The

Affenpinscher
From Rarity
to Toy Group
Mainstay
By Amy Fernandez

AKC
policymaking has al-
ways been a mysteri-
ous process. The
decisions emanating from that boardroom
often stray far outside the boundaries of the
organization’s official stance. Take Affen-
pinschers for instance. The breed’s history
has been characterized by rarity, genetic in-
stability, and limited popularity. Even in its
homeland this quintessential German prod-
uct never attained great support and despite
its deep rooted cultural ties was treated
more like an afterthought by the eminently
powerful Pinscher-Schnauzer Klub.
However, AKC marches to a different
drummer. Maybe Affenpinschers weren’t
flying off the shelf in Germany when the first
imports arrived here in 1935, but the ball was
in AKC’s court now. And so began another
strange and remarkable episode in American
purebred history. A transatlantic steamer and an
800-mile train ride brought them to Mrs. Bessie
Mally in Cicero, Illinois. Her motives for this costly,
complicated venture are unknown, but she seemed to
know what she was doing. Her Zwergteufel (Dwarfdevil)
kennel prefix certainly suggests that she had a feel for the
breed. And her foundation stock, three bitches and a dog, rep-
resented all three of the viable bloodlines then established in
Germany. Even so, it’s hard to imagine what she envisioned
for this obscure breed in its new home.
In contrast, and quite uncharacteristically, AKC knew pre-
cisely what the future had in store for Olly, Nolli, Lola, and
Osko and they didn’t waste a minute. A translation of the Ger-
man standard was soon approved and with a grand total of
four studbook entries the Affenpinscher was formally admit-
ted to the Toy Group on September 15, 1936.

continued on page 204

Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McLean

202 - November/December, 2017

 THE AFFENPINSCHER Ð FROM RARITY TO TOY GROUP MAINSTAY
Needless to say, even the most determined efforts of one person
with four dogs will not create much buzz in the sport. Never mind
the fact that the breed’s lone exhibitor was a complete novice to
that side of the business. But that wasn’t the biggest cloud looming
over Mrs. Mally’s endeavor. Her most significant import, three-
year-old Osko V.D. Franziskusklause, had notched up a credible
show career in Germany. Over here, judges generally didn’t know
or care about this weird new addition to the Toy Group lineup. It
Last of the Line in 1944
was a no-win situation for Osko but he did his best. Of course, as
the only male Affenpinscher in the country, that was never meant
to be his primary role in the grand plan. He was a busy boy.
The gene pool got 50 percent bigger with the subsequent arrival
of Dolli and Mitzi the following year. However, they were litter-
mates, as well as Osko’s daughters, which somewhat limited their
contribution to genetic vitality.
It was a rocky start in every sense. Realistically, that seemed
like a preordained fate for a breed entering AKC with absolutely
no genetic or demographic foundation. Still, it’s doubtful that
AKC anticipated any such thing. In truth, they probably never
considered the breed’s future prospects at all. Back then, their
overriding concern was keeping breeds out of the studbook,
which eliminated any need for a preadmission evaluation process
or follow-up review.
AKC’s sporadic acceptance of new breeds mostly depended on
the ever-changing mood of the board. If and when a breed was
lucky enough to get the green flag, it was on its own from there. If
it happened to have a standard, an organized club, or documented
204 - November/December, 2017
bloodlines, that was fine and dandy. But AKC recognition never
hinged on prerequisites of that nature. A surprising number of
breeds floated around the system for years without any of these co-
hesive elements.
Even within the hazy state of things, the fact that Mrs. Mally
somehow got her breed through the door at AKC is pretty amazing.
She was over the big hurdle and gamely marched on with her line.
Every few months another one or two Affenpinschers popped up
in AKC’s registration tally as she repeated the same menu of
closely bred options. Growing the gene pool required growing the
Affenpinscher fan base and it is tough promoting a product to a
nonexistent market. She didn’t have much luck recruiting Affen-
pinscher fans but she definitely snagged the ones that counted.
The Affenpinscher’s existence has always been defined by a per-
petual struggle for supporters. Even though it’s one of the oldest,
the overwhelming success of other Pinscher-Schnauzer breeds
pushed it to the fringes of Europe’s purebred picture. Moreover,
this feisty little package simply isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. How-
ever, for those few discriminating dog lovers with a taste for the
offbeat, it’s a match made in heaven. Back in those days no one on
the planet fit that description better than Evalyn Walsh McLean.
Her pets ranged from Chihuahuas to Great Danes, with one com-
mon denominator guiding her preferences as she explained in her
1936 memoir saying, “If I had a dog, I wanted it to be a dog people
turned to stare at.” Heiress, socialite, wife of Washington
Post/Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper magnate Ned McLean, and
most notably, owner of that curious little bauble, the Hope dia-
mond. It’s safe to say that Evalyn Walsh McLean cut a wide swath
through American popular culture.
Evalyn’s father, Thomas Francis Walsh, the Colorado
mining king, earned every bit of his fame and fortune the
hard way. He arrived in America to escape the Irish
famine just in time to be drafted into the Union Army.
After the war he joined millions of others on that west-
ward trek into the gold rush. He was, however, one the
very few to actually strike it rich.
Evalyn’s childhood of hard living in mining camps was
abruptly revised when her father’s claim on the San Juan
range yielded one of the biggest gold strikes in history.
By the turn of the century the family was bouncing
around Europe and putting the finishing touches on a 60
room mansion in Washington, D.C.
In addition to a ton of money, Evalyn inherited her father’s un-
conventional spirit and his abiding love for animals. Rich, beauti-
ful, adventurous, and outspoken, her wild escapades and lavish
lifestyle catapulted her to tabloid fame long before she eloped with
Ned McLean, heir to the Washington Post publishing fortune. That
newsworthy marriage added up to a mind-boggling fortune. And
as she said in her book, “I like to be fantastic. It is only when the
thing I buy creates a show for those around me that I get my
money’s worth.” She definitely got her money’s worth out of the
Hope diamond, purchased in 1911 for $180,000, approximately
continued on page 206
 THE AFFENPINSCHER Ð FROM RARITY TO TOY GROUP MAINSTAY

