Hellfire Gundogs

April is not very Springy

The Storm puppies are getting ready to fly the coop to various places, although a couple are staying in Montana. Zephy is due around the 30th, but is expecting a very small litter with Blanco and it is entirely booked. The Cate X Sully puppies are now 4 weeks old and I will be posting some new pictures shortly. A handful of them will be coming back to Montana, and there are a few available! Our weather continues to be unusually cold and snowy but the puppies are starting to get outside more and toughen up.

Some new pictures by Phyllis Ensley - There and back from the Sussex Spaniel Club of America shows in Raleigh, North Carolina. Marv came home with the BOSS - National Specialty Best of Opposite ribbon, under Breeder/Judge Doug Johnson, which is a nice win for a breeder/owner-handler! He said, "She is gorgeous..." so I have to believe it. :D

We bred her to BIS BISS Bertram Three D Captain Crunch, while we were in NC and it will be a couple more weeks before we know if we are expecting...or not. 

Happy Birthday to Marv's litter of 9 with Frank!  I kept two lovely daughters from that breeding, and am looking forward to bringing them out this summer.

SSCA Best of Opposite Sex - BOSS bitch!

NOHS Group 2 for Marv!

BOSS GCH CH Hellfires Mizz Marvel

The 2017 Hellfire Kennel Synopsis

It was an okay year for the Hellfire pack.

Our Sussex Spaniel Synopsis:  Three new Breeder/Owner Champions, one Bred by Exhibitor Medallion, a Grand Champion GCH, a Bronze GCHB, three Barn Hunt Instinct Q's, a Trick Dog Advanced title, and two Top Five boys. 

For the Springers: Three of our puppies had field trial and puppy trial wins, one new Field Champion, 4 or 5 earned new Hunt Test titles and another 4 had success in various AKC companion events like agility, obedience, rally and tracking.  Oh, and one of our Search and Rescue Springers in Oregon (an Ice X Haley daughter) found an 88 year old woman lost in the forest. 

Next year we are sitting out of the show ring (except for Bill, the pekingese) and have a long list of fun events to prepare for!

Frank got mail and finished 2017 as a Top 5 Sussex

Mav finished the year as the #2 Breed male

Zephyr and Speck

Some new Zephyr and Speck  pictures! 

We will probably be rebreeding Zephyr to Blanco again, We will also be breeding Storm, if and when she decides to come into heat again. 

A CH/GCH Sussex litter is planned for Spring.

OFA Certified Good Hips/Elbows/Eyes

 

Zephyr is out of FC Macks X Singer

OFA Certified Good Hips/Elbows/Eyes

Speck is out of FC AFC Mickey MH X Storm

The Streak Continues #winning

August kicked off with a bang and I finished Margery (Maverick X Faith) as my third home bred Champion! Large Marge has had some great wins this year, even over very nice specials, and I am excited to see how she matures in the upcoming years. I fully expect to continue on with this incredibly sound and lovely bitch. 

New CH Hellfire Has Faith in Me - 9 months old

 

Baby Margery at 3 months old.

 

Month of Champions

It's a good thing that I can back date these posts, because July was a blur - we were so busy!

We have a new Champion CH Hellfires Gone Rogue, and a new Grand Champion GCH CH Three D First and Foremost "Frank" to brag about.

Also noteworthy this month, 7.5 month old Margery's Best Opposite win over her CH big sisters, Rogue and Marv, for a nice 4 point major in Idaho! Just a couple of weeks later my sweet, little Twinky did the same for her first major at 8 months old. Very pleased by the positive feedback of the judges, and I am super proud of Faith and Maverick for producing my lovely girls. 

As always, I had a blast in Casper, Wyoming and I was thrilled when Maverick picked up his SIXTH NOHS Owner Handler Best in Show! Given all our accomplishments over the last four years, it's hard to believe he is my first little brown dog...and my first show dog. In all honesty, I really can't remember a life without him in it - he is a very special boy, indeed. Next year we will be putting the breed rings behind us for good, and moving on to enjoy other things, including more barn hunting and field events.

Rogue - Finished from the Bred By Class

CH Hellfires Gone Rogue - Bred By Ch Medallion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Two Week Milestone

Our nine Sussex puppies continue to thrive - all are strong and gorgeous. I'm going to enjoy the next two, quiet, peaceful, easy peasy weeks they are in the puppy box, because I know real chaos of rearing nine brown puppies is coming!

The eight girls

The lone wolf - just one boy!

 

 

 

 

 

The TnT Puppies!

The long awaited Tina X Toby kids were born (via frozen semen breeding) on March 27th. Five boys, 2 girls. Huge puppies! She fooled us into thinking she was having ten, but really it was 7 whoppers. Beautiful puppies, very excited to see them come along.

Tina X Toby babies have arrived!

2 girls (both w/l), 5 boys (2b/w, 3w/l)

 

Hellfire Gundogs - February Update

Due March 25

Things are looking good after the Tina X Toby breeding and we should have puppies toward the end of March! I am most likely going to breed Storm to Toby via TCI as well, maybe over summer...she is notorious for tossing me heat cycle curve balls. I do have a few puppy reservations available. 

The 2016 Sussex girls Twinky and Margery are looking good! If they both hold their bites through six months old, I may keep them both, if not I may sell one over summer. Regardless, both are definitely show quality. Happy, happy! We may try for a fall litter, if not then I will have two nice bitches (both with good bites) to breed in 2018. We are really hoping to place a few in working or performance homes!

The list of work projects on my house, both inside and outside, is super long this year so dog events are taking a backseat until summer or later.  I have everything from agility and hunt tests, to barn hunt, obedience and conformation to somehow squeeze in. It's one of those kinds of years. We are definitely getting a slow start, but will get out there eventually. 

 

Happy Christmas 2016

circa 2008...that's Maia with her two miracle babies Mia and Marco.

ESSFT National Open Championship 2016

Today was a great day to be a field bred english springer spaniel breeder! In November the dog we bred Storm to this year, a dog who had previously won the Canadian National Championship, won the National Amateur Championship. Today he won the National Open Championship and became NFC NAFC CNFC Blackrivers Tanner. We are so happy for his owner Jeff Miller and of course, our Storm X Tanner puppy owners. The last dog to win a triple National Championship status was NFC 2X NAFC CNFC Saightons Scud - a dog that dominates Maia's pedigree.

NFC NAFC CNFC FC AFC CFC Blackrivers Tanner

But it gets better! The dog I bred Tina to, Macks, a dog I bred out of Navy X Toby, finished the National Open with a Certificate of Merit, CM, honoring him as one of the top 10 dogs in the US this year. We are just so happy for his handler Lynn Miller, who has trained, and believed in Macks for a long time, and over the moon happy for his owner's Gary and Mhari Peschel.

Macks is a full brother to Haley - who we are hoping to breed for the last time in 2017...probably to my dog Ice, since I have yet to get a puppy from him.

FC AFTW Paragon's Bratach Bhan Macaoidh of Hellfire "Macks"