The departure of such a rare person as Mr. Karel Hartl undoubtedly affected the general cynological public not only in the Czech Republic, but also in neighboring Slovakia. That is why we will now come across articles about this giant of ours more often on the eCanis "website". Now we bring you one from Slovakia.
We received a memory of Ing. Karel Hartl from a great Slovak cynologist and many times awarded journalist Mgr. Petr Nevolný. His death also affected such an important cynologist very deeply. Here's his memory...
Cynological legend Lt. Col. Ing. Karel Hartl, who was born on August 14, 1924, left us forever on September 28, 2023, at the beautiful age of 99 years.
From the life of Karel Hartl
Retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Border Guards, zootechnician engineer (successfully graduated from the University of Agriculture in Prague), from 1955 to 1983, served as Chief of Service Cynology of the PS Main Administration, protecting state borders.
Together with fifteen other Czechoslovak officers responsible for service cynology at that time, Karel Hartl studied from January 29, 1954 to March 31, 1955, with his assigned service dog Kazbek at the School of Border Troops, based near the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan (then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, now the city of Almaty).
According to the memoirs of the Chief Emeritus of Service Cynology Unit 5947 of the Bratislava 11th Brigade of the Border Guard, a graduate of this school and later a breeder and breeder of the newly emerging breed Czechoslovak Wolfdog MJR. František Rosík, in this year there were other, later more or less important personalities of Czechoslovak service cynology – e.g. MJR. VB Karel Všolek (*1919- 1989), who is so far the only Czechoslovak holder of the SV Gold Medal for breeding the German Shepherd breed in Germany and worldwide; mjr. PS Jaroslav Kuchař (*1927- 1986) – the most famous dog handler – officer of the Border Guard, leader of the famous service dog Brek; mjr. VB Eduard Abík (*1928- 1982)k – as the fourth Chief of the Public Security Training Centre of the National Security Corps in Bratislava's Mlynská Valley, he continued to apply the then modern service cynology in Slovakia, which began to be introduced by his predecessor, Lt. Col.VB. Karol Kadlečovič (*1922- 1994); Pavel Beroušek, a later service dog training instructor, also studied in Almaty, and in 1961 he won the III year of the national championship O Cup of the Minister of Transport of Czechoslovakia in Podhradie with his service dog Axell. Among the less publicly presented graduates of the border school in Almaty from this year were other renowned Czechoslovak service cynologists, e.g. pplk. PS v. v. Emil Čermák (*1928- ?), commander of the non-commissioned officer school of PS Libějovice and Volary, Josef Ivan and others...
However, Karel Hartl permanently entered the awareness of the general public, especially as the author of the project of interspecific crossing of a she-wolf with a German shepherd, which originally in 1958 wanted to improve the health, performance and physical abilities of German shepherds serving in the protection of state borders, in difficult climatic conditions. But his original intention did not work out – the descendants of mongrels were "burdened" by genetically passed on dependence on the pack way of life of wolf ancestors, who recognize only one leader – i.e. mongrels hated changing handlers – it was regularly repeated by the Border Guards about every fifteen months – even dog handlers left for civilian life, so the mongrels became unfit for duty. Subsequently, in the years 1966 – 1967, the Chief of the Veterinary Service of the Army (ČSĽA) and Chairman of the Central Committee of the Union, Gen. Prof. Jozef Hrušovský, DVM, DrSc., initiated the stop of the project of interspecific crossing in the kennels of the PS. His decision was probably also influenced by his personal dispute with Lt. Col. Ing. Karl Hartl from the time when Lt. Col. Ing. Hartl was Chief of the entire Army and Security Cynological Service. Thus, between 1967 and 1971, the number of hybrids in PS breeding facilities fell sharply – most were culled or handed over for research. Thus, Czech civilian breeders were left alone, without the necessary professional, theoretical and practical support, because Czech kennels of the Border Guard stopped breeding hybrids and their breeding "quietly" continued only in the 11th PS Brigade in Slovakia.
Thus, the method of "influx of wolf blood" into the German shepherd dog and experimental interspecific crossing, under the guidance of border officers, but already in the hands of civilian breeders, turned into the breeding of a new, non-service and separate breed Czechoslovakian Vlciak, which was recognized by the FCI on June 1, 1999. The Czechoslovakian Vlciak, named in memory of the breeders of both friendly countries, has found – all over the world, many worshippers, who appreciate his devotion to the "pack" in which he lives, love for the children among whom he grows up and the excellent sports performances of the runner and companion dog.