$15 million today.

As far as the Hope diamond was concerned, it
was there to enjoy. And Evalyn’s ideas about that
probably caused a few ulcers over at the insur-
ance company. She loved wearing it for totally
inappropriate occasions like fishing trips and
beach parties. It frequently served as both “some-
thing borrowed and something blue” for plenty
of brides. During her visits to the VA hospital,
patients had fun tossing it around. One shocked
visitor discovered Evalyn’s children running
around the yard playing with it.
Needless to say, it showed up on plenty of
dogs. Paparazzi caught her zooming around
Newport in her bright yellow fiat with her enor-
mous white Poodle Sartor riding shotgun, sport-
ing the Hope diamond around his neck.

Hope Diamond

Now on permanent display in Washington’s Na-

tional Museum of Natural History Evalyn Walsh
McLean was the last private owner of this enormous
44.5 carat blue diamond.
It is speculated that a good part of the stone’s leg-
endary bad luck was cooked up by Pierre Cartier to en- Miss Evalyn Washington McLean,
hance his sales pitch. Evalyn flatly dismissed it as daughter of Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McLean
nonsense. But even without the superstitious allure of
an evil curse, Le Bijou du Roi had plenty of romantic tory photo shoot with the Hope diamond. That iconic, widely re-
history having been owned at various times by Cather- produced 1938 photo gave many Americans their first glimpse of
ine the Great and Marie Antoinette. the breed.
Two years into their AKC acceptance, the Affenpinscher’s sit-
Like every other aspect of her life, Evalyn’s eclectic menagerie uation began looking far more optimistic. Maybe that “build it
was constantly in the news, which by the 1930s was spread over and they will come” approach wasn’t so far-fetched after all be-
her 80-acre country estate, Friendship, in northwestern D.C. She cause another influential supporter soon jumped onboard–and this
wasn’t exaggerating when she called it “a one was perfectly positioned to promote the
mad place” with monkeys living in her bath- breed within the fancy.
room, goats, llamas, and miniature horses Like Evalyn Walsh McLean, Henrietta Proc-
strolling on the lawn, and a notoriously foul- tor Donnell Reilly could only be described as
mouthed parrot gliding up and down the an individualist, likewise the product of an un-
corridors. She said, “Sometimes the second conventional upbringing that imprinted her
floor at Friendship was like a zoo.” with a consuming devotion to dogs and the fi-
Her dogs were frequently mentioned in nancial resources to take it to the limit.
her memoir. Unfortunately her Affenpinsch- A founding member of Progressive Dog
ers didn’t arrive until a couple of years after Club and staunch promoter of numerous Toy
its publication, so there’s no record of ex- breeds, she maintained her huge Etty Haven
actly how that deal went down. But consid- Kennel in Central Valley, New York.
ering her passion for dogs and monkeys, it’s Her father, F.F. Proctor, known for posterity
not hard to figure out what led to her interest as the Dean of Vaudeville, rose to the top of en-
in the proverbial monkey dog. However, tertainment industry in the late nineteenth cen-
whenever it happened, by 1937 she had a Ch. Bud V Anwader - 1950 tury. Etty Haven, situated on her family’s
pair from Mrs. Mally’s breeding program. 1142-acre estate, was already a sizable opera-
Like all her other pets they got an avalanche The first Affenpinscher Champion tion in 1929 when she inherited the bulk of his
of resulting publicity including the obliga- in the U.S. fortune. And it got way bigger after that. Her

