KORDEGARDA -is a name of the Kennel which for those even loosly connected with the Polski Owczarek  is synonimous
with the post WW II history of the breed. The recreation and stabilization of the PON breed is undeniably acredited to Dr. Danuta Hryniewicz. This is how she remembers the beginning....

"Even before WW II, during my vacation trips across Poland I encountered, numerous times, dogs that would later gain the name of Polski Owczarek Nizinny. They were used to herd sheep and were highly valued by herders...."

"HOWEVER, YOU HAD TO WAIT FOR YOUR OWN KENNEL...."
"Yes. I started working as a veterinarian in Wladyslawowo in 1945. We were examining horses that survived the war in the surrounding farms. On one of the farms, near Lembork (I do not recall the name), I met an old Kaszub herder, who had a couple of sheep dogs appearing as I remembered them from pre-War time. The dogs, called Kurta and Laska, were then already old but I asked the owner to let me know if I could get puppy from them. In the end I took the pregnant bitch to my home and she gave birth to only one puppy, SMOK."

"THAT IS HOW THE KORDEGARDA PONS BEGAN..."
"Not quite....I did not have any plans initially and I sent Smok to the farm where he herded sheep very well."

"WHY THEN THE RETURN OF THE INTEREST...."
"Later on, in the March' 50 issue of the magazine PIES I came across an advertisement calling for the restoration of the breed with a short description and a picture of a dog from the pre-War kennel. I also learned that there was a breeder of these  dogs in Bydgoszcz. So in 1955 I got two puppies from p. Kusinowicz - DIUNA and DUKAT z Babia Wies. I got Smok back at the same time."


Diuna & Dukat z Babiej Wsi

"DID THOSE DOGS FORM KORDEGARDA ?"
"No, not entirely. Great imput had come from a completely different, white, and tailess bitch WIGA, who I got with the help of Prof. Dyakowska from Krakow. Wiga was born in 1954 and was very much like the pre-war dogs from Milanow. I had a lot of trouble with her bacause she would fight with the other dogs....Finally I had to give her away."

Wiga

"WHAT HAPPENED NEXT ?"
"Now we have to refer to my notes....I have a record of all litters born in Kordegarda....In 1956 I had three litters of PONs. Two from Smok and Diuna (at the beginning, and at the end of the year) and one from Smok and Wiga. From Diuna's litters I kept KUMA, NERPA and later on their redeemed sisister NIWA. From Wiga I kept WIGA WARA. Wiga Wara's inbreed to her father produced white and black dog RE-MIS, who later became famous.

      

Kuma z Kordegaedy

Nerpa z Kordegardy

"THANKS TO THE RADIO..."
"Right. It was Warsaw's idea to introduce a PON named AGRESOR to the Matysiak Family (a popular radio talk-show in 60- 70's). Re-Mis was shown during a Dog Show in Warsaw with Gienek Matysiak."


Re-Mis z Kordegardy

"HOW WAS THE INTEREST IN THE BREED ?"
"Great from the beginning. Orders for puppies were coming from all over Poland. However some of the puppies from each litter went to the countryside to work with sheep. Some of them returned to Kordegarda for breeding and some stayed for good."

"DID YOU KNOW FROM THE BEGINNING WHAT A PON SHOULD LOOK LIKE ?"
"Yes. It was simple. I wanted the PON to look like SMOK. It was my breed standard..."

"WHAT ABOUT COLORS ?"
"This was not a concern. I initially had white, and gray/white dogs, but Re-Mis was already black and white. In 1957 Smok and Wiga Wara parented two puppies, tailless and compleletly black. I was sure something was terribly wrong and I did put them to sleep. I regreted this later seeing the different colors of newborn puppies. When the first chocolate puppies were born I knew that all colors were possible."

"WHICH ONE OF THE FIRST LITTERS DESERVES PARTICULAR RECOGNITION ?"
"In 1958 I got the first certified litter from DUKAT and NIWA including the completely white, famous ARAK GREPS. In the same year Smok and Wiga Wara gave HARFA, mother of the first Int.Champion AMOK MONIEK. The other important litter in the same year came from Smok and Kuma, which included INKLUZ and IWA. In 1959 Smok and Wiga Wara gave LIDER, DOMAN's father. In the same year DUKAT and NIWA produced ASAN, father of (after KUMA) GARDA WTORA z Kordegardy which established the "spod Zagla" Kennel. Her brother GIERMEK was the first chocolete PON in my kennel. Later on in the 60's from INKLUZ and CERTA z Melna I had the chocolate DUDA who gave WITEZ, father of GWAREK z Psiego Raju. The kennel PSI RAJ started earlier from SZELMA z Kordegardy (born in 1963 from INKLUZ and ERGA z Babiej Wsi). Before she ended up in PSI RAJ she gave two litters "z Lagiewskiego Boru" and " z Kolchidy". One of my best dogs was LUBEK from ARAK GREPS and IWA. In 1967, DOMAN was born ...and after that, you remember, he was the father of your POLON."

Doman z Kordegardy

Amok Moniek

"IT IS KNOWN THAT YOU QUITE LIBRALLY USED INBREEDING..."
"Yes. It was necessary and I have never had bad results. At the beginning the litters were small- one, two puppies, that was all. Only after SMOK was bred to his daughters the litters became larger. Furthermore both dogs I used for inbreeding, SMOK and DOMAN were tailless! Where is the lethallity of the short tail gene, that was so much talked about !?"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT PRESENT PONS ?"
"No, I am not impressed....They are too small and their heads are too small and delicate. Fortunately the proportions have improved lately and there are not very many long PONs, since the long PON  looks awful."

"THANK YOU FOR AN INTERVIEW AND WE WISH YOU MANY BEAUTIFUL PONS FROM KORDEGARDA."