Phyllis McCarthy



Phyllis McCarthy (12 March 1903 – 16 February 1986) was a South African breeder of and authority on Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs. She established the Glenaholm Kennels in 1949 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, played a seminal role in the Ridgeback community and produced a long line of Ridgebacks featuring prominently in the ancestry of almost all modern members of the breed.

Biography
Phyllis was born on 12 March 1903, in Johannesburg, South Africa, the second of four children born to George Scarlet Abinger Keeling and Mabel Lydia Moorby, an accomplished painter, poet and composer. Her parents moved to Durban when she was quite young and it was here that she grew to early womanhood and married Victor McCarthy in 1925. They moved onto a large citrus farm (which they named Glenaholm) in Town Bush Valley just out of Pietermaritzburg and turned to raising poultry and a family of five children.

Her eldest son, Cuan McCarthy, became one of South Africa's best fast-bowlers and distinguished himself in Test matches against England.

McCarthy died on 16 February 1986, in Johannesburg, at the age of 82.

Breeding practice
Abandoning the Doberman Pinschers with which she had started, Phyllis McCarthy bought her first 2 RRs, Cleopatra of Efabe and Sheba of Efabe (SA3089 born 10.12.1948) and found they had most of the physical and temperamental qualities she sought. She next brought to bear her extensive knowledge of selective breeding acquired from her program of producing world-class poultry, and soon moulded her distinctive type of Ridgeback. During the 1960s she made use of an experienced geneticist flown in from England. She spent much time and effort attending dog shows throughout South Africa in order to study the top dogs that were available and to win champion status for her own dogs.

When Phyllis retired Glenaholm kennels were taken over by her daughter, Lauri Venter, and Norah Reid. Norah Reid Ormerod went to the USA and still breeds Glenaholm Rhodesian Ridgebacks there. Laurie Venter died in 2013 and the South African Glenaholm kennels went back into the McCarthy name under Litia, Phyllis's daughter in law.