continued on page 208

206 - November/December, 2017

 THE AFFENPINSCHER – FROM RARITY TO TOY GROUP MAINSTAY

show kennel generally accommodated Aside from that, Mrs. Mally con-
over 100 dogs of approximately 20 tributed all of the Affenpinscher breed-
breeds. And most of them accompanied ing recorded by AKC during those
her on her annual trek between her win- years, a total of 13 bitches and 14 dogs
ter and summer homes. spanning two generations. That was as
Transporting 50-60 dogs is never far as she could go with that tiny gene
easy. But that was just a small part of pool. Her breeding program had been
the travel routine for Etty Haven. She locked into a genetic dead end from the
was one of the most active exhibitors start. She registered her last litter, three
throughout the 1930s. At shows from dog pups by Osko out of his daughters,
coast to coast, Etty Haven typically in the fall of 1940. By then, the escalat-
presented four or five representatives ing conflict in Europe prevented any
of at least 15 different breeds. She had possibility of importing new stock along
a few big winners over the years but with any hope of establishing a viable
she actually never won that much be- breeding base in America. Mrs. Mally’s
cause that was never her main objec- imported bloodlines and her dream died
tive. She understood the crucial role on the vine.
that promotion played in a breed’s suc- By the end of World War II the Af-
cess. Her specialty was marshalling fenpinscher, like many other breeds,
support for unknown breeds by getting was hanging by a thread in Germany.
them into the ring. Possibly, that fear had played some part in prompting Mrs. Mally’s
She mounted relentless nationwide show campaigns for Long- ill-fated venture. Throughout the mid-1930s, realizing that the
coat Chihuahuas, English Toy Spaniels, and other neglected clock was ticking, European breeders shipped countless dogs over
breeds. Starting in 1930 the Min Pin became her personal cru- here hoping to preserve valuable bloodlines. And many breeds did
sade. She brought over celebrated European winners, organized find a safe haven in America. In different ways, each of these
a national club, and within a few years her women did their best to make that happen for
efforts were paying off. If she was scouting the Affenpinscher. Sadly, it didn’t quite work
for another breed to rescue, the Min Pin’s out that way and the insurmountable flaws in
scruffy cousin was the ideal candidate. A that plan seem glaringly obvious today.
full page ad in AKC’s short-lived showcase A decade later, an Affenpinscher revival
of top winners, The Blue Book, announced slowly coalesced. Amazingly, all three of
her acquisition of the first of several Affen- Germany’s Affenpinscher bloodlines some-
pinschers she purchased from Mrs. Mally how survived. Stock imported from these
over the next few years. lines became the foundation of Mrs. Evelyn
The announcement said, “Niki v. Zwerg- Brody’s Cedarlawn kennel. In 1949 she reg-
teufel has recently been acquired by Mrs. istered her first litter and the Affenpinscher
Reilly and will make his show debut in started moving forward once again.
1938.” Sired by the prolific Osko out of The breed was thriving by 1990 when
Dolli, Niki would become Westminster’s AKC finally implemented a formal process
loneAffenpinscher representative from 1938 to assess and admit new breeds. It’s debat-
to 1943 when he passed the baton to Everl able whether that measure would have pre-
von der Franziskusklause, one of the two vented the epic fail of the breed’s initial
German imports that she subsequently cam- launch back in 1936 because it was another
paigned during the next four years. There’s decade before they began refining those re-
no question that Henrietta went the distance quirements according to each breed’s unique
to raise Affenpinscher awareness within the circumstances. Big numbers have never fig-
fancy, but that was the extent of her contri- ured into this one. The Affenpinscher has al-
bution. She loved to show and devoted enor- Painting of a Mrs. Bessie Mally import ways been something of a boutique brand
mous resources to promoting her favorite on the purebred shelf. And its customer base
breeds. However, she was never interested in breeding. has never expanded beyond a handful of diehard loyalists.
Evalyn, who had raised countless litters of puppies and other Admittedly, that fact has compromised its survival more than
things in her bathroom over the years, did have a go at it. Her single once. On the other hand it has never faced that dismal tradeoff of
litter of tightly bred, double-Osko grandchildren, whelped in April generic type that inevitably accompanies mainstream appeal. Maybe
1938 produced Winkie, Blinkie, and Nod. They were AKC regis- it’s been on the edge of oblivion a few times but it has always beaten
tered but there is no record of them being shown. the odds and never lost a bit of its quirky charm in the process.

208 - November/December, 2017