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"In the 1980's, I was walking in Paris when I came across some people with a lovely blue dog. The dog was so beautiful that I asked for further information about him : he was a Chow Chow. I then fell in love with this breed and I realized my dream and purchased my first Chow Chow. Today several Chows are living with me at home.

Smitten with the breed, I decided to start running a small kennel. This is how it all started and I purchased my affix "des Narcisses du Donjon"."

José Ribelles

              

Mrs Lebrun's Fr Ch Tanlap Tropical (D Lebrun)                   Delphine du Clos Rotoir (J Ribelles)                                             Helma (J Ribelles)

That is how José Ribelles got his very first Chow in 1988 Delphine du Clos Rotoir. José was introduced to dog shows with this lovely black bitch and till then he has never stopped enjoying showling. The very first dog shows were a chance for him to meet lots of knowledgeable breeders, to have a good Chow talk and obviously to admire the most popular Chows of the moment, among them Fr Ch Tanlap Tropical. According to José, this dog was not only beautiful but had a very interesting pedigree. He was coming from one of the main UK kennels. So decision was made to mate him to Delphine and soon her daughter Helma took her own place in the ring.

Helma was born in 1992 with José's first litter, just before he gets his kennel name. She enjoyed the shows, certainly more than her mother did so José kept on attempting the dog shows with her while Delphine was enjoying a lazy day at home. Helma managed to get Cotation 4 "Recommandé" - which is an award gained after winning a number of French special shows. Helma was a regular winner even if she has never achieved top honours but competition at that time was so much greater than it is today with Clubshows often welcoming 100 or more exhibits. So José had to wait a bit longer but his turn was to come in due course with Helma's offspring.

In 1994 Helma produced with Mrs Francine Smets's Fr Ch Iron Mask of Blue Baron a litter of reds. José wanted a male so Fr Ch Joka des Narcisses du Donjon was retained. The decision was more than good as he is still today remembered as the kennels's greatest pride. The sire of his dog was owned by his breeder and José had always had a special interest in her Chows. The mating with Iron Mask was a success and José was thinking he did the right thing when he saw how the puppies developed. In the following years he kept on going back to the Blue Baron breedlines, using at stud among others Iron Mask or Moon Ray of Blue Baron. That's with those ideas in his mind José started his way in the breed.

              

Int Be Fr Lu Ch Rumba Red de l'Aliermont                                 Fr Ch Berylblack van M. & Fr Ch Velis van M. (J Ribelles) Fr Ch Berylblack van Mansjoerije

This brings us up to the end of the 1990's and the development of des Narcisses du Donjon kennels in a new direction. At that time a Belgian Chow by the name of Int Be De (Club+VDH) Fr It Lu Nl Ch Radja van Mansjoerije was shown with success across Europe by M. & Mrs de Keuster-Cools from van Mansjoerije kennels. José fell in love with the dog so off the pair decision was made to have a visit to the kennel. There was a promising black bitch available by Radja out of a black bitch. José thought she could be something to introduce to his breedlines and Fr Ch Velis van Mansjoerije joined the team. A couple of years after, she was followed by one more black Fr Ch Berylblack van Mansjoerije. Both of these turned to be top show bitch, gaining their titles in a fairly quick time. Unfortunately, they have never breed for José so tenacity finally paid off when he purchased the red girl Clevergirl van Mansjoerije. Clever proved to be a great brood bitch for the kennels.

In the beginning of the 2000's, Joka and van Mansjoerije lines was the kennel main influences. In 2000, decision was made to go back again to T Tropical by adding to the team one of his grand daughter Be Fr Lu Ch Rumba Red de l'Aliermont. Rumba was to become a wonderful show bitch and produced a couple of interesting litters, among them a special should be mentioned. In 2003, José mated her to M. & Mrs de Keuster-Cools's stud dog Orion v. h. Venne-Dorp, who sired Beryl and Clever. From that combination arose Fr Ch Uva des Narcisses du Donjon, co-owned with M. Philippe Bellet, M. Royon's Uma des Narcisses du Donjon who can be found behind a couple of interesting current Chows and Umin des Narcisses du Donjon, owned by M. Vaillant and best baby at the 2004 French Clubshow judged by Mrs Mona Selbach (Norway).

Time went by and José wanted to had a new blood in his breeding. In 2006, Alain & Christelle Chahine bred for the second time their bitch Urania du Domaine de la Grottella, CACS Winner of the 2005 French Clubshow. This bitch, whose pedigree goes back to van Mansjoerije breedlines, was mated to the Chahine's import No Se Ch Pei Fang Creme Noddi. From the resulting litter, José purchased a black bitch by the name of Bonny de Hasbaya. The following year, Bonny was RBIS at the Belgian Clubshow. Then Noddi was used with effects several times at the kennel, which led José to have something from Pei Fang when it was time to have one more member at home. Thus Pei Fang Fight the Past arrived, co-owned jointly with me. She was out of the same line than Noddi via her dam Int Dk Fi No Se Ch Pei Fang Fight the Future, a very popular bitch in Scandinavia. Fight the Past had a good start and won BPIS at the 2007 Belgian Clubshow.

              

Mrs Moreau's Fr Ch Ruby de Mai Jin Shan                                 Fr Lu Ch Joka des Narcisses du Donjon (J Ribelles)             Mr/Mrs Chahine's                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Badokan des Narcisses du Donjon (C Chahine)

While des Narcisses du Donjon kennels were developping, Joka achieved top honors. José Ribelles showed him successfully in France as well as abroad. He gained easily his French & Luxembourg Champion titles and managed to get 7 BIS in his life but it is a stud he will be best remembered. The Champion can still be found in plenty of French pedigrees and he even sired a litter in Norway, bred by Mrs Stella Sørlie in 2006. If you study the current decade pedigrees, then you will notice Joka is behind a lot of Chows, most of the time in the first three generations. Among others, the following Champions go back to Joka : Fr Ch Tchou-Lynha du Domaine du Bois Robin, Fr Ch Upp Chow du Domaine du Bois Robin, Fr Ch Ruby de Mai Jin Shan ou Fr Ch Akira of Van's Memory. The BOB of the 2006 French Kennel Club Championship Show (main all-breed dog event of the year in France) was M. Barré's bitch Venus du Val des Jonquilles, a Joka's grand daughter. The dog's sons and daughters have also done well at shows as Fr Ch Ruby de Mai Jin Shan was BOB at the 2002 EURODOG show held in Paris and Badokan des Narcisses du Donjon was awarded Best Young in Show in Belgium in 2007 (RCCCB 2007 Clubshow). So will the youngsters follow their sire's steps ?

Julien Marchetti (2008)

Fr Ch Berylblack van Mansjoerije sleeping in the garden ! (V Gånev)

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