In spite of this, I quote from a recent public statement of Ing. Karel Hartl: "The Czechoslovakian Vlciak is still not a dog as people are used to, because its breeding continues even today... The population we see today is already the result of civilian breeding... It has to be bred further, it's not a hundred percent finished breed yet..."
From 1956 to 1968, Karel Hartl also worked as chairman of the Czechoslovak Cynological Association (ČKZ); was a member of the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Association of Small Animal Breeders (ČSZCHDZ) and in the sixties of the XX. century he was the chairman of the Expert Commission for Service Cynology.
Face-to-face meetings
I got to know Lt. Col. Karl Hartl in 1972, when I served at the kennel of the 11th PS Brigade in Malacky as a breeder and caretaker of fifteen breeding of a German shepherd and crosses of a wolf with a German shepherd. Originally, I had sixteen of them, but one day they took one from me and instead we accommodated the wolf Šarik from the Hluboká nad Vltavou Zoo in her kennel. I became his first groomer because he was assigned to me because breeding accepted the smell of wolves more calmly than breeding dogs. In adulthood – since 1974, Wolf Šarik became the creator of his separate branch of crossbreeds and Czechoslovakian Vlciaks.
Mr. Hartl and I later met occasionally at the competition of sports cynologists TART CZ in Mělník, or at an international conference of Czech and Slovak police historians at the Police Museum in Prague. When I wrote the book The History of the Origin of the Czechoslovakian Vlciak Breed, I asked Mr. Hartl to review it for me. He sent me his twenty-five different comments, of which I used the clarifying facts of the period in the book and in its note-taking apparatus. However, I was most pleased that he did not question the facts and arguments published by me, illustrating the birth of this beautiful breed of dogs!
Harl was also an internationally recognized cynological expert – e.g. in 1966, 1978, 1981 and 1985 he worked in Caribbean Cuba, as a breeding expert advisor and management instructor in the training of service dogs – drug search specialists and weapon detection specialists.
Karel Hartl's books on dog training became our "cynological bible" in my youth!
Publications
In these memoirs and enumerating some facts from Mr. Hartl's fruitful life, I must not omit his significant and progressive publishing activity, because, for example, his books on dog training became our "cynological bible" in my youth.
In 1969 he became a co-author of the book Dog Training, which was published in other renewed editions by Our Army (its co-authors – Mr. Karel Němec and Mr. Jan Skuhrovský); He wrote the book Dogs of Social Breeds; Cynology for officials; University Cynology Scripts; Karel Hartl is also the author of the books: Dog Education and Training; Man and dog; Teaching texts of cynology; Programmed dog training; Hitchhiker School; He is also a co-author of the book Czechoslovakian Vlciak, published by KCHČSV Prague in 1996 (co-authored by Mr. Jindřich Jedlička), which was published in several renewed editions; Mr. Hartl is the author of many lectures, articles (also in the foreign press), and has given many interviews motivating all cynologists, reading professional articles published by print and electronic media dealing with cynology.
Finally, I would like to use a quote from a prominent Czech expert and reviewer of the German Shepherd Dog, who was a personal friend of Mr. Hartl – this is Mr. Jan Stibůrek (author of the Karel Hartl Medallion from 2007), which was also used by my friend, Mr. Jiří Rulc, in his book Dějiny československá služební kynologie (published in 2014), because it thoroughly portrays Mr. Hartl's personality: "There are only a few cynologists who would not know this name for anything. Karel Hartl has spent almost his entire life with dogs. He devoted himself to them from a young age and, by coincidence, they became his life's work. In the 1950s, together with Karel Všolek, they were the organizers of the breeding of German Shepherds in the kennel of the former PS, which actually operated until 2005. Even though we have been hearing a lot of unflattering things about PS in recent years, the fact remains that imported German Shepherds, brought from Germany at a time of not quite free contact, managed to maintain our breeding at the required level. Karel Hartl later devoted his efforts to the creation of a new breed – the Czechoslovakian Vlciak.
He deserves thanks for many professional articles on dog breeding and training. As well as for the book on training, which has been published in several editions. We listened to several of his lectures on various topics. We don't know anyone who can talk about dogs in such a comprehensible and engaging way as Karel Hartl."
In this way, I say goodbye to a person who greatly influenced me with his publishing activities and strengthened in me admiration and love for our four-legged friends and helpers.
Thank you, Mr Hartl, and I wish you a peaceful eternal rest, I will never forget you!
Mgr. Peter Nevolný
cynologist and member of the Slovak Police-Historical Society
Translated using Google
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