠




�

06/26/2026

🦋Just a quick update on my last post a few weeks ago, where I shared a photo of Am Ch. Morningstar Reverie reclining on a Pedigree Director’s Chair.

It was Reverie’s second of two Toy Group Firsts on the 5-day Florida summer circuit. Both the judge, Barbara Jarmoluk, and I were partially cropped out of the photo (only slightly visible in the background).

However, I discovered I had in a file an alternate full-view photo of that win from a magazine advertisement with the judge and me. I should have included it in the post, although it’s in black and white. Ray O’Neill from Ireland kindly sent me a screenshot.

Mrs. Jarmoluk looks so glamorous, I couldn’t resist sharing it. And Reverie seems to be fully enjoying the moment.✨ He had a passion for showing, always breeder-owner-handled by me.

For context, I’m reposting the other group win from that same 5-day event, which features judge Edd Bivin, since it’s in color.

05/29/2026

A variety of photos of Am Ch. Morningstar Reverie along with a few of his offspring. And what’s behind them.

First photo is Reverie winning one of two Toy Group Firsts on the 5-day Florida Summer Circuit breeder-owner-handled by me. The judge is Edd E. Bivin, one of America’s top judges and internationally for over 65 years.

Bivin judged Pekingese Club of America as well as every other National Specialty in the Toy Group in addition to Nationals in many breeds and groups. He also judged AKC Eukanuba National Championship and Best in Show at Westminster.

See also picture 7 with young Edd Bivin awarding BIS at Chicago International.

Photo 2 is Reverie’s second Toy Group First that same week on the 5-day summer circuit. The judge (not fully visible standing next to me behind Reverie) is Barbara Jarmouluk.

Reverie is the 10th consecutive Morningstar generation through his father, Am Ch. Morningstar Don Giovanni who later went to Japan.

Reverie’s mother hailed from the well known Brentoy kennel in England and I would say she was worth her weight in gold.

Check out Reverie’s pedigree with this post and see what you think. Clue: On his mom’s side, Singlewell (and Belknap breeding behind UK Champion Bramblefields Pick Pocket) directly relates to early Morningstar breeding. ✅🙌🏻

In photo #8 Reverie is sort of floating above a few of his champion offspring whose names I’ve listed on the caption.

All of them are relaxing on a “soft white cloud” blanket over big puffy ice pillows for a Morningstar Family studio portrait.

I was trying out a new photographer — a young smart handsome guy whose business was portrait and wedding photography. He learned fast and captured all of them looking forward with their mouths closed at the same time. 📸🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

After that I used him a lot! Studio photos #19 of Reverie’s daughter Sonatina, #21 of his daughter Stravaganza and the last two of Reverie were also taken by him.

A note about that 4-month old puppy in the family photo. She’s Reverie’s granddaughter Morningstar Charismatic.

She produced a pale red champion bitch in her 1st litter named “Goldie”🥇who won Best of Breed and Toy Group First from the puppy class at 6 months of age her first time in the ring (at the prestigious Palm Beach shows) and matured into an elegant, glamorous bitch. (See following 3 photos of Goldie).

Photo 7 as I mentioned is young Edd Bivin awarding Best in Show at International Kennel Club of Chicago to the Pekingese, UK and Canadian import Am Can Ch. St. Aubrey Laparta Dragon. Luc Boileau is handling for Ed Jenner of Knolland Farm. Dragon was All Time Top Sire and won 42 All Breed Best in Shows.

Amazingly, in all my years in dogs I was in Mr. Bivin’s ring only two times. And just for Group competition — winning Toy Group First both times.

The first time it was with Reverie’s grandfather Can Ch. St. Aubrey Amadeus of Elsdon, a son of Ch. Knolland Red Rover. Rover as you probably know succeeded Laparata Dragon as All Time Top Sire.

I’ve included a photo of Amadeus soon after he arrived in the US from Canada (photographed by my pro sports media brother, Bob).

Turns out I was the first breeder in the US to use Amadeus at stud. And what a good decision it was!

Can’t say I loved everything about Amadeus but he had what I considered highly desirable traits — very short chunky body, thick b***d front, very strong well angulated rear, perfectly flat back, perfect high tail set, big black eyes, open nose and dense black pigment.

Not to mention he was a rich red with abundant coat of wonderful texture.

Specifically I targeted him for his mother’s breeding (Rosayleen x Laparata Dragon’s son Bees Wing who was Top Toy) rather than his father’s. And fortunately I predicted Amadeus’ siring potential. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Pedigrees included for reference.

Luckily, because of this next situation I ended up using Amadeus on a few more of my bi***es than anticipated✨👉🏻

Other than taking a dog back in the ring for a friend at Windsor in England, I’ve never handled a dog for anyone but myself except for Amadeus.

And that was for his new owner Mary Schuyler Campbell in South Carolina. Here’s why.

“Miss Schuyler” as she was known (photo under comments — beautiful wealthy Southern Belle) had just acquired Amadeus from St. Aubrey-Elsdon in Montreal and promised his former owners Nigel Aubrey-Jones and R. William Taylor that she would get his American title.

But … BIG problem. Little 8-pound Amadeus was biting judges in Canada and people heard about it. No professional handler in the US would accept him.

Miss Schuyler didn’t handle dogs herself or know how to do matings.

So I agreed to handle him with no handling fee while breeding him to my own bi***es in my kennel.

Of course he tried to bite me hard the first time I groomed him. But I got him to stop that — very quickly, in fact instantly. From that point on Amadeus was perfect and showed like a dynamo.

I got his American title in 6 straight shows with all Toy Group placements (including Group I under Mr. Bivin) and Best of Winners at the National.

While he was in my kennel he sired 5 champions for me: Reverie’s father and 3 other BIS specialty winners including #2 Pekingese in America and Velvet Rose (3rd bitch in history to win the Pekingese Club of America National in 86 years). And a Canadian champion.

Following my work with Amadeus, other breeders in the US used him at stud including Mr. Jenner at Knolland Farm who immediately brought him to his kennel in Wisconsin for a lengthy stay.

The highlight of this story is that Amadeus in America marks a significant turning point in Morningstar history.

The first bitch I bred to him was one of my best — Am Champion Morningstar Fascination whose photo I’ve included (also taken by my brother Bob).

I handled Fascination to her title winning 5-point majors on both US coasts, in Florida and California with BOW at Del Valle Dog Dog Club under the great Dorothy Welsh. More info about her in the photo captions.

Fascination was sired by Am Ch. Briarcourt’s Damien Gable, a 4-time National Specialty BIS winner and Top Toy for 2 years.

After Fascination’s breeding to Amadeus produced Reverie’s father, my breeding program took off better than ever. That’s of course when I got Reverie.

That’s also thanks in part to many wonderful imports to my kennel from the UK, all bi***es, especially Reverie’s mother! I always had a thing about building on the bitch line💅🏻👯‍♀️👯‍♀️👯‍♀️🫶🏻

Best of all Reverie was an exceptional sire and a super fun dog to show. He never let me down and produced my best ever. 💫❤️🇬🇧🇨🇦🇺🇸❤️✨🐾🐾✨





More good stories to come.

05/14/2026

American Ch. Morningstar Tradition ✨❤️✨ Sired by BISA BISS Am Ch Morningstar Reverie (Am Ch Morningstar Don Giovanni x Edverlia Miss Molly At Brentoy, UK) x Morningstar Diamonds (BISS Am Ch Morningstar Renaissance x Etive Yu Foo, UK)

US Ch MORNINGSTAR TRADITION, 1999
Litter brother to MORNINGSTAR ARABESQUE, dam of US Ch CHINAMOON SWEET SENSATION
Sire of US Chs MORNINGSTAR ALLEGIANCE, MORNINGSTAR ELYSIAN DREAM, MORNINGSTAR GIORGIO and of MORNINGSTAR CHARISMATIC (dam of US Ch MORNINGSTAR NIRVANA), MORNINGSTAR ROCKY MARVEL (sire of Can Ch KLERKS HOF REVERIE)

04/27/2026

This is American & Philippine Grand Champion Morningstar Dragonhart who I think of as one of my early champions. He was one of the highlights of the 8th consecutive generation of my breeding. There were 6 more Morningstar generations to follow.

As the well known Pekingese breeder in England, Lilian Snook (Laparata) used to say, “Get the basic dog right.” Far easier said than done of course, but Dragonhart had it right.

He had so much of I wanted in a Pekingese. A socking head, an athletic body, and a smooth effortless stride with perfect roll. He won his American title easily, breeder owner handled by me.

The first two pics were taken by my youngest brother who’s a living legend in the world of sports media. You can see more info about that and him in the first photo caption along with some samples of his work under comments.

Slides 2, 3 & 4, and the last one, “The Faces of Morningstar” with center photo of “The Morningstar Boys” (also taken by my brother) are recent screenshots sent to me from one of the world’s best breed historians, Ray O’Neill in Ireland. Thank you very much, Ray!!

With slide 4 you’ll see pictures of some notable Morningstar champions in Dragonhart’s pedigree. I know some are a little difficult to see, especially Dragonhart’s great-grandfather Ch. Morningstar Lionhart (a Top Sire). So I also included a better photo of Lionhart, slide 9. I’ll show you more of Lionhart later in another post because I now thankfully have “new” recovered photos of him.

As you’ve probably already guessed, the “hart” in Dragonhart comes from Lionhart. The “Dragon” comes from Laparata Dragon who’s an all-important part of this story.

A really interesting thing about Dragonhart is he’s literally purebred Morningstar. The creative process personified. He has ALL Morningstar sires and dams on both sides of his pedigree for 4 generations and beyond.

I also pointed out in both announcements or adverts with this post that Dragonhart is linebred — fifty-five (55) times — to Laparata Dragon who was then All Time Top Sire with over 100 champions to his credit. Sounds amazing but those numbers are correct.

It was a big thing because Laparata Dragon was intensely linebred himself. Learn a little more about that in the caption with Laparata Dragon’s photo taken by me at Knolland Farm.

When that Dragonhart announcement was published in an internationally circulated magazine, R. William Taylor of St. Aubrey-Elsdon in Canada (whose partner Nigel imported Laparata Dragon from England) came up to me at a show, smiling. Taylor let me know with a touch of sarcasm that he was amused by my catchy little phrase that Dragonhart being 55 times Laparata Dragon proves “You can’t have too much of a good thing!”

In the 3rd photo with me, Dragonhart is seen winning Best of Breed under a well known judge, Lorraine (Heichel) Masely, who had been a professional handler. It was the only time I had the opportunity to show a dog to her. She had a reputation as a straightforward, no-nonsense judge and many people (including me) considered her a Pekingese breed specialist.

I love that win photo especially because of her facial expression. She seems genuinely delighted with Dragonhart. And you can see I’m happy as a clam.

At that point I had new up-and-coming Morningstars awaiting their turn and I had very little time for dog shows. I should have held on to Dragonhart. But I let him go to the Philippines where he won many All Breed Best in Shows owned by Dr. Raymundo Lo (Dreamville).

Dr. Lo subsequently owned other Morningstars — Phil Ch. Morningstar Sovereign (dog) and Phil Ch. Morningstar Viva (bitch) — both of which Lo got directly from me.

Sometime later all that Morningstar breeding came FULL CIRCLE back to America when Dr. Lo’s breeding with Morningstar partnered with Muhlin.

Dragonhart’s breeding also went to Italy through his son bred by me, International, Italian, European Vice Champion Morningstar Bravura who was Top Pekingese in Italy for 2 years. See Bravura’s puppy photo with this post.

Bravura means “Great technical skill and brilliance shown in a performance” — which was fitting because “Bravi” as he was called did a lot of winning in Europe. He was owned and handled by Paolo Prandi of Canto Alto Pekingese.

Then there’s this interesting backstory.

Dragonhart was one of the first if not THE first American Pekingese to go to Southeast Asia.

That’s because at that time the breed’s parent club in the US, Pekingese Club of America, had a strict rule prohibiting members from sending Pekingese to China or Southeast Asia.

We had to sign an agreement to that effect before our membership could be approved by the board. The reason, if I remember correctly, was because it was said that Asians eat dogs.

I suppose I forgot about that rule because I never gave it another thought.

When Dr. Lo entered the picture he was somewhat unknown in America. He appeared to be pleasant-mannered, well educated, and earnest about the breed. After getting to know him I felt confident entrusting him with my dog and my breeding. So Dragonhart went off on the long journey all by himself.

Of course word got around. Suddenly one of the officers of the American parent club raised an objection when she heard I let my Peke champion go to Manila. It looked like there was going to be major trouble.

Fortunately, another of the slightly more influential parent club officers managed to push it all aside. The rule was canceled (rescinded) — and all was fine.

I went on to send a number of other Morningstars to the Philippines and Thailand including another Morningstar All Breed Best in Show winner.

Later I let a few Morningstars go to Japan including BISA/National Specialty BIS Ch. Morningstar Reverie’s father, Am. Ch. Morningstar Don Giovanni (litter brother to Ch. Morningstar Festival Music, Number 2 Pekingese in the US).

Looking back, it seems Dragonhart going to the Philippines was just a sign of the times. There were very good and notable breeders throughout Southeast Asia. Things were changing and expanding internationally very quickly.

And just think. At least as far as American Pekingese are concerned … Dragonhart was the right dog at the right time to bust wide open the locked gates to a whole new world! 🌅🌟🇺🇸🇬🇧🐾🐾🇵🇭🇹🇭🇨🇳🇭🇰🇯🇵🏆 🐾🐾✨🌏✨

More good stories to come.

04/18/2026

A Best in Show All Breeds for “Ciro” — BISA/BISS/National Specialty BIS Ch. Morningstar Reverie, breeder owner handled by me.

10th consecutive generation of my breeding.

By Ch. Morningstar Don Giovanni x UK import Edverlia Miss Molly at Brentoy.

03/26/2026

I thought this article was lost forever. I wrote it almost 30 years ago about the famous English Peke Ch. Chik T’Sun of Caversham (2 Res. CC’s in the UK) who took the American dog show world by storm.

He was the first Peke to win Best in Show at Westminster and was Top Dog All Breeds record holder for 22 years with 126 All Breed Best in Shows.

To my amazement the article was in a magazine just sent to me a few weeks ago by Dave Kozakiewicz in the USA. Thank you very much, Dave!

Chik T’Sun’s career was long before my time, but a number of people have written about him.

When I tackled it I went right to the source. Fortunately, Chik T’Sun’s owner, Christine Venable, was still living. So I interviewed her and several others with intimate knowledge of him including judges who put him up.

Mrs. Venable then sent me, through her daughter, a collection of photos from her archives which you see here.

My story was then published in the American All Breed magazine “ShowSight” and reprinted in the Toy magazine “Top Notch Toys” and Pekingese magazine “The Orient Express.”

One little interesting side note.

You’ll notice I included the photo of the full body X-ray of Chik T’Sun in the photo collection at the end of the article. But if you read the story you’ll see I held back from explaining the real reason for that. 📸💀✨ Chik T’Sun’s owner, Mrs. Venable, told me the backstory:

Leading up to Chik T’Sun’s 4th Westminster show where he won the Toy Group the first two times and lost the breed the following year, competitors were circulating rumors that Chik T’Sun had a roach back.

So, the owners published a publicity spotlight in LIFE magazine — one of the most popular and widely circulated magazines in America — with Chik T’Sun’s X-ray. For all the world to see.

Chik T’Sun went on to win the Group for the 3rd time and BIS at Westminster where he retired. A perfect ending to a historic career that even today remains inspiring. ✨🏆